If Harvey were a girl, I would be so happy.  Harvey would be nice and cute and maybe she’d have a different name.  Her name would be Wendy, like the wind.  Her colors are pink and purple.

Wendy is going to play with me.  I like Wendy. She is going to have a pet that is a chick.  Her chick is named Wind.  The chick is blue like the water, but Wind does not like water.  She loves cupcakes and land.

Wendy and Wind like to play together and be nice to all the people.  Wendy makes hurricanes because she wants water for Wind to take a bath.  She surrounds everything so Wind will get wet.  Wind is sad when Wendy make hurricanes, and feels sorry for all the people that have to leave, all for taking a bath.  Wind also feels embarrassed.  But Wendy is sometimes sad, because Wind doesn’t want to take a bath.

By Lizbeth, 2^nd Grade

A blank paper is not blank at all,
it’s a balloon that floats me up into the sky.
Up here, I can see everything.

When I come back down,
I grasp my pencil, kiss the paper.
It cuts into what is blank
and changes into an explosion of light.

I see myself more clearly than I ever have before.
The picture stares back at me
waiting.

By Caitlyn, 7th grade

Click the media player above to listen to the poem read on KPFT 90.1 by MacKenzie, WITS Youth Advisory Council Student. The background music is “Balloons Rising” by A.A.Aalto. freemusicarchive.org. Produced by Susan Phillips.

Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.

It was a perfect square.
It had four matching corners
And four equal sides. And it was perfectly happy…
But on Saturday, the square was cut,
crumbled, and snipped.
So it made itself into a heart
that beats, loves, and keeps me alive.

By Raynisse, 1st grade

Click the media player above to listen to the poem read on KPFT 90.1 by Tori, WITS Youth Advisory Council Student. The background music is “Hearts Aflutter” by Podington Bear. freemusicarchive.org. Produced by Susan Phillips.

Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.

The shadow of whiskers like an invitation with the address missing. A fin
like jellyfish but more tulle.
Craterous tulle; black swan pirouetting on the moon.
Tulle skirt with cigarette burn holes; laddered tights.
Iron stain on tulle; muddy.
Burned tulle drowned; Ophelia enters
the water with her head split open.
It sizzles.
Light glinting off scaled arms like merman preparing for battle. Drape him
in tadpoles- a garland to keep. See that collection of freckles
by his elbow? It’s almost a constellation. Call it filtered sunshine on teenage boy
& it won’t come home with him.
An ink blot blossoms in the water. Looks like a smudge of blood on a war photographer’s lens
except there’s no war here. This is the moment –frozen– just
before.

By Rukmini Kalamangalam, Youth Poet Laureate

Click the media player above to listen to the poem read on KPFT 90.1 by Rukmini, WITS Youth Advisory Council Student. The background music is “Japanese Bagoda with Reflection in Water” by Lena Orsa. jamendo.com. Produced by Susan Phillips.

Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.

¿Por qué las inmensas motos no van a Hollywood?
¿Cuál es la ballena ruidosa que siempre va a cantar?
¿Dónde dejó la rosa su dulce olor?
¿Hay algo más triste en el mundo que árboles muertos?
¿Quiénes gritaron de alegría cuando nació el color rosado?
¿Cómo logró su libertad la casita de la muñeca lenta?
¿Trabajan la leche y el pan para dormir a una persona?
¿Y a las margaritas les agradezco por su rey?
¿Entre los pájaros posados en el nido cuál es el mejor?

Why don’t the enormous motorcycles go to Hollywood?
What is the noisy whale that always goes to sing?
Where did the rose leave its sweet aroma?
Is there anything sadder in the world than dead trees?
Who screamed with joy when the color pink was born?
How did the slow doll’s little house find its freedom?
Do milk and bread work together to make a person sleep?
And do I thank the daisies for their king?
Among the birds sitting in the nest which one is the best?

By Ashley, 3rd grade

Click the media player above to listen to the poem read on KPFT 90.1 by Jackson, WITS Youth Advisory Council Student. The background music is “Puzzle” by Fresh Body Shop. jamendo.com. Produced by Susan Phillips.

Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.

Bones everywhere
Bones fill my chest
You hang bones in my closet
I got sick and blew my nose with delicate bone
So tired I slept and my bed was made of bones
Drove to work in my car made of bones
There are bones beneath me
Bones blowing in the trees
The chandelier made of milky white bones
Picked up my phone made of bones and listened to the voicemail made of bones because her voice was no more
I cling to the bones
Bullets of bones
Bones under the floorboards
Bones growing backwards
I held your hand and you told me it was bones
Warm bone it was
Warm. So warm.

By Mia, 8th grade

Click the media player above to listen to the poem read on KPFT 90.1 by Rukmini, WITS Youth Advisory Council Student. The background music is “Skeleton in da Wardrobe” by ZRZ Beats. jamendo.com. Produced by Susan Phillips.

Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.

white
blossom
flower

alone
with
no
one
with
you

flying,
going
tree
to
tree

with
bees
going
to
you
drinking
your
nectar

you
are
like
velvet

By Hifsa, 3rd grade

Click the media player above to listen to the poem read on KPFT 90.1 by Rukmini, WITS Youth Advisory Council Student. The background music is “Flower Dance” by DDmyzik.  jamendo.com. Produced by Susan Phillips.

Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.

The ocean shouts out
with all the courage it has.

The ocean dives down
with glory pounding in its heart.

The ocean loves deeply
with all its might.

The ocean glows
when the sun shimmers on its waves.

By Elena, 2nd grade

Click the media player above to listen to the poem read on KPFT 90.1 by Jackson, WITS Youth Advisory Council Student. The background music is “Ocean Time Blues” by Septahelix. ccmixter.org. Produced by Susan Phillips.

Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.

(Inspired by René Magritte’s The Healer (Le thérapeute), 1967)

Oh, Mary, oh Mary, what do I do?
I have a rib cage—a real cage, too!
Birds are inside me.
I’m like a jar!
I have a bag full of seed for the birds I feed,
but the birds will never—oh never!—come out!

Even the times I put seed on the ground,
they still will not come out.
I wait for an hour, maybe two,
but they just peck at my cage.

Mary, help me! I feed the birds
a tuffin. Rejected.

My relationship with the birds
has given me a rib cage
and a chest full of feathers.
My cane is made of bird feet!
You must help me.
My cape is torn because of their beaks.

By Helena, 4th grade

Click the media player above to listen to the poem read on KPFT 90.1 by Tori, WITS Youth Advisory Council Student. The background music is “Nice Bird” by Short Hopper. ccmixter.org. Produced by Susan Phillips.

Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.

My voice is a whorly wind picking up houses, Toto, and Dorothy, whipping through the calm night sky.

A strong storm is my soul, sweeping through towns and sloshing colors everywhere I go.

Most times, my imagination is the beginning of the universe, the big bangs of colors spewing colors, making planets and sun.

The future is a square, grass green cactus storing lots of water inside for droughts.

Her hair is a slide, so slick, silky and slippery, I fly down.

By Sadie, 4th grade

Click the media player above to listen to the poem read on KPFT 90.1 by Ella, WITS Youth Advisory Council Student. The background music is “Talk to the Wind” by @nop. ccmixter.org. Produced by Susan Phillips.

Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.

Red can be a highway
that leads to
glory,
love,
fame,
and family.
Red can be a
door to a
whole other
world!
Red can be as
sweet as tomatoes,
as happy as an apple.
Red can be anything you
choose it to be.
It can be as small as a mouse or
as big as a lion!
Red can be the fire in your soul.
Red can’t be distressed or dismantled
only misunderstood.
Red.

By Jack, 5th grade

Click the media player above to listen to the poem read on KPFT 90.1 by MacKenzie, WITS Youth Advisory Council Student. The background music is “Crimson Clover Crystal Star” by Lenny Wiles. jamendo.com. Produced by Susan Phillips.

Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.