Lincoln Elementary School Remembers
These poems were written by students in December
during an Artist-In-Residency with author Jane Kurtz.

THE FLOOD
by Tom Botsford, Grade 4

The hardest things
To throw away
Were my stuffed animals.
Before the flood,
my stuffed animals
Felt soft
And furry.
My favorite one was
My cuddly Mickey Mouse.
All of my stuffed animals looked So neat together.
They always smelled
Fresher than fresh.
Then the flood came,
All of my toys were wiped out. They felt sticky
And gooey.
All of my stuffed animals
Looked like brown pieces of junk. The brown smell of stuffed animals
Filled the air.
I saw the river
And it looked like mud Floating along,
Shimmering and
Glistening in the sun.
I touched rocks
And they felt hard
And wet.
I smelled the brown smell Of the water
And it smelled Like sewage
And it was dirty.
I heard the sirens
And they sounded
Like a loud foghorn.
I tasted steak
And it tasted
Tender
And juicy.

Floods are more destructive than I thought.
It's hard to get through lem.
People put their heads down, Cup their faces
With their hands
And sob.

MAKIN' IT THROUGH
by Hillary Heinz, Grade 5

It used to be that,
The daycare kids ran around and trampled on the carpet floor.
It used to be that,
We sled down the the ridged dike
Bumping from side to side, making slush by the minute.
Now we hear thumping sandbags jumping from arm to arm.
My dad said that the water would never trickle to our house
But I know now that even though people say things it's not always true,
And that water can change a person's life so much!

I was evacuated to Valley City.
Iwas worried as I thought about if our house was drowning.
I was worried as I thought about if there was anything to come back to.
I was worried as I combed my hair to go to "Washington Elementary.".
In my stomach it felt like a bomb was exploding.
My legs felt like they were in the next room.

As I was walking down the creaky stairs I put my hand
On the soggy wet basement walls that felt like a newspaper outside on a rainy day.
I know now what it is like to screech the wheel barrow down the driveway
To the big pile on the berm for the truck to pick up.
As I was looking at our "pile" I saw a little plaque with a poem on it about friends.
The print was slithering off.
It almost made me cry.

THE BIG BAD FLOOD
by Lucy Lowe, Grade 5

A while ago before the flood,
I liked to go down in my basement,
And jump off the couch on to a mattress, And pretend I was flying.

I also liked to set up
My Fisher Price village
In my basement
And play all day.

When we got home from evacuation, We had to clean,
Clean the basement that smelled Like mold and old gloppy gunk.

We also had to chip off the tile on the basement floor.
When the hammer struck, The floor went curploop.

The Red Cross food
was kinda gross.
It tasted like
old dried out things.

I looked around and
on the berms were piles and piles
of old flooded stuff.

I picked up some mud, It was like mashed potatoes
And applesause.

I saw my school
Get torn down.
I felt like crying,
but I did not.

I could talk
Forever and
Ever.
But I will not.

THE BIG, BIG FLOOD
by Zach Spicer, Grade 2

I saw my muddy basement.

It looked like dirty pond water.

I smelled my muddy basement.

It smelled like the sewer was plugged.
I felt my once contaminated toys.

They felt like really textured rock.

Itasted fruit roll-ups when I was evacuated.
Iheard about the fire.
People were worried and serious.
I had to be evacuated twice.
I felt nervous.

After we were evacuated the second time,

I thought we would have to be evacuated a third time,
But my aunt and uncle's was safe.

That's where we were staying.

I felt surprised

When my grandma and I were on our way back from the store.
We saw my dad walking so we picked him up.

He had been sandbagging.

I was embarrassed
When I went walking in puddles with my uncle
And my boots got stuck twice.
one boot came off right in the middle of a puddle
And I couldn't balance,
So I put my foot in the mud.
I had to take a shower and change my socks.

MOTHER NATURE'S TEARS
by Kathy Tingum, Grade 5

Before the flood
my school was happy.
There was always at least one kid Hanging around after school But now it was deserted,
lonely,
And sad.

When I saw my school,
It was so lonely.
A swing was swaying
back and forth really slow With a little squeak each time It went back and forth.

The doors were chained up making it look eerie.
It looked like no one
Had ever been at our school for years.
It's like the end of all those memories.

I heard shuffling
Of my parents feet
Iwas lying in my grandparents guest bed
Ilistened as hard as I could
To hear the news and
Hear my parents talking.
My parents talked in low soft voices And a little scared.

I touched some of the pictures
That were left in the basement.
They felt cold.
They stuck together.
Some of the colors had run.
They were pictures of my uncles
And aunts when they were teenagers.

I smelled my house
After the flood.
It smelled like salty sewer water.

I tasted some Salvation Army cola.
It tasted sour and sort of like Canada Dry.