AH, SPRING!

Egrets take to their wing.
Shama trill and lilt notes ring.
The myna birds do their bird thing.

Cows in the pasture bray their moo.
I'm glad to be here, wish you were too.

The man on the corner
is washing his car
all the while singing
to a distant star.

The weather is better.
Yes, it is spring
and I can't think
of a more enjoyable thing.

Aaaaah, Spring. 

   What things do you notice with spring?  Mary Oliver has a line in her poem The Summer Day, "I don't know exactly what prayers is.  I do know how to pay attention."  Every time I pause to notice things around me, I wonder am I paying close enough attention.  I need to practice--a lot.  How do you practice paying attention?  What have you noticed today?  What have you learned today?  Can you try writing a poem about that?    Then try drawing a picture to go with your poem.  Today I was playing with digital drawing.  My picture was drawn on my computer using a program called Paper 53.  I need to learn more about the program, but for now I had fun playing.  I hope you find time to play today, too.  After all, it is spring.

   A shama is a local bird, only found on Kauai and O'ahu.  Also known as the White Rumped Thrush, it has a red-orange chest like a robin.  It is considered to by the most gifted song bird on our island. It was first introduced to Kauai from Malaysia in 1931 and released on O'ahu in 1940.

Nothing is so beautiful as spring-- Gerald Manley Hopkins

SPRING

Last night
when I went to bed
I could still
smell the fragrance
of flowers I'd
put in a vase
on my dresser,
the sweet yellow
trumpets of daffodils.

   What is your favorite flower? Daffodils speak to me of happiness, joy and laughter.  They are Springtime. Can you write a poem about a flower today?  Have fun writing.

The cow's favorite flower is a buttercup.  What flower does a cow wear?  A cowslip. 

Happy Spring

Goats in the field
eating grass,
stop and look up
as I walk past.

Chickens dashing
across the road,
from the creek comes
the call of a toad.

Clouds change shape
as they breeze by,
a yoga child's pose
they stretch, they exercise.

Cows from the pasture
mooed all night.
Spring spitting rain.
Letters to write.

     Something is up.  I don't know what it is.  Maybe it is that I'm feeling it is time for my own growth in Spring.  You may have noticed  lately I've been having trouble keeping to my schedule of posting a poem a day.  I feel I'm fighting with myself to get it done.  Maybe I need a break from posting poems, but that seems to be the problem for me. When I don't post, I feel I've let myself (and you) down.  Do you ever feel like you are letting yourself down?  Do you feel disappointment in yourself?  What do you do about it?  Sure wish I knew a good solution.  Probably doing less so I have more time to write.  I'll keep plugging along even if it is sporadic.  In a few days, I'm taking off on another adventure.  I'm going to Seattle and then on to Norway where I will cruise the fjords on a ferry boat. I don't know how reliable or expensive an internet connection will be, so we will see what happens between airports.  If I suddenly disappear, you'll know where I've gone.  In the meantime, keep writing.  Can you try writing a poem about what you do when you are feeling down and blue?  Who do you talk to about your feelings, or do you write your feelings in a journal or poem?  

Po'akolu in Hawaiian mean Wednesday.

If you taste tears too often... Elizabeth Bishop from The Reprimand 

TRIVERSEN

Happy Poetry Friday

To celebrate National Poetry Month, I thought it might be fun to try some new forms of poetry.  The form explored today is the TRIVERSEN.  The Triversen, an English stanza form, originated with William Carlos Williams. Each stanza, consists of three lines which present a complete clause or thought. A sentence forms the stanza.  No syllable count or meter is required and ideally the poem has six stanzas.
  I found about this form first in my reference book, The Shapes of our Singing by Robin Skelton and then Robert Lee Brewer wrote about it here. And, my Dictionary of Poetic Terms by Jack Myers and Don C. Wukasch has more.  But, basically a Triversen is an American form made popular by William Carlos Williams.  It is:
1. made up of six sentences or stanzas
2. broken into three phrases for each stanza.

   I think that rather than iambics, Williams was arguing that this phrasing better represented American conversations.  Here is my attempt at a Triversen.

SPRING

In springtime
     why are there so many
          rainy showers?

I am stuck indoors
     for hours
          and hours.

