Reflections on the Teche

Book Spine Cento

April 3, 2013 by margaretsmn

We are all welcome here
under the sun,
escaping into the open.
First light,
A thousand mornings,
So quietly the earth…

Cento poetry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cento_%28poetry%29

For more Book Spine Poems, go to 100 Scope Notes Gallery.

Posted in Poetry | Tagged Book Spine Poetry, cento | 4 Comments »

Bill’s Blues

April 2, 2013 by margaretsmn

Slice of Life Tuesday

B is for the blues. This form required some research on my part. I listened to “Cross Road Blues” by Robert Johnson. I read about 12 bar blues and some poems of Langston Hughes. (The rhyming has gone to my head:) But all the while I was researching, my cat was crying outside the door.

Bill and Buzz are outside cats. They have been living outside for almost a year now, but they still think they can come inside, especially Bill. He’s the most affectionate and wants to rub and be rubbed. So Bill became the subject of my blues poem.

I patterned the poem after an AABa pattern from the 12 Bar Blues pattern. The first and second line repeat. The third line is a response, not rhyming. Then line 4 rhymes with 1. I struggled with this for a while. I hope my students don’t have too much trouble with this form. They will be posting their blues poems today at their kidblog (Slice of Life Challenge) which will remain open until the end of the school year.

Tomcat Bill comes to sing the blues.
My grey cat Bill sings blues.
Whether winter or spring, that cat will sing.
Crying in high-pitched mews.

Meow, Me-oo, let me come in.
Meow, Me-oo, let me in.
Cat food’s on the windowsill; your song’s too shrill.
Who knows where you’ve been.

Come on, Mama, don’t you hear.
Mama, don’t you hear.
I want to get the lovin’, some simple human cuddlin’
Open the door, let me near.

Stop your whining at the door.
Cat, stop your whining at the door.
Go climb a tree, nip at a flea
I don’t want to hear you no more.

Greg has a poem a day “3o Days, 30 Poets” on his site GottaBook.

Posted in Poetry | Tagged blues poetry, National Poetry Month | 8 Comments »

Bluebonnet Acrostic

April 1, 2013 by margaretsmn

Happy National Poetry Month! I have set a goal to write a poem a day for this month. I will also be featuring classroom poets and other fun poetry happenings. I’ll be part of the Progressive Poem, so hit the link on the sidebar to see how the collaborative poem is progressing. Greg at GottaBook is posting a poem a day. Today is a delightful spring poem from Mary Lee Hahn.

As we drove home from Austin yesterday, Easter Day, I enjoyed the blankets of bluebonnets that line the highway between Austin and Bastrop. An acrostic poem is one in which the lines begin with the letters that spell a word, usually the theme of the poem.

Blanket of blue
lines the highway
under a cloudy Texas sky.
Every pod pops
blue topped with promise
of more blossoms
nudging up, nodding to the day,
nestled with fiery Indian paintbrush,
elegantly announcing
the arrival of spring.

Posted in Poetry | Tagged acrostic poetry, bluebonnets, National Poetry Month, Texas | 3 Comments »

Life Force

March 31, 2013 by margaretsmn

Slice of Life Challenge Day 31

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. There is a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
― Martha Graham

This quote came to me via Kate DiCamillo on Facebook. She is my favorite author for children, so I follow her. She often posts words of wisdom or things that are speaking to her. The above quote from Martha Graham sums up what the Slice of Life Challenge means.

We are a life force.
Together we face the challenges of each day.
We write.
We live open.
We express this openness
to the world or to anyone
who may stop in to listen.
We are not good,
but we don’t have to be.
It is only for us to do it,
practice daily,
observe,
learn,
express.
We are a life force.

Congratulations to all the Slice of Life Challenge Bloggers! We did it!

Posted in Slice of Life | 13 Comments »

Keep Austin Weird

March 30, 2013 by margaretsmn

Slice of Life Challenge Day 30

I am in Austin visiting my sister and her family. We ventured downtown to South Congress yesterday, known to locals as “SoCo.” Austin has a personality, and obviously, the people here are proud of it. They sport vehicle bumper stickers that say, “Keep Austin Weird.” We enjoyed some of the weirdness.

Selection of a lunch place split up our group, and I went with my daughter and husband to the Lucky Robot. The bathroom stall said it all, I was a “Lucky Gal.”

We ordered using an iPad. How cool is that? And the table next to us had a yellow porch swing for seating. Not to mention, the food was delicious. I had two Asian tacos full of fresh vegetables and topped with avocado and tasty sauce.

As the warm breezy afternoon continued, we ran into a man with a cat on his backpack, a picture-perfect graffiti sign, and a piglet on a leash. We enjoyed the weirdness of Austin and time spent with each other.

Critter relaxes atop his owner’s backpack.

