What will school be like for you and your family this year?
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images
What will school be like for you and your family this year?
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images
A new semester has started. Think about what goals you have set for yourself as a student or teacher.
NPR resident poet Kwame Alexander asks you to think with intention and write a poem about one of your goals.
Keep it to 10 lines or less. The first 6-8 lines are all you have to do for this grade, and the last line or two is the one goal you want to work on.
For inspiration, Kwame Alexander provides an excerpt from Maya Angelou’s poem. women’s work.
I had my children taken care of
clothes to mend
floor to mop
food to shop
then fry the chicken
baby to dry
I got to feed the company
weeding garden
i have a shirt to press
Tots dressing up
cans to cut
I have to clean up this hut
Then look at disease
So what do you want to achieve this year? Set non-negotiable goals.
“Maybe you want to make your classroom more tidy, or show your students a poem,” says Alexander.
“Or I want to read one book every day, or I want to make one person smile every day.” morning paper Host Rachel Martin suggests.
Share your poems using the form below. Next, Kwame Alexander will quote dialogue from a piece of your work and create a poem crowdsourced by the community. The poem will be read on air and published online, with contributors credited.
This callout ends September 1st at 5pm.
By providing us with any transmissions, you agree to participate in National Public Radio (“NPR”, “we” or “our”):
You are submitting content as part of a Morning Edition call related to a segment where Kwame Alexander creates his own poems based on listener submissions. You understand that Kwame is submitting Content for the purpose of using that Content to create a new poem or poem (“Poetry”) with the Materials submitted by you. must be 18 years or older.
You retain copyright in your Submission, but you may not authorize NPR and/or Kwame Alexander to edit, modify, use, excerpt, publish, adapt, or otherwise create derivative works from your Submission. You agree to create and use your Submission or derivative works in whole or in part. General use of Submissions or Poetry in any media or format and/or for journalistic and/or promotional purposes. We may allow others to do so. Poetry created by Kwame Alexander is a new creative work and may be distributed through NPR’s program (or other media), and poetry and program may be copyrighted separately. I understand there is. Your Submission will not plagiarize or infringe any third party’s copyright, moral rights, or other intellectual property or similar rights. You have not copied any part of your submission from another source. If your submission is selected for inclusion in a poem, you will be recognized on her NPR’s list of contributors to her website or receive appropriate credit, but it is your responsibility to not do so. shall not be deemed an infringement of rights.
Your Submissions are governed by our General Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. that statutory exemptions to journalistic activity or freedom of expression, as described in our Privacy Policy, may override any privacy rights you may otherwise have; Please be aware of.
This story was produced for radio by Jivika Verma.
