STONE

Rock
boulder
igneous
obsidian
sedimentary
sandstone
shale
limestone
calcite
metamorphic
marble
granite
crystal
gazing
ball
MAGIC


    This is a list poem built on the word stone.  Can you take a single word and build your own poem?  You might want to use a thesaurus for this one.  Have fun following your words to see where they might take you.

Children's poetry starts with a small idea and grows.

STONE HAIKU

If this rock could talk
I think that it would tell me
about the Stone Age


    Happy Saturday.  It is a hurry, hurry, rush-rush day for me.  Lots of chores to get done.  Hope you can find time to write  poem today.  Write something.

ROCKS III

Water ripples
in the creek
smoothing stones.

In the night
faeries delight
painting moss on rocks.

Tired muscles
relax at the spa
hot stone massage.

In the morning sun
a small whiptail lizard rests
on warm desert rocks.

Stones wait
on paper
defying the breeze.

Stones are a promise
long-lasting
after this poem.

     Happy Friday the 13th.  My oldest son always said this was a lucky day for him, so I'm wishing luck to you and a great poetry day.  I do feel lucky because the birds have been delightful today.  This morning when I went for my walk a female cardinal was having a singing contest with a cactus wren and it was beautiful music for a walk.  Now as I look out my window there are goldfinch and purple finches vieing for spots at the bird feeder.  It is very entertaining.  Look out your window.  What do you see?  Can you write a quick triplet about that today?  Or choose the form you want to write in and write your own poem for today.

   Happy Poetry Friday.  The round up is hosted by Cathy Mere today.  Head over to her blog Merely Day by Day for more poetry treats. Thank you, Cathy for a great poetry day.

PEBBLE

Little Pebble wanted
when he grew up to be
a Radio City Music Hall Rock-ette.

In my shoe
Little Pebble took a ride
The blister I got hurt my stride.

   
Oh, gosh!  These are awful.  Real groaners.  some days you just have to let yourself write bad stuff to get to the good stuff. I'm hoping good poems will come.   Can you write a poem about the wind today?  We are having really windy weather. 

STONES II

Rock faces
a playground
for mountain goats.

Stones at rest
from a roll in the creek
a hidey home for salamander.

Rocks smoothed
by water
skip across our favorite lake.

Some rocks--geodes
hold a surprise
inside hidden starlight.

Stones hurl,
sticks throw,
words won't hurt.

    Your poetry prompt for today is to write a poem about something you saw on the ground today.  Have fun writing.

    I'm celebrating and marking a milestone.  Today is my 1,400th post.  I'm going off to write a stone triplet for mile-stone.

STONES

     For some reason, writing the stone triplets has been difficult.  What do you do when you are having problems with your poems?


Island earth, an atoll
with many stones
rocks tumble, rocks roll.

Stones low
deep in the canyon
water rushing, ebb and flow.

Rocks high
in our mountains
challenge climbers, eagles fly.

Rocks glow sometimes bright
in hidden caves
stalactites, and stalagmites.

Rocks blow
erupt in the sky
when volcanoes go.


   And now for one more FIRE triplet.  I heard a phrase and told myself I hadn't written a fire poem using the phrase--and then all the sudden in three days, I heard the phrase three more times.  Once on the radio, once in the book I was reading and then on TV.  There is a psychological term for suddenly noticing yourself surrounded by something.  Like buying new jeans and then noticing that lots of people have new jeans. Now I'm going to have to do some more research to see if I can find that word.  Oh well, here is the FIRE poem:

Fire fibs
pants on fire
Liar. Liar.

Your poetry challenge for today is to take a chant or nursery rhyme and write it as a triplet.

Large egg
falls from wall
broken Humpty.

Bridge falls down
London aghast
gold and silver for all.

   I hope you have fun with this challenge.  I'm going to.

GEODE

copyright 2014, Joy Acey

A geode looks like a regular rock
until it's split in two.

copyright 2014, Joy Acey

Then you can see the crystals inside
sparkling for you.

    How many different kinds of rocks can you name?  Can you write a poem about rocks today?  Have fun writing.

Hawaiian Thank You

May I 
Always be
Happy
And grateful for
Love
Openly given.



