Tag Archives: Original poetry

Poem for anti-bullying week

Here is a poem written by Mia Delaney in 1A1 for anti-bullying week last week. Mia read this poem aloud at school assembly.

 

Anti-Bullying Poem

I don’t know why it started,
It caught me by surprise,
Classmates making fun of me,
Spreading rumours and lies.

At first it was nothing,
Just a few sly remarks,
But then it got worse,
Their words vicious like sharks.

I bottled it up,
I let it consume me.
It made me feel small,
And I didn’t tell my family.

I felt like if I told,
It would make me look weak.
So I continued on,
My life becoming bleak.

My personality shifted,
My grades started to fall.
A numbing pain spreading inside me,
I felt no happiness at all.

But then one day,
I had enough.
Enough of their words,
Hurtful and rough.

I couldn’t deal with it,
I was taking a stand.
This icy pain had to stop,
That was my demand.

So I told my parents,
And instantly felt better.
To my principal
They wrote a letter.

Soon enough
The teasing ceased.
And from my shoulders,
Pressure was released.

I soon became happy,
And found interest again,
In hanging out
With my friends.

No one deserves to go through that,
No, not anyone at all.
So if a friend seems out of sorts
Please just give them a call.

Poems written by First Year Students

First year students have been very busy already this year, writing poems on topics that are of personal interest to them.

One such poem was written by Ife Jawando on 28th September 2016 as part of Bullying Awareness Week in the school. Have a read of this thought-provoking piece of work:

 

I don’t know why I do what I do.
But all you know is that people hate you.
You try and try to change
I take my anger out on the firing range.

I try to be a better person.
But my situation finds a way to worsen.
I hear all screaming and crying.
If I said I was nice I’d by lying.

I get no attention at home.
People wish I was sent away to Rome.
Got a mum, but not a dad.
She is always so sad.

They say my temper is a fad.
I do not know why I get so mad.

 

This next poem was written by Ruairí Costigan on 30th September 2016. It is on the ever-present news topic of violence caused by drugs and gang feuds.

 

Gang Wars

Bang bang he is dead,
I wish we could’ve just broke bread.
In these gang wars no one is keeping scores.
For the battles I have fought
My family are being sought.
To them my kids’ lives do not matter;
From them I only hear
Sadistic laughter.
Good men’s blood drips from tables: 
Because this job is dangerous but the income is stable.
Good men’s blood drips from chairs:
This could’ve stopped with warning flares.
Good men’s blood drips from the wall:
May name it seems to call.
It’s a sweet adolescent sound telling me
Civilians are buried underground.
The voice is softly spoken – 
I reject it for my soul has been broken.
Nothing to me is trustworthy;
To my family I am unworthy.
I’m now counting my days.
I’m now a man that prays.
I know my soul is diminished.
I know my life is finished.
And it’s all for fame and glory,
This is how I must end my story.
I am sorry for my family – to you I lied.
I am sorry to the families of those who died.
I am sorry to those I made join my side . . . 

 

I’m sure you’ll agree that these are powerful and moving poem. They show the great potential that we have here in our First Year group – we shall be expecting a continuation of this high standard from them as the year progresses.

Six word stories

Ernest Hemingway, the famous novelist, was given a challenge to write a story in just six words. The result was:

‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn.’

Some of our first year students have tried their hand at writing their own six word stories. Here are some of the results:

Seven days of Easter made Ireland.
Fearghal Twomey

We lost friends; we won wars.
Ewan Costigan

I wish I could run faster!
Martin Idowu

Run and save your good life!
Gabriel Restegui

History – a thing of the past.
Evan Logue

Once a soldier; now a fighter.
Peter Coscoran

And then he pulled the trigger . . .
Alannah Ward

Mam! Dad! Will I make it?
Martin Idowu

False start: too fast to win.
Evan Logue

No more trees; no more money.
Joshua Gallistru-Slevin

Relationship status changed: ‘married’ to ‘divorced’.
Danila Bogdanov

Sold your soul for the fame.
Martin Idowu

Poetry Slam with the Transition Years

TYs had one of the highlights of their year today when Stephen Murray from Inspireland came to the school for a Poetry Slam workshop.

