Reverse Golden Shovel Poems

Reverse Golden Shovel Poems

I am not sure there is such a thing as a Reverse Golden Shovel Poem. A Golden Shovel poem works like this: You take a poem you like and copy it down. You choose one or more lines you like and write those words down the right hand side of the page. Then you create your own poem making sure the words you wrote down the right hand side are the last words in the line. Notice I didn’t say sentence. I was trying to do that and couldn’t get it to work. When you need to learn something you go to the source. So I got in touch with Helen Frost who advised me to get Nikki Grime’s book “One Last Word”. It is full of Golden Shovel Poems.

I will post the golden shovel poems tomorrow on the blog. Today I had students take one of the following quotes and write it down the left side of their paper and create a poem from it.  I told them it is like a cross between an acrostic and a golden shovel poem.  So enjoy my students’ work.

Here are the two quotes I gave them:

“Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.” – James E Faust

Honesty Shapes Humanity by Natalia M.

Honesty creates trust and hope. It

Is what holds together a family, a friendship. It is

More than just what is true. It is more powerful

Than the strongest of men. It defeats secrecy, not abundant but still there, it lives in us all.

Lying is an escape.

 It helps some to cope with a fear of being hones.

Is this how we choose to live?

Truth opens door o friendships and learning. 

Telling the truth gets you through those doors.

Truth is what is genuine. What is real.

Speaking it relieves pain.

Truth is the instant antidote.

Living it sets you free

And guides you ona path to a beautiful future.

Truth can hurt, but that can change when you learn to be 

loving understanding and kind.

Honesty by Sam M.

Honesty is important in life and so

Is treating people with kindness, with

More kindness in the world there are more smiles 

than frowns.

Not interrupting when somebody is speaking is polite.

Lying when you do something bad is naughty,

It is dishonest and it

Is better to tell the

Truth. Simple things like

Telling somebody “you look nice today.” Can lift people’s spirits. The

Truth is it’s not very hard to be nice. When

Speaking to adults just remember to include yes mam and yes sir. The

Truth is, it’s not very hard to be kind. If you’re

Living life like it’s your last day on earth, there’s no time to be mean

And rude to the people around you. Telling the

Truth, being kind, nice, polite, and

Loving are the easiest ways to make a difference in the world.

Honesty is Powerful by David I.

Honesty is powerful. It

Is what

More leaders lack

Then we would like to think. It is

Not something everyone is born with, but

Lying is quite the same.

It is what makes the strong, strong. It

Is what cements trust. The

Truth is more powerful than guns, as

Telling the truth could end all wars. The

Truth is

Speaking out when no one else will. The

Truth is claiming responsibility, no matter the consequences.

Living cannot be done without honesty

And hate cannot exist without distrust. The

Truth can unite us as

Loving unites a family.

Honesty Is by Sam M.

Honesty is what everyone needs in this world. Honesty

Is the most incredible ting on earth. Honesty is

More than just a simple word or phrase. Honesty is much, much more

Than what many think it means. Honesty is

Not a way of getting out of trouble, it is a way of solving trouble.

Lying is when you don’t want to tell the truth because you are afraid. But honesty,

It is a supernatural force that brings light into darkness, hope where there is none. Honesty

Is a force that is essential to life. Honesty is the purest form of

Truth, but it is more than just sticking to the facts. Honesty can move mountains. It is

telling your opinion on something with confidence and security. Honesty is

truth in its most powerful form. Honesty is

speaking out rather than speaking inside. Honesty is not simply the

truth. Honesty is a force that breathes hpe into dead things to bring them back to the

living. Honesty is the true victor in the run of life. On

and on honesty goes, saving millions from the shackles of torment. Honesty is the

truth that is wholesome and pure, with no mistakes. Honesty is

loving the world and taking it for what it is. Honesty is what we all need.

Honesty by Ruth A.

Honesty is the best policy they say but

Is it

More than just a saying, more

Than words itself? But

Not actually doing it, yet

Lying about something you did

It can cause pain. But

Is it all the

Truth not just pain but being lied to.

Telling yourself it’s going to be okay, when the

Truth is you don’t know, you try to

Speak about it but the lie comes out not the

Truth. It’s hard to imagine because you’re

Living it not dreaming it,

And the honest

Truth is nobody knows if it’s true or not so you just  keep

Loving until it’s gone.

The Way the World Works by Elizabeth D.

Honesty creates your image. It

Is the difference between good and bad It gets 

more lost every day. It is worth more

Than anything else. It only takes one to

Not be trusted.

Lying makes you the other person.

It can destroy relationships. It

Is the key to happiness.

Truth should run the country instead

Telling lies do. The

Truth is, people don’t care about

Speaking the truth. The

Truth can be too hard to admit.

Living in lies becomes easier

And that is the way of the world.

Truth can be the difference between loving and hating each other.

“Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” Elie Wiesel

Power by Elizabeth D.

Silence is what

Encourages

The power form the 

tormentor. That is what allows them to

Never become

The 

tormented.

Silence by Phillip S.

Silence

Encourages the fear of the unknown.

The silence of apathy can help the

Tormentor escape but

Never free the tormented.

The ones who’ve shown no sound not only hurt the

Tormented but soon enough they become one of them.

Ignorance by Nirian L.

Silence fuels the ignorant. It

Encourages the sinister thoughts of those who inflict

The pain that they have had onto others. The

Tormentor dehumanizing all they choose to not accept

Never understanding what’s truly right and what’s wrong.

The fabrications they formed in order to cope with their own problems. The

Tormented never escaping the imprisonment set upon them.

Night Thoughts  by Ingrid P.

Silence at night in the lonely dark, is what

Encourages my thoughts to come at me.

The thoughts that I try to keep away. He is the

Tormentor of my mind. He is

Never around wen there is light, but

The slightest bit of darkness makes him appear, making me the

Tormented soul.