Poetry Packet

The Summer Day

By: Mary Oliver
Who made the world?​
Who made the swan, and the black bear?​
Who made the grasshopper?​
This grasshopper, I mean-​
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,​
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,​
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-​
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.​
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.​
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.​
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.​
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down​
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,​
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,​
which is what I have been doing all day.​
Tell me, what else should I have done?​
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?​
Tell me, what is it you plan to do​
with your one wild and precious life?
The Rose That Grew From Concrete
By: Tupac Shakur
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
Midsummer
BY LOUISE GLÜCK
On nights like this we used to swim in the quarry,
the boys making up games requiring them to tear off the girls’ clothes
and the girls cooperating, because they had new bodies since last summer
and they wanted to exhibit them, the brave ones
leaping off the high rocks — bodies crowding the water.

The nights were humid, still. The stone was cool and wet,
marble for graveyards, for buildings that we never saw,
buildings in cities far away.

On cloudy nights, you were blind. Those nights the rocks were dangerous,
but in another way it was all dangerous, that was what we were after.
The summer started. Then the boys and girls began to pair off
but always there were a few left at the end — sometimes they’d keep watch,
sometimes they’d pretend to go off with each other like the rest,
but what could they do there, in the woods? No one wanted to be them.
But they’d show up anyway, as though some night their luck would change,
fate would be a different fate.

At the beginning and at the end, though, we were all together.

After the evening chores, after the smaller children were in bed,
then we were free. Nobody said anything, but we knew the nights we’d meet
and the nights we wouldn’t. Once or twice, at the end of summer,
we could see a baby was going to come out of all that kissing.

And for those two, it was terrible, as terrible as being alone.

The game was over. We’d sit on the rocks smoking cigarettes,
worrying about the ones who weren’t there.

And then finally walk home through the fields,

because there was always work the next day.
And the next day, we were kids again, sitting on the front steps in the morning,
eating a peach. Just that, but it seemed an honor to have a mouth.
And then going to work, which meant helping out in the fields.
One boy worked for an old lady, building shelves.
The house was very old, maybe built when the mountain was built.

And then the day faded. We were dreaming, waiting for night.
Standing at the front door at twilight, watching the shadows lengthen.
And a voice in the kitchen was always complaining about the heat,
wanting the heat to break.

Then the heat broke, the night was clear.

And you thought of the boy or girl you’d be meeting later.
And you thought of walking into the woods and lying down,
practicing all those things you were learning in the water.
And though sometimes you couldn’t see the person you were with,
there was no substitute for that person.

The summer night glowed; in the field, fireflies were glinting.

And for those who understood such things, the stars were sending messages:
You will leave the village where you were born
and in another country you’ll become very rich, very powerful,
but always you will mourn something you left behind, even though
you can’t say what it was,
and eventually you will return to seek it.
The Hollow Men

By: T.S. Elliot

Mistah Kurtz-he dead

A penny for the Old Guy

We are the hollow men

We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,

Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed

With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us-if at all-not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

II

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams

In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer-

Not that final meeting

In the twilight kingdom

III

This is the dead land

This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this
In death's other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

IV

The eyes are not here

There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places

We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death's twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.

Here we go round the prickly pear

Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning.
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception

