Poetry
For the Holocaust unit, my 8th graders wrote a found poem using the text from their Holocaust novels. They chose from the following novels: Night, The Devil’s Arithmetic, Number the Stars, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Book Thief, and The Diary of a Young Girl.
*Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words and phrases from other sources and reframing them. The challenge was to keep the words they’ve chosen in the order as they appear in the text; however, students were allowed to add a few words or change the tense of the words, so that the poem makes sense.
“Keep Moving”
By Tate Meyer, English 8
Don’t think
Don’t stop
Run
I’m collapsing
Cannot run
Just a few more steps
Death enveloped me
Numb legs moved mechanically
No longer alive
From pages 86 & 87 of Night by Elie Wiesel
“Invisible”
By Anthony Schoonover, English 8
I marched on
At each step
Death surrounded us
Revolvers, machine guns, and dogs—
Everywhere else…
It was a beautiful day
From pages 48 & 49 of Night by Elie Wiesel
“Death’s Dilemma”
By Serdar Baysal
Increase the production of souls
Bodies don’t add up
They multiply
So many humans
So many colors
Get it done
Get it Done
From pages 308 & 309 of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
“Time”
By Walker Jurika
Gathered very close
Time in his hand
Nothing in the world
Would have persuaded him
To let go
From pages 212 & 213 of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
“J197241”
By Nathan Del, English 8
You are J197241
Life is gone,
Burned into her flesh
Live to remember—
Next!
From pages 100 & 101 of The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
“Her Son”
By Yongzhe Zhou, English 8
Lying down
Out of the question
When the door slid open
Gold, silver watches taken
Son deported
It completely broke her
From pages 32 & 33 of Night by Elie Wiesel