Monday, March 16, 2015

forward...inCH!

Welcome to a new week of the Forward...MarCH CHallenge!  I hope participants will forgive me; I had hoped to round up last week's poems and statistics on Sunday, but a number of obligations (not least a sunny and mild afternoon!) made that impossible.  So let's plunge in--not too deep, maybe just 2.54 centimeters or so--with today's word, "inCH."

I can't go an inCH farther without mentioning Leo Lionni's Inch by Inch, a really philosophical, challenging, beautiful book.  If you haven't read this one by one of my top five picture book authors, do check it out!

My aim has been to use these -CH words as verbs, so here goes...

How Deep Is Your Love?

Inch 
by
inch
and foot by foot,
strawberry licorice
down the hatch!

My  
favorite 
food—
it is so goot,
inching into
my stomatch!
 

HM 2015
all rights reserved

Oh, what foolishness.  I'm pretty sure you all are going to do better than that; Diane already has.  Hers is a foodie inCH too:

Pinch an Inch

The inch of flesh
at my waist
has expanded
to several more.
With age comes
wisdom and I'm
wise enough to
know the only
pinching I should
be doing now is
grandbaby cheeks.

--Diane Mayr

To add to that wisdom, Diane would like us to relive Special K commercials of the past.  I'm so amused!

Kindly add your inCH of wisdom in the comments or by email, and thanks for joining me on our little-by-little journey through MarCH!

**********************
Next we have a couple of sleepy inCHes, first from the very busy--HEY!  CHarles!  C-H-arles!  No wonder he's so into this...

MORNING DECISION

Galvanizing myself
To leap into this journey
Of math tests, science quizzes,
The enigma that is cafeteria food,
Evening laundry and backpack
Breaking homework.  I mentally
Say, get up, get up, but don’t
Even shift an inch out of my fetal
 Position, blankets shielding me from
Winters frosty open arms.

(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

Love that very familiar middle-school voice.  And if it's a frosty school morning tugging at Charles, it's a late night walk else tugging at Donna:

Inch

I gave them an inch
they took a mile
my eyes were closing all the while
I gave them a mile
they wanted three
my brain was dozing happily
I gave them three
they wanted more
and I began to softly snore
the more they got
the more they plead
Oh, dogs, I need to get to bed.
This walking in my sleep to do
the things for you you want me to
Has got to stop so I can rest
And tomorrow I can be my best
so go to sleep like I am, see?
and be the best that you can be.

Donna JT Smith, 2015

Mary Lee is just crackling with comments this morning (she must have slept better than I) and offers us this hopeful...

springtime inch

an inch of green
above the brown
where just last week
was snow

makes me believe
in hidden things
like nature's urge
to grow

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

That reminds me of another hopeful emergence of green, this poem by Barbara Baker.   It's happening in front of my house right this second--I can hardly contain my excitment! Kate joins in with an entomological inch:

Inch

Scatterdy skitter,
here comes a critter.

When you are a small bug
an inch is a mile.

When you are a spider
an inch is a smile.

When you are the spidered
an inch is a flinch.

Deep in the web
an inch is a pinch.

You suddenly find out
what you have to pay—

then you wish you had
skittered the opposite way.

—Kate Coombs, 2015

Love the shifting perspectives in that one!  Carol is here too, with a poem about a vintage treasure just big enough to occupy her heart:


You inch your way into my heart
with movable eyes and memories.
Inch by inch, I scan your petite frame,
reminisce about your history,
and recall when you were lovingly
given to me once upon a year.

Each winter, you grace my home.
With 20th century charm,
you find a way to bring back a time
when a mother passed on a treasure
to her child for her children's pleasure.

The hearts you wear emote feelings
of love once released upon a tender,
heart-filled moment on a winter's day.
Your tiny hearts fill the room with a
lifetime of thoughts as you inch
your way back into a drawer
to rest in memories.

2015 Carol Varsalona. All Rights Reserved

Joy comes along with an intriguing couplet:

All my inches
are goldfinches.

Cor blimey, Donna is on a roll this month!  In addition to the below addition to her first "inCH" poem, Donna sent me two other poems for Saturday and Sunday, too!  And in Round Two of the March Madness Tournament, she's waiting to learn the outcome of the voting.  May I suggest Donna's theme song for March?


No mere inches there--more like light years!

Spring Inches

Little by little

Spring inches in;

Snow has to lose

Sun has to win.

The clock hops forward,

Shadows inch back;

The spring sun warms,

Ice starts to crack.

Liquid and solids

Mingle and flow;

Puddles appear

With nowhere to go,

Until I carve

Inches of grooves

And water begins

To trickle and moves

Where I've created

Rivers with stick,

and they have no choice

which route to pick;

For I am the master

of rivers and moats

and all of the little

stick and leaf boats.


