My Published Poems

Published Poetry

Below is a collective list of poems that I have been writing over the course of the last four months. Many of the poems are modeled or inspired by other literature or poets (as indicated at the bottom of each poem). I have included the poem itself, the writing process for the poem, and how others can recreate these types of poems.

A Desktop Background

The ocean meets the shoreline

the crash of distant laughter

salty mist and imagined coconuts

cording cocoons my body

how I wish I was nowhere else but here


-T. Queen, 3/26/20

My Writing Process for

"A Desktop Background"

Today I was invited to write this senses poem by my friends at the Anderson Reading Clinic. While we are enduring this time at home a few of the people there are having daily poetry workshops with students across the county and state! Today the invitation was to create a poem using all six senses. Sight, smell, touch, feel, thoughts, and sound. Using your favorite place as inspiration for the poem.

Recreating this Type of Poem

Mentor Text:

  1. Ask kids to identify their favorite places! You can also ask students about certain memories or family members.
  2. Have students take minute to think about their desired topic.
  3. Ask students to identify something they can/could smell, hear, taste, feel, think, see about that favorite place/memory/person.
  4. Once students have finished ask them to drop the "I feel", "I see", "I think" parts of their poem, leaving them with the most descriptive part of that memory.
  5. PUBLISH!

Dear Ms. Swift

Dear Ms. Swift,

I have loved you work for the last fifteen years, though maybe longer. You have inspired me and I appreciate this love you offer to the many people out there. Though we know that people can be mean and deserve a blank space on any kind of love story of ours, your words have pulled me through so many troubled times. From middle school to high school, and even at the age of 22. I feel like you have taught me to love, forgive, and just shake it off.

When I feel like I am dancing with my hands tied, you showed me just how easy it is to spot beautiful moments even on cruel summer days

Long Live,

Your Friend Tam

(Inspired by Charles Waters' Ms. Franklin.)


-T. Queen, 4/6/20

My Writing Process for

"Dear Ms. Swift"

Recently I have been reading "A Dictionary for a Better World" by Charles Waters and Irene Latham. Each day I read a new word to my students. We investigate each word and we talk about the type of poem form the authors used. Today, we talked about a epistle type poem. This type of poem is written in the form of a letter. Charles Waters wrote his epistle poem for Aretha Franklin because the word on that page was "Respect". I was inspired by this type of poem and decided to borrow Mr. Water's Poem and create my own version!

I created my poem based on my love for Taylor Swift! I borrow Mr. Waters technique of highlighting song titles and integrating her titles into my letter to her.

It was so much fun to write and I wanted to keep going!

Recreating this Type of Poem

Mentor Text: A Dictionary For a Better World (p 80), Charles Waters and Irene Latham

  1. For this particular type of poem - read students page 80 in A Dictionary for a Better World
  2. Have students think about people in their lives that they respect or cherish. Make a list and a reason why they respect them.
  3. Write a letter to those people, sprinkling in poetic devices through out the poem (alliteration, personification, etc)
  4. PUBLISH!

Look Closely

After Jaqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming

Look closely -


I see my Nannie

Looking jovial that her children are home once again - back in her arms.

You can count on her taking you in those arms and

kissing those spots she always deemed as too sweet.

You beg and pled under the laughter but she replies,

“i made it and so i can kiss anything i want!”

Her sophistication and love always have been my guiding light

as much as she said I was hers.


There is my mother with grace and innocence

that has followed her throughout the decades

and still shines her green eyes,

my green eyes.


There is my sister who shares

the same compassion

for justice and curls as I do,

yet we never will align ourselves with those passions, never at the same time


There they are all sitting and watching me, the women who shaped me and

carried me in their hearts and through their confidence.

There I am …

Beginning

(Modeled after Jaqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming)



-T. Queen, 2/2020

My Writing Process for

"Look Closely"

On page 12 of Brown Girl Dreaming, Jackie describes the photos she sees of her different family members and then launches into her "There I am" dialogue.