     The Hawaiian word for thank you is mahalo.  Yesterday I had a friend call to talk about her gratitude rock.  She carries it in her pocket to remind herself to be thankful for all the beauty in her life and all the wondrous encounters she has.  I have another friend who makes a list every Sunday of all the things from the previous week she is thankful for.
    I'm thankful you have come to read my poem today.  Now that spring is here I feel like there are changes occuring in the universe and I'm so glad  we are a part of the changes.  So thank you.  Today's poem was written especially for you.  Your challenge for today is to write your own poem about thankfulness or gratitude.  Perhaps you'll want to try an acrostic poem too.
     Thank you for stopping by and now I'm off to go rock hunting.
     Happy Poetry Friday.  For more fun poems today hop over to  The Drift Record , Julie Larios is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.  Thanks, Julie, for all your work.  Great poetry party!

KICKING ROCKS

Rip-ity,

     Rapp-ity,

          Rick-ity,

                ROLL.

My rock

    r
     a
       c
        e
          s

with a flick
of my toe.

     This poem has a lot of "r" words.  Have you ever had rock races with a friend?    The one that kicks the hardest, or has the biggest rock, isn't always the winner.  It takes practice to be a good rock kicker.
I like rocks a lot.  I have a growing collection of rocks.  (Did I ever tell you about my friend who collected rocks when he was a kid?  He had such a nice collection that when he grew up he sold his collection and had enough money to put a down payment on his house.) Can you write your own poem about rocks today?  Have fun. 

My Rock

On my walk

I kicked a rock.

Flip-flop.

I liked the sound,

kicked it again--

harder this time.

Flip-flop, rip-rop.

One more time,

Flip-flop, rip-rop, 

rumbly, tumbly

rippity,rop.

and then my rock

stopped,

at the side of the road

in another pile of rocks.

Couldn't tell

which rock

was my rock.

No more

flip-flop, rip-rop, 

rumbly, tumbly

rippity,rop.

So long rock

as I continue

on my walk.

     I do like rocks, but I usually focus on how they look and feel.  This morning I kicked the rock and liked the game I started.  David Harrison has a poem about using a rock for a laser rocket gun.  Have you played a game with a rock?  Have you tried building with rocks?  So today try writing a poem about a rock.  Have fun.
   

Five Little Lizards

 This little lizard sat on the wall,

 having fun.

This little lizard slept under a rock

out of the sun.

This lizard ate a gnat or two.

This lizard changed colors

from red to blue.

This little lizard dashed fast 

off the wall

because  he heard 

the hawk's call.

 I'm still working away on list poems.  They are also called catalog poems  I started pulling all the poetry books off my book shelf and checking the index to see if the book included any material on list poems.
I did pull out my copy of THE LIST POEM A Guide to Teaching and Writing Catalog Verse, written by Larry Fagin, published in 1991 by the Teachers and Writers Collaborative. 
   I noticed he has a chapter titled: This Little Piggie (Lists and List Poems)  I won't bore you with all the details of this chapter except to say that Fagin points out that we start children on lists with poems like this little piggie, the A B C song, The House That Jack Built and Old MacDonald Had A Farm. 

 So here is today's exercise.  Take a sheet of paper and writing as quickly as you can make a list of animals. Include domesticated animals, farm animals, zoo animals, birds, beasts--any kind of animals you can think of, but only write for a minute.  Making one-minute lists is a fun thing to do if you just have a short amount of time.  Take any noun--dogs, hats, flowers, food,  --and see how many things you can write down that fit your noun category in one minute.  I frequently let my students name the category.  They are very creative.  We've done mall stores, video games and even video game characters. 

Now remember the This Little Piggie rhyme?

This little piggie went to market.

This little piggie stayed home.

This little piggie ate roast beef.

 This little piggie had none.

This little piggie cried wee-wee-wee all the way home.

Now take one of the animals from your list and plug that into this form poem.

This little _______________went to________________.

This little _______________stayed home.

This little  _______________ ate  _______________.

 This little  _______________ had none.


This little _______________ cried  _______________ all the way home.

For an example, I can do this with goldfish

This little goldfish swam over the dam. (Notice I changed words for a stronger verb.)

This little goldfish stayed in the pond.

This little goldfish  ate  flies for breakfast.

 This little goldfish had none.


This little goldfish  cried gulp, gulp, gulp all the way home.