©Donna JT Smith, 2015

For Saturday, a grouCH poem:

Grouch

I'm really trying to be calm, but I can't find my sock.
I thought it was still early morn, but just look at the clock.
It's getting late, no poem done and now the storm begins -
I'm walking backwards all day long, on needles and on pins.
I need a break from nothing done, I need to stop and rest.
I've sat behind this glaring screen and tried to do my best;
But now the puppy has a shoe, and I must stop and scold -
I think the fire needs a log, the house is getting cold.
Don't mean to grouch!  What attitude!  Put on a big, ol' smile,
And maybe that will change my mood in just a little while.
This smile "becomes" my attitude, I'm happy it's in charge.
Where is that chocolate ice cream? This smile deserves a large!

©Donna JT Smith, 2015

 And for Sunday, a snowman watCH poem:

The Heart of Snow
heart of snowman watch
for spring's sun rays to arrive
when all cold hearts melt
Donna JT Smith, 2015
Go Poets Go!

8 comments:


  1. Inch

    I gave them an inch
    they took a mile
    my eyes were closing all the while
    I gave them a mile
    they wanted three
    my brain was dozing happily
    I gave them three
    they wanted more
    and I began to softly snore
    the more they got
    the more they plead
    Oh, dogs, I need to get to bed.
    This walking in my sleep to do
    the things for you you want me to
    Has got to stop so I can rest
    And tomorrow I can be my best
    so go to sleep like I am, see?
    and be the best that you can be.

    Donna JT Smith, 2015

    ReplyDelete
  2. Heidi, I take my licorice black, but now my stomaCH is wanting some, thanks to your poem! Diane, I almost wrote about that midriff inCH (insidious devil). Donna, I played with "give an inch," but it took a mile. CHarles, my aCHing shoulder does not let me linger in bed (gotta go CHat with my doc about that).

    Here's my springtime inch:

    an inch of green
    above the brown
    where just last week
    was snow

    makes me believe
    in hidden things
    like nature's urge
    to grow

    ©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

    (and it's here: http://www.maryleehahn.com/2015/03/inch.html)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Inch

    Scatterdy skitter,
    here comes a critter.

    When you are a small bug
    an inch is a mile.

    When you are a spider
    an inch is a smile.

    When you are the spidered
    an inch is a flinch.

    Deep in the web
    an inch is a pinch.

    You suddenly find out
    what you have to pay—

    then you wish you had
    skittered the opposite way.

    —Kate Coombs, 2015

    ReplyDelete
  4. The sun is sunning here in NH and in more ways than one--I love all these takes on inch, but Kate's is the most surprising!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Heidi, today's inch poems reflects a lightheartedness that a truly enjoyable to read. I took the word inch in a different direction. It elicited a memory for me when I found a photo of a vintage treasure that I just tucked away in a drawer. My poem and photo are at http://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2015/03/mondays-musings.html. I will add the poem here:

    You inch your way into my heart
    with movable eyes and memories.
    Inch by inch, I scan your petite frame,
    reminisce about your history,
    and recall when you were lovingly
    given to me once upon a year.

    Each winter, you grace my home.
    With 20th century charm,
    you find a way to bring back a time
    when a mother passed on a treasure
    to her child for her children's pleasure.

    The hearts you wear emote feelings
    of love once released upon a tender,
    heart-filled moment on a winter's day.
    Your tiny hearts fill the room with a
    lifetime of thoughts as you inch
    your way back into a drawer
    to rest in memories.

    2015 Carol Varsalona. All Rights Reserved

    ReplyDelete
  6. When I woke up and the sun was shining I had more to say:
    (it's on my page, too)
    Spring Inches

    Little by little

    Spring inches in;

    Snow has to lose

    Sun has to win.

    The clock hops forward,

    Shadows inch back;

    The spring sun warms,

    Ice starts to crack.

    Liquid and solids

    Mingle and flow;

    Puddles appear

    With nowhere to go,

    Until I carve

    Inches of grooves

    And water begins

    To trickle and moves

    Where I've created

    Rivers with stick,

    and they have no choice

    which route to pick;

    For I am the master

    of rivers and moats

    and all of the little

    stick and leaf boats.


    ©Donna JT Smith, 2015

    ReplyDelete
  7. HA! I LOVE it! That was fun to listen to!
    Yeah, I am having a good time. No matter what happens in voting tomorrow! I'm havin' a good time. I'm loving your challenge this month!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Heidi, I was looking for an old "inch poem and my blog came up with a lot of them. But then I discovered an inch couplet--

    All my inches
    are goldfinches.

    I hope your day is filled with gold to go with your inches.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!