Haiku

four white egrets perch
on top of the mango tree
wait for this sunrise

All morning I've been watching these egrets.  First there were five, then four, now three.
The trade winds are gently blowing and soon we will have a short morning shower.  It is nice to have a little time this morning to sit and observe nature.  Can you find a little time today to observe your surroundings?  Can you try writing your own haiku, or other poem from your observations?  Have a great Saturday.

A joyful heart lightens burdens.

SHARKS AND MINNOWS

You can be a minnow
swimming in the sea.
I'll be the shark, so
IT is me.

Swim across the pool
as fast as can be. 
I'll try to get you.
Sharks are too hungry.

Hey, I tagged you.
Your hand was my mark.
Now it's your turn.
You be the shark.

    Have you ever played Sharks and Minnows in a swimming pool?  Have you played Marco Polo?  There are lots of tag games.  Can you name some others?  Can you write your own poem about one of the games you like to play?  Have fun writing your poem.  Do you need to do some research in order to write the poem?

Silence is a secret we hold within us.

Today is Friday, so it is time for the Poetry Friday Round Up.  Michelle Barnes is hosting us this week on her blog, Today's Little Ditty.  Thank you for hosting us, Michelle.

BAGS

A bag is a bag,
a kind of sack
for holding your lunch
or afternoon snack.

Used for art projects
or wrapping up gifts,
a bag is an instrument
for playing your riffs.

A bag is a kite
or makes scary masks.
A bag is useful
for all sorts of tasks.

Bags in all sizes,
plain or cute,
but a paper bag won't do
for a wet bathing suit.

   Today try writing your poem on a paper bag, then give it to a friend.  Have fun writing.


Today is Poetry Friday and you can find more poetry posts over at the poetry roundup on  Amy Ludwig Vanderwater's blog, The Poem Farm.      Go here for all the posts.  Thank you, Amy, for hosting us this week.






Today I'll be as happy as a mynah bird in a papaya tree.

THE WEATHER

Rain on the window.
Drops on the screen.
The weather is being
extremely mean.

Flood in the garden,
wouldn't you know,
out comes the sunshine
and there's a rainbow.

   Every morning for at least a month we've had rain.  Part of the fun of living on Kauai though, is seeing all the rainbows.  What kind of weather do you like the best?  How was today's weather different from yesterday?  What do you observe? Today can you write a weather poem?  Have fun observing and writing.

Today I'll be happier than a monkey with a bunch of bananas.

   Today I harvested a stalk of bananas from my tree. 

 

The Fairy Tree

Fairies in the garden
dance around the tree,
feeding us their fairy bread.
Let's all have tea.

  When I was in Melbourne I walked through Fitzroy Gardens which features a fairy tree carved by Ola Cohn.  She wrote fairy stories to help support and protect the tree carving.You can find more here. 

It took Cohn three years to carve the tree.

See the kangaroo and ostrich?

Koala and pixies

Fairies hiding in the crook of the tree.

For a documentary on fairies try here.
For music, here is The Fairy Tree song sung by John McCormick and here by Aine Mulvey. And check out this one of Marley PK. The Fairy Tree, the flute is lovely.

If you'd like to make Fairy Bread try this.

  

If you are enjoying learning about the fairies, you might want to try your own search for them.  One web site called fairy trees May trees, rag trees or ribbon trees.  So your poetry challenge for today is to write a short quatrain (4 lines of poetry) on a ribbon and tie it to a tree.  The more poems and the more colors of ribbons, the more welcoming your tree will look to the fairies.  And with all our recent storms and damage to the trees, maybe you can encourage someone to carve a fairy tree near you.

  Have fun writing poems today and enjoying the wee folks.

Here are a pair of fairy wings, sent to me by one of my Summer Poetry Exchange partners, Irene Latham.

You can make your own wings using cardboard or foam board and attaching them with a bullnose clip to your writing chair.  May all our poems be blessed by the fairies.

Today I'll be as happy as a child spying a fairy in my garden.

Alligator Pie and a Poem to Try

  As the saying goes, Life happens when you're busy doing something else.  Today I was doing some research for the presentation I'm doing at Poetry Camp (for grownups)  at Western Washington University in Bellevue on Sept. 30.  If you don't know about this fantastic, wonderful, first ever gathering of the clan you can find out more here.  It isn't too late to register for this fun weekend and you are more than welcome to come join the over 40 childrens poets who will be presenting and probably doing some hooting and hollering too. We'll definitely be doing a lot of laughing. It should be a grand gathering.

  Anyway, in my research, I stumbled across a fun poem called Alligator Pie by Canadian poet Dennis Lee.  You can read the poem here.  The poem starts:

Alligator pie, Alligator pie,
If I don't get some I think I'm gonna die.

I had so much fun feeling the words in my mouth, and acting them out that it got my brain spinning.
Dennis Lee has three verses to his poem , Alligator Pie, Alligator stew and Alligator soup.  So I got to thinking about other animals and other foods.  Here is what I've come up with.  (They do say imitation is the highest form of flattery.)

Orangutan cake, orangutan cake,
If I don't get some it would be a mistake.
You can have my shovel. You can have my rake.
But please don't take my orangutan cake.

Caterpillar hash, caterpillar hash,
If I don't get some, I think I'll crash.
You can take my hair and my mustache.
 But please don't take my caterpillar hash.

Rhinoceros slaw, rhinoceros slaw,
I love to eat it totally raw. 
You can have my sister, you can have my pa.
But please don't take my rhinoceros slaw.

Butterfly milk, butterfly milk,
It goes down my throat just like silk.
Give away my chocolate and things of that ilk.
But please don't drink my butterfly milk. 

Armadillo toast, armadillo toast 
It's the food I love most.
You can have your turkey, you can have your roast.
But please don't take my armadillo toast.

OK, you've got the idea of what I'm doing.  Do you want to try?  For your poetry challenge for today, pick an animal and a food then see if you can come up with three rhyming words to write your own verse.  Have fun with your creation and if you'd like to leave your poem in the comments, I'm sure we'd all love to read it.  Do have fun with this.  Maybe you'll have fun illustrating your poem. (Remember, due to COPPA laws, if you're under 13 years of age, please have an adult leave your comment for you.)

   Today is Poetry Friday and I hope you're safely indoors reading poems.  Penny Parker Klostermann is hosting the round up this week, so you can hop over to her blog A Penny and her Jots to find more poetry posts.  Thank you Penny, for hosting us this week.

  Today I'll be as happy as a camel chewing dates.