Year 9 World of Writing

World of Writing (WOW)

This piece was written in WOW, a Year 9 elective that has been designed for students who enjoy reading, and are seeking an enriched exposure to literature and enhancement of their writing skills. In this particular lesson the writing prompt was an article from The Paris Review titled ‘Ode to Gray’ by Meghan Flaherty.

We read the piece together and then the students wrote their own odes. Evie’s ‘Ode to Bugs’ was a class favourite, so we thought it deserved a wider audience.

Ode to bugs

Hi there

Hop on my hand, you six-legged beauty,

And see the world from up here.

It's different, isn’t it?

Not quite as pretty as down in the grass

Or up in that tree over there.

Off you go

Plastic wrap wings flapping a million times a minute

With a gentle buzz

Disappearing over the fence

To nibble on the neighbour's veggie garden

Only to be snapped up by that magpie on the roof

Will you see it before it gets you?

With those mosaics for eyes

The world

A hundred times over

In dazzling colour

Or will you go without knowing it?

A brush of feathers

And the world is black

No pain or regret

Your last thought being those delicious strawberries that you were going to eat

Or it could be a thought about life

About how all the magpies in the world are out for you

So you have to eat as many strawberries as you can

Or it could be about that hand 

The hand that you let go of to fly to your end.

Evie M

Year 9