“Ode to the Art Room” – a Poem

Markers and crayons
Pencils and erasers
Ink pens and charcoal
Lots of colored papers:

Tracing and transparent
Posterboard and cardboard
Matboard, scrap, construction
Lots of supplies to hoard!

The materials for sculpture
Wire, newspapers, wood and clay
Papier-mache and ceramics
To be done another day

Staples, glue and masking tape
And a little duct tape too
Thumbtacks and adhesives
Did I mention all the glue?

Tempera, spray and oil
A wee bit of acrylic
Even some watercolors
So much paint from which to pick

Brushes are a plenty
Short and stubby, long and tall
Bristles real or synthetic
Got no place to store them all

Examples, books and artwork
To display on classroom walls
Finished and half-finished work
And some not started at all

Thus the picture of an art room
In all its cluttered fare
To see a spotless classroom
Is beyond a little rare

For the things inside an art room
Are treasures to behold
They may be dirty, used and stained,
But are worth their weight in gold.

An art room may be crowded
Unorganized, at its best
But to a teacher and her students
The results are worth the mess