Collage Poem

A Poem by Kaylyn

In fifth grade I broke my hand. It was during the climbing unit in gym class. My friend and I were competing to see who could climb the speed wall faster. We had a sub that day instead of our normal gym teacher so he wasn’t as authoritative with the students and he wasn’t as experienced with helping the kids with the climbing wall. I was the first one to climb the wall that day. When I go to the top, I shouted down to him that I was ready to come back down. A couple of boys were messing around and the sub was distracted. I didn’t know this so I let go ready to rappel back down. I fell from the top of the climbing was and hit the ground. The lower half of my body hit the padding and my upper half hit the floor. My hand karate chopped the ground and I broke it.

Trees tower above us. Their long trunks, covered in bark, stand firm. That is until a storm hits. Most trees stay standing but the others fall. The stumps where the large plants once stood are splintered. The leaves that were once green and full of life are now brown and crumpled. Those trees are dead. But they becomes a new home for animals. They become a playground for children as they climb over them and use them like a balance beam. And after years of serving the purpose of a home or a fun place to play, those trees will become one with the earth again as they decompose.

In a cave in France, 176,000 years ago, a group of Neanderthals arranged large stones in circles. The meaning of this is a mystery, but they showed signs of being burned. This could have been for warmth, protection, or as a part of a ritual. This stone circle was found deep in a cave and shows that Neanderthals went underground and far from light. This discovery is sparking debate about the previous understanding of the intelligence of human predecessors.