SIX QUAIL

Six little quail
running round the yard,
pumping their feet,
working so hard.

Six little quail
flew over the fence.
Where did they go?
Haven't seen them since.


     It is the time of year when we have lots of little quail scurrying around.  This morning as I watched them dashing around, the two adults with them led the little ones to the gate which was all closed in a corner.  First one adult, then another flew to the top of the fence and watched the little ones for a moment before flying over to the other side.  I wondered what was going to happen to the little quail.  My fence is six feet high.  But sure enough, one after the other each of the little ones flew over the fence.  They didn't pause at the top.  I was surprised and pleased.  I had under-estimated the little quail.  Has anyone ever under-estimated you and your abilities?  Can you write a poem about your mighty abilities?  Have fun telling the world how awesome you are.  You can leave your poem in the comments below.  Have a super day.

A children's poet is more than you see.

HAPPY POEM ON YOUR PILLOW DAY

May 5th is a busy day for celebrating.

In Hawaii and Japan, Boys' Day is celebrated on May 5th. Families fly kites, colorful painted carps, from their houses to show a boy lives there to be honored. I've written a poem for this holiday and previously posted it HERE.     http://poetryforkidsjoy.blogspot.com/2013/05/happy-may-5th-boys-day.html

In the Southwest, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated with fiestas and great food today. I've posted an acrostic HERE and a free verse poem HERE ,
and another poem HERE all about Cinco de Mayo.

But, Poem on Your Pillow Day is a new holiday for me.  I can not think of having a pillow poem without thinking of TANKA.  Japanese women would write tanka to put on the pillows of their lovers.  Later women convinced their sponsors to pay to have the poems collected into booklets.  These early booklets were some of the first poetry books published by women poets.  So, here is a tanka for today.

Twenty baby quail
scurry and scatter, running
under their mothers
breasts offering protection
soothing comfort, feathered love

   A tanka is a syllabric poem made up of 5 lines.
Line 1 = 5 syllables
Line 2 = 7 syllables
Line 3 = 5 syllables
Line 4 = 7 syllables
Line 5 = 7 syllables

  It is like a haiku with two extra 7 syllable lines.

  Can you try writing a poem to leave on someone's pillow today?  Have fun writing.

SPRING

Spring is coming.
I can tell.
The quail have started
to screech and yell.

Cane flies are 
at my window today
and the little cactus wren
calls me to come play.

My fence roses are blooming
in yellow and white,
spring in the desert
is a beautiful sight.

     I hope it is starting to feel like spring where you live.  I've had a vase of daffodils on my kitchen table this week.  The coyotes have been particularly noisy howling at one another on my morning walks.  And, there are four planets visible in the night sky.  Our daytime temperatures are in the 80's.  Lovely weather, except for the wind, and that just moves the clouds around making interesting shapes of them.  Everything is good.  Can you try writing a poem about something good in your life?  Have fun being grateful and writing.

CHORUS

A bird symphony
surrounds
red of cardinal
and gila wood pecker
blue of jay
purple and yellow finch
rosy pink of dove
brown quail and cactus wren
gray of a mocking bird
voices swirl
trill high
sing deep
some tap a beat
the music lifts
pulls my head
higher, higher
makes me feel
like I just might
              Y!
         L
    F

Whip Cream

Mix the cream.
Stir the cream.
Beat it till it's high.
Spoon it on the pumpkin
for Thanksgiving pie.

    Does your family have special foods they eat for Thanksgiving?  Can you write a cooking poem today that tells how to make  your favorite food?

    Our wind is still blowing and today I noticed that the wind made the top feathers on the quail bob even more than usual as the birds walked past my window.  I know there is a poem in there, but it needs to percolate.  What is one thing you have noticed today?  Have fun writing.

My, Oh My, Oh My!

A bunny hops along the road,
a squirrel scuttles by,
a quail bobs to the other side.
My, oh my, oh my!


     This is what I saw on my walk today.  Did you take a walk?  What did you see today?  Can you write a poem about it?  Have fun writing your poem.

A dove
sits up on high
in the old Saguaro
watching doves alit on the fence
below.

Two quails
followed by two 
more quails bobbling along
pacing on the scrubby desert 
running

And then
a fat lizard
races across concrete
in the early morning hot winds
well fed.


