Poetry Break! NCTE Award Poet - Lilian Moore

Introduction: Before reading the poem ask the students to call out what makes their neighborhood special. Read the poem.

Mural on Second Avenue
by Lilian Moore

Someone
stood here
tall on a ladder,
dreaming
to the slap of a
wet brush,

painting
on the blank
unwindowed wall of
this old house.

Now the wall is a
field of wild grass,
bending to a wind.

A unicorn's grazing there
beside a zebra.

A giraffe is nibbling a
tree top
and in a sky of
eye-blinking
blue

A horse is flying.
All
right at home in the
neighborhood.

Extension:
Continue talking with students about what makes their neighborhood memorable whether it be a park, a garden, or a house. Ask students to compose a poem about his or her favorite neighborhood feature. Another option would be a discussion about how an artwork or mural makes them feel and how it changes a neighborhood.

Reference:
Moore, L. 2004. MURAL ON SECOND AVENUE, AND OTHER CITY POEMS. Ill. by Roma Karas. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN 0763619876