I wanted to give it a try and made a model of what I would do with students. I found some old family photos and used them to inspire my writing.

Recreating this Type of Poem

Mentor Text: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson (pp 11-12)

  1. Read students pages 11-12 in order to get an idea of what Jaqueline Woodson is talking about when she says, "look closely"
  2. Ask students what makes them who they are? Do you share this with anyone else?
  3. Have students brainstorm 2-3 people in their family and the attributes that they share (physical, emotional, personality)
  4. Have students start jotting these ideas in their notebooks
  5. Start forming words and phrases connecting themselves to those people
  6. PUBLISH!

The Short Collective Biography Experiment

I have scars in the form of holes in my ear lobes.

I have endured the pain of a paper cut between my fingers.

I have enjoyed the satisfying pleasure of peeling dried glue off my hands.

I have sported the multicolored silly bands on my wrist.

I have muddled through high school AP classes.

I have witnessed opossums both dead and alive.

I have played the “punch buggy no punch back” and “I Spy” games in the car.

I have never experienced the “fine dining” at the Sagebrush in Boone.

I have been placed in the category of “teacher’s pet”

I have had the pleasure of knowing multiple girls with the middle name Elizabeth.

(Modeled after, Amy Krouse Rosenthal's, Short Collective Biography)


-By: Shannon Anderson, Abby Edwards, Colleen McIndoe, Lilliana Martinez, Julia Yang, Lauren Fidler, Morgan Payne, Tamela Queen, and Grace Schmidt

My Writing Process for

"A Short Collective Biography Experiment"

Tonight I did this and had the most fun. It was something I needed more than I thought. It has been such a difficult last couple of weeks and when I was driving into town today I was disappointed in how negative I was feeling and behaving. I will be honest and say that I was confused at the directions when I first read this in the Textbook by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I was hoping to come today with more clarity and having the opportunity to make more sense of the directions.

Recreating this Type of Poem

Mentor Text: Textbook, Amy Krouse Rosenthal (pp 158-159)

  1. Ask kids to gather in groups of 3-4. Have someone in the group be a notetaker
  2. Through conversation. Find commonalities and "statements that are equally true" for all students in the group
    • Example: We have all seen Disney World
  3. Do this for however long!
  4. For each commonality create a line of a larger poem. (Utilizing poetic devices in each line + the commonalities)
  5. Have them name it: Short, Collective Biography
  6. PUBLISH!

The Collective Photo Experiment

My Writing Process for

"A Collective Photo Experiment"

This poem came to randomly. Also I do not know if others would consider this a poem, but I do. I think that poems can be anything that makes you feel more connected to people or things. This particular poem is an example of a moment of time across different parts of the state. One night while I was working on work, I was talking to my sisters and mom who all live in different parts of the state. It was one of those lucky times that just about everywhere in that moment had some sort of snow fall. I sent them a photo of Boone, then got one immediately back from my mom in High Point and so forth from my three sisters.

I thought how cool it would be to have a "moment in time" poem where all of our photos were combined!

Recreating this Type of Poem

Mentor Text:

  1. Have students decide on a certain time and day (preferable out of school)
  2. At that exact moment, have students record: thoughts, speech, happenings, for the whole duration (1, 2, 5 minutes)
  3. Once everyone gets back to school, they record what happened on the same paper
  4. Call it: A moment in time! Or whatever you like!
  5. PUBLISH!

Observational Butterflies

My Writing Process for

"Observational Butterflies"

When I created this poem, I used Georgia Heard's practice of the "six-room" technique. I had already found the my observational piece that I wanted to create, I just needed to figure out how to describe and write about it. As I was reading Georgia Heard's book, Awakening the Heart, she describes this six room practice. For me I liked this practice because it allowed me to compartmentalize each attribute of my observation. After that I used her advice and "picked words or phrases that I like or inspired further writing" and went to work


Georgia Heard's Six Room Technique:

Image light

sound questions

feelings Repeating words

Recreating this Type of Poem

Mentor Text: Awakening the Heart, Georgia Heard, pp

  1. Go on a nature walk
  2. Discover something beautiful!
  3. Use Georgia Heard's Six room Image Poem (you can even play around with the rooms, and don't feel like it has to be kept to six rooms)
  4. "See if you can create a poem. You can rearrange, eliminate rooms, words, or sentences. Just try and create a poem!" (Heard, 1999).
  5. PUBLISH!