      When I woke this morning, quite a production was going on outside my window.  There was even a hummingbird whirring past.  I felt privileged be a part of all the nature in my backyard.  What is going on in your back yard?  Can you write a cinquain about it.

MAY 9

A Lai

Bobbing the fence rail
are two feathered quail--
mistake.

Along that same trail
flicks his rattle-tail,
a snake.

His meal, it will fail
as up the birds sail--
heart-ache.


     I thought for May 9, I'd try a couple of nine line poems.  The first is the French form, the lai.  This form uses two rhyme families.  A syllabic form, there are five syllables for the first two lines using one rhyme, followed by two syllable lines for the second rhyme.  So, the lines look like:

x x x x a
x x x x a
x b

x x x x a
x x x x a
x b

x x x x a
x x x x a
x b

  It is fun working with the long and short lines, but it does make the poem list-like with that really short two syllable line.

Here's another:

Once you may recall
when we were still small
we'd play
at chasing a ball.
You'd try not to fall
each day
and sometimes we'd crawl
or we would stretch tall
in May.

   Another nine line poem is the nonet.  The first line has nine syllables, the second eight, with each successive line having one less syllable until the ninth line has only one syllable.  This takes some planning because you have to end on a single syllable word.   I'm working on a nonet for tomorrow.

   But May 10th is Astronomy Day, so I might write about the moon.  And it is also National Public Gardens Day, so I might make my poem about the garden.  What will you write about today?  Can you try writing a lai or a nonet?  Have fun writing.

   The Poetry Friday Round Up is hosted by Jama Rattigan on her blog Alphabet Soup.  Head over to Jama's Alphabet Soup to read more poetry today.  Thank you, Jama for hosting a fun party.

QUAIL

Quail
feathered head,
waddle, scurry, zipping
one single feather
bobwhite



April
time of new leaves
blossoms blooming, new growth
we throw ourselves into the joy
Springtime


     It has been a lovely day.  I saw my first little quailets of the season this morning.  There were about a dozen of them scurrying with a couple of adults.  The little ones are about the size of a walnut.  So when I attended a workshop this afternoon on writing cinquains and haiku, of course I had to write about my morning experience. 

   Can you try writing your own cinquain about something you saw today?  Have fun writing.

haiku

swallowing sunlight
chicks in the nest beg crop milk
from their dove father


no dress rehearsal
a baby quail pokes his beak
through the fragile shell


    I've been reading a really good haiku book, SEEDS FROM A BIRCH TREE, Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey, written by Clark Strand, copyright 1997, published by Hyperion.  I've really been enjoying the book and think I may need to purchase this book for my permanent library.
   In the book, Strand makes a strong argument for writing haiku in the traditional five, seven, five; three line form.
    Your poetry challenge for today is to find a poetry book you'd like to read and spend ten minutes reading.  It is your choice if you pick an anthology, a collection of poems by one poet, or a text on how to write poetry.  Have fun.  And what ever you choose, will you let me know what you are reading?

Quail Complaint

Out in the desert,
what have quail got?
The soil is too hard.
It's way too hot.
The quail complain
about lack of rain.
Their chicks are too many.
The air is too dry.
They can't find food
as they scuttle by.
When I hear quail
moan and wail,
I think I am glad
I'm not a quail.

     If you could be anyone or anything, what would you like to be?  Can you write a poem about that today?  Happy Poetry Month.

CHANGES

I'm waiting for springtime 
to explode
as I watch quail and lizards
cross the road.

The lizard keeps his belly high,
his tail curled up toward the sky.
You might think of scorpion
or snakes on the run,
but it's just a lizard
enjoying the sun.

This is how he
keeps birds away
and lives to run 
another day.