Cousin love

Three month old miniature potbelly pig

Posted in Slice of Life | Tagged Austin, Texas, Travel | 9 Comments »

National Poetry Month

March 29, 2013 by margaretsmn

Slice of Life Challenge Day 29

Passion is energy. It’s the power that comes from focusing on what really excites you. When we live with enthusiasm, we fully engage our brains and bodies in our activities, building new pathways that foster health and wellbeing. –Oprah and Deepak, 21 Day Meditation Challenge

I am looking forward to the month of April. Don’t you just love the sound of the word, “April?” I love poetry. Actually some people (namely my husband) think I am obsessed. I can’t help sharing this enthusiasm, passion, obsession with my students. And what better time to celebrate poetry than the month of April! National Poetry Month

Last year I decided to teach a poetry form for every letter of the alphabet. It was a challenge to find one to fit each letter. However, with state testing taking one week, and spring break another, we ran out of days before letters. I want to do this again. I have discovered so many new forms from the triolet to the rondelet, and even a clogyrnach. We will try ghazals and pantoums, sonnets, and ekphrasis. See an alphabetized list on Poets.org.

I plan to continue our Slice of Life blog page for posting poems each day. If you or your class would like to follow us, click here.

I will write alongside my students as I always do and share the results with you here on my blog. I have joined the kidlitosphere progressive poem. See the schedule in my sidebar.

Shh, don’t tell, but we plan to post poems all around the school, secret poems, so we can have everyone reading poems throughout their day.

I am still toying with ideas for a final product. Last year we transformed old books into our own poetry books using a technique called altered books.

Do you have any plans? ideas?

If you teach 7th-10th grade, your students can participate in the Dear Poet Project.

National Poetry Month

Poems will echo in the halls,
be pasted on walls,
carried in pockets,
and shared out loud.

Listen to the words
of Naomi Shihab Nye.
Rhyme silly with Shel Silverstein.
Rap with Nikki Giovanni
and imagine like Jane Yolen.

It’s a national phenomenon,
this month of poem fun.
Come on in!
The writing’s fine!

Join Mary Lee at A Year of Reading for more Poetry Friday

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life | Tagged kidlitosphere, National Poetry Month, teaching writing | 15 Comments »

Billboard Cento

March 28, 2013 by margaretsmn

Slice of Life Challenge Day 28

We will be driving a long way today to visit my sister’s family and have a hippoty-hoppity Easter Day. So in honor of our long drive, I created a billboard cento. A cento is a poem formed entirely from verses from someone else. I started by taking pictures around town, but I expanded my collection with a Google image search. Here’s a link to a definition of cento. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cento_%28poetry%29

Prepare to be Inspired…

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life | Tagged billboards, cento | 10 Comments »

Full Moon Rising

March 27, 2013 by margaretsmn

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.” —Walt Whitman

Slice of Life Challenge Day 27

Even here in the deep south, we’ve had a blast of winter wind. The temperature this morning was 36 degrees. I bundled up in my wool sweater that I’ve only worn twice since I bought it on sale after Christmas, wool socks, and a warm scarf, gloves, the works. Despite the cold, spring is here in full color. My satsuma tree is budding. This means in the fall we will have a full tree of delicious juicy citrus, my favorite fruit. We also have a grapefruit and a lemon budding.

Once a month I get a full moon alert from my friend, Possum. I love to peruse his email for found lines. This month was full of them. Here’s my found poem:

Full moon returns
in the company of ruby-throats.
The worm, sap, or Lenten full,
whatever you call it,
the full girl rises around 6 PM.

Dog whispers, hummers hide,
the woods fill us with wonder:
Spider eyes, lightning bugs,
carnivorous plants,
and an endless frog choir.

The dawn captures a line of ants
carrying only winged seeds
of swamp red maple,
mushroom eaters,
a site to see.

Swarm of honey bees safely hived
bring hope for a fruitful year.
Pollen blowing a dust storm,
new shoots, female flowers
ripen and procreate.

This amazing earth
with arriving hummers,
with wild red buckeye,
pecans leafing out,
with bees waxing and brooding,

Take the last pile of wood
for your campfire.
Raise a glass, honor
each other and the mother.
Bask in the quiet moonlight.

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life | Tagged found poetry, full moon alert, nature, spring | 12 Comments »

Morning

March 26, 2013 by margaretsmn

Slice of Life Challenge Day 26

An Aubade, praise poem for the morning, inspired by Frederick Snock’s Morning presented on The Writer’s Almanac post yesterday.

All year long there is
a window by the red coffee pot,
a ship’s porthole looking
out to the day’s beginning.

Sometimes there is a jay
in the birdbath beyond,
if the cat isn’t there,
flapping feathers clean and blue.

Today, I filled the feeder
with sweet red juice
waiting for spring hummers
come to decorate the sky.

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life | Tagged aubade, hummingbirds, morning, spring | 7 Comments »

Wisteria Lament

March 25, 2013 by margaretsmn

Slice of Life Challenge Day 25

This is a clogyrnach, a Welsh poetry form inspired by Paul at birds and trees of the mind. This wisteria blooms each spring outside my bedroom window. I think I write a poem about it every year.