And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long

Between the desire

And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
The Layers
BY STANLEY KUNITZ
I have walked through many lives, some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle
not to stray.
When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.
Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
to its feast of losses?
In a rising wind
the manic dust of my friends,
those who fell along the way,
bitterly stings my face.
Yet I turn, I turn,
exulting somewhat,
with my will intact to go
wherever I need to go,
and every stone on the road
precious to me.
In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
“Live in the layers,
not on the litter.”
Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.
1969
BY ALEX DIMITROV
The summer everyone left for the moon
even those yet to be born. And the dead
who can’t vacation here but met us all there
by the veil between worlds. The number one song
in America was “In the Year 2525”
because who has ever lived in the present
when there’s so much of the future
to continue without us.
How the best lover won’t need to forgive you
and surely take everything off your hands
without having to ask, without knowing
your name, no matter the number of times
you married or didn’t, your favorite midnight movie,
the cigarettes you couldn’t give up,
wanting to kiss other people you shouldn’t
and now to forever be kissed by the Earth.
In the Earth. With the Earth.
When we all briefly left it
to look back on each other from above,
shocked by how bright even our pain is
running wildly beside us like an underground river.
And whatever language is good for,
a sign, a message left up there that reads:
here men from the planet earth
first set foot upon the moon
july 1969, a.d.
we came in peace for all mankind.
Then returned to continue the war.
The Point of No return by Immortal Technique
Yeah, it's that real this time around
Immortal Technique, Revolutionary Vol. 2
It's on now, motherfucker, lock and load!

This is the point of no return, I can never go back

Life without parole, upstate, shackled and trapped

Livin' in the hole, lookin' at the world through a crack

But fuck that, I'd rather shoot it out and get clapped

I've gone too far, there ain't no comin' back for me

Auschwitz gas chamber full of Zyklon-B

Just like the Spanish exterminatin' Taínos

Rapin' the black and Indian women, creating Latinos

Motherfuckers made me out of self-righteous hatred

And now you got yourself a virus, stuck in the Matrix

A suicide bomber strapped and ready to blow

Lethal injection, strapped down, ready to go

Don't you understand they'll never let me live out in peace?

Concrete jungle, guerrilla war out in the streets

Nat Turner with the sickle, pitchfork, and machete

The end of the world, motherfucker, you not ready

This is the point of no return and nobody can stop it
Malcolm Little when he knelt before Elijah Muhammad

The comet that killed the dinosaurs, changin' the Earth

They love to criticize, they always say I change for the worse
Like prescription pills when you misusin' 'em, nigga

The Templar Knights when they took Jerusalem, nigga

And figured out what was buried under Solomon's Temple

Al-Aqsa,
the name is not coincidental

I know too much, the government is tryin' to murder me

No comin' back, like cuttin' your wrists open vertically

How could the serpent be purposely put in charge of the country?

Genetic-engineered sickness spread amongst me

My people are so hungry that they attack without reason

Like a fuckin' dog rippin' off the hand that feeds him

Immortal Technique is treason to the Patriot Act

This is the point from which I can never return

And if I back down now, then forever I burn
This is the point from which I can never retreat
'Cause if I turn back now there can never be peace
This is the point from which I will die or succeed
Livin' the struggle, I know I'm alive when I bleed
From now on, it can never be the same as before
'Cause the place that I'm from doesn't exist anymore

This is the point of no return, nigga, you better believe this

Mary Magdalene givin' birth to the children of Jesus

The evolution of the world, bloody and dramatic

Human beings killin' monkeys to conquer the planet

The kingdoms of Africa and Mesopotamia

Machine-gunnin' your body with depleted uranium

This is the age of microchips and titanium

The dark side of the Moon and contact with aliens

I started out like Australians: criminal-minded

Broke into Hell, tore it down, and built a city behind it

Southpaw, murderous methodology, nigga

Remember that I'm just a man, don't follow me, nigga

'Cause once you past the point, you can never go home
You've got to face the possibility of dyin' alone
So tell me, motherfucker, how could you die for the throne
When you don't even got the fuckin' heart to die for your own?

It rains acid, one day the Earth will cry from a stone
And you'll be lookin' at the world, livin' inside of a dome

Computerized humanity livin' inside of a clone

This is the place where the unknown is livin' and real

Wormwood to Planet X and the Seventh Seal

Universal truth is not measured in mass appeal

This is the last time that I kneel and pray to the sky
'Cause almost everything that I was ever told was a lie
[Chorus]
This is the point from which I can never return
And if I back down now, then forever I burn
This is the point from which I can never retreat
'Cause if I turn back now there can never be peace
This is the point from which I will die or succeed
Livin' the struggle, I know I'm alive when I bleed
From now on, it can never be the same as before
'Cause the place that I'm from doesn't exist anymore
Changes
[Intro: Talent]
Ooh, yeah (Ooh)
(Come on, come on)

[Verse 1: 2Pac]

I see no changes, wake up in the morning and I ask myself

Is life worth livin'? Should I blast myself?
I'm tired of bein' poor and, even worse, I'm black

My stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch

Cops give a damn about a negro

Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero

"Give the crack to the kids, who the hell cares?

