(Preview)
Up and Away with Words for Change is the fifth edition of the Voice2Youth anthology, a diverse
compilation of poetry and prose, gathered from students living in urban Texas. The content of students’
writings has been kept intact and typed as written. However, in a few instances, minor editing was used
to correct spelling and grammar.
The Thank You Darlin’ Foundation (TYD) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit. Our mission is to help
children experience academic and personal success by providing opportunities for those in need to
discover and strengthen their talents, skills and character. All funds from the sale of this anthology help
to provide enrichment for children in need.
Thanks for your support!
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written
permission of the publisher. For permission requests, write to the TYD Foundation at the address below.
Send all questions to:
The Thank You Darlin’ Foundation
1300 Gendy Street, Suite 268
Fort Worth, TX 76107
(817) 306-4441
This project was sponsored in part by: The Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County Texas
Commission on the Arts
Copies are available from the Thank You Darlin’ Foundation at
WWW.TYDFoundation.org
© 2014 The Thank You Darlin’ Foundation. All rights reserved.
Inspiration
The cover of this anthology was inspired by Jesse, a third grader from South Hi Mount Elementary
School in Fort Worth, TX. He thought of a remarkable way to spread peace around the world. His idea
was sparked by an open discussion in class about an acrostic poem called Peace. Jesse made a
suggestion to contact a famous athlete to ask for help in securing a blimp. He imagined his class using
the blimp to fly across countries dropping copies of the Peace poem. Then he proclaimed, “When people
catch it and read it, they will know peace.”
Review of the Study of the Acrostic Poem
I anticipated attending a session on the acrostic poem, what it is, and how to write one, but
what I observed was much more. It was certainly a poetry lesson, but it was also a lesson in
teamwork, a lesson in how to make the world a better place, and a vocabulary tutorial. The
fourth graders were handed an acrostic poem written by Ms. West, director of the Thank You
Darlin’ Foundation entitled “Peace.” In its five lines, the poem defined peace in an easy-tounderstand manner which included the concept of unconditional love. The second line gave Ms.
West the opportunity to explain the meaning of unconditional. As she did, one student
paraphrased the meaning of unconditional love as non-stop love.
Poem:
People all over the world living in harmony
Each one teaching one the meaning of unconditional love
Accepting without exception all humankind
Caring for our neighbors like we care for ourselves
Erasing the love of power so we know the power of love
Another line allowed the instructor to differentiate between “accept” and “except,” thus
moving the students’ vocabulary instruction further along. Life lessons included the idea that all
people are our neighbors and that to love each other results in a better life than does loving
money. The children enjoyed chanting the lines assigned to their team, much like children enjoy
cheering at football games, thus enhancing the notion that sports they love have many of the
enjoyable social-interaction attributes of poetry. As they chanted their lines, they always said
first the letter that prompted the line they chanted. I felt this reinforced the nature of the
acrostic poem. Could one of the students turn around now and write an acrostic poem? I think
so. In fact, I think they would get into it rather quickly so they could reap the reward of chanting
the lines. It turned out that reading a poem about peace showed that we can live in peace and
enjoy doing it. Working (in this case, chanting) together is easy with the correct motivation.
Author: J. Paul Holcomb
Bio: Paul has degrees from McMurry University (B.A., major in math and minor in English,) and
SMU (Masters of Applied Science in computer science.) Paul is a past president of the Poetry
Society of Texas and is the current president of the Poets of Tarrant County.
Acrostic
Change
Cruel is wrong. It hurts people.
Help people that are being bullied. It’s tearing the world.
Amazing is the definition of you and don’t let no one change that.
Name calling is mean and hurts people’s feelings.
Greatness is what you do because you’re the best.
Enemies may change, but don’t let it affect you.
-Melissa Torres, 5th grade
South Hi Mount
Haiku
People laughing out,
living a colorful life,
clouds so light and bright
Juan Guerrero, 4th grade
T. A. Sims
Free Verse
Change the World
Change the world by getting rid of drugs
And building up nature
Spread good thinking just like rugs
To save the whole world
Everybody make good decisions
And not what they know is wrong
Keep things from becoming extinct
To hear the exotic bird’s song
Everyone would use the recycling way
To keep trash away from landfills
Use the method every day
To help change the world
-Hannah Clinton, 4th grade
F. D. Moates Elem.
Free Verse
Dustpans and Thimbles
Don’t gather your dust pan too soon,
Don’t sweep away these stanzas I’ve composed to stick to you.
Like the finger of the 10-year old boy who just taught himself how to hand sew his own tongue into your
shoe without a thimble,
He did not have to sell his soul, you merely bought it, slipped that suede onto your foot and not once
wondered whose soul you were stomping on.
Let this be no shock, nor be it a surprise;
The cell phone in your pocket was made by a child, who was swept into poverty and placed in a dustpan
you’d retrieved from your pantry too soon.
The sticker “Made in Taiwan” is his signature and his enslaver is this country,
His plantations run low on supplies and this little boy will soon go hungry
His mother clothes your back and his father is a miner, in his country, labor laws do not protect minors,
so he pushes thread, assembling your footwear, and it seems with every seam, he stitches up his optics,
losing sight of his dreams,
Because he’s been awake for 36 hours.
Blistered palms and bloody fingertips are quick to devour,
A 10 year old’s hopes of an education,
Maybe if he could read and write, he’d have stopped himself from slaving away for Satan…meaning
America of course.
Signe here, sign there, terms of agreement holds a list of grievances he never learned to draft,
He sleeps on stone floors with broken glass as sheets
No jumping on the bed, unless you want to lacerate your feet,
He’s quiet in his sleep, but sings symphonies of agony in his sleep
He is hurting, the scars on his fingertips are burning, and his memories are stuck on repeat;
Every morning he wakes up hungrier than he went to sleep,
He wishes he weren’t alive;
It’s insane to think of a 10 year old boy who just wishes to die
So you don’t think of it
But this life is what you make of it, but this boy isn’t making it
He’s just working a job and he can no longer tell
The difference between his sweat and his tears,
He’s breathing through exhaust pipes, careful not to suffocate on his bad dreams
When they get so real,
He can no longer stand reality, so he returns to his bedroom with nightmares as a nightcap to wake
Dehydrated again.
He is starving,
But it’s only alarming
When your alarm goes off in the morning.
He is hurting,
But it’s only concerning
When the sole of your shoe gives you blisters,
Now he’s gone,
And the only thing you have left of him,
Is a sticker,
“Made in Taiwan”
-Dillion Youngblood aka Malik Gratts, 9th grade
Chisholm Trail High School