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 II

 Yesterday, for THE FRIDAY POETRY ROUND UP, I posted a poem about Sequoia.  The poem was one I'd written from a challenge posted by Michelle H. Barnes on her blog, Today's Little Ditty. Earlier in the month Michelle interviewed Nikki Grimes and Nikki posed 10 words and asked us to write poems for one of the words.  My poem started with the word leaf and ended up at talking leaves with Sequoia. Then yesterday, Tabatha Yeatts on her blog, The Opposite of Indifference, presented a Biography poem.  She used Langston Hughes' poem Helen Keller as a mentor poem for form to write her own poem Louis Pasteur.  You can find these poems on her blog here.  I love biography poems and told Tabatha I'd try putting my Sequoia information into the format she used for her poem--12 lines!  So, here is my attempt.  What do you think?

SEQUOIA
by Joy Acey

He
developed script
for writing Cherokee,
a language they could see.
He,
a teacher,
gave Indians tools
for writing and reading mastery.
He left behind a newspaper
full of talking leaves,
a message so strong
they named, after him, redwood trees.

    Using 12 lines can you write a bio poem about yourself or someone you admire?  Have fun writing.

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.

LOST BOOKS

Happy Poetry Friday.

     First, I have a letter poem up on Michelle Hendrich Barnes' blog today.  She and David Elliot challenged children's poets to write a letter poem during the month of February.  You can find my poem here.
http://michellehbarnes.blogspot.com/2015/02/february-dmc-wrap-up-giveaway.html   
Thanks Michelle for a fun challenge.  I had a hard time distilling  this poem down to the fewest words to still tell the story.  WOW!  This was fun.

     Second, Heidi Mordhorst is hosting the Friday Poetry Roundup today.  She has an exciting list of words ending in "CH" for us to try writing poems for during the month of MarCH.  Thanks, Heidi for a great exercise and for hosting the roundup.  You can find the list and more great poetry on Heidi's blog My Juicy Little Universe.

     Third,  at a recent FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY bag day sale I picked up two interesting books.
The Child as Poet: Myth of Reality? by Myra Cohn Livingston, published by The Horn Book, 1984.  This was signed by the author.  A bit of a tome, but the references are excellent.

The Brownings: Letters and Poetry, selected and with an introduction by Christopher Ricks, Doubleday, 1970.  Oh, this has been a fun read to see the history between these two important poets. 
Does your library have book sales?  I find it is a great way to add to my poetry library (and to keep learning.)  

    OK, fourth a poem for today.

I lose my books,
it's seek and find.
I often think
I've lost my mind.

I search and search,
where can it be?
My book is there
waiting for me.

    I really do try to keep my things organized, but there is always more stuff to add to the clutter.  What do you do to try to keep yourself organized?  Can you write a poem today about something you've lost (maybe your homework) or something you've found or found out?  Have fun writing today.

WHAT DOES THE TOOTHBRUSH KNOW?

What does the toothbrush know?
     The minty taste of the paste's flow.
     To brush up and down, to and fro.
     To slide over each tooth slow.

What does the toothbrush know?
     A missing tooth makes a window.
     To rinse before you go.
     To make each smile all aglow.


         Michelle Barnes and Joyce Sidman have challenged children's poets to try writing a "Deeper Wisdom" poem.  This is a poem based on What Do the Trees Know? by Joyce from her book WINTER BEES & Other Poems of the Cold .  You can find out more about this challenge and suggestions for writing your own poem on Michelle's blog, Today's Little Ditty.

FIREFLIES

What do fireflies know?
     How to fly high, how to fly low
     Flashing light as they go
     And to hibernate before the snow.

What do fireflies know?
     Even their larvae have a glow.
     Searching for a mate, they put on a show.
     If you catch one, let it go.


     Michelle Barnes and Joyce Sidman have challenged children's poets to try writing a "Deeper Wisdom" poem.  This is a poem based on What Do the Trees Know? by Joyce from her book WINTER BEES & Other Poems of the Cold .  You can find out more about this challenge and suggestions for writing your own poem on Michelle's blog, Today's Little Ditty.

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.

CEMETERY SCREAMS

In the cemetery you hear 
screams and wonder 
who yelled
BOO!
Dead Zombies watch
all you
do
and they're coming
to get
you!

Today's poem is another zeno, a form invented by J. Patrick Lewis, former Children's Poet Laureate.  Can you try writing your own zeno today?  Have fun thinking of three rhyming words that are single syllable.  I gave the guidelines for this form yesterday, so just scroll back to that post, or you can find more on Michelle Barnes' blog, My Little Ditty.  The Poetry Friday Round Up is over at Michelle's blog, too.  There is also a fun 5 word poetry challenge over there.  Just drop on by here.  All you have to do is BYOP (bring your own poem).  Everyone is having a good time, so come join us.  Thanks Michelle, for being the hostess with the mostess.

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.