BUTTERFLIES

Butterflies flit.
     Butterflies fly

Light as a whisper
     in the blue sky.

Perched on a daffodil
     drinking the dew.

I wish I was a butterfly.
     How about you?



     On a recent walk through the woods with a friend, we came to a fork in our path.
     "Which way shall we go?" he asked.
      Suddenly there appeared before us a blue swallowtail butterfly.
      "Let's follow the butterfly."  And that is what we did.  All along the path the butterfly would dart ahead and then come back to check on us, just like it was encouraging us to hurry up.  The butterfly made our walk magical.  It was a very good walk.  As soon as we got back to our start point, the butterfly flew up into the sky and disappeared.  Do you ever take walks that become magical?  Can you write a poem today about a walk?  What did you see?
Have fun writing your poem.

haiku

Little milkweed bugs
rest upon a burst seed pod--
beginnings and end

Daffodils blooming
yellow and gold profusion--
their trumpets blaring


     It is a quiet day at my house.  I had a chance to take a walk, and in addition to lots of golf balls (I felt like I was on an Easter egg hunt) I found daffodils and milkweed bugs.  My field guide says the Latin is, Lygaeus kalmii, and they are from the "True Bug Order."  
   
Can you find a moment to write your own haiku today?  What about nature do you notice?  Have fun writing.

WHAT IS POETRY?

WHAT IS POETRY?

Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. --William Zinsser
 
What is poetry?
It is finding the truth, no need to lie.
It's munching on watermelon and letting seeds fly.

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

It's daffodil trumpets covering the hill.

     So now, what do you think tomorrows line will be? I'll give you a hint, it is going to rhyme with hill.

    What does poetry mean to you? Can you write your own poem today about what makes a poem?

   If you'd like to see me perform my poem HOW TALL IS THE BOY, published in THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL, compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, check out Renee LaTulippe's blog at NO WATER RIVER   You'll also be able to see George Ella Lyon, Heidi Bee Roemer, Heidi Mordhorst, and David L. Harrison presenting their poems from the anthology.  It is really fun to see poets performing their poems and David Harrison even plays his trombone--flat.  

Daffodil

Hear the golden daffodil.
Yellow horn with little frill,
Trilling, trilling,
Heralding spring.


   I went searching for a pretty picture I have of blooming daffodils, but I couldn't find it.  RATS!!!  But look what I did find, a minute poem.  I wrote a whole series of minute poems once about things in my garden, I couldn't find a publisher for it at that time.  A minute poem is a fun form since it has only 60 syllables.  Three stanzas, 8 syllables in the first line and 4 in each of the next three lines.

DANCING DAFFODILS

Yellow jonquils bend in the wind

bowing their heads

flower trumpets

heralding spring.

King Alfred daffodils swaying

lift their bright cups

to the sunshine,

a song playing.

Yellow and green, orange and white,

smell the fragrance.

Winter is gone

springtime delight.

So you guessed it, your challenge today is to try writing your own minute poem.  Do have fun with this one while I try finding that picture, I know I have it somewhere.  Time to get organized.