It's that time again

My friends have snow.
It's two feet deep.
Their chilly weather,
they can keep.

Here on my island,
we've a tropical breeze
with lots of sunshine
and sand on our knees.


I got up early this morning to talk to a friend on the East Coast.  We ended up laughing and she called me a "Baby, just starting out."  My day had just begun while she was in the late afternoon of her day.  Do you have friends in other time zones?  How does that effect your talking to them?  Can you write a poem about a different time today?  It may be the differences between day and night, or different ages.  What if you could travel back in time?  Who would you talk to?  Or can you travel into the future?  Time is a man-made construct, so why do we have 24 hours in a day?  Don't sailors work on a four hour schedule of bells?
Anyway, I hope you have some time to play with poetry today and to have a good time.  Write on!

Today I will take my time slowly, thank you.

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.

Pride of Ownership

At our swim meet

Coach

used a marker 

to write 

entry numbers

on our arms.

Numbers

help the judges

identify winners.

My best friend

Lori grabbed

the black marker

drew

smiley faces

on her knees.

Soon

our whole team

had smiley faces.

Tomorrow

she said,

I want 

keep

these 

happy reminders.

     For me, summer and swim team go together.  What things mean summer to you?  Library reading programs?  Camping?  Going away to camp or family vacation?  Can you pick one thing, one image and write a poem about it.  This poem relies heavily on visual images.  Can you use other senses in your poem?