Stephen had a natural way with the students and allowed them to tap into the creativity that they never knew they had. He gave them the confidence in themselves to write poetry about their own lives and experiences while pushing them to express themselves in a way that was both resourceful and innovative.

Follow this link to read some of their original poems:

http://inspireland.ie/gormanston-college

‘On The Battlefield’ by Sean Ward

2nd year students have recently been studying a module on war poetry. At the end of that module they were encouraged to write their own war poems. Some students have produced excellent pieces of work. A range of them will be published here over the next few weeks. Here is Sean Ward’s poem:

On The Battlefield

I’m alone
On the battlefield behind a destroyed vehicle,
Sandbags surround me,
Saving soldiers from ugly deaths.
The sand – it reminds me of the beach.
The beach is the worst place to be:
You can’t run, you can’t hide.
Soldiers start to realise the searing pain
That is death. The soldiers,
They’re covered in dirt doing things
No one should do. They shout and
Shoot at people just as confused as they are.
Then there is me.
I continue the countdown to my death.
Me, just me on the battlefield. Surrounded
By carnage. Five, four, three, two,
This is the last thing I do,
One.

By Sean Ward

Sonnets, Shakespeare and Iambic Pentameter

While studying the poetry of  Shakespeare, we are becoming familiar with the sonnet form. At the moment we are focussing on one of the most famous love poems of all time: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 often referred to by its first line, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” It is a beautiful poem written to the Fair Youth dealing with the loveliness of the beloved, the effect time has on all and the power of poetry to immortalise the beloved. This is captured n 14 lines written in iambic pentameter and following a strict rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg.

Let’s refresh ourselves on what iambic pentameter is. In simple terms it is a line of verse with ten syllables grouped into pairs. Each pair of syllables has one soft and one strong beat.  Each pair is called an IAMB and there FIVE pairs – that’s why each line of 5 pairs is called IAMBIC PENTAMETER.  The rhythm in each line sounds like:

ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM
Here are some famous lines written in iambic pentameter:
If music be the food of love , play on.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
You’ll notice that each pair of syllables is made up of one unstressed and one stressed beat (ba-BUM).
Here are some good attempts by students at the college of iambic pentameter: Here is Jasper’s quatrain:
“Everyone wants to go out for fun
Wanna see the clouds, trees, and the nice sky
To play golf or take a bath in the sun
Go high above the trees and clouds and fly!”
Super work Jasper and great rhyme scheme!
Dennis also wrote a quatrain, while Jaime went full steam ahead and wrote an entire sonnet in iambic pentameter following the correct rhyme scheme!
Dennis’s Quatrain
  

Jaime’s Sonnet

More poems by 1A1

Nero – a Limerick by Oran

The Roman Emperor Nero

Wished to be known as a hero

But you don’t save a town

By burning it down

So Nero as hero got zero!

 

Football acrostic by Calum

Football fanatic

Over the fence and under the security guard

On my way to the stand

Team Arsenal all the way

Barcelona go back home

And when we score the noise will be immense

Left to right the play goes

Looming over the keeper, Van Persie must score.

 

Seagull acrostic by Adam

Standing on a fence

Evil bird

Avian thief

Gazing at me from his fence

Ugly creature

Living on a cliff

Landing on the beach.

More original poetry by 1A1

As well as The Year in Rap, 1A1 have been busy writing limericks, acrostics, kennings, haikus and even magic spells!

Here are just a few examples. More will follow in the next couple of nights.

Acrostic by Sami

Monday’s the worst,

On Tuesday it’s not too bad,

Ringing everyday, my alarm,

Never enjoy getting up on Wednesday,

I don’t mind Thursdays,

No time to eat on Friday because I

Get up too late.

