wonder

In Room 166 this week kindergarteners are exploring in depth the question of "What Do Poets Do?"  With the help of Langston Hughes, Lilian Moore, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer and e.e. cummings we have learned that:

Poets choose to write about one small thing.
Poets choose juicy words that sound good together.
Poets choose where to put their words.
and
Poets create strong feelings.

I revised my poem selections this year because of a change in our curriculum, and we have a theme of "hands" going on.  Here's the poem--which somehow I had missed in my long study of cummings's work--that we read in search of a strong feeling (I selected the bold-type section for kindergarten readers)...and oh, people, I have just made a wild discovery.  See below.

Spring is like a perhaps hand || E. E. Cummings, 1894 - 1962

          III

Spring is like a perhaps hand 
(which comes carefully 
out of Nowhere)arranging 
a window,into which people look(while 
people stare
arranging and changing placing 
carefully there a strange 
thing and a known thing here)and

changing everything carefully

spring is like a perhaps 
Hand in a window 
(carefully to 
and fro moving New and 
Old things,while 
people stare carefully 
moving a perhaps 
fraction of flower here placing 
an inch of air there)and

without breaking anything.

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Here is the discovery:  in my haste to revise my poetry project booklet on Monday morning, I see that I left off the last line, "without breaking anything."  I just never even saw this wondrous final finesse of spring's perhaps Hand!

I don't feel bad about selecting the second stanza only for younger kids, but I do feel foolish for missing that last line--and yet for the kids, it was that (entirely plausible) ending of the poem on "and" that created the strong feelings of surprise and amusement and wonder!  In fact our response to the poem ended up being adding a word or phrase that seemed to follow this rather tricky abstract metaphor (which we concretized by acting it out.  Partner 1 was the window first while Partner 2 was the the hand, and then we swapped roles.)

"Wonder" is one of the Po-Emotions included in Mary Lee's NPM Challenge, too, on April 20.  Here was my response to the challenge.

?

Like the beat of your heart

wonder should be reflexive

all of a sudden daily you

should find yourself

pricked by a kind of desire

formless but strong

an itch of the mind

that you just must scratch

but it's not in your head

it wanders all over your body

your feet want to travel

your hands want to unravel

every sense wants in

on the wonder,

while your mind does the molding

stretching  & straightening the circling

half-round-stem-and-dot

into a bee-line towards that

exclamatory dot of Got It

!

--HM 2015
all rights reserved 

I'll end with Hana's response to "April Rain Song" below, and after tomorrow, when "I am a poet too" concludes our week-long intensive, I'll be able to do my annual sharing of kindergarten poetry.

April Rain Song Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk. The rain makes running pools in the gutter. The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night— And I love the rain. ~ Langston Hughes Hana:  "If the rain kisses me I will  smile with the rain." The roundup is flowing down at No Water River with Renee LaTulippe today--wonder your way over there!

poetry cubed

Matt Forrest Esenwine:
"So for this contest, I’ve taken the basic premise of the TV show and applied it to poetry – but without the dejected countenances and broken dreams. I call it “Poetry…Cubed!” Here’s how it works:

 

• Use the 3 images (“cubed,” get it??) below as inspiration to write a poem. (simple so far, yes?)
• The poem can be any form, any number of lines, rhyming or not. (also simple, yes?)
• The only hitch is that you need to include a reference to all three images in the poem – either via concrete imagery or something more abstract. (Heck, it’s poetry, so feel free to stretch the boundaries!)"

I like Matt and I like "Chopped!"  The first time I saw this cooking concept on TV was in England in the 90's on a show called "Ready, Steady, Cook!"  I even got to sit in the studio audience once while it was filmed, hoping that me and my bag of ingredients would be chosen to come on stage.

Above are the three images Matt has chosen.  I'm going to go for it right now, this morning, and see what happens--I'm thinking of Erica Jong and calling this thing I do "the draftless luck"--from nothing to published piece in one flighty leap!

Honeycube

hot wheels of
yellow nectar

bee rumbles
rumblehums
along
a long low road

bee blazes a trail
towards one red center
in the distance

bee lights
lights up
lights upon it

tiny monster
stalking pollen
in the theater
of green

HM 2015
all rights reserved

******************
There's my entry, Matt!  The round-up is at Life on the Deckle Edge with the ever-delightful Robyn Hood Black.

po-emotion: sadness

Over at her Poetrepository, Mary Lee is writing a poem for each day of April either using an emotion word or evoking that emotion--this after writing a poem in March for each and every one of my Forward...MarCH CHallenge words!  I am humbled and could not possibly keep up this pace of writing and blogging, but I have promised myself that I'll join in where I can.