When I am ready 
    for heat
         and blazing sun.

The clouds cry
     their tears
          on everyone.

Spring is supposed
    to be about new beginnings
         and baseballs' extra innings.

But I wonder like a carrot
     with roots underground
          can the best be seen.

Your poetry challenge for today is to try writing your own Triversen.  Remember, it usually doesn't rhyme. And, has a variable foot.  Just have fun playing with a new form.

It is always fun to try on new shoes to see if it is a good fit. 
 
     My schedule shows that Laura Purdie Salas is hosting this Friday's Poetry Roundup on her blog Writing the World for Kids.  You can go here, to her blog to find more poetry posts.  Thank you Laura for hosting us this week.

As March slowly
slips away,
m-u-d-l-i-c-i-o-u-s 
children come 
to play.

And April knocks
upon the door,
her bonnet tied
against wind's roar.

Spring is here
in one quick bound,
shoots push up
through the ground. 

  March is almost over.  Say good bye to March.  April is almost here.  Say hello to April.  In the Hawaiian islands we have one word for both hello and good bye--Aloha.  I think that is partly because no one ever really leaves.  Part of them always stays with us. We have the memories of our times together.  Or, as my teacher points out, you are breathing the same air as Christopher Columbus, Shakespeare or George Washington. So, for your poetry challenge today, can you write a poem about someone or something that is coming or going?  Have fun writing. 


Just write anything and put it out there with reckless abandon.  Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic.

SPRINGTIME

Bring on the colors
the colors of spring
that let us delight,
that let us all sing.

Bring on the shades
and the colorful hues.
Bring on the bird songs
spreading their news.

Bring on the trees,
the flowers, the light.
Bring on the paints
that give us delight.

Bring on the red,
the green, yellow,and blue.
Bring on springtime
with everything new.

Bring on new growth
that brings energy.
Come springtime, come
for you and for me.

   Whoever spoke the phrase, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, wasn't speaking about this year. Yesterday my friends in Colorado had a HUGE snow storm.  My friends on the East Coast were battling cold winds and even here in Hawaii we had thunder, lightning, and flooding.  I guess that is why I felt moved to write my poem inviting spring to hurry up and get here.  Hopefully, by the end of the month, we'll see lamb like weather.  What animal would you use to describe your weather?  Can you find a good metaphor for your weather and write your own poem today?  Have fun writing.  Is you weather like bees buzzing?  Like a turtle hiding in its shell?  Like a dog growling or a cat with a humped back?  Like a giraffe with a long neck that the storm has to get through before it reaches the point where it can do some good? (That one was a stretch.  Sorry for the bad pun.) Anyway, you get the idea.

   Today is Poetry Friday and Heidi Mordhorst is hosting the roundup on her blog My Juicy Little Universe,



Spring is just around the corner. Tie on your Easter hat.

LATE SPRING

Creosote bushes
yellow flowers blown
pollen litters the ground.

Saguaro blossom
in wedding white cone.
Bees come sniffing around.

Mothers Day bonnet
decidedly shown
the cactus early crowned.

    I can not believe that parts of the US had snow, yet again, yesterday. Here in the desert we are hurling toward summer. Already the Saguaros are starting to flower. In a couple of weeks, just in time for Mothers Day they will have white crowns of flowers around their tops. Yesterday I watched a quail with ten little quailets scurry through my fence and walk around under the bushes. It looked like one mom and ten little babies, no bigger than golf balls. On the top of my fence sat the male on look out. It was fun to watch those ten little ones scurrying in ten different directions, going forward and back, depending on what took their attention. It did make me think of toddlers in the play yard.
   Today's poem is written in triplets, three lined stanzas, with rhyme. Can you try writing your own triplet today? Pick a plant or animal from your world and experiment.  Have fun writing.

  The Friday Poetry Roundup is hosted this week by Renee LaTulippe on her blog, No Water River. You can find more poetry from other children's poets here.

DANCING

Our spring winds blowing
yellow creosote blossoms
bow to their partner.



The plants are changing
their dresses drop to the ground
springtime allergies


   Can you use the word SPRING to write an acrostic today?  Have fun writing.

Start by writing the word SPRING down the left side of your page, then fill in the words.

Special time,
Plants
Release new leaves
In
Neon
Green.

