Lies, All Lies!!

For this week's class, I brought in one of my favorite poems, "Lies" by Eva Skrande:

I was a baby born in the arms of a tree.
I had no grandmother, not even
a father or mother.
The few caps I wore, I threw
into a headless river.

I was a boat born without food or wine.
I swam amongst the flotsam of stars.
I had only four fingers

to hold the moon.

I was a window, a church,
an old pair of shoes, an owl in martyrdom
of night.

I became a flower.
I had one ear to listen for enemies.

I became a song.
I became a heart, lucky and green.

I became a liar.
I rewrote my past.
On the last page of my life
I lulled the wind to sleep
in my arms.

...

We talked about why a poet might decide to lie in a poem, and in particular, why this poet decided to let us know that she was lying. Sometimes it's more fun and interesting to lie, and of course, we want to catch our readers' interest with our poems. But, more importantly, a poem is a safe place in which to make up outrageous lies - we can't get in trouble for lying in a poem, especially if we disclose that we're lying! So, taking a cue from the last stanza of the poem, I asked my students to re-write their life stories in lies. This was an exercise they just dove into - all their poems were awesome!


Mr. K, Rm. 204
3rd Grade

Anthony P.

I was born in Edgar's eyes and I was touching
Edgar's eye and when I was 9 I moved to Angel's
head, it was big! I was cooking in Angel's head
and Angel's head was on fire! And I moved because
Angel's head was on fire and I moved to David
and David's head had a lot of smart things
and I moved outside and see my mom.

Lies, Lies and Liars
Asil P.

I was born in France with no
hands or mother. I was the ugliest
person. No one liked me. I was trash
that was thrown away. I was a dime,
people spent me. I was a deer, I
was shot and eaten. I became
a flower, I got splat. I became
the maddest person in the world.
I became to start dying.

Alone
David C.

I was born in a forest. I only had
myself to care about. I was a tree at
night, wolves howled and tigers growled and
fought all night leaving me freezing alone. I
was the moon looking over my home.
I was dirt, ugly. I became a liar
but lucky too. I let the wind make
me sleep forever.

I am a Liar!
Reymundo

I was born in a lollipop
I licked my way out. The lollipop
tasted like cotton candy. When
I came out I was in candy land
I ate the mayor of candy land, he
tasted like a burned cookie. And
I became mayor of candy land
I ate all the candy except black
licorice - I don't like it. I ate all
the gingerbread houses and all ice cream
and the grass tasted like gum
the real bunnies tasted like chocolate
and I ate the gingerbread man
called Gingy. He was tasty. Then I ate
a snowman made of strawberry ice cream
until I saw an ocean of
hot chocolate then I saw
the biggest ice cream ever
with chocolate, strawberry and
all the different flavors of ice
cream in the world, when I
finished, I blew up

Michael D.

I was born in heaven.
I was an angel
Then I turned into a planet
I was candy
I was a liar
I was an alien
I was the solar system
Then I was a snake
I was a bumblebee
I was an ant
I was a list of names
Then I was a math book
I was a double decker bus
I was Tony when I was 3

Lies of my Life
Jossaira S.

I was born in Mexico.
I was born without a grandmother.

I was a leaf born without chlorophyll.
I was flying around the tree.

...

Ms. Sandoval-Johnson, Rm. 001
3rd Grade

Lies
Luis P.

I was born in the hands of Captain Underpants
and all he fed me was underpants
I had no grandmother, no grandfather, and
no mother and father
I was born with 4 eyes and 70 fingers
and 100 toes
I was born with 100 mouths
I was born so small that Danny stepped
on me
I was a gun so I shot Danny because
he stepped on me
I was Danny and beat me up so
Danny could feel the pain
I was Shawn and I stayed there forever
That's the
true story
of me...
Psyche!!!

The Liar
Alejandra I.

