T&W Students Win Citywide Writing & Art Contest

Three students in an innovative T&W program that combines poetry writing with environmental science won awards in the NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection’s Water Resources Art & Poetry Contest.     

The students were participants in the “City of Water” poetry program, offered by T&W for the second year to 4th grade students at the East Village Community School in partnership with the Dept. of Environmental Protection. Students in the programs studied New York City’s water systems, learning about things like rain gardens and fatbergs. And they wrote poetry and created sculptures inspired by what they learned.

This workshop was led by teaching artist Libby Mislan. Libby is a poet and community-based artist in Queens, New York, whose own work is inspired by the natural environment. Her most recent poetry project, Queens Flora, was funded by Queens Council on the Arts, explored the plant life of the Ridgewood Reservoir. 

Below are the winning pieces created by the talented students in the City of Water program.

 

Connor C. (4th grade)

 

Oh, fatberg!

You are black,

like a dark hole

devouring planets,

You are as rough

as ammunition,

and as big as a dog.

You came to be

when wet wipes

went down the toilet

and mixed with oil.

You are in a pipe,

suffocating all exits.

You slowly stick

to the insides

of the pipes.

Please,

throw away the wet wipes!

Please,

don’t throw cooking oil

in the drain,

put it in the trash!

 

 

Sullivan W. (fourth grade)

Oh, rain garden!

The way you attract

all the squirrels

and birds in the park.

The way

you prevent floods

from destroying

people’s houses.

The way

you soak up

all that rain

from

an angry storm.

The way

you smell like

rosemary and sage.

The way

you look like

a beautiful bundle

of a variety of

scattered petals.

The way

you bloom in

the sunlight

and glow

in the night.

The way

you make people

feel joy

passing by.

 

Rain Garden sculpture by Natasha (fourth grade)