For example, I have begun a cleridoubledactylhew in response to Kwame Alexander's challenge over at Today's Little Ditty with Michelle--a wonderful post!  Kwame's challenge is to write a clerihew, the rules for which are quite loose, but yesterday at The Miss Rumphius Effect, Jane Yolen shared some very fun double dactyls, which, like clerihews, are written about people.  When I went to save my very difficult cleridoubledactylhew, I had a serendipitous thing happen: I caught sight of a doc called "Sadness made me keep a diary."  I'd totally forgotten about writing such a poem. It needed more work, but here it is.

Why I keep a diary

She was withering,
I was blooming. I visited,
sat in a familiar wing chair
in an unfamiliar room,
looked through a box of her papers:
calendars, church bulletins, a little locked
five-year diary marked 1943.

"July 14:
Fell down the basement stairs
carrying a bushel of peaches ($2.15).
Broke my ankle.
Tried not to cry in front of the children.”

“September 9:
Collected rents today (sunny, 79*).
Made black-and-white cookies
for the Ladies’Aid meeting.
Charlie & Lila growing awfully fast.

“November 21:
Find myself talking to Arthur’s
picture too much.
Took it off the piano today
and put it away.”

All my gramma’s sadness—recorded
in brisk, cheerful lines, hidden
under a bushel, now unlocked.
At home I began my own little
five-year diary, so that someday
my children might understand
why sadness is hard for me.


–HM 2015
all rights reserved


Other challenges I am visiting have produced this work:


For Jone's Double LL challenge, using the words "alluvium" and "elliptic":

erosion

after recess
cheeks bear
an alluvium
of shallow silt
carried by
fleeting tears

–HM 2015
all rights reserved

Elliptical Rainbow Mama

Every year this day
rolls around.
We turn the eggs gently
in their baths of color
but like Mama,
heavier at the bottom,
they spill off the spoon
and splash rainbows
on the gray newspaper.
HM 2015
all rights reserved

For Tricia's Jumping into Form challenge, this sijo, written on my phone while waiting to see my doctor:

Scarf Sijo

A wild, wide one with fringe wraps the wearer in animal drama.
Short stripes on silk knotted around a neck stand guard against slouching.
Field of Van Gogh flowers twists infinitely, lifting heart to face.

–HM 2015
all rights reserved
 
So much more to share...off to Author Amok to check in with the "What Are You Wearing to NPM?" series!

An InLinkz Link-up

surprise: MarCH CHallenge results

Surprise indeed!  How did it get to be Sunday, April 5th, and I haven't rounded up the MarCH CHallenge and picked a "StretCHiest MarCHer" yet?  (Not-so-surprising answer: Science Night and shed-raising and end of quarter and professional day at school + 16th birthday and kidney stones and Spring Break at home + March marching into April with all its NPM distractions--that's how.)

Here I join Mary Lee over at her Poetrepository with a PoEmotion (hee hee so clever I still love that CoIncidence).  Her emotion for Friday was surprise:

yes, sur!
I am under
the impression
that I can control
each moment
through careful
planification

but, surprise!
I am seized
each day
I am taken over
by events
of wanton
unexpectedness

oh, prise!
I am ripped
of control
and now I win
the prize
of sudden
superwonderment

HM 2015
all rights reserved

So now, having caught my breath, Happy Easter and let the round-up proceed!

********************
The Quantitative Round-Up*

Of course, there were also audience/commenters, who are very important to the process, and some of them occasionally shared a poem, too:  shout-outs to Matt Forrest Esenwine, Robyn Hood Black, Catherine M. Johnson, Margaret Simon and Laura Shovan!

Our steady participants numbered about 8 in total. Now, here they are, in order of the number of poems they contributed to the collection.  There were 20 official days of challenge, and then a few more words that were on an earlier list that I unhelpfully revised, so we'll call it 24 prompts in all.  I hope I have counted correctly (and next time I'll keep track in a much more efficient way!)

Jone Rush MacCulloch of Deo Writer was a regular contributor with 7 poems, and  Kate Coombs (formerly of the wonderful blog Book Aunt) arrived a little late to the party but wrote 18 poems in the end.

Carol Varsalona wrote 19 expansive poems. all of which can be enjoyed in full at her blog, Beyond LiteracyLink.

