Last Night I Saw the City Breathing

Wow! Year 5 have amazed us this week, in the way they have appreciated and responded to a fabulous poem, by Andrew Fusek Peters. This wonderful poet used lots of personification (when something is described using human characteristics) and repetition (when words are repeated) to make his poem come alive! Peters also used the occasional rhyme, some alliteration and a simile to give us a really fine example of powerful poetry! Have a read for yourself...

Last Night I Saw the City Breathing

Last night I saw the city breathing

Great gusts of people,

Rushing in and

Puffing out

Of station's singing mouths.

Last night, I saw the city laughing.

Take-aways got the giggles,

Cinemas split their sides,

And living rooms completely creased themselves!

Last night, I saw the city dancing.

Shadows were cheek to cheek with brick walls,

Trains wiggled their hips all over the place,

And the trees

In the breeze,

Put on a show for an audience of windows!

Last night, I saw the city starving.

Snaking Avenue smacked her lips

And swallowed seven roundabouts!

Fat office blocks got stuffed with light

And gloated over empty parking lots.

Last night, I saw the city crying.

Cracked windows poured falling stars

And the streets were paved in mirrors.

Last night, I saw the city sleeping.

Roads night-dreamed.

Street lamps quietly boasted,

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a star!"

And the wind,

Like a cat,

Snoozed in the nooks of roofs.

by Andrew Fusek Peters