THE DANCER

Play the music,
   her toes tap
her heels click.
She bends her knees
for a gentle kick,
   first left
   then right.
Her hips sway.
She does a twist
   at her waist.
Her arms reach
   out then up.
Her shoulders drop
   and she moves
   to find her groove.
She's dancing
   free and wild,
making the music her own
   and the best
is her smile
   I want to embrace
as she dances
   to her music.

   Have you ever listened to music that made you want to get up and dance?  Have you been to a concert where everyone sat in their assigned seats and then someone got up to dance in the aisle?  Have you watched a toddler dance to music?  What happens to keep us from enjoying music like a baby?  Your poetry challenge for today is to write a poem about how music makes you feel.  Pick whose voice you want to write your poem in and have fun dancing words on your paper.

Dance with me, dance with me under the moonlight.

I WISH

I wish I were
a soccer player
kicking the ball
upon the grass
and if you kicked
the ball to me
I promise
I will pass.


     I'm still having fun writing "I wish..." poems.  It is Saturday and I'm watching the World Cup soccer games, so this is what you get.  Would you like to try writing your own soccer poem?  Have a great weekend.

THE FRIDAY DANCE

Toes wiggle.

Ankles rotate.

Knees bend.

Legs kick.

Hips sway.

Waist twist.

Tummy jiggle.

Chest giggle.

Right stretch.

Left stretch.

Face smile,

Big,

All the way.

It's Friday.

Let's Play.

     Have you ever watched football players doing a happy dance when their team makes a touchdown?  It is Friday and I'm feeling especially good to have made it through this week. So, I'm doing my own happy dance.  Your task for today is to think about your own happy dance.  Can you write your dance into a poem?  Sometimes if you make your  body happy moving,  the rest of you will follow.  Have a fun Friday.

    Ed DeCaria is hosting Poetry Friday today at Think, Kid Think.  You can find many other Friday poems to read here. 

SWIMMING

Let's go swimming.

Do you want to come?

We can splash

in the pool

and have a lot of fun.

We can touch the bottom

and swim side to side.

We can kick and splash.

We can float and glide.

So if we need to cool off,

Let's head for the pool.

We'll play Marco Polo

and follow all the rules.

   Do you like to swim?  In Tucson it was 106 again today, so I really like to swim to cool off.  The water is in the 80's. This makes for a really nice swim.  When I was young, I took Red Cross swimming lessons from the time I was very young. 
    My son took baby swimming lessons and won badges for back stroke and 25 and 50 meter swimming when he was 4. (We were living in England then.)  He joined a summer swim team when he was 5 and won lots of ribbons.  He became a life guard in high school and taught swimming to young children.  He still loves to swim.
    Can you write your own poem about swimming today?  Or how about one about water.