"Tears of A Tiger" tells the story of high school student Andy Jackson who, while drinking and driving with his buddies, is responsible for the car accident that kills his best friend Rob. After discussing the loss felt by the entire student body, particularly Andy and Rob's circle of friends, we read Giovanni's poem and asked the group to think of either a loss they've actually experienced or to imagine losing someone close to them.

Inspired by Giovanni, the young ladies wrote about how their world would change without that special person present to share it with them.

My World Without You

If u were not here,
my world would be upside down.
My smiling face would
turn into a frown.
My everyday laughs
would be everyday tears.
My happiness would
become sadness.
If u were not here,
I don't know what I
would do.

Ashley Cox
Age 12
Family Focus Evanston book group

My World Without My Grandma

My world without you
is a bear getting shot in the chest.
You took me in
when my clothes were gray.
My world without you
is a train that fell of the track.
My world without you
is no food on Thanksgiving.
My world without you
is a book that's not getting read.
My world without you
is a girl trying but failing.
My world without you
is a girl at lunch eating food on the toilet.
My world is nothing.
When I wake up,
you're all I want to see.

Angela Thomas
Age 11
Family Focus Evanston book group

My World Without You (Shawn)

My world without you would
be like blindfolds over my eyes.
My world without you would
be like losing my child.
My world without you would
be like not having a world at all.

Anna Cowan
Age 14
Theolene Simpson Academy for Young Women

A world without you is not a world.
Without you there is no me.
Without you, how would I be?
My world without Serenity would
only be very empty.
If there is no you, it's like all
trees, grass and animals don't exist.
A world without you is a world without life.

Tenisha Sanders
Age 16
Theolene Simpson Academy for Young Women

Back to Poetry page

"I like writing poems because it's what I feel inside. I say what I feel in my poems.

Sometimes it's difficult to talk to someone about your problems, or if you just feel good. So in my poems I say what I want and feel."

- LFAOU book group member