Las mamás con bebé, busy mailmen, featherless turkeys, invisible babies, and one-eyed dogs.

Guadalupe Morfín's poem "Las mamás con bebé" ("Mothers With a Baby") lists both practical and fantastical needs that might come to the aid of a mother with a baby. I asked the students to then think of their own "_____ with _____", a person with some kind of responsibility or problem, and a list of real and magical things that could help them. The results were varied, often hilarious and/or touching. One class got completely caught up with imagining elaborate “problems,” many of which had to do with being gruesomely maimed, strangely enough (“20 fathers who fall off of helicopters from 2,000 feet,” “The bus driver with no eyeballs,” etc.). They were also apparently obsessed with one-upping each other in terms of quantity (2,000 hamburgers, 30 Santa Clauses, 20 fathers, etc.). Exuberance.

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Ms. Vilchis, Rm. 202, 3rd grade

Invisible Baby
Zamira M.

One day I didn’t
find my brother,
then I heard a
voice. “Junior, where
are you?” “Next to
you. It’s because I
am invisible.” “That
is not true.” “Look
next to you and I’m
going to turn colors.”
Then I turned around
and I saw many colors.
“Where’s Mom?” said Junior.
“In the kitchen. Let’s go.”
“No. She is going to be
scared. I need a magic wand.”
“Here you go.”


A Turkey with No Feathers
Abel V.

The turkey needs a sweater
because he is cold.

The turkey needs feathers.

The turkey needs a school to learn.


Mothers with Babies
Daniel R.

All the mothers always have
a baby, sometimes
some mothers need to have
some elves to sing a song or tell a
story for the babies to sleep
and the mothers, too, so the
babies can sleep with their
mothers in the beds, so
the babies sleep when the
moms go to sleep, the babies
go to sleep too with their
mothers in the beds.

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Ms. Vazzana, Rm. 104, 3rd grade

My Mom
Vanessa G.

My mom needs to call the police
to chase my sister and call the
firemen to help her to change
her diaper.



About Mother
Maritza R.

My mom loves to play games and cars.
Mother eats some hot chile and popcorn.
My mother loves to be nice and good
and my dad loves to eat some pizza
and go to school.


Teacher
Luis M.

The teacher doesn’t need toys.
The teacher needs a computer.
The teacher needs a princess
to give her a pencil.

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Ms. Hamdan, Rm. B15, 3rd grade

Mailmans with Many Mails
Jordy D.

mailmans with many mails need
Santa to deliver some
a mailman needs only on email
to deliver
a mailman needs a wand to poof
the mail gone


A Mailman is Being Chased by a One-Eyed Dog
Andy L.

The mailman needs to buy a
fake eye so the dog could
stop.

30 Santa Clauses pop out
of nowhere and give him
a fake eye.

He buys the eye

and he gives it to
the one-eyed dog.


Untitled
Judith G.

Dogs that can’t find bones.
Turkeys don’t have colorful wings.
Cats that only smell dogs.
Snowmans don’t have a body.
Frosty doesn’t have an orange
nose; he has a pink rainbow nose.
The president doesn’t have hair.
Toucans don’t have big
long beaks.
Bamboos are really called
bambutts because they show
their butts.


Ms. J the Poetry Teacher
Giselle H.

Ms. J needs an assistant. She needs
one because her voice is tired of
talking. She needs a script with words
she’s going to say. Make that two
assistants: one to do the talking and
the other to give her the script.
She needs a robot to pass out
the poems. She has another problem.
She needs another pair of glasses
to see if someone is talking.
She needs a fairy to give her the money.
She also needs a cup of magic Coke
to give her lots of energy. If her
head ever goes wild we can shut her
up with chocolate chip cookies.


Professor
Sebastian C.

A professor that is late
for work needs a jet
pack to get there, but there is
one problem: his papers fell.