2.++Free+Verse

Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

=I Dream'd in a Dream=

I DREAM'D in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth; I dream'd that was the new City of Friends; Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love--it led the rest; It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words.

The Walt Whitman Archive

media type="youtube" key="8pCtvZQAML0?fs=1" height="385" width="480" Emily Dickenson

I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there's a pair of us--don't tell! They'd banish us, you know. How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog To tell your name the livelong day To an admiring bog!

Interpretation of "I'm nobody! Who are you?"

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Poetry Slam == Here is a high school student's poetry slam entry.

media type="youtube" key="rpW-xoCkRFE?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

**Well, Thank You-by Taylor Phillips** || When I found out there was going to be a slam, I went straight to my dorm room, pen in hand Ready to compose the next grand Word symphony To give a worldwide audience a personal epiphany To write a poem for everyone, I had censored before I’d even begun. In a world where only 25% of adolescents read outside of class How many are going to listen to a 16 year old slam And know enough to give a dang. I wanna write a poem that only the worthy can understand I wanna write a poem for smart people. For true knowledge comes from the heart people, For the search for that truth is an art people For finish what you start people. I wanna write a poem for gifted kids Teens with minds like Pringles lids, Once you pop, the fun don’t stop, I wanna speak for the cream of the crop

Geniuses of the 21st Century, this is for you Because you know “Live long and prosper” was first said on Vulcan And when you solve a rubix cube too slowly, You don’t stop sulkin until you win yet another chess match In 17 moves flat Or dip a tennis ball in a 3 liter vat of Liquid nitrogen Which we all know, Is atomic #7. I wanna write a poem for the scholastically driven Who use their cerebellums to better the world we live in And who don’t have to look up cerebellum to know That they’re seeing this all thanks to their occipital lobe. I wanna be the poet for the know-it-alls Making metaphors from the trajectory of ping pong balls Who knows that density is M over V And the decimal of one third is point repeating three I wanna write a poem for the literarily inclined Who turn to Frost and Dickinson to find The same drama as Desperate Housewives Who make Styrofoam and saxophones pertain somehow to their lives For those who say scintillati ng instead of doubleplusgood And irked instead of irritated Enthralled instead of fascinated Proclaimed in lieu of simply “stated” Deplorable instead of hated Opaque instead of shaded The brilliant and jaded And seldom celebrated for the selves that they’ve created And the many, No, The PLETHORA, Of lives that they will change. I wanna write a poem for kids with good grammar. Who know that if someone asks how you’re doing How Y-O-U apostrophe to the R-E doing. You say WELL, thank you And can differentiate between whom and who And lie and lay And which and that Who never ask the question “where are you AT?” Because at’s a preposition, we don’t end sentences like that I wanna write a poem for the kids at MSA Who when I say BOOMBA Respond with HEY! We’re going to rule the freaking world someday It’s FUN to be brilliant But schools make it a chore And I don’t quite know Who’s being left behind anymore So here is a poem of appreciation To the future doctors and teachers and shrinks of our nation And actors and authors And computer technicians And judges and journalists And pediatricians Moms dads and professional musicians Reading is sexy and don’t you forget it Mediocrity consumes, but not us, we won't let it. We’re nerds because we strive Moving this world forward with our inner drive So I wrote this poem, out of my own fierce pride For the youth, the world’s future, personified because it’s scary, but it’s true The future’s us, you guys -Written for the 2009 Academy ||