A Writing Assignment (One of Many)

And suddenly (it seems), we are at the end of the fifth week of CTY 2011. And the end of July, as well. The thirteen students from the first session, who were here "forever," are long gone and the second session class, now two-thirds of the way through their own "forever," have been diligently working and playing.

One of the assignments we have is writing a poem about a color. We hang various colored sheets of construction paper on the wall and I have the students add a word or phrase related to its color to each sheet. They each get to choose a sheet and must compose a poem using the words on the paper and ideas of their own. When there is a sheet left, the students challenge me to come up with a poem as well.

This year, the color no one wanted was brown...

Alas, poor brown
Though the color of chocolate
And cookies which delight my taste buds
You are also the color of dirt
Or earth or ground or mud
And while some extol the virtues
Of coffee and cola and hot chocolate
One is quick to remind us that
"Poop" is also within your realm
And where green stands triumphant
In the leaves on the trees
No one ever mentions your place in the bark
Nor that after those leaves have blazed
With yellows, reds, and oranges
It is brown they become
Like you, forgotten.
Oh, brown, poor brown
So neglected
They don't even let you join the rainbow.