Does anybody know of a poem that is at least 2 minutes long and is appropriate for middle school?

Answer 1

The poems I can find by the obvious authors that are available online, Shel Silverstein and Robert Frost, are too short. Indeed, there seems to be a rule that 20th century poems that are available online are only a dozen or two lines long, not long enough. (If you want to put together two poems, you might pass two minutes, but I assume there's a reason for your two minute rule.)

My current favorite accessible poet, however, Billy Collins, is both very accomplished and generally very appropriate for middle schoolers. Unfortunately, I lent my books of his to my brother because I wanted him to read them, and he's on the other side of the country. But he's very well known, any library will have one or more of his books, and I do remember that while most are shorter, a number of his poems, still accessible, are just the right length. See if you can find Questions about Angels, in particular. A lot of the ones in there are, as I remember, hilarious in their quiet droll way, and very accessible to kids without talking down to them.

Probably too short, but here are two examples that will give you a sense of his accessibility:

Snow Day by Billy Collins

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,
its white flag waving over everything,
the landscape vanished,
not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,
and beyond these windows

the government buildings smothered,
schools and libraries buried, the post office lost
under the noiseless drift,
the paths of trains softly blocked,
the world fallen under this falling.

In a while I will put on some boots
and step out like someone walking in water,
and the dog will porpoise through the drifts,
and I will shake a laden branch,
sending a cold shower down on us both.

But for now I am a willing prisoner in this house,
a sympathizer with the anarchic cause of snow.
I will make a pot of tea
and listen to the plastic radio on the counter,
as glad as anyone to hear the news

that the Kiddie Corner School is closed,
the Ding-Dong School, closed,
the All Aboard Children's School, closed,
the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,
along with -- some will be delighted to hear --

the Toadstool School, the Little School,
Little Sparrows Nursery School,
Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School,
the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,
and -- clap your hands -- the Peanuts Play School.

So this is where the children hide all day,
These are the nests where they letter and draw,
where they put on their bright miniature jackets,
all darting and climbing and sliding,
all but the few girls whispering by the fence.

And now I am listening hard
in the grandiose silence of the snow,
trying to hear what those three girls are plotting,
what riot is afoot,
which small queen is about to be brought down.


Introduction To Poetry by Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.




Hmm, had to add this by Shel Silverstein, just because I think it might engage some of your more reluctant poets, even though it's short.

Messy Room by Shel Silverstein

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

Answer 2

"IF"
by Rudyard Kipling

If your can keep your head when all about you are loosing their's and blaming it on you.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too.
If you can wait and not be tired of waiting.................