A Day at the Beach - National Poetry Month exercise, April 29, 2009, Pembroke Hill School, Mrs. Forest's class

Laughing, we ran on the hot sand
The damp beach under our feet
The glistening ocean before us
The girl backflipped, landing
on her feet; Ta-Da, like a dolphin
We were playing with the beach balls
Volleying over an invisible net
The dry sand burns. Splash!
Swim in the water, watch
for seaweed, sponges, jellyfish
The wind, the rocks, sand blowing
Walk down looking for shells, for glass
Salty air, wet in my mouth
The buckets and shovels on my towel
Sand everywhere, in everything
Rambunctious gulls, scream not so beautifully
A pause in wonder, the small world
shining in the tide pool
Starfish and seahorses excited in play
sea urchins dancing in suspended animation
Hot lying on the beach
Time to go home


April 29, 2009; May 4, 2009
a poem written from the words listed below,
on the board, shouted out, as Mrs. Forest’s
Third Grade class and I found poetry
in a Day at the Beach
The bolded words are the ones I used
from the list of nouns, verbs and adjectives below
The italicized words are those I added.
Written in about 10 minutes,
as a fun exercise for National Poetry Month
Pembroke Hill School
Pembroke, NH

Nouns
towels
ocean
beach
sand
shells
water
starfish
beach balls
buckets
people
sea urchins
shovels
wind
rocks
tide pools
sea horses
sponges

Verbs
swim
play
fish
lying
run
walk
talk
scream
yell
find
look
backflip
volleying

Adjectives
rambunctious
sandy
excited/exciting
laughing
wet
beautiful
hot
humid
dry
damp
shiny
glistening
salty