Test

My stomach is tense.
My jaw is tight.
Marbles are rolling
Around in my throat.

My knees are shaking.
My legs are quaking.
I don't know why 
I'm holding fright.

I studied hard.
I should do all right.
But end of the year exams
Are NOT a delight.

Teacher says we'll do OK.
I wish she could make
The test go away.


  I'm experimenting with posting from my iPad,something I've never done before..  Do you like taking tests?  What do you do before an exam?  Can you write a poem today about tests?


Write poetry just because you like to.

Happy Spring

Goats in the field
eating grass,
stop and look up
as I walk past.

Chickens dashing
across the road,
from the creek comes
the call of a toad.

Clouds change shape
as they breeze by,
a yoga child's pose
they stretch, they exercise.

Cows from the pasture
mooed all night.
Spring spitting rain.
Letters to write.

     Something is up.  I don't know what it is.  Maybe it is that I'm feeling it is time for my own growth in Spring.  You may have noticed  lately I've been having trouble keeping to my schedule of posting a poem a day.  I feel I'm fighting with myself to get it done.  Maybe I need a break from posting poems, but that seems to be the problem for me. When I don't post, I feel I've let myself (and you) down.  Do you ever feel like you are letting yourself down?  Do you feel disappointment in yourself?  What do you do about it?  Sure wish I knew a good solution.  Probably doing less so I have more time to write.  I'll keep plugging along even if it is sporadic.  In a few days, I'm taking off on another adventure.  I'm going to Seattle and then on to Norway where I will cruise the fjords on a ferry boat. I don't know how reliable or expensive an internet connection will be, so we will see what happens between airports.  If I suddenly disappear, you'll know where I've gone.  In the meantime, keep writing.  Can you try writing a poem about what you do when you are feeling down and blue?  Who do you talk to about your feelings, or do you write your feelings in a journal or poem?  

Po'akolu in Hawaiian mean Wednesday.

If you taste tears too often... Elizabeth Bishop from The Reprimand 

Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge

This may look like
a field of white flowers
growing from May's
rainy showers--
but it's not.

It's hundreds of sheerwaters
having a roost
as their numbers they
try to boost.

   This weekend we went to the 103rd anniversary of the Kilauea Lighthouse.  We saw all these birds resting in the trees.

We got to go inside the lighthouse and see the beacon with its big Fresnel lens.

Ever since I took a lighting design class as part of my drama major, I've been fascinated with Fresnel lenses. A kerosine lamp would rotate behind the lens sending out a double flash every ten seconds that could be seen several miles out to sea. Have you ever visited a lighthouse?  What did it look like? Can you write your own lighthouse poem today?  Have fun.

Go-getters know where they want to go, and it isn't backward.  Danielle Laporte

Happy Nurses Day

Happy Nurses Day

Today marks the beginning of National Nurses week, a week to honor all those men and women who choose to dedicate their lives to helping others.  The week ends on May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.





Thank You

Thank you for the care
you give to me.
Thank you for your
gentle touch.

Thanks you for
your reassurance.
Your knowledge 
means so much.

When I was hurt
and needed help
you were the one
that was there.

And when I needed 
a band-aid
you were the one
who put it there.

Thank you for being
a care giver,
a nurse.

Without you,
I'm sure
my pain
would be worse.


This simple poem is what many would call greeting card verse.  It is OK to write that every once in a while, especially if you are making a greeting card to thank someone.  Can you try making a card for a nurse you know today?  Can you write a poem to go on your card?  Does your school have a nurse you'd like to thank?  Have fun making your card.  Have a happy Friday.

Today is Poetry Friday and Sylvia Vardell is hosting the Poetry Friday Round Up
on her blog Poetry For Children.  You can find many more poetry postings here. Sylvia Vardell is the best teacher, editor, publisher.  Thank you, Sylvia, for everything you do for children's poetry and children's poets.  Here is wishing you a Happy Mother's Day
 

Happy May 5th

   Today is Cinco de Mayo, the day for pinatas, fiestas and family fun as people celebrate Mexico's independence.
    Today is Boy's Day as families pay tribute to the males in their family.  Paper fish kites fly from porches to announce the number of males in the family.
    Today is World Day of Prayer, a day to pray for peace and to offer thanks for all our blessings. 
    I couldn't decide which holiday to write my poem about for today.  I've already written a poem about Cinco de Mayo here.
   I've also written a poem for Boys Day, a holiday celebrated here in Hawaii.
   So I guess I'm writing a prayer poem.