DESERT RAIN

It's raining.  It's raining.
Wind is blowing.
A rainbow is coming.
Flowers are growing.
Yahoo!

  Spring is almost here.  Friday is officially the first day of Spring.  Can you write your own spring poem today?  Have fun writing.

CLOUD RODEO

Lying on the hill
watching the clouds go.
I'm stretched into spring
at a cloud rodeo.

I see a white horse
become a bronco.
A cloud in the west
is a Plains buffalo.

Wonder who will win.
I watch the clouds flow--
sheep, fox or turtle
at this cloud rodeo.


   I think I'm still stuck on clouds today.  It is a perfect day for watching cloud as the winds pick up in the east.  Can you write your own poem today about a cloud shape you see?  Have fun writing. 

It rained today,
I say hooray.
The desert flowers bloom.

The cactus grow,
what do you know?
Saguaro blossoms coming soon.

   Spring is definitely coming to the desert.  Desert marigolds are blooming.  My daffodils have yellow trumpets.  I've seen two snakes this last week--a rattler and a corn snake.  The birds are doing their springtime behavior.  There was half an egg shell in the pool today.  Is spring coming your way?  I hope so.  Can you try writing your own spring poem today?  Have fun writing. 

HAPPY POETRY FRIDAY

   The weather in Tucson has been quite delightful.  Yesterday we were at 80 degrees and it is supposed to be that warm again today.  It is quite spring like here,  so I've written half a dozen spring haiku for today.

Searching for good luck
my friends and I try to find
a four leaf clover.

A red lady bug
wiggles and tickles my arm
she's climbing higher.

Spring rains bring puddles.
I wear my new rubber boots,
will they get dirty?

Time to go shopping.
We are looking at the mall
for Easter dresses.

With our roller skates
we cruise the old neighborhood
while watching for cracks.

A happy May Day
I wear ribbons in my hair
to dance the May Pole.



   I have been reading picture books written in haiku lately and several use the American traditional haiku of 5-7-5.  Five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five syllables in the last line.  This is all fine, but I've also noticed some awkward line breaks in some of the haiku to keep to the syllabics.  Ending a line on an article, a preposition or a conjunction makes for a VERY weak line. 
   So here is your poetry challenge for today, try writing your own haiku about what the weather is like where you are.  Try to keep to the 5-7-5 syllable scheme and DO NOT end a line with an article, a preposition or a conjunction.  If you'd like to share your haiku, please leave it in the comments.  Due to COPPA laws, if you are under 13 years of age, please have a teacher or parent leave your comment.
   The Poetry Friday Round Up is being hosted by  Elizabeth Steinglass today.  You'll find more poetry at her blog here.   Thanks for a great party. 

A RONDELET

A bee in Spring
    is drunk with the pleasures of bees.
A bee in Spring,
    euphoric with golden sleeping,
    trapped in his blossom dreaming-sprees,
    pollen stockings rolled to his knees--
A bee in Spring.


     I enjoyed watching the bees in my Prickly Pears this spring.  When the Prickly Pear blossoms were open, the bees flew in the flower and would get caught in all the pollen.  Their movements became sluggish, like they were drunk.  It was interesting to watch the bees and to know they are pollinating the blossoms. The blossoms are gone now, but shortly I will have prickly pear fruit I can make into jelly and syrup.
    The image of the bee drunk inside the flower stuck with me, and I wanted to write a poem about it.  I thought I might try a triolet, but when I worked through that form, I didn't like the repetition of the lines, so I thought I'd try another form with repeating lines.
    The RONDELET is a seven line poem.  Only two rhymes are used, and the repeated line is half as long as the other lines.  The rhyme scheme is AbAabbA.
    Now it is your turn, your poetry challenge is to try writing your own RONDELET. Have fun writing your poem. The Poetry Friday round up is over at Tabatha Yeatts blog, THE OPPOSITE OF INDIFFERENCE.  Thank you, Tabatha for hosting us all.

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.

A Pantoum

APRIL

April tosses her hair.

This is how it begins--

green willow branches float the air

to dance in springtime winds.

This is how it begins

day after blowing day

to dance in springtime winds

as April has her way.

Day after blowing day

Spring reaches to delight

as April has her way

blowing clouds black and white.

