Today’s Poetry Friday Round up is with Jone, a gentle creative who always holds others up on her strong shoulders. Today she is gathering classic found poems. I forgot to do one. I have a good excuse. I’m presenting today at the Fay B. Kaigler Book Festival in Hattiesburg, MS with my friend and fellow children’s book author Leslie Helakoski. But I don’t like missing out, so I may try to get to it sometime this weekend. At Mary Lee’s post, I found a link to a poem video done by Jone’s student, Kimberly Taylor. It’s an amazingly powerful interpretation of Mary Lee’s poem Dandelions.
Leslie wrote a book entitled “Are Your Stars Like My Stars?” It’s a beautiful book about diversity in perspective using a patterned phrase i.e.”Is your blue like my blue?” I read the book to my students and had them write their own poem based on the pattern. Using blank books, they turned their poems into books. I’ll be sharing these with our session participants today. I wanted to feature Adelyn’s poem today. When she wrote it, it brought tears to my eyes because at such a young age of 10, she sees with more wisdom than many adults. And this gives me hope. Poetry gives me hope. Children’s book authors give me hope. You give me hope.
Do You Like What I Like?
Staring at the stars in cozy blankets, porch bound.
Are your stars like mine?
A fluff in my arms, a fuzz in my head.
Do you sleep like me?Hugging them tight, don’t want to let go.
Do you love like I do?When you’re sitting down, about to eat your food,
whether it’s makizushi, chimichurri or gumbo.
Think, do I do what you do?I have trouble counting by eights but love doing equations.
Do you do math like I do?I read some advanced books and read lots of chapter books.
Do you read like I do?Sometimes when I get yelled at
or I try to tell someone something and they don’t listen,
I get overwhelmed and sometimes cry.
Are your feelings like my feelings?I have dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and freckles.
Are your features like my features?I like the winter but summer not that much.
Do you like seasons like I do?When you lay down in bed,
getting ready to sleep,
do you ever think of these things like I do?Do you ever think about how different other people could be
and think about how different you are from others?We are all different and that’s okay.
by Adelyn, 4th grade
As long as you are,
YOURSELF
The Progressive Poem is with Janice Scully today at Salt City Verse.
Reflections on the Teche 
Wow–Adelyn hit the ball out of the park! I am also a fan of Are Your Stars Like My Stars? Enjoy the book festival (and sending a hello to Leslie, too!)
Adelyn’s poem is full of love and wisdom–exactly what the world needs more of! Thank you for sharing her beautiful poem with us! Have fun at the festival!
Hooray for book festivals! I’m sure you enjoyed your time and got to feel the author life for a bit. Adelyn….oh, Adelyn! What a wonderful poem full of those specific and unique details that somehow make it feel universal. My goodness, kid. You’ve got the spark to become a full time poet. Keep writing!
Yes, Adelyn. Yes, I do think about these things. All the time. I believe we are more the same than we are different, but like you, I celebrate our differences! Thank you for your wise poem.
Thanks for sharing Adelyn’s sensitive and perceptive poem that’s filled with thoughts for us all to ponder. Hope your presentation went well Margaret!
Margaret, I hope you enjoyed your presentation. I did see the video of Mary Lee’s poem and it was a powerful video. Adelyn’s amazing poem is filled with strong thoughts and images that flow so beautifully. Congratulations to her and to you as the teacher guide.
Margaret, I love your PF logo so I plan on sharing it at my blog with credit to you.
The photo is from Henry Cancienne. It’s not mine.
So wonderful–especially Adelyn’s first two stanzas! Thanks for sharing, and for boosting that amazing poem video. Leslie’s book looks lovely and I hope your presentation went swimmingly!
Hope the festival & your presentation went well, Margaret. Adelyn’s poem filled me with hope like you wrote after reading the Sunday news. We all are who we are, and that’s okay. Your writing with students is a blessing for them and when you share, for all of us!
What a perfect poem to use with students! I love Adelyn’s words – so wistful and full of hope.
I love Adelyn’s poem. Thank you for sharing Kimberly’s video.