  MY PRAYER FOR YOU

   A star is named for you.
   The moon looks pleased for you, ever changing.
   The sun shines too.

   Pheasants chuck in the grass.
   Roosters watch them pass
   and egrets keep an eye out.

   It takes all kinds.
   Each of us is born at a different time.
   Each of us is different.

   I wish we had more time together.
   Shillings and pounds, how does it end?
   Forget war, I wish you peace.  


   This is  free verse poem written in triplets.  Can you try writing your own free verse poem today?  What do you want to tell the world about your world today?  What do you want to celebrate?  Have fun writing your poem.  Tell it slant.

HAIKU

I awake to rain
misting old mountains
sunrise shines for rainbows

 This morning's  rainbow comes to ground at the end of my driveway.  It reminds me a pot of metaphorical gold is on my property.  How could one NOT want to get up with the sunrise when this is the view you get? 
Can you see the double rainbow?  Notice how the colors mirror one another?  Today is a day for writing springtime haiku.  Can you write your own haiku?  Remember to keep it in present tense--something I obviously have difficulty doing.  Today we've had rain off and on all day again too.  One of the Kauai hens is sheltering from the rain under one of my palm trees. She needs a raincoat.

Rain in Hawaiian is he ua, rainbow is he anuenue.

I am either going to be a good writer or a poor fool. Theodore Roethke.

HAIKU

off and on, all day

rain falls, misting old mountains

ducks waddle to greet me

   Yesterday I got to play with my water colors again.  I had so much fun.  I wrote this haiku and when I first wrote it, I used "the mountains" in the middle line.  But since haiku is about packing a lot of information in, I look at my thes and a s to see if I can change it to a word which will tell more.  When I did that, I changed the mountains to old mountains.  Today, as I was typing the poem for this blog post, I saw I had used past tense and quickly changed my verb to present tense to make the poem more immediate.  Haiku should be in present tense.  So, I changed my fell to falls.  That is much better. I really do enjoy playing with the words and tinkering with the order of them.  For your poetry challenge for today, can you take out one of your old poems and give it another look?  Is there anything you want to change?  I feel like my poetry skills are always growing and if I look again at a poem a wrote more than a year ago, I can find things I can make better.  It is so much fun for me.  I hope you have fun looking at your poem with your eyes of today.  Enjoy poem making.

To bless or to make prosperous in Hawaiian is e hoomaikai.  But to be strong is hoomaika.  Only one letter is different between the two words.  I hope your poetry is strong today and that the words come making you prosperous and blessed.

Creativity is a spiritual practice.  It is not something that can be perfected, finished, and set aside. Julia Cameron

Animals in the Garden

Come on dog,
let's go for a walk.
I'll get your leash
and we can talk.

Come on dog,
let's go for a run.
Then you'll be tired
when we're done.

Come on dog
lets go for a stroll

out to the field
to catch a mole.

Come on dog
why don't we dance,
we both need exercise.
Let's take a chance.


    Your poetry challenge for today is to select another animal , and write a similar poem that addresses the animal directly.  Come on cat.  Come on mouse,  Come on Robin

Come on Robin 
bring spring on,
then you can sing
at every dawn.

    Last Friday evening I went to see a Lego display at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens in Kauai.
I saw a praying mantis, a duck, a huge butterfly, a snake, mouse, and a hummingbird--all made out of Legos.
All of the great sculptures made me think it would be the perfect place to write ekphrastic poetry.  If you were to build a Lego structure in your imaginary garden, what would it be? 

HAPPY MAY DAY

Gather some flowers
on the 1st of May.
Make them into
a pretty bouquet.

Knock at your neighbor's
then run away.
As you're going
be sure to say
HAPPY MAY DAY.

   In Hawaii, May Day is celebrated as Lei Day. 

Happy May Day
Happy Lei Day
Here's what I'll do,
I'll gather flowers
to make a lei
for you.

And if you make
one for me too,
then we can exchange
a friendship true.

  Each year on Lei Day the Kauai Museum has a lei competition.  My husband and I went and saw over 50 beautiful leis. 

The top lei is made with bougainvillea and fern, the bottom one gets it's teal color from jade plant.

Aren't these beautiful?

The middle lei included rose buds.

These leis were entered in the purple/blue category.

Leis in the white category.

There were leis for your hat.

Of course there was hula dancing to celebrate the holiday.
And,

singing and ukulele playing.  It was a wonderful day.  I hope you have a great Lei Day.

   Can you write a poem about your favorite flower today?

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may... Robert Herrick