Charles Waters and Mary Lee Hahn joined in every single day wth great vigor, verve, and variety, writing exactly 20 new poems.  Mary Lee's can be found at her poetry blog, Poetrepository, and it's always fun to read about Charles's NYC life at his blog, Poetry Time.

Joy Acey and Diane Mayr contributed 20 plus a couple of extras for a total of 22, many of them illustrated.  I believe that my juicy little universe is the only place you can read them all!


Finally--and the StretCHiest MarCHer prize must go to her--Donna JT Smith of Mainely Write wrote 20 poems plus an ADDITIONAL self-assigned but generously-shared 10 -CH poems for a total of 30 poems in 23 days!!!  And this while she was also writing 31 Slice of Life posts and competing in The March Madness Poetry Tournament (I think retirement must be fun)!

CONGRATULATIONS, DONNA!

Donna will receive one copy each of my two collections of poetry, and my eternal gratitude for being one of the folks who made this challenge fun for all of us.  This same appreciation goes out to all who participated in any way--it's what makes the Kidlitosphere simultaneously such a comfortable and inspiring place to spend time! 

With many thanks once again,
Your Forward...MarCH! CHallenge Host Heidi

*****************

*The Qualitative Round-up will happen on whichever Thursday I am home recovering from a necessary medical procedure (blecch).  I'll link to it the very next Friday. ; )

progressive poem 2015: line 3

Welcome one and all to Day 3, Line 3 of this year's Progressive Poem, curated by Irene Latham.  I'm delighted to participate again this year! I note that as an ever-changing group, we seem to like to take big risks.  In 2012 we spilled our dreams in a spice-scented Moroccan market. In 2013 we danced and dangled under the Big Top of the Poetry Circus.  In 2014 we journeyed clutching sapphire eggs into the company of a blue-eyed friend.

This year Jone and Joy have led us into the wild in so many interesting ways.  These long lines defy regular meter, don't demand rhyme, and give us a whole delta to explore.  I''m fascinated by the "she" who roams it, shoeless and netless.  Let her fend for herself,
let her body be one with the landscape...

She lives without a net, walking along the alluvium deposits of the delta.

Shoes swing over her shoulder, on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica.
Hands faster than fish swing at the ends of bare brown arms. Her hair flows 


I see that my blogwidth is not enough to contain these lines; can we break them for today?  Then it looks like this, and what is changed, do you think?
 
She lives without a net, 
walking along the alluvium deposits of the delta.
Shoes swing over her shoulder, 
on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica.
Hands faster than fish swing at the ends 
of bare brown arms. Her hair flows


Tomorrow Laura PS at Writing the World for Kids continues the poem, and I bet her blog is wide enough to hold the flow.  Not to get sedimental, but I just love this big ol' collaboration of poets...Go Us!

Follow along each day to see how our poem grows, and join Amy at The Poem Farm for a singable round-up this first Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month!

2015 Kidlitosphere

Progressive Poem

1 Jone at Check it Out

2 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy

3 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

4 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

5 Charles at Poetry Time Blog

6 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

7 Catherine at Catherine Johnson

8 Irene at Live Your Poem

9 Mary Lee at Poetrepository

10 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

11 Kim at Flukeprints

12 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

13 Doraine at DoriReads

14 Renee at No Water River

15 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

16 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

17 Buffy at Buffy's Blog

18 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

19 Linda at Teacher Dance

20 Penny at A Penny and her Jots

21 Tara at A Teaching Life

22 Pat at Writer on a Horse

23 Tamera at The Writer's Whimsy

24 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect

25 Tabatha at The Opposite of indifference

26 Brian at Walk the Walk

27 Jan at Bookseedstudio

28 Amy at The Poem Farm

29 Donna at Mainely Write

30 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

 

whoo-hoo it's here!

It's National Poetry Month and the annual poetry party has begun!  There are so many great projects going on in the Kidlitosphere that I'm going to rely on Jama's round-up post for the definitive list.  I'm already scheduled to take part in two projects (see here), but that leaves quite a few days for me to play along with other challenges and enjoyments throughout April.  I'm thrilled that my Spring Break falls in a way that allows some extra time, so starting on Friday, April 2,  I'll challenge myself to visit at least 3 blog projects each day through April 12.  Here are some of the places I'll be visiting...