I was born with Santa Claus.
I was born with 25 toes and
11 fingers, I used those for people.
I was born with 3 noses.
I became a chipmunk chewing
houses.
I became a cupcake, but a
person ate me.
I became a monkey in a zoo.
I became a sun and I burned
people.
I became a bug and got
squished.
I was a famous Hannah
Montana singer.

I Lie to my Parents
Giselle S.

I was born in a beehive
I became honey and I was
becoming very juicy and they
sold me, I got scared. So they
didn't sell me. I got squished but a
dog came and ate me.

My Story About Lies
Roayma M.

I was born in outer space. I got burned by the sun.
I became Pluto in a barn. I became a book someone
ate me up. I became a robot and then I exploded.
I became a nerd, everyone laughed at me. I
became appetite, I couldn't stop eating. I became
a car, I ran over myself. I ate myself.
I became a monster, I ate myself. I became a
mom, I had a baby and it was a monster.

My Life Lies
Cesar N.

I was born in a clock with no tick tock.
I went to school, I was not prepared
I had no mom or dad so I grounded myself.
I turned weakling so I couldn't carry my
pencil to do my homework.
So my nose grew very tall for lying to
my cousin. So then I went to the clock
where I had no tick tock.

Lies About Me
Jasmine O.

I was born in a volcano in the arms of the
lava. I had no family or friends. The few caps I wore, I threw
into a headless river. I was a boat born without food or drinks.
I go into the shoes and back out again. I rewrote my past.
I became a liar. I told a dog all lies about me and my life.
I looked at the moon and I looked like a moon and I was
burning the moon.

Shawn

I was born in the army in Iraq. I got
shot 8 times. It was 9/11. My parents
are hippies. Then I moved to China. I
became a rat.

...

Mrs. Marfise, Rm. 002
3rd Grade

Life Lies
Veronica G.

I was born in Venus.
I had nobody in my family.
I could turn into a vampire.
I threw fireballs from my hands.
I flew to Mexico.
I ran to the North Pole and helped
Santa pack his toys.
I accidentally ate one of his elves.
I hate being a vampire.

Lies
Isabel

I was born with a cow.
I had no family except the cow.
I was born in the sun.
And there were kids full of fire.
I was born in a cake.
And the cake was delicious.
I was born in a feather.
But I don't really like feathers
getting in my mouth.
I was born in a chocolate bunny...
And that was the best part.

Liar
Uriel S.

I was born from Amores
body, I came out of her
eye. I went to Shields School,
they kicked me out. I had no
name, no dad. I thought I had a
dad. I lied to Ms. Santer to not
get suspended. I stuck a middle
finger to Lily. I live in a
piece of junk. I am 1,000,000,000
years old, I was still alive.
I told my mom, how dare
you give me no name. I
thought that I had a dad
because how could i be
born?

Andres E.

I was born in a panda's hands, they raised me
I became one of them, they hunted
me down. I became a caveman
I was poor, I fought, I died, then
I became a dinosaur - the T Rex - I
lost and died. I had my girlfriend
she had no parents, neither did I,
so I lived there. All we ate
was cereal, even though we
had a mansion. She kicked me out
of the mansion. I lived, I died.
I was a seal, I saw Miguel Diaz,
we fought, I won, but then we both
died, we never knew we
would ever see each other
Miguel and I, we were
cavemen again, we were
brothers, we ate chickens.
We both became hippies.

...

Ms. McCormick, Rm. 214
3rd Grade

Isabel C.

I was born in the
ocean. All I had to
drink was salt water. I
ate starfish. I saw a
mermaid. I was about
to be eaten by a gray
fat shark. I saw an eel,
I got electrocuted. I saw
an octopus. He sprayed me
with this P.U. stuff. I stand
really bad. Finally, I found
a family. I love them, they
are mermaids and a starfish
who is my dad. My name
is Fishica. For a pet, I got
an eel.

I Love You Lie
Denise N.

