roots of darkness

Is it my imagination, or does this December feel even darker than usual?  Perhaps I am listening too much to NPR news and too little to Amahl and the Night Visitors as I attempt to bake enough to feel that things are properly festive.  Or perhaps, like so many of my pangs and twangs, it's a function of age, and I should let this fullness come.

Solstice Chant | Annie Finch

Vines, leaves, roots of darkness, growing,

now you are uncurled and cover our eyes

with the edge of winter sky

leaning over us in icy stars.

Vines, leaves, roots of darkness, growing,

come with your seasons, your fullness, your end. 

    Wishing you and yours a bright and warm Solstice season....step into the pool of light that is Poetry Friday over at Buffy's Blog today.

almost

It's Day 73 of kindergarten and in some ways our large paper calendar grid and all the ways we mark it are routine--and yet for many 5-year-olds, time and its rate of passing remain mysterious.  Yesterday Eliana was the Afternoon Leader, whose job it is to write the date, continue the pattern, and add a straw and a penny and a dot on the ten-frame to count the days of school.

I have the holidays matter-of-factly marked on the calendar but am politely declining to engage in any conversations about Santa, etc.  Just as for most of October and Halloween, I keep remarking that it's still a lot of days until Winter Break--it's not "almost Christmas yet in Room 166," and we don't have an elf on the shelf.  But next week we'll start our Gingerbread Man work and I won't be able to hold it off any longer! 

At dismissal as she waited to be picked up, Eli considered the calendar and said, with a question in her voice, "My sister says it's almost Christmas."

Almost

My sister says
it's almost Christmas,
almost, nearly,
close to here.

What is almost?
All those boxes
full and empty--
is it near?

Today is 12.
There's 25.
We have an elf
up on the shelf.

He is watching.
I am waiting--
watching too,
just like the elf.

Almost, nearly,
close to now?
I have to wait,
I know--

but how?

HM 2014
all rights reserved

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The roundup today is with my new friend Paul at These Four Corners.  Welcome to the hosting gig, Paul! 

poetry friday brought to you by..

summer's last fling!  This weekend Duncan and I are making one last visit to the beach and to Funland (above) in Rehoboth.  On Monday I go back to school for a week of preparation for exciting and demanding new beginnings, and (impromptu poem of the moment):

Lo we have looped the year
once again--
whizzedblurringaroundfourseasons
gallop gallop rise and 
herecomes"fall."

Time to
pause.
just
stop.

and notice that summer is not
over.

Still the tomatoes swell and ripen
Still the sun rises hot and bothers
me exquisitely with its brightness
past dinnertime
Still there is time to be still.

May I have the strength to
pause.
just
stop.
and notice even when summer is
over.

HM 2014
all right reserved

This is my Happy New Year, full of resolutions.  Do you have any resolutions for the new school year? We're all on different schedules, of course, but I think for many of us Poetry Friday brings a weekly opportunity to pause.just stop. and notice.

Here's the menu of our noticings this week...there will be a lengthy midday break to allow for boating to The Paradise Grill, so eat hearty so you can last until Happy Hour!

Breakfast Buffet

Steven joins us with big news about his collection Crackles of Speech.  Congratulations, Steven!

I'm so glad Robyn enjoyed my Summer Poem Swap offering--she's posted it at her blog. Thanks, Robyn.

Carol offers us a New York City skyline poem, and is getting ready to unveil her Summer Serenity online gallery.

Karen gives us some of what we need today, by David Budbill.

Diane, another participant in the Summer Poem Swap, is posting all her lovely poetry gifts at Random Noodling.

At Kurious Kitty, Diane concludes her "restaurant week" celebration with an Amy Lowell poem.

Michelle of Today's Little Ditty has a visit from Renee LaTulippe today, doing her Lyrical Language thing.

Bridget Magee expresses the sentiments of many a bitten and itching target with her poem "Mosquitoes Suck," also her celebration of Bad Poetry Day.  : )

Tara joins us with reflections on the news from Ferguson, MO at A Teaching Life.

More on this week's news comes from Jone, who is remembering Robin Williams.

Happy Birthday to Matt's youngest daughter who is ONE today!  He celebrates with a poem for Phoebe at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme.

Violet joins us with an original called "Ant" over at her blog.

Tabatha offers a poem that is "pretty close to a thousand years old."  I thought she meant that figuratively, like an old one from her files--but no, she means it literally!  Find it at The Opposite of Indifference.

Renee at No Water River returns to blogging with poems from J. Patrick Lewis's new book.  Everything is a poem, if you look at it right!

Mary Lee really does have an old poem from her files at A Year of Reading.  It's to her students and it flows!

From Catherine we have an original about freckles!

Carol is also getting ready to hit the ground running at school, and is in with a poetic picture book text at Carol's Corner.

Irene joins us with a look at Janet Wong's Night Garden (one of my favorite books ever)--and her new puppy!

Laura PS is also highlighting J. Pat's work at Teaching Authors--"What a Day."  Sorry for the previously incorrect link!

At The Logonauts, Katie shares a wrap-up of her haiku series with favorite haiku picture books.

Catherine has "I Am Poetry" by Pam Muñoz Ryan at Reading to the Core.  Everything is a poem and I am too.

Anastasia joins us with beach thoughts "On Kiki's Reef" by Carol L. Malnor at Booktalking.

And finally this morning, over at TeacherDance Linda shares two Summer Poem Swap pieces by Tabatha!

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Happy Hour Specials

First, apologies to Sylvia over at Poetry for Children--I "misplaced" her link this morning.  She has a reading and teaching guide for the novel in verse by Margarita Engle about the opening of the Panama Canal--Silver People.

Little Willow of Bildungsroman has both an interview with YA author Kelly Jensen and a little Emily Dickinson for us--and if you scroll down you'll find a mind-blowing list of the people she has interviewed on her blog!

Janet shares Avis Harley's "Sea stars: saltwater poems" at All About the Books.

At Kelly's blog there's a review of an awesome anthology of poems by 19th century African Americans.

And last for today, McHugh at Free Range Readers offers up a poem from a Naomi Shihab Nye anthology.
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Let's raise a glass to all the times we can enjoy being still to notice, and let's wish them to all others whose lives allow these moments less often.