 

Football Kenning by David

Wild crowds

Dirty mouths

Very loud

Great sound

Skillful goals

Determined souls

Managers screaming

Stadium heating

Late drama

Sweating like the Sahara!

 

Spell for Success by Steven

A bit of leather

And an eagle’s feather

A hint of black ink

A bit of dirty water from a sink

A drop of paint

And thoughts of a saint,

A glug of Cadet Coke

A toe of a smart bloke

A piece of clean paper

A hint of water vapour

A big computer RAM

The toenail of a lamb

Einstein’s brain

The computer system of a plane

Drink this for success

The chances of failing will be less!

 

Pupils of Gormanston Kenning by Seán F

Uncannily cool

Sometimes fool

Cleverly cocky

Lazily stocky

Brilliant school

Crazy pool

Weirdly quiet

 

A Spell for Taking Over the World by Conor Mc

Head of Obama

Feet of Cantona

Intelligence of Einstein

Power of all-time

Faith of a Holy Man

Powers of Spiderman

Bottle of Lucozade

Jar of Marmalade

Hair of Rooney

Hand of Henri

Snow of Lapland

Pride of Ireland

 

 

 

The Year in Rap – by 1A1

1A1 have been working very hard over the last couple of weeks writing raps about global news events. This work is inspired by flocabulary.com who write The Week in Rap each week and also write raps based on other areas of the curriculum. (5A2 really enjoyed the ‘Macbeth’ Rap!).

The task given to 1A1 was to write a rap of between 16 and 20 lines on news events, both global and Irish, that happened during 2011. Here is the finished product:

Group 1 – Sami, David, Sean F., Colm and Azad:

Steve Jobs is in the sky,

Oh how it makes me cry.

Gary Speed is dead,

Gadaffi was shot in the head.

We’ve got no money,

It’s seriously not funny.

Slovakia were denied

As Ireland qualified

For next year’s competition,

We’re a new addition.

The London riots were a shock,

People runnin’ round stealing things from the block.

Mary McAleese has left the Park,

Now Michael D. will brighten the dark!

 

Group 2 – Oisín, Robbie, Jack and Conor O:

What happened in 2011

While people looked down from heaven?

In Libya war causes people to sadden

Then comes the death of Osama Bin Laden:

That’s the end of the Taliban race,

Then Gadaffi gets shot in the face.

Angry Londoners raid and break

Then a tsunami in Japan, for god’s sake!

In Oslo people were shot –

Thank God the guy was caught!

The weird thing is that the police never came –

They could’ve saved more people – what a shame!

 

Group 3 – Steven, Calum and Conor Mc:

US troops retreat from Iraq

While they have Bin Laden under attack.

In 2011 came the iPhone 4S,

That brought even more success.

Then came the death of Steve Jobs.

And what’s with all those flash mobs?

Everyone knows what happened in Japan,

And about the riots in Londan.

So ‘Modern Warfare 3’ is brand new –

But everyone says it’s like number 2!

Obama, the US president,

Came to Ireland as a resident.

Then the Irish team reached the Euro tournament –

That  gave the Irish fans a lot of encouragement!

Now the year 2011 is coming to an end,

And the year 2012 is just around the bend!

 

Group 4 – Oran, Sean W., Adam, Daniel

It all started with a tsunami in Japan –

Many people ran;

A nuclear reactor was almost blown,

And many people lost their homes;

Tectonic plates colliding,

Caused people and places to go sliding.

Bin Laden finally came out of his cave,

Navy seals killed him with the intention to save;

For those poor people he was shot in the head,

But he wasn’t buried – was thrown in the sea instead!

In the summer London riots made it to fame,

And under-education and Facebook took the blame;

Shops were ransacked, cars on fire,

For the police, the situation was dire!

The Irish lads are no longer bad,

They’re in Euro ’12 against Spain (that’s bad!);

Torres is no match for Keane,

They’re sailing off to Poland – living the dream!

 

Well done lads!! Some great work here!!