I Hear America Singing

For extra credit, I gave the students the opportunity to re-write Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" based on their own "American experience." Here are two of the best, I'm way stoked about it, too.

I don't hear America, it is so quiet.
Everything is so colorless, boring and old.
No leaves on the trees, and it's awfully cold.
I don't hear America because no one speaks.
No one talks, dogs don't bark and birds don't tweet.
America sings, from Whitman I heard.
But that I can't say
Because maybe Walt was having a good day.
America is [sic], others may think,
But America remains cold, boring and dull to me.
-AW

I hear America crying, all the hurt being shed.
Those of fallen soldiers,
Each one dying while serving our America.
The mothers of young fallen kids
Dying on the street because of crime.
The man trying to work off all his bills,
While still hurting.
The boatman crying because he can't make the payments for his boat.
The shoemaker crying as he sits on his bench,
And then tries to stand as a tall man.
The woodcutter's sad song;
The plowboy's on his way in the morning.
The woman at work still having sadness in her eyes.
Each crying because they have little belonging to him or her
And to none else.
-TB