Issue 8.25 ~ poetry power collections
Welcome to
WHISPERshout Poetry Magazine,
Issue 8.25, August 2025
What is a poetry collection? It’s a group of poems written by one author and collected in a book, sometimes also illustrated by the poet. At the WHISPERshout Studio this summer, young poets worked for 5 mornings to choose a topic or theme, write a group of poems, and create artwork to illustrate their books.
WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO SUBMIT YOUR WORK, TOO, by clicking the “submit a poem” button at the right… and we encourage every reader to comment on the magazine down below! Which collection would YOU want to read from cover to cover?
POET #1 - Ada, age 6
two poems from CAT’S ADVENTURES
In this collection Ada tells a story in 5 poems—just like a verse novel, or just like poet Joyce Sidman does in DEAR TREEFROG. Ada introduces a cat who has tried one adventure and returned home—but is considering another. Look how few words Ada needs in “thinking about it” to create suspense and capture Cat’s mulling over her next move! And “the wild” shows what Cat decided (at least for now)—read it out loud to enjoy all the rhythm and rhyme!
POET #2 - Gray, age 8
two poems from IS FRIENDSHIP FOREVER?
In her collection, Gray did not exactly tell a story, but her five poems do follow a friendship from joyful connection through unexpected betrayal, to a situation between friends that is “Different now.” Gray skillfully uses similes—"like a ghost,” “like helicopters”—to describe feelings, and her illustrations add to the big emotions in her book.
POET #3 - Frances, age 8
two poems from A NEVER-ENDING STORY, AGAIN
Like Ada, Frances used six poems to tell a story—about a princess, a tower and a dragon (like the original Neverending Story). After a first cliff-hanger of a poem, we get to know Rose better in No. 2. As a story writer, Frances worked hard to tell less and show more in her poems with fewer words. She also looked for matching sounds when revising, as in “High upon her horse” and “Rose reveals red hair"—alliteration! And look at her rhyming couplet—two lines with the same rhythm and ending sounds!
POET #4 - Morgan, age 8
two poems from COLOR POEMS
Morgan’s color poetry collection was inspired by some we read, like the classic HAILSTONES AND HALIBUT BONES by Mary O’Neill and the much newer WHEN I COLORED IN THE WORLD by Ahmadreza Ahmadi. Here you see Morgan playing with metaphors and similes—”we are orange/jack-o-lanterns//we shine like sun rise night rise” to make surprising poems that are connected like crayons in a box: the same basic shape but very different moods. Do you have “grassy words” stuck in your mind?
POET #5 - Alexandra, age 8
two poems from ALWAYS ADD A SPLASH OF COLORS
Alexandra is another poet who filled her collection with linked poems that tell a story—a narrative in verse. (She also had only 4 days to work on hers, so not all pages have illustrations.) Alexandra made her fantasy story extra-interesting by talking directly to the reader and interrupting her own poems! Don’t you love the names she gave her characters, Colorlily and Blank/Colorlightning? “You betta love it!”
POET #6 - Florence, age 10
two pages from THE OLYMPIANS:
THE GODS IN THEIR GLORY
Florence was inspired by the Greek gods and goddesses she has met in the Percy Jackson series. She set herself a big challenge: to write a poem for each of the 12 Olympians, using the American school haiku pattern of 3 lines and a syllable count of 5-7-5. Here are ten of her final count of SIXTEEN haiku. Florence gracefully manages a whole range of tones in her short poems, giving clues to each god’s identity and offering opinions on their bad behavior. Her wordplay is skilled and funny: “marriage or mirage?”
Those are our six poets for this issue—maybe one jumped out as your favorite. If so, let us know in the comments below! Look for our next issue by the end of September…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 an issue of WHISPERshout Magazine is all the lesson you need.
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