Friday, January 31, 2014

tenebrio molitor

It's that time of year again in Room 166...and perhaps this year the hard-won miracle is a bit more poignant.





our connection to these mealworms is anything but
tenuous.
their stage is our stage: child.
we take them from the dark, fearless, though daily we
molest them.
their aim is our aim: grow.

we watch them wriggle out of old skins, wild with
effort.
their change is our change: tough.
then we find them waxen white and frozen on their bran,
pupae.
their wait is our wait: long.

[dedicated to my kindergarten team]

The Poetry Friday round-up is at The Miss Rumphius Effect with the lovely Tricia, down in my hometown of Richmond, VA.  See you there all weekend!

8 comments:

  1. Wow, Heidi. Just wow. I love reading poems of significance about insignificant things (mealworms, not kids).

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  2. I love this, Heidi. I love the words, the meaning, how it sounds to read out loud. When I taught fifth grade, we too studied mealworms. Your poem makes that memory richer.

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  3. Wow, indeed. The connections are powerful.

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  4. Yay for mealworms in a K classroom, Heidi! And what a wonderful connection you've made here between their metamorphosis and that of your students. Love it!

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  5. Yes. What everyone else said. And thanks for bringing back the memory of how magical it is for students to witness this transformation...just as we are witnessing theirs.

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  6. I love the parallel structure of this poem as well as its subject matter, so significant to children. I'd like to use it as a model for my students.

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  7. Hey, Heidi. Here's a mealworm idea for you (borrowed from the US Science and Engineering Festival). Using gentle tweezer, dip your mealworms in a *little* bit of paint. Put two or three (different colors) on paper. Watch them crawl around. Voila! Mealworm painting.

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  8. I nominated you for a Sunshine Award! You can see the details here: http://thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com/2014/02/sunshine.html

    No pressure if you don't want to participate. But your blog does always bring sunshine into my day. :-)

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Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!