Issue 5.25 ~ knight times & our times
knight times & our times
Welcome to
WHISPERshout Poetry Magazine,
Issue 5.25, May 2025
Welcome to our 2nd issue for May! Here you’ll find new original poems by kids ages 4-12. WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO SUBMIT YOUR WORK, TOO, and to comment on what you read here.
This month’s issues all feature work exclusively by 5th graders. They had been reading about knights, castles and battles of the past and their poems imagine how these ideas connect to the present and even the future. The images used in this issue were available free through Creative Commons.
POEM #1
“Knights and Nights” by Kaitlin, 5th grade
We do probably all understand, by the time we’re 4 or 5, that there are two kinds of k/nights—but here Kaitlin plays with comparing nights and knights, both in the past and in the present: “Knights are old very bold/Nights can frighten/am I right? future and past”. Notice also how Kaitlin uses rhymes, tossing them in wherever they fit for the sound effect! The contrast between the historical slash and the present day yawn ends the poem on a comical note. Knighty-night! … zzzzzz
POEM #2
“What’s this to that?” by Leo U., 5th grade
Here’s a poem made mostly of questions—but not random questions! Instead, the poet Leo creates a chain of related ideas: toddler, kid, teen, mom, dad, cop, knight, queen, all the way to king, making us think about these relationships in a new way. And Leo doesn’t give us answers—he even warns us that there probably is no one right answer! Guess we better pay attention.
POEM #3
“The Metal Man” by Avono J., 5th grade
Here Avono tells a story in his rhythmic poem with a beat like a heart, even though his Metal Man’s heart beats and does not beat! Like Leo, he tells some and asks some, creating an interesting feeling of confusion—”it was not a robot at all?//he looked human?” Perhaps Avono wants us to wonder just who we can trust, just what is the real truth about someone…
POEM #4
“Once upon a Book” by Rachel, 5th grade
(content notice: battle & death)
Rachel wrote 3 related poems almost like, well, a book series! See how she used the same title for each volume in the series, but a little different? And notice how she writes in the voice of some warrior who “opened a book/looked inside” and “woke up”! Do you share that experience of opening a book and “waking up” as someone else? It might even be someone long ago and far away, who fights hard battles and experiences both friendship and fear.
POEM #5
“Europe” by Lilly E., 5th grade
Can you take a trip just by reading a poem? Lilly thinks so! Using colors, vocabulary, sights and tastes of four countries, she carries us across Europe in only ten lines. Brava, Lilly!
POEM #6
“Death and Peace” by Ivory, 2nd grade
Let’s end with a dramatic and powerful poem. Ivory combines big abstract ideas—things you can’t touch—like loss, glory, victory, legend and death, all sweeping over us like an angel of mystery. This is a great example of a poem that doesn’t make sense in the ordinary way, but does in the poetic way! And somehow, we land saying the word “peace.”
There are our six poems for this issue—which ones made you wonder about history, the past, the right-now present? Let us know by leaving a comment below! Look for our next issue in May…and maybe you’ll see YOUR poem featured! Click the SUBMIT button below to get started.
Thanks for reading!
The Editorial We
If you are a teacher developing a poetry habit in your classroom, you might find that each issue of WHISPERshout Magazine is all the lesson you need.
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