HAPPY NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!
(from Friday, April 5)
I’m thrilled to be your Poetry Friday Rounder-Upper today – please leave your links in the comments and I’ll post them as the day unfolds. [As noted above, these links have vanished! My apologies for this inconvenience. There were 65 comments...!]
I look forward to hitting the road next week on a long drive to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi. (Yep – they have the wonderful deGrummond Collection, curated by the ever-effervescent Ellen Ruffin.)
April Halprin Wayland , Irene Latham and yours truly will present a poetry panel workshop on Wednesday: Take Five! Create Fun with the Poetry Friday Anthology. We get to share the Poetry Friday Anthology and the new Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School with eager teachers, media specialists, and other interested folks. Thanks to Pomelo Books editors extraordinaire Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell for helping to support this adventure.
Here’s a poem from each of us that we’ll share in our presentation, along with a 10-item Q & A just for fun.
First up, April. Here’s her poem from Grade 6 Week 29 (“Poetry Poems”) in PFAMS:
In the Word Woods
I’m sure there’s a found poem somewhere here.
There usually is this time of year.
Didn’t a red-haired boy lose words
that were found last May by a flightless bird?
And then that search and rescue hound
dug up sixteen poems he’d found.
Listen for falling bulletin boards,
and scowling poem-poaching hordes
who stomp all over this hallowed ground
until the hidden poems are found.
I’ll bring a flashlight, you bring a rake
we’ll get down on our knees and make
a poem from words that have trampolined
off an Internet ad or a magazine
into the woods some starry night
waiting for searching kids who might
find a poem if they’re brave and follow
the hoot of an owl to the end of the hollow.
©April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.
Quick, April, answer these fast!
Coffee or tea?
Single shot soy latte in a huge cup so they fill it to the top with FOAM!
(My version of whipped cream without the cream)
Milk or dark chocolate?
Dark, sweetened with unsweetened pineapple juice & pear juice concentrate.
(Despite what my husband says, it tastes wonderful!)
Beach or mountains?
Mountain meadow. Even though I live a mile from the beach…
Free verse or forms?
I have to choose?
Drafts: pen and paper or digital?
Both. Either. Depends.
What’s usually playing on your iPod or on Pandora when you are:
Working – instrumental folk, classical piano trios; sometimes NPR
Working out – whatever my gym class teacher is playing
Favorite place to read poetry?
In my home office.
Favorite place to write poetry?
In my home office.
(I love my home office. *sigh*)
Funniest question you’ve ever been asked at a school visit:
"How many books do you write in a week?"
Quick! Three of your favorite-sounding words:
cuspidor, bubble gum, tiddlywinks
Next, Irene’s poem from Grade 5, Week 2 (“More School”) from PFA:
Backpack
I’d say paper
Is my favorite feast –
I love it spiraled,
bound or loose-leaf.
(Pencils poke,
rulers break.
Textbooks give me
A belly ache.)
Whatever you feed me,
I’ll do my best;
you’re the one
Who takes the tests!
©Irene Latham. All rights reserved.
Q & A time, Irene – hit it!
Coffee or tea?
tea
Milk or dark chocolate?
dark
Beach or mountains?
beach at night, mountains by day
Free verse or forms?
freeeeeeeee!
Drafts: pen and paper or digital?
digital all the way
What's usually playing on your iPod or on Pandora when you are:
Working - nada. I work best with silence (though I have learned to write through son's drumming)
Working out - shhhhh, I don't work out.
Favorite place to read poetry?
in bed
Favorite place to write poetry?
in bed (hey, I really like my bed!)
Funniest question you've ever been asked at a school visit:
Would you sign my arm?
Quick! Three of your favorite-sounding words:
honeysuckle, hydrangea, heliotrope
Finally, running out of room on the handout - ;0) – my short little poem from First Grade, Week 10 (“Food”) from PFA:
Snack Rules
Don’t talk with your mouth full –
full of peanut butter:
Anything you try to say
will cmmm out as a mmmttrr.
©Robyn Hood Black. All rights reserved.
And my 10 answers:
Coffee or tea?
Morning coffee; afternoon tea
Milk or dark chocolate?
dark
Beach or mountains?
Beach, but I love the mountains too.
Free verse or forms?
Sucker for forms…
Drafts: pen and paper or digital?
Scribbles in journals or on Post-It Notes
What's usually playing on your iPod or on Pandora when you are:
Working - Writing: *must*have*quiet*
    Drawing: Bach or Classic Rock, Carving/Printing: *must*have*Celtic*
Working out -
Ummmm…..
Favorite place to read poetry?
On my couch with my dogs
Favorite place to write poetry?
In my head when I’m walking and talking to the birds
Funniest question you've ever been asked at a school visit:
From a kindergarten girl on a cafeteria floor with 400-plus K-2’s: How do you know if it’s a man wolf or a lady wolf? (Last week a second grader asked me AFTER my presentation, “Are you an author?”)
Quick! Three of your favorite-sounding words:
sassafras, twinkle, persnickety
Be sure to check in over at The Poetry Friday Anthology blog for ideas and inspiration on using the PFA in the classroom. The Poetry Friday for Middle School blog features short “poem movies” this month created by Sylvia’s graduate students, highlighting some of the wonderful PFAMS poems for grades 6 - 8!
For an extensive Poetry Month roundup of events in the Kidlitosphere, check out Jama’s gracious post on Alphabet Soup.
Two last links from me: On Wednesday at Janice Hardy’s great blog, The Other Side of the Story , I featured Irene’s new novel, DON’T FEED THE BOY (Roaring Brook), as a way to look at how a poet’s sensibilities might inform the way she writes fiction.
My art blog post this week celebrates found poetry and Austin Kleon.
Friday's now missing-in-action post then included the Round Up of dozens and dozens of wonderful poetry posts last week. Sigh. If you search for "Poetry Friday" and start visiting blogs of other commenters, you'll find some wonderful offerings.