Spring reaches to delight

giving us all flower fun.

Blowing clouds black and white

until her breath is done.

Giving us all flower fun

Prickly pear blossoms visited by bees.

Until her breath is done,

April collects pollen on her knees.

Prickly pear blossoms visited by bees

to dance in springtime winds.

April collects pollen on her knees

This is how it begins.

A pantoum is one of the French forms, somewhat similar to the Malaysian pantum, but also attributed to English.  The form weaves lines together.  If you look closely you'll see the rhyming pattern of A1,B1, A2, B2   B1, C1, B2, C2,     C1,D1, C2, D2  etc. until you come to the end stanza where the first and third lines are dictated by the previous stanza, and the second and fourth lines are a repeat from the first stanza (in reverse) of lines A2, A1; or B2, B1--or the poem can simply be concluded with a couplet of A2, A1.  This information comes from THE SHAPE OF OUR SINGING by Robin Skelton, Eastern Washington University Press, 2002.

You might have fun trying this form.  Or, just try writing four couplets about April or spring.  Hey, and if you get that far, you can then try weaving the lines together and see what you come up with.  Have fun playing with poetry.

When I previewed this poem, there was an extra space between the penultimate and the last line.  I considered correcting the formatting error, but as I thought about it, I liked the line, This is how it begins, out there on its own.  And it made me consider that this poem makes an interesting reverso--a poem that reads as well top to bottom as it does bottom to top.  What do you think?

The Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted this week by Robyn Hood Black on her blog Life at the Deckle Edge.  Hop over there for more poetry fun.

RUN RABBIT

Little rabbit
hopping in the desert
hops around the sage bush
hopping on quick feet.

Little rabbit
hopping in the desert
hops around the saguaro
looks for greens to eat.



    A rabbit hopped quickly past me on my walk this morning.  Our desert rabbits are very fast.  Spring is coming quickly.  I've seen more lizards and quail this week.  I even saw a dead snake on the road yesterday.  What changes are you seeing as spring approaches?  Can you write a poem about that?  Have fun writing. 

It's Spring!

Spring arrives
and all the world is green,
each green is a green
unlike any other.
Announcing a new season
from the neon
of new little fists
held tightly on sleeping tree branches
fingers eager to unfurl;
to the dark green of tall saguaros,
and deep, dusky green of eucalyptus
each green unique as a fingerprint,
gathering into itself
the joy and sunshine
of celebrating Spring.


     Happy first day of spring.  I hope there isn't any snow where you are.  Your poetry challenge for today is to write your own spring poem.  What do you like to do during spring?  Fly a kite? Watch frogs?  What is your favorite thing about spring?  If Spring had advice for you, what would it be?  Have fun writing.

IDEAS

I had a new idea.
It might be slightly dim.
I put it in my brain
to let it take a spin.

It bumped against some others,
then Eureka was the shout.
A new idea had been formed.
I kicked the whole thing out.

Now I have a better idea.
Somehow it seems just right.
As I take to my chair
and write and write and write.


     I'm looking forward to this weekend.  I've got so much work to catch up on.  It is rather exciting when everything starts happening at once.  I feel like spring.
What is happening in your life?  Can you write a poem about that?  Have fun writing your own poem, or if you have lots happening to write about, you might want to write more than one poem.  Happy Friday.

    Poetry Friday is hosted by Margaret this week over at http://reflectionsontheteche.wordpress.com/
    Thanks, Margaret for the great Friday party and Congratulations to all the Poetry Friday poets.

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.

EARLY SPRING

The weather is warm.
The air is dry.
The sky is blue
as the bluest sky.
Wild flowers bloom 
on every hill.
Birds are calling
their lovely trill.
Springtime is coming
what a glorious thrill.



     Today is beautiful and I'm happy and grateful.  What is making you happy today?  Can you write a poem about it? 
     Yesterday morning on my walk there was one bird sitting in the top of the ocotillo singing up a storm.  This morning when I walked past that ocotillo, there were two birds sitting there.  I guess the singing bird found someone to sing with him.  I think my own life is like that.  I have lots of friends around, but unless I open my mouth to sing and say, come join me, new friends don't know they are welcome to come and play.  Who can you sing out to today?