In 2003, at Columbus Elementary School in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood, I worked with 4th graders once a week. One week, we wrote poems about rewinding the universe and finding the origins of things around us. What was a baby before it was a baby? An egg. What was an egg before it was an egg? Dust. What was dust before it was dust? An idea. and so on...there were some really wild spiraling ideas in their poems...
Origins
The car turns into wood and wood turns into a tree and a tree
turns into a root and the root turns into water and the water
turns into a seed and a seed, how can all things come from a
seed?
The door knob turns into iron and the iron turns into a
railroad track being torn down or maybe being torn
up.
The milk turns into a cow and the cow turns into a cattle
and the cattle turns into a lost cloud.
A letter turns into a memory and a memory turns into a
big Glob of Nothing.
Gianna S.
And Where was I?
The world turned into an egg again and then
into a rock. I was in the rock.
The board would turn into a rock and I
was in a volcano.
The clock would turn into a stick again and I
was a rock.
Chicago was a small fort on land and I was
on a mountain.
The White House would turn into sand and
I was in a store.
The sky would turn into water and I was
a tadpole.
The land would turn into sand and I was
in a tree.
The boat would turn into sticks and I am inside a
clam.
The light would turn into dark and I was in the
shadows.
The ocean would turn into land and I was in
a pond.
Tomasz B.
God's Breath
The house turns into bricks.
The bricks turn into dust.
The dust turns into air.
The air turns into God’s breath.
God’s breath turns into us.
Becky N.
The Origin of Humans
The humans turn into monsters.
The monsters turn back into big piles of goo.
The big piles of goo turns back into a green sun.
The green sun turns back into Venus.
Venus turns back into the Earth.
The Earth turns into a bird.
The bird turns into an egg.
The egg turns back into a human.
Jonathan F.
The Words
The seas turn into bees
The bees turn to E’s
The E’s turn to nothing
Nothing turns to air
Air turns to Jesus
Jesus turns to God
God turns to Christ
Christ turns to spirits
Spirits turn to hope
and hope turns to love
Love turns to wife
Wife turns to husband
Husband turns to dust.
Alexandra P.
Origins
Your words turn out to be air
The great lakes become ponds
My heart turns into sadness
A person becomes death
The devil becomes an angel
The teacher becomes a student
The world becomes a map
The picture becomes a country
Power becomes a spirit
Love turns into sadness
Earth turns into a singing bird
The teapot turns to water
A family becomes love
Ice becomes a book
The tree becomes a desk
The gold turns into silver
Khrystyna K.
Rewinding the World
My pencil becomes a wooden stick.
All humans become clouds.
The water becomes the sea.
One hour goes back to one second.
The world becomes a huge forest.
All chalk becomes dust.. This is what
would happen if we rewind the world.
Xavier M.
The class will turn into glass.
The city will turn into sand.
A pupil will turn into your eye.
The train will turn into rain.
Your hand will turn into your skin.
Alyssa R.
The air turned into solid gold
The wind turned into a whistling
Pole. My hair turned into
slimy stones. Five socks
made of gold break my bones.
A bird walks over the sea
10 fish turned into flees
A hippo couldn’t have broken
my knees oh please oh please
don’t change back, oh please.
Jasmine H.
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