Friday, April 15, 2011

the middle is the end and the beginning

In our school district, teachers have been teaching (and testing) for 9 weeks straight without a day off, and if you count all the way back to January, for 15 weeks with only a couple of 3-day weekends to catch a breath. This middle day of April is the end of one butt-kicking passage of time, and the beginning of the most exciting, most needed Spring Break I've had in...in...in EVER. We're going to Costa Rica!


I'm thankful that I'll still be a presence during NaPoMo, thanks to TOMORROW's post by Gregory K featuring "The Playroom Floor Writes a Novel" at 30 Poets/30 Days, and thanks to Laura Shovan at Author Amok, who is including a new poem of mine in her NaPoMo project featuring Maryland poets TODAY!

For now, in honor of both the wildlife I hope to encounter in Costa Rica and the lifestyle I hope to enjoy there, a classic by Theodore Roethke:

The Sloth


In moving slow he has no Peer.


You ask him something in his Ear,

He thinks about it for a Year;


And, then, before he says a Word

There, upside down (unlike a Bird),

He will assume that you have Heard--


A most Ex-as-per-at-ing Lug.

But should you call his manner Smug,

He’ll sigh and hive his Branch a Hug;


Then off again to Sleep he goes,

Still swaying gently by his Toes,

And you just know he knows he knows.


~ Theodore Roethke


Today's roundup will find us all wrapped up in noodles by Diane Mayr at Random Noodling.

9 comments:

  1. I hope you enjoy your time away and that it is most slothful!

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  2. I love this poem! And I love the cute/ugly faces on sloths, too. I envy you your vacation. Have fun!

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  3. after the word 'hobo' (which i like simply for its sound) i love the word sloth and all it implies. i don't always think of it in a negative way either. sometimes i rather prefer to sloth.

    fun poem, thanks for sharing. enjoy that much-deserved spring break!

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  4. Have a great vacation! Sounds wonderful. I enjoyed the sloth poem. Let us know if you see any.

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  5. ...and let us know what they tell you! My hubby and our 16-year-old son are heading to Costa Rica in June (Surf Camp). Have a wonderful trip!

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  6. There's a wonderful video clip from the Favorite Poem Project of a fifth grader reciting this poem:
    http://www.favoritepoem.org/videos.html

    Enjoy your trip to Costa Rica!

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  7. Hi, Heidi. I hope you get some sloth-like rest in Costa Rica. Enjoy, my dear! See you tomorrow at CityLit Festival.

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  8. Enjoy your vacation! Two weeks to go before our testing and our spring break long gone. However, we ARE looking forward to our earliest end day ever -- the Friday BEFORE Memorial Day! Glory Be! I think we'll make it!!

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  9. Sounds like you're having the time of your life. You deserve it!!!!

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Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!