    Changes are happening.  Nothing stays the same.  Tomorrow we have a new moon and a new month.  What changes are happening around you?  Can you write a poem about change?  Maybe you'd like to try a haiku if the changes are in nature that you notice.  Hope your Friday is wild and crazy.  Live big. Have fun.

haiku

First calls from the wash

wibble-wobble of small quails

coyote pups yip

     This haiku needs some explanation.  The wash is the sandy dry river bed that runs through the bottom of the canyon. As I took my morning walk I heard a funny sound coming from that direction.  That wibble-wobble at first sounded like a large covey of baby quail being herded by adult Gambel's Quail.  It sounded   like the flexing of metal sheets, like a saw might make if you were going to play a saw. It is a little early in the season, but in another month we'll be able to start counting those large groups of quail herding the golf ball sized chicks across the road and around the cacti.  You've got to be able to count fast.  I've seen as many as 32 in a group.  Often the chicks are out of sight before I'm done counting.  So this is what I thought I heard until I had the opportunity to listen a little longer in the quiet air.  It was the sound of young coyote pups yipping in excited little yaps.  So now you know where the quaillets go for breakfast.

   Your challenge for today is to write about the first thing you saw this morning.  Have fun using all your senses.  Happy Friday.  Happy poetry.

  The Poetry Friday Roundup is being hosted by Tara at her new blog site A Teaching Life today.  Thanks Tara for a great poetry party.

WATCHING BIRDS

Thrasher, 
tanager,
finch,
Cactus wren,
warbler, 
Gambel's quail,
white-winged dove,
Gila woodpecker,
phainopepla,
even a vireo
all know
my bird feeder
is the place to go.

And two hawks circle
float in the sky
making those birds
flutter and fly.


    The birds are having a grand time in my backyard today.  I've counted 10 white winged doves sitting on the fence in a row.  The music is wonderful from the small song birds.  The Gila woodpecker is a pest.  She lives in one of the holes in the Saguaro and dines at my house.  I wouldn't mind, but she keeps trying to drink from my hummingbird feeder and with her long this beak, she does a great job of it.  If you were a bird, what kind would you be?  Can you write a persona poem today in the voice of a bird?  Have fun.

WHEN I WOKE UP THIS MORNING

When I woke up this morning
the sun was already out,
I watched two quails scurry
with little quailets all about.

When I work up this morning
I saw two rabbits eating grass
they munched across the garden
as I watched them wander past.

When I woke up this morning
I saw a lizard on the wall
he was clinging tightly,
he didn't even fall.

When I woke up this morning
I watched the goldfinch fling
themselves upon the bird feeder
and heard the song they sing.

When I woke up this morning
I thanked the shining sun
and all the clouds in the heavens
for making this Sunday fun.


    What did you see this morning when you woke up?  Can you write your own poem about that?  Have a great day.
    To all my wonderful friends and readers, thank you for making my birthday a really, really special day for me.  I think I had the best birthday ever.  Thank you.

Progressive Poem

WHAT IS POETRY? 

The poet doesn't invent.  He listens. --Jean Cocteau

It is finding the truth, no need to lie. 
It's munching on watermelon and letting seeds fly. 

It's a letter that comes with a card in the mail. 
It's the lacy silver threads left by a garden snail. 

It's daffodil trumpets covering the hill. 
It's a deer at the creek, drinking her fill. 

It's giggling and laughing and being absurd. 
It's reading a haiku and feeling each word. 

 It's a dragon who blows flames, loud and hardy. 
It's fairies in the garden having a tea party. 

It's the sound of a truck shifting its gears. 
It's the feel of two soft puppy ears. 

It's a bright sun rise and glowing moon shine. 
It's a Carolina wren singing in a Lob-lolly pine. 

It's a snowman rolled on a cold winter morn. 
It's crows calling from tall tasseled corn. 


 Each day during April, I will add a line to this poem. If you'd like to suggest lines, please leave your suggestions in the comments below.

Sorry I'm late today.  It is a busy Saturday and I should have taken care of this last night, but you know how Fridays are.  I hope you are having a great weekend.

THE QUAIL EGG

I found a little quail egg
in the gravel by the pond.
When I picked it up I found
part of it was gone.

I brought the egg
into the house
and blew the insides out.

I set it on the counter
to let the egg dry out.
I thought about that little egg;
it never grew to much.
I hoped that mother quail
would try to double clutch.

    Do you know what double clutch means?  It has nothing to do with cars and shifting gears in this poem.  A group of eggs that a bird lays is called a clutch of eggs.  When the eggs are removed, sometimes the bird will lay another set of eggs.  This is double clutching.  So my poems is saying, I hope the mother quail lays another set of eggs.  I have no idea who moved the egg to the edge of the pond.  I wonder if it could have been a packrat, or a larger bird.  I'm going to have to do some research to find out.  Next, I'm going to have to see if I can boil some of this information down to a haiku.  I'll let you know if that works out.

