Request for poems

[stephantom.livejournal.com]

Hi, folks. I'd like to ask for some help, if I could. I'm a student teacher and I'm starting a unit on Monday... basically on the why behind this whole reading and writing thing. The need for communication, the power of written word to express one's perspective, experiences, identity, as well as to learn about other people's perspectives, experiences, etc... This is 7th grade, by the way. And the point is, I'm looking for poems that could be used to talk/think about how difficult it can be for people to really understand each other. People trying to understand each other, struggling, maybe failing...

I offer you one poem I've got so far:


A Single Slice Reveals Them
by Naomi Shihab Nye

An apple on the table

hides its seeds

so neatly

under seamless skin.


But we talk and talk and talk

to let somebody

in.