One less hungry mouth on the welfare"

First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal to brothers

Give 'em guns, step back, watch 'em kill each other

"It's time to fight back," that's what Huey said

Two shots in the dark, now Huey's dead

I got love for my brother

But we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other

We gotta start makin' changes

Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers
And that's how it's supposed to be
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me? Uh
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids
But things change, and that's the way it is

[Chorus: Talent]
(Come on, come on)
That's just the way it is (Changes)
Things'll never be the same
That's just the way it is (That's the way it is, what?)
Aww, yeah-yeah
(Hear me)
(Oh my, oh my, come on, come on)
That's just the way it is (That's just the way it is, the way it is)
Things'll never be the same
(Never be the same, yeah, yeah, yeah, aww, yeah)
That's just the way it is (Way it is)
Aww, yeah (Come on, come on)

[Verse 2: 2Pac & Talent]

I see no changes, all I see is racist faces

Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races

We under, I wonder what it takes to make this

One better place, let's erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people, they'll be actin' right

'Cause both black and white are smokin' crack tonight

And the only time we chill is when we kill each other

(Kill each other)
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven-sent
We ain't ready to see a black president, uh
 (Oh-ooh)
It ain't a secret, don't conceal the fact
The penitentiary's packed and it's filled with blacks

But some things will never change (Never change)

Try to show another way, but you stayin' in the dope game (Ooh)
Now tell me, what's a mother to do?
Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you (Yeah)

You gotta operate the easy way

"I made a G today," but you made it in a sleazy way
Sellin' crack to the kids (Oh-oh), "I gotta get paid" (Oh)
Well hey, well that's the way it is

[Chorus: Talent]
(Come on, come on)
That's just the way it is (Changes)
Things'll never be the same
That's just the way it is (That's the way it is, what?)
Aww, yeah
(Hear me)
(Oh my, oh my, come on, come on)
That's just the way it is (That's just the way it is, the way it is)
Things'll never be the same
(Never be the same, yeah, yeah, yeah, aww, yeah)
That's just the way it is (Way it is)
Aww, yeah (Aww, yeah, aww, yeah)

[Interlude: 2Pac]
We gotta make a change
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes
Let's change the way we eat
Let's change the way we live
And let's change the way we treat each other
You see, the old way wasn't workin'
So it's on us to do what we gotta do to survive

[Verse 3: 2Pac & Talent]

And still I see no changes, can't a brother get a little peace?
It's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East
(Ooh, yeah)
Instead of war on poverty
They got a war on drugs so the police can bother me

And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do

But now I'm back with the facts, givin' it back to you (Ooh)
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up
Crack you up and pimp-smack you up
You gotta learn to hold your own

They get jealous when they see you with your mobile phone

But tell the cops they can't touch this

I don't trust this, when they try to rush, I bust this
That's the sound of my tool, you say it ain't cool
My mama didn't raise no fool (Oh)

And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped

And I never get to lay back

'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the payback
Some buck that I roughed up way back
Comin' back after all these years

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat,"
that's the way it is
[Chorus: Talent & 2Pac]
(Uh)
That's just the way it is (Just the way it is, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Things'll never be the same (Yeah)
That's just the way it is (The way it is)
Aww, yeah
(Some things will never change, oh my)
(I'm tryna make a change)
(You're my brother, you're my sister, yeah)
That's just the way it is (The way it is, the way it is)
Things'll never be the same (You're my brother, you're my sister)
That's just the way it is, aww, yeah

Some things'll never change