    Your challenge for today is to write a poem about a bird, perhaps you can make it a persona poem.  How do you think are reacting to the end of winter?  Have fun writing.

DESERT THEATRE

ACT I  Scene 1

Setting:  A Tucson Backyard about an hour after sunrise

RABBIT

A Western Cottontail RABBIT enters and walk- hops to CENTER STAGE.

Pauses to nibble the fresh green leaves of Lantana.  His ears twitch.

He raises his head to look around.  EXITS stage right.

QUAIL

 
Enter two Gambel's QUAIL, who bobble-walk across stage and EXIT stage left.

White-winged DOVES sit in their balcony seats along the fence, observing.

And I, with my pen poised stand watching through the kitchen window wondering what ACT II will bring.


    I made up my own form for this poem.  It is written like a stage play.  I'm sure some poet before me has done this, actually many of Shakespeare's poems were written as plays. Now there is some good company to be in.  It just seemed like this morning the animals were putting on a production for me. I had so much fun watching.
   Your challenge for today is to take one of your old poems, or one of someone else or even write a new one and try it in a different form.  What ever you decided to write, do have fun playing with your poetry. 

haiku

two Gambel's Quail bob

feathered heads on the fence rail

saunter toward spring

     I recently had four haiku accepted by Dos Gatos Press for their new anthology, LIFTING THE SKY: Southwest Haiku and Haiga, so I've been thinking  about haiku recently.  It is a lovely little poem that captures a moment in nature.  Traditionally in the US we teach school children that there are 5 syllables in the first and last line and 7 in the middle, making a 17 syllable poem.

    I've been listening and watching our birds this week.  They are all singing quite loudly looking for another bird to share their nest.  The quail have been the noisiest.  In Tucson we have Gambel's quail--lots of them.  They are very similar to California quail, but they don't share the habitat.  If you'd like to know more about this interesting bird, to see a video and hear the bird's call, go here.

    Your poetry challenge for today is to write a haiku about something from nature you see today.  You are welcome to leave your haiku in the comments.  I'd love to read them.  Have a fun day observing.

   

DESERT WALK

Taking a walk
in the desert with you
I see things differently--
a new kind of true.

The quail scurry
the rabbit hops
I don't want this walk
to ever stop.

The birds are singing
a happy tune,
I look up to see
a daylight moon.

The sky seems even
bluer than blue
when I take a walk
in the dessert with you.


      Take a walk today and try writing a poem about the things you see, smell, hear and feel.  Have fun writing.

Quail, Almost Villanelle

Quail bob across the road, scurrying to and fro.

Sun is out as they rush about, little for them to fear.

They eat all along the way, tasting as they go.

We watch head feathers dip, wonder what they know.

Little chicks trail behind, follow in the rear.

Quail bob across the road, scurrying to and fro.

Sun keeps rising higher, desert life's a show.

Mother quail calling, her clicking can you hear?

They eat all along the way, tasting as they go.

Scratching seeds, we watch the young chicks grow,

and listen to their coo-coo ringing in our ear.

Quail bob across the road, scurrying to and fro.

A hawk sees feathers bob in the sunlit glow.

Chaos as the covey breaks, dashing like a deer.

Quail bob across the road, scurrying to and fro.

They eat all along the way, tasting as they go.

     I've been working on poems for the very young all week and felt like I wanted to try something a little harder to flex a little poetic muscle, so I pulled out my HANDBOOK OF POETIC FORMS.  The Villanelle is the penultimate form listed in that book.  (Since I'm left-handed, I often start reading books from the back.)  I have the rhyme pattern for this form down.  Now I need to do some more polishing to get the line lengths right, and I need to find another word to use instead of so many bob's.  I'm open to your suggestions.

What forms do you like to try?  Can you name the form for the poem you'll write today?  

   Have fun writing and I hope you have a great weekend.  Stay warm.

   The POETRY FRIDAY Roundup is at A TEACHING LIFE today.  Thanks for hosting all the children's poets.