Time to get "weird"... here are some non-linear collage poems. We created lists of several things and then used those lists to construct poems. I urged the students not to edit themselves--poems can be interesting when they are strange!
Collage Poem
Marisol Trejo
15+5 = 20. 20 is the times my mom has told me,
"Hurry up!" She is furious. Her face is hot pink.
Hot pink is the color of Mexico when the war is going on.
Then I hear somebody yell, "Madre!" It is my cousin.
Her hair is shiny like a diamond. She wants to go outside
but it is cold and we can't go out and play.
Collage Poem
Victor S.
In the country rats are in the sky. Monito,
they have called me from that apple seed I
planted and grew into an apple tree.
They said 12+12=24, your shirt is as red
as an apple. Then a yellow coffin came out
of the ground and the tree said, "say goodbye
to Lou Gehrig". I have been asleep.
Collage Poem
Corina S.
Flouds in Kankakee and all of the world.
The blue birds flying above the flood
and then came Dr. King. He didn't
feel embarassed. He was a very brave man.
He said 5/95=19. 19 whites liked the "I had a dream"
speech. Then there was a princess of all princesses.
She had a son and he was late for school. He forgot
his lunch because he was watching a movie.
Before the princess told him to turn off the TV.
Someone says her face was like a teddy bear.
Collage Poem
Antonia B.
Everyone was born on earth.
Everyone was depressed on the Great Depression.
The sky is blue.
After the Great Depression, everyone was excited.
The sun smiles at evreyone.
Scientists found out 5*5=25. My cousin calls
me coconut head. I gave my dog the food.
Collage Poem
Nadia N.
My heart beats confused like a green drum.
1*1=George Washington, the first president.
Lost in Florida, hearing words, "I hate you".
Feelings buildling up, breaking apart
into uncontrollable pieces.
28
Ismael S.
7*4=28 the day of love.
London is as black as a grim reaper.
I hear my nickname: HubbiWubbi.
While others say, how do you spell it?
The Revolutionary War has black written all over it.
But as I play football, I get tired.
But as I think, everything turns black.
Collage Poem
Gilbert D.
Gladiator wars fighting by the ocean.
some falling in and never come out.
2x2=4. 4 was the year they all fought. 2008 years later
we hear, "Ric Flair retires". A lot of people were
worried but I was not. My cousins scream
my nickname. They said that the house was red
and as big as a strawberry. The sky turned baby blue.
Collage Poem
John R.
In Alaska, there is no world war. So, the snow
is red and wonderful. My smile is as bright
as a thunderbolt strucken across the sky.
87+55=142 planted seeds and seeds grow.
For Johnny no longer is falling slowly,
for I have landed.
Collage Poem
Giovanni D.
When Martin Luther King Jr. died,
Pepe solved the equation 197*100=19700.
When someone yelled, "Come here this instant"
I fell and got hurt.
I went to Las Vegas to visit my friend
who thinks a rose is like a heart.
I turn red when I am lonely.
Collage Poem
Jose V.
Before I left to go to the 1986 FIFA World Cup
in Mexico, I had to finish my homework; 36/5=36 was the best
problem I solved on my homework. As I walked out the door, my sister
said don't come home late. I kicked my soccer ball
into my backyard. The force of the soccer ball broke the window.
I ran as fast as a hawk to see the World Cup. The sky turned
black and suddenly it was over.
Collage Poem
Jerry E.
I visited Pluto cause of temperature in Chicago.
I was shocked when I saw the glowing red
dinosaurs in a car crash. One of the dinosaurs
screamed like thunder. I heard my nickname
in the emergency room. The injured dinosaures
from the car crash lost all of their memory.
Collage Poem
Amanda T.
California is my dream place to go.
I have a dream everything is pink.
I wake up and say 10*2=20 real fast.
I get to school and see somebody
and think to myself I like him.
I don't know his name.
He is anonymous.
He sees me and I run.
Somebody calles me Mandy.
It is my sister who is as mean
as a gorilla.
She starts yelling at me and
I feel like she began a Revolutionary War.
Collage Poem
Michelle O.
Sandra was as pale as milk when
she saw blue cupcake-shaped dinosaurs.
Her parents said good luck to her.
She was sad when she went to Mars.
She went to school and saw a cocoon
turn into a butterfly and learned 5*5=25.
Collage Poem
Alexis E.
North America is where I live.
When I was a baby to an adult.
When I was happy everybody will say hi.
5+5=10 soliders that lived in the Civil War.
When I got old, everybody called me quacky.
I hope this happens again.
Collage Poem
Jennifer S.
Downtown Chicago is upside down with everything.
Rosa Parks gets arrested for walking in the sky without
a walking license. As soon as I saw 9x8=72 eggs.
Collage Poem
Andrew C.
30+2=32 soldiers that the American soldiers killed
in WW2. The sun is turning black for no reason and
nobody really cares about it. Someone cut down a tree
and then the tree from the other side fell on top of him.
I was relieved that the ISat test was cancelled by a flood.
I think I might have heard that I am going to Tampa Bay
because Chicago is goign to be below sea level.
Like that might happen. Or, could it really happen?
Collage Poem
Steve R.
1+1=love which is the speech of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Stubborn is the Isat test coming up. Spring comes, flowers
blosson. The word sweet appears in my name. The sky is gold.
It is as free as a frog. This place is my home.
Collage Poem
Silvia L.
She came from Texas and her smile is
as bright as the gleaming sun.
Sil was lovestuck when she found out 12*12=144.
If you plant a seed, a plant will grow.
That was found out in WW2.
Aqua is a great color to wear when you say
"have a nice day" to the sea.
Collage Poem
David S.
I was going to Arizona. I was exhausted from the cold.
A group behind me was drinking a green
bottle of tea and having a party. I heard my nickname
then words came from the sky. Did you bring the mystery box?
Then another ball hit my nose and popped. It was just a dream.