The pattern is easy enough to follow that in no time, I predict you will want to change the words a bit to make your own variation on this list poem.   Have fun playing and please share your creations with me.  What is the silliest thing you can write a poem about? 

Zen Garden

Some see only the gravel

and the rocks

needing raking.

See an arid land

where dust and dirt accumulates,

where nothing will grow.

Some see the same rock pile

of islands in a vast sea,

enduring.

Or mountains

reaching through the clouds

striving upwards.

Today I am a rock.

Let me be an ocean island.

Let me be a misty cloud

ringing.

     Do you ever have days when nothing seems to be going right?  When I have days like that, I know it is time to count my blessings, so today I'm counting.  This is a free verse poem.  I invite you to write your own poem today that uses a simile or metaphor to describe how you feel.  You're welcome to share your poem in the comments below.  Have fun writing.

    Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Hawaiian Legend for Sand

In Hawaii, native people took bodies to the top of the mountain and cremated them then pushed the flaming ash off into the ocean.  So the legend goes.

SAND

Remember in your coma

when you had strange dreams?

You went to unknown, unimagined places;

thought your body was carried

on the shoulders of warriors

to the top of Mt. Haena-

the highest spot in Kauai.

They built a pyre to burn your body,

then tossed the burning bones cliffward.

Caught in a flaming fireball,

an updraft sent your embers floating,

dancing over the ocean for so long,

so far, even the fishermen

out in their wooden boats

saw you sparkle like fireflies.

They called you Goddess as

you drifted down to the waves.

Love, I reached my hand out

to try to catch you

before your ember

turned to stone,

turned to sand.

Does this poem qualify for another story poem?  There is a stone in this one too, so I'm keeping with the rock theme.  What do you think?  Can you make up your own story poem to explain something?  Where did whipped cream first come from?  How were artichokes discovered?   Be as wild and fanciful as you like.  Use your imagination.  Where did dragons come from?  If you were a dragon what would you have to tell us?

Fairy Tale Rocks

     This is another of the poems I'm currently working on.  But I've been struggling. I first wrote this poem in free verse, and the durn thing keeps turning toward rhymed verse.  What's a poet to do?  I'm listening to the rocks.
I think this is the third poem this week about rocks.  Maybe if I push it, there might be a collection here called POETRY ROCK!  (Sorry, I couldn't help myself keep from punning.)

Stone Woman/Rock House

Each day on her morning walks

the woman would pick up rocks.

Then she'd take them home,

and caress each precious stone.

At first, she'd place them

in bowls for friends to play

when the bowls began to fill

she moved to the window sill.

She'd place the stones

in groups of two or four

hoping they'd be comfortable

until she could bring even more.

She'd hold them and turn them,

she'd dust and water them.

She placed the rocks in neat little rows

or clustered like an English garden grows

trying to coax them into bloom.

She'd sing to the rocks,

she'd jabber and croon.

She cracked one open

and saw the moon,

and light like stars

sparkled inside.

Each little stone

was her special pride.

She worried the rocks

until the day

when one of the stones

finally said, “Stop.”

He was a sage of a rock,

who started this tale,

“Never has there been a man,

or animals, fish or bird

insect or reptile—no one never--

that hasn't been touched

by a rock.!”

So the woman stopped

what she had to do

and sat to listen to

all the rock had to tell.

He told stories from

the beginning of time

when rocks came together

to make the earth sublime.

Of fruit and flowers

and whiling away hours

from dinosaurs to Indians,

and trains crossing plains,

of farmers and wars

and hurricanes.

The woman grew old

listening to stones

and when she died

she wasn't alone.

The rocks all giggled

feeling her mirth

they rolled to cover

the woman in earth.

Haiku Rocks

simple, plain, round stone

ordinary on the outside

magic lives within

     I love geodes because they are a constant reminder to me that what is dull on the outside may turn out to be something very special and precious on the inside.  It reminds me not to judge people too quickly, or as the old saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover.  Have you ever had a book, a poem, a friend, a relative that changed as you got to know it?  Can you write a poem about your experience?  Have fun thinking about all the wonderful ways you can change too.

Rock Rabbit

This morning

on my morning walk,

I saw a rabbit.

He looked like a rock.

He stayed there shivering,

as if to say,

"Won't you please,

go away."

I took his picture

then walked on by.

He hopped away

this big eared guy.