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.

SEQUOIA

LEAVES

from a Sequoia
long, thin
pine needles

poke and jab
make us slightly
uncomfortable

like the Indian legend
of talking leaves
genius, clever, brilliant

let me remark
upon his native intelligence
taught himself

to read--first in English
then devised script
for his Cherokee

taught his daughter
to read and write
in her own tongue

with his daughter
showed the Chiefs
usefulness of written words

convinced the Cherokee nations
to learn to read and write
and to understand
the power
of talking leaves.

    Michelle Barnes has a poetry challenge this month on her blog Today's Little Ditty suggested by Nikki Grimes. Nikki supplied ten words for writing poems. One of the words was leaf and this got me to the story of talking leaves, how Sequoia convinced the Cherokee nations to learn to read and write. The tall red wood trees that grow along the Pacific Coast are named after him.  I think it is a pretty amazing story. I know stories about dogwood trees, apple trees, willow trees, and even a Davie poplar tree on the campus of the University of North Carolina.  Do you know any stories about trees?  Would you like to make up your own story? Can you write your own poem about a tree, leaves or even one leaf today?  Have fun writing.



  Today is Friday and Diane Mayr is hosting the Friday Poetry Round Up on her blog Random Noodling.  You can read more poetry at her blog and take a tour of all the blog sites featuring poetry today.

DOORBELL RINGS

Trick-or-treaters stand at my door,
keep demanding,
wanting
some
cookies, candy
apples
gum,
leaving nothing--
not a
crumb.

   Today's poem is another zeno.  I told you I thought they were addictive.  I worked with some seniors writing poetry today in their retirement community.  I shared the zeno form with them.  Lee Chutkow and Arelene Sikkink helped to write this poem.
   You can find directions for writing your own zeno on last Thursday's post.  You can read more zenos on Michelle Barnes' blog at Todays Little Ditty.
   Can you find friends to write a join poem with today?  Have fun with poetry.

WITCH'S KITTEN, A Zeno

Giant, furry witch's kitten
sits on her broom,
flies to-
night.
Zipping, zooming
dips in
flight.
Shadows the moon
causing
fright.

    This poem is a zeno, a form invented by J. Patrick Lewis, former Children's Poet Laureate.  The zeno is a 10 line poem with lines 4,7,and 10 rhyming.  The zeno is a syllabic poem with 8 syllables in the first line, then 4, 2, 1 in the next 3 lines and this pattern --4,2,1 is repeated three times.

Line     syllables       end rhyme
1.            8                  A
2.            4                  B
3.            2                  C
4.            1                  D
5.            4                  E
6.            2                  F
7.            1                  D
8.            4                  G
9.            2                  H
10.          1                  D

You can find out more about this form at Michelle Barnes' Today's Little Ditty blog.
Have fun writing your own poem about a witch today.