I was born in a little kid's
desk
I would eat
his sandwich
when he brought
a sandwich

I would tell
the kid to buy
me a sundae
every Sunday
and I would
invite my friends
to play snowball
fight

I would eat
the kid's nametag
every day, whenever
I wanted to and
the teacher would get
mad at the little kid.

Then I would
go to lunch and eat all
the food.

Omar N.

I was born in a cave
I was little, I turned
100, it looked like I was
9. I ate bats, I turned
into a vampire. I saw
a person, I drank their
blood, then I was a bat
I didn't know what to do
trapped in a cage, I felt
something, I was in a cage
I was silver, I saw my dad,
he was gold, my mom
was pink, my two brothers
were blue, we turned into a
bear, instead of the three
bears, the four bears,
I told my dad, where is
Goldilocks, he said I don't
know. When Goldilocks came
we turned into a bomb, we
exploded.

Ariana C.

I was born on top of a mountain
with no family and no clothes
I became a star
I became an adult
I met a person with
old shoes, t-shirt, pants, and
clothes for me
she was so nice
to get me something
I said "get me something
because I am poor, and
I don't have money or food
so I'm poor." She gave me
some stuff and she said,
"I'll give you money so you
can buy a house." She said,
Shoo-shoo
Bye!
And so I bought a house.

...

Mrs. Rodriguez, Rm. 401
5th Grade

House
Samuel V.

I was born on top of a house
I had no family
The roofs I had had gone
away.

I was a house without hands
and fingers.
I got torn down and never
was seen.

I was a church, a house, a farm house
made of wood.

I was a little house, I had nothing
to hear.

I had one big heart full of
love.

I was built again and was seen
again.

Vanessa F.

I was born in the water
My parents are lilies
I was sick of the water, so I went to
the zoo.
They kept me because they thought I
was a shark.

Outer Space
Sigitas A.

I was born on Glea 436B.
I was a star.
Then, I was a black hole.
But I had the heart of
a pulsar.
As you can tell, this is
a metaphor.

Lizeth H.

I was born on the bush, lived
with lots of grass and monkeys.
I was 10 feet tall and very small.
I was a girl full of trees
all over my body. That's
how I was born. I
was so smart.

...

Ms. Breen, Rm. 201
3rd Grade

Lies!!!
Julie G.

I was born in Mississippi in
a pencil

I had 50 brothers and sisters
and my parents were coconuts

I wear a lion on my
body

I was a paper, Paris, an
old t-shirt, and a frog.

I did have food
a bottle of juice and
bread.

I became a beautiful
liar. I rewrote my lies and
a monkey pulls me away.

My Lies to People
Kristal R.

I was born in a
cloud with no food or
ketchup to drink. I didn't
have a family because they flew
away on a cloud. I had a
skirt on with a long-sleeved
shirt. I was half animal
and half person. Later, I
became a whole animal.

Jennifer F.

I was born in the waves of the ocean
in a really quiet place
where there was no danger
No one was with me

I wore a little ripped shirt
some old dark little shorts
I only had three fingers
After a sharked swallowed me
But he burped and spit me out

Then I suddenly lived in a castle
and my cousin too
But my cousin was a princess ape
It was not funny. (giggles)

My cousin was funny and weird
when he was outside he wore his
underwear and inside his royalty suit.

Jose V.

I was born in a math book
I am 1 and my sister and
brother are numbers
2 and 3. I am a problem
and a solution. People count
on me.

Alejandro C.

What did you
become? A bed.
I was born
in the jungle.
I look like a
bed jungle.

Elizabeth

I was born in the arms of the moon.
I had no friends, not even a brother or a sister.
The few ribbons I wore became a stringy river.
I was a star with no toys or food.
At night I'd float above the clouds.
I'd tickle the sun with my 10 fingers.

I was a TV, a house
an old pair of pants and a cat in the black dark
night.

I became the grass, I had hair to feel people
and animals.
I became a pencil.
I became a heart, red and loving.

I became a liar
I wrote all my
lies. On the last
page of my heart
I lulled the clouds
to sleep in my
arms.