ALERT: My poem using the word "buffeted" is up against Rebekah Hoeft's in the first round of the (May) MADNESS POETRY TOURNAMENT! You'll laugh when you see how alike our poems are in some important ways...but only YOU can decide which is the better poem for kids. Go here to vote for your favorite by 5pm today, and join in the madness all month!
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I wrote this poem that year, and then sent a revised version to Pomelo Books for THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY® FOR SCIENCE edited
by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong (2014). They very kindly printed up these gorgeous postcards, of which I still have not billions or trillions, but quite a few!** Thank you, Janet and Sylvia!
Enjoy, share widely, and listen for the subtle thrumming, the slow swelling, and the afternoon throb.
This wonderful book is still in print--teachers especially, grab it now if you don't have a copy! Thanks to our Poetry Friday host today, the delightfully impressive Irene Latham at Live Your Poem. Swarm on over, friends!
*I'm just going to go ahead and count D.C. as a state already, and I'm going to call it by my favorite proposed new name: Washington, Douglass Commonwealth.
**If you would like 1-5 postcards, send me an email with your mailing address...but I won't be able to get them out until Memorial Day weekend.
I've got a cicada poem, too! Our soil temperatures aren't quite warm enough, but I'm PUMPED to welcome Brood X!
ReplyDeleteI just pulled out my copy of the anthology for science because (who knew?) Chloe is still reading a poem a day on the intercom. I'll show her this one today! I'd love a postcard. I see from your map that Brood X doesn't make it this far south, but we have cicadas every summer. The subtle thrumming is a constant summer sound.
ReplyDeleteLooking out for Brood X... and your postcards (yes, please! I will share with students/teachers at a writing camp I am teaching in June!). Thank you, dear Heidi. xo
ReplyDeleteOh, it is magic, isn't it? Here in Wisconsin, we see cicadas all summer every year, but not at the volume you describe. (I love the count that blurs together!) I look forward to the annual buzz--a sure sign of summer!
ReplyDeleteEveryone has made me jealous of those noise-making, red-eyed, cicadas, Heidi. I loved your "madness" poem, FYI, & now this cicada one, too. Have a great final bundle of days with your students.
ReplyDeleteOh, this is perrrrrrfect for my next Poetry Friday at school. Love it. Can it only be 17 years? My son was born 17 years ago...I remember the "buzz" about cicadas then but here we are again so quick!
ReplyDeleteI have to say I am not a fan of cicadas, Heidi, but I am a fan of your cicada poem. But the idea of: 'lawns crunching underfoot' and 'wearing them' does have me 'shell shocked'. Hee hee. I voted for your poem on 'Madness'! :)
ReplyDeleteI am just learning about this phenomenon, so thank you for this. I have always like the sound of cicadas in the evening. Wonderful poem and anthology.
ReplyDeleteI've been following the cicada buzz from afar and find it fascinating. I love all the knowledge woven within your poem and especially that final stanza. I'd love one of your postcards!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this! I enjoyed seeing the suggested activities as well - I especially like the idea of having the kids read the first line of each stanza. I could hear an engage classroom of young voices in my mind as I read the poem a second time.
ReplyDeleteI love the magic of cicadas and fell a little more in love with their strange lives when I listened to the cicada episode of the Ologies podcast. You've captured their essence!
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