2015 KIDLITOSPHERE POETRY EVENTS

*

Irene Latham at Live Your Poem has recruited 30 poets for her fourth annual Kidlit Progressive Poem and I'm excited to be one of them. . Here’s the full schedule of participating bloggers:

1 Jone at Check it Out
2 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy
3 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe
4 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
5 Charles at Poetry Time Blog
6 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
7 Catherine at Catherine Johnson
8 Irene at Live Your Poem
9 Mary Lee at Poetrepository
10 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
11 Kim at Flukeprints
12 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
13 Doraine at DoriReads
14 Renee at No Water River
15 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
16 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
17 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
18 Sheila at Sheila Renfro
19 Linda at Teacher Dance
20 Penny at A Penny and her Jots
21 Tara at A Teaching Life
22 Pat at Writer on a Horse
23 Tamera at The Writer’s Whimsy
24 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
25 Tabatha at The Opposite of indifference
26 Brian at Walk the Walk
27 Jan at Bookseedstudio
28 Amy at The Poem Farm
29 Donna at Mainely Write
30 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

Irene’s personal poetry project at Live Your Poem is ARTSPEAK! She’ll be writing daily poems inspired by the online collections of the National Gallery of Art, and I might join her in exphrastasy!

*

At Author Amok, Laura Shovan is hosting “What Are You Wearing?” — a full month featuring poetry about clothes. I'll be a Monday guest blogger on April 13, sharing a favorite clothing-related poem with a paragraph or two of introduction.

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Strap yourselves in your seats and get ready for an emotional roller coaster at A Year of Reading! Mary Lee Hahn’s project is called PO-EMotions. She will be writing a poem each day that evokes an emotion or uses an emotion word in the title or body of the poem. I'll join her in some of these, and she’ll also be cross-posting at her personal poetry blog, Poetrepository.

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Jone MacCulloch will be sharing student poetry daily at Check It Out. She’s also once again doing her annual Poetry Postcard Project, where Silver Star ES students send out illustrated poetry postcards to anyone requesting them. Sign up HERE if you’d like to receive one. This is a wonderful project — seven years running so far — I always enjoy receiving my postcard each April.

At Deo Writer, Jone is hosting her first month-long writing challenge. She’ll be playing with poems that have something to do with nature and double “ll’s,” (like in her last name). I'm definitely in on this one--I love starting with one word!

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Diane Mayr at Random Noodling presents Ekphrastic Mondays! Beginning April 6, she will post an original poem inspired by a work of art. 

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At Today’s Little Ditty, Michelle Heindenrich Barnes is spotlighting 2015 Newbery Medal Winner Kwame Alexander as her Ditty of the Month Club special guest! She’s kicking things off with an awesome interview, giveaway, and an invitation to write a poem (or poems) this month in response to Kwame’s ditty challenge. Looking forward to this one too!

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Over at Poetry for Children, Sylvia Vardell is celebrating the just released Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books, 2015) by featuring short videos of children reading some of the poems from the book.

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Over at The Poem Farm, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is playing a game called Sing That Poem! Each day she’ll post a new original poem with the meter of a well-known song. Folks can print a PDF and try to match each day’s poem with the song it was inspired by. I'm starting to feel a little drunk with all the possibilities here!

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Linda Baie at TeacherDance will be doing a lot of writing this month. In addition to participating in the a number of other challenges, she's writing a haiku or other related form every day.

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April Halprin Wayland and her trusty canine muse Eli will be feeding us a PPP (previously published poem) every day all month long.

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Over at The Miss Rumphius Effect, Tricia Stohr-Hunt will be focusing on poetic forms: “I want to shine a spotlight on forms other than strictly rhyming (though rhyme is perfectly fine) for the elementary and middle school classroom. I love rhyme just as much as the next person, but I worry that much of the poetry parents select for kids and teachers select for classrooms is chosen simply because it rhymes."  Let's hear it for Poetry with a capital P!

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Liz Steinglass will also be writing a poem every day this month. Her theme this year is items hiding in or on a desk.  Hmmm...lots of possibilities here.

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Laura Purdie Salas will be sharing tips on presenting poetry to students at Writing the World for Kids. She’ll also include a poem that is relevant to each daily tip.

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Travis Jonker will be posting his annual gallery of book spine poems at 100 Scope Notes. There’s still time to submit a book spine cento — he’ll be collecting them throughout the month. Tips and details here.

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At Alphabet Soup, Jama will be featuring some very cool newly published poetry picture books. And she's serving up a little extra treat: HotTEAs of Children’s Poetry.

So...let the festival begin!