Ok, so I was planning to write about going to Amy Spalding’s book launch for The Summer of Jordi Perez (it was great! Amy is as funny and fun as her books! I won a Hello Kitty button!) and/or how my student told me (again!) that he loves my class because he’s now no longer scared of college (seriously made my day), but I just wrote the most brilliantly terrible poem, and Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” was the Google doodle for today, so I have to celebrate poetry.
First, my poem:
Heart Eyes by Akilah @ The Englishist
like a single emoji
your face
fills the screen of my heart
I mean, seriously. How could I not share that? IT IS PERFECT.
And here’s Maya Angelou reading one of my favorite of her poems:
She actually changed the first line of the poem in her recitation. I prefer the original. Here’s a link to the text that starts with “Pretty women wonder where my secret lies,” which I love, though I get why she would change it.
And here’s a poem that one of my students shared with me many years ago:
Also, if you haven’t yet, you should totally watch Louder Than a Bomb, which is a love letter to teaching, poetry, AND teenagers. So you know. Get on that. I know I’ve shared poetry from it before, so here’s one I think I haven’t shared yet:
I am also currently reading Jason Reynold’s Long Way Down, which is a novel in verse. So I’m killing National Poetry Month so far is what I’m saying.
The Englishist 
Loved this Akilah. Love your poem! Love Maya Angelou, of course! Have also seen the OCD poem video. My late husband suffered from OCD, which meant I suffered too. When I heard this poem, it just triggered me so much so I won’t watch it again. Will come back to watch the last video though, when I have more time. Thanks for sharing!
Deb
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The last poem is definitely not about OCD, so I hope you do watch it. It is really good.
And Maya Angelou is the best.
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