POEMS INSPIRED BY LANGSTON HUGHES

 

 

MEMORIES 
 
I have a dream,  
That memories could last forever.  
We could remember 
When cuddling against our dogs,  
Or holding your friends hand,  
Before they go.  
I would want to hold fast to memories,  
Before they could leave by my blank.  
Holding onto memories 
Is a special thing people could do.  
And I wish that the special dream  
Comes true.  
 

Sarah Adler 
Ella Baker

 
DREAMS  
 
Hold fast to dreams.  
that I can go back to Africa  
Where I was born  
I miss my people there  
Hold fast 
to my African family  
They made me laugh. 
My New York family 
Lives in my heart and brain  
And I love the Congo where I was born  
 

Antonia Ciatto 
Ella Baker

 
PEACE  
 
When I hear the word “peace” 
I think of me and my sister 
in my grandma's hot tub.

“Peace” is what comes to my mind 
when I think of birds being a couple 
and heaven, hearts, and finally rainbows.  
 

Lucia Finchelstein 
Ella Baker

 
PEACE  
 
We want peace  
And we want no conflict  
And no pointing and saying, “he did it” 
If the rumors spread, 
It’ll be junk in your head!  
So we want peace 
And want no conflict 
and no pointing 
Saying “he did it”  
 

Will Kelly 
Ella Baker

 
HOLD FAST TO PEACE  
 
Hold fast to peace  
For breath to relax 
So you can relax 
For air and peace 
Can make other people be calm and peaceful  
 

Nathan Primo 
Ella Baker

 
PEACE  
 
We trust their spirit  
dead people there 
high or low 
we did not care we did not care 

inside sadness they could not see who had gained 
the victory  
 

Rehema Yung 
Ella Baker

 
LET THE SHOWER 
 
Let the shower kiss you  
The shower can wash away the Corona virus 
Which makes people sick  
Let the shower wash away the virus  
Let the soap and the shower rub off the dirt  
 

Micah Rosaldo 
P.S. 368

 
HOLD FAST 
 
Hold fast to a patch of fur. 
Comforting but a big blue.  
Hearing a sudden noise, a lullaby with a choice.  
Hold fast to yourself.  
But then...you are alone... until softness. 
You run with legs but feel less.  
Look once, you see milk twice. It loves you.  
Open your eyes for the first time... the fur is no longer a blur. 
A big slick cat!  
 

Ava-Kai Sanai Price 
P.S. 368

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ICE CREAM 
 
I love ice cream.  
Vanilla is my flavor,  
So sweet and so cold.  
Tastes like a sunflower.  
Ice cream melts in your mouth and becomes my life.  
 

Gabby Martinez 
P.S. 368 

 
HOLD FAST 
 
Hold fast to Pikachu  
I don’t know which pikachu  
Me too. 
There can be two, 
there can be more.  
Let’s do a chore, 
then we can go on a tour. 
I had a very good time with you, Pikachu.  
Hold fast to Pikachu.  
 

Nolan Breister 
P.S. 368 

 
CHANGE  
 
Change 
I have a dream for a change  
My dream is change 
World change 
Change 
The world needs change That’s my dream 
The poems ends 
Just as it began 
Change  
 

Ilyriana Kapaj  
Talented & Gifted 

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HOLD FAST  
 
Hold fast to family  
before they fade  
Without family 
Life is a bed not made  
Hold fast to family for if they leave  
Life is a weaver that cannot weave  
Hold fast to love 
It is so sweet 
It is a dove 
Giving a melodic tweet  
Hold fast to love 
It is the best 
Make sure your love  
Will never rest  
 

Lee Rekem  
Talented & Gifted 
 

CHAOS  
 
Chaos leads to world destruction  
Opposite of peace 
With no care or affection  
Everyone  
against each other  
Everyone 
without 
a lover  
In the end 
all turn downward  
when people try to lend a hand  
a violent woman takes the crown  
 

Arisha Zaynah 
Talented & Gifted 

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FEBRUARY  
  
Between the months  
January and March 
Between spring and winter 
Between rain and snow 
Between indecisive and poetic  
 

Averill Oxborough 
Talented & Gifted 
 

RAIN  
 
Rain,  
falling on your door 
roof and face 
bam, bam, bam 
Rain pounding like bullets 
slicing through everything 
rain everywhere you see, 
until you find the sun smiling at your face  
 

Emilio Napiza 
Talented & Gifted  
 

DREAMS  
 
Dreams. 
We all dream. 
They are our hopes and fantasies, 
Our ambitions and goals. 
They lift us up when feel down, 
They fuel our engines as it helps us to keep going. 
However, as strong as they seem, some are fragile, 
Some start to thin under the weight of reality, 
Our fantasy becoming fiction, 
Hopes that turn to dust, 
Ambitions that turn dry, 
The world is not fair, 
As the rough fingers of Life start to wear our dreams down, 
Sometimes our engines run out of gas, 

And sometimes we stay feeling down 
Down, 
Down, 
And down, 
As our dreams get lost in the pits of darkness. 
Though some Dreams are fragile and turn to dust, 
They are stubborn and never leave, 
They can be small and still be there, 
They can be crushed but there are still pieces, 
Pieces that still wait to be put together, 
Small dreams that wait to grow big, 
Dreams hold on as they are forever in our hearts, 
So let me ask you, 
Are you as loyal as your dreams? 
It all depends on you, 
Will you keep dreaming? 
 

Ugochinyere Agbaeze 
East Side Middle School  
 

HARD WORKING 
 
What happens to a person who does try 
 
Do they gain everything they work for 
does life just go their way? 
Everything they need 
Theirs, wow, it really sounds like a good thing 
It’s never bad and always good 
But do they always get it all? 
 
Maybe they aren’t entitled 
They just get it all. 
 
Or do they always get it all? 
 

Mateo Juan 
East Side Middle School 

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THE THOUGHT KEEPER 
 
Bring me all of your dreams, 
You dreamer 
I am the keeper 
The keeper of all dreams 
The bad ones  
The nightmares 
Of killing  
The good ones 
The sweat ones 
Of love 
 
The dreams flow through the sky 
Following the path of all dreams 
As they come to me they blast through my mind 
The love 
The hate 
The sorrow 
 

Michael Sacca 
East Side Middle School 
 

 
IMAGINATION 
People say creativity melts away, 
like a young ice cube on a hat day. 
Imagination is just for children they say, 
you laugh and play, then it all goes away. 
 
But we draw, we write, we even can play, 
it’s just the way you see it, 
the way you don’t want it to stay. 
 
Imagination is in you, 
it’s not a struggle to find. 
Just see the world in a whole other way.

 
Amanda Solari 
M.S. 74Q 

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