Happiness

My Writing Process for

"Happiness"

I wanted to borrow Mr. Water’s strategy of focusing on one word. For me I focused on one emotion, happiness. I borrowed his style when borrowing this poem. For example I utilized his method of talking about the word at the end of his poem. I also used the strategy of showing the audience happiness rather than telling them that I am happy. I had to go back many times and rearrange words and count my syllables - which is okay I grew from my writing process! Here is my rough draft before I finalized!


Recreating this Type of Poem

Mentor Text: A Dictionary For A Better World by Charles Waters and Irene Lantham, (pp 58-59)

  1. Using a Dictionary for a Better World's or any type of tricube poem, demonstrate and read to your students
  2. Have the conversation about tricube. (Have them make inferences, read others, and see if they notices difference and similarities). *Hint tricube poems are 3X3X3 poems. Three syllables in each line. Three lines in each stanza and three stanzas over all.
  3. Thinking about a particular object, emotions, or an idea begin practicing your tricube poems!
  4. PUBLISH!

The Night Creeps In

I hear the sweet singing of days gone by

I hear the trees rustle as they are newly weighted with blossoming leaves

I hear the cat stretching her claws

I hear the waves of the creek splash against the banks

I hear the gears in my mind coming to a halt

I hear the night creeping in

My Writing Process for

"The Night Creeps In"

When I started writing today I was sitting at my desk and knew that I needed to be extra quiet so that I could listen to "The Night Creep In”. I set a timer for two minutes and wrote down all of the sounds I was hearing. I picked 5 sounds out of my list that I felt represented my night the best. After I formed my list of five, I tried to describe the sound as I heard it. I did not use alliteration or an onomatopoeia for this draft, though I might do that in my second draft. I did make sure to use the title as the last line of my poem and I used repeating starters for my lines.

I borrowed some of the strategies from the original author but I made sure to make it my own too. I am very excited about this poem and this style!


Recreating this Type of Poem

Mentor Text: How to Be an Explorer of the World & Anonymous Poem, Listen to the World For a Minute or Two

  1. Read poems like, "Listen to the World for a Minute or Two" or with repeated lines
  2. Talk about what the students notice or questions. Are there similarities?
  3. After making a list of the similarities and differences invite students to create their own poem using similar structures
  4. Read: How to be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith, p 57). Discuss the importance of listening to your surroundings and how that can be morphed into a poem.
  5. Have student sit in 2-5 minutes of utter silence and document the sounds they hear specifically
  6. Have students make a chart that says "ordinary" and "Extraordinary"
  7. Have students put the sounds they heard into the ordinary column and then have them make those sounds into extraordinary statements
  8. Have students sprinkle elements from the mentor poems into their poems such as, repeated line, the title as the last line, etc.
  9. PUBLISH!

So Much Depends On...

After William Carlos Williams

My Writing Process for

"So Much Depends On"

This poem was so much fun to make and was really challenging too! I just wanted to keep writing as I had so many things to say about an old, worn book. This would be an activity that could be implemented with all ages of students and on multiple occasions!

Recreating this Type of Poem

Mentor Text: Wililam Carlos Wiliams Poem, The Red Wheelbarrow

  1. Read the poem, "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos William.
  2. Have students note what they notice about the poem
  3. Make a list on the board/public area documenting what your students said
  4. Have them think about an object that bring purpose into the lives of many
  5. Create a poem that describes this object
  6. PUBLISH!