Friday, October 25, 2019

Inktober 2: catching up



I watched the debate last week and fell off the Inktober wagon in the process.  Last night I had some catching up to do, involving words 15-24.

I was half-asleep, and sometimes that helps--it didn't go too badly,  and it just about fit in a Tweet!



pretty oldenday

she has gone legend, draped 
and belled with wild green ornaments, 
misfit among the suits and seatbelts
slung over our shoulders. 
her tread itself is treasure, 
little ghosts of tiptoe 
disappearing, already ancient, 
dizzy over graveled avenues.

flashdraft  ©Heidi Mordhorst


I've just realized that Pretty Oldenday has a brother.  That poem will not be so light.

Our host for Poetry Friday today is Karen Edmisten.  Head on over for a fall of "crisp, crackling gifts."



Friday, October 18, 2019

OIPK: prereading

Before the poetry, a climate action PSA:  
Black Friday is your next opportunity to stand with youth and 
call for policy to recover our global climate.


I do plan to participate, but I have learned through my Drawdown.org workshop that we are likely to accomplish more through action at the level of our local organizations, and that governments can't pay for the scale of change that is required.  We have to press wealthy entities like corporations to make the change.  May I challenge you to research which is the most powerful corporate employer in your area?  What are they doing to reduce emissions and reverse climate warming?  Mine is Marriott, and they just decided NOT to provide a million little plastic bottles of shampoo.  So I'm thinking of asking them to do more and fund food composting in my county schools!

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This post represents my 11th bloggiversary.  Thanks to you, Dear Readers, for steadfastly sticking with me all this time, and for welcoming me into the Poetry Friday community.

And now, welcome to the next installment of Overheard in PreK.  Each of my kids has a laminated photo name card with a velcro dot on the back.  We use it on the Attendance Board and then they take it with them to stick on posters for each play center as a way of showing who's working where.  They often forget to retrieve them, meaning that PM kids will then find an AM card still stuck on a poster and vice versa.

My readingest AM kid is Kyng.  He found PM Francisco's card in which Francisco is smiling broadly in a coral-pink striped polo shirt.  "I found Flamingo's card in the Dollhouse!" said Kyng, handing it over.

It took me a few seconds to guess what had just happened.


How Reading is Like

I found a Flamingo at school, a Cassowary
and three Allisongators and a Bryonlyon,
plus a Nayanabanana and Nayelyjelly.
When I read I read with my whole head,
my eyes and my memory of every book I've read,
things I know and things I like.
When I see the color it helps me think.
Words are made of more than ink. 

flashdraft ©Heidi Mordhorst

BONUS MUSIC: "Flamingo" by Kero Kero Bonito 

This poem is brought to you by Kyng, Francisco, Cassidy, all three Allisons (yes, three), Bryon, Nayana and Nayely, and also by the complexity that is the reading process.  The Poetry Friday round-up today is brought to you by Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Inktober

So it's really a challenge for illustrators, but as we learned last week, INK KNOWS NO BORDERS, so plenty of people whose inkstrokes look like letters are joining in.  Created by one Jake Parker, you can find Inktober work on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  Inktober offers us a list of words, one for each day of October.  Me, I'm a Tweeter, so I'm posting there, which also limits my word count and therefore supports my regular participation.
In the spirit of our host and my CP Catherine Flynn's THANKU post, I'm really grateful to the organizers who put the challenge out there. And for all its warts (and warthogs) I'm grateful that Twitter exists as an instant publication platform for those of us who just need to see our compositions up on the noticeboard of the worldwide village. I'mma do some catching up today, too.

           
 

  


[CHEAT: not new work but too perfect an opportunity]


 






Thanks to @mrjakeparker for hosting #Inktober and thanks to Catherine for hosting #PoetryFriday, and thanks to the youth of the planet @Fridays4Future, for refusing to give up their persistent demands that the adults with the power do something to COOL IT. Are you still looking for a positive way into being part of the solution?  Drawdown has 100 solutions--you're sure to find one you can get behind!