Summertime

Staying inside
where it's nice and cool
or hanging out
at the swimming pool.

Lying in the hammock
with a book to read,
it's summertime,
this is all I need.

    

     What is your favorite thing to during the summer.  Do you go camping, fishing or jet skiing?
Do you eat corn on the cob or watermelon? Can you write a poem about what you like to do in summertime?  Have fun writing. 

Linda Kulp over at Write Time is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup today. You can mosey on over there for more children's poetry fun.  Thank you, Linda, for hosting us today. 

KATIE ANN LOUIE

Katie Ann Louie

smells a bit pooey,

standing up in her highchair

blowing Cheerios in the air,

tossing kisses with her O's

landing one on Rover's nose.

Like spitting seeds

from a watermelon,

launching O's on everyone.

Going for the gold, it looks like fun!

Katie Ann, will you give me some?

     Happy Saturday.  I hope you have fun writing today.

THE COLOR PINK

"Pink," she said.
With the softness of clouds
the fragrance of sweet peas,
the taste of warm watermelon.

Pink, the kindest of colors,
a flamingo dunking
to grasp a shrimp,
or the almost white
of galahs.

Pink is forgiveness
in soothing tones,
the soft nap of baby's blanket.

Pink wipes tears
from the cheeks
of the mean reds.


   Can you write your own color poem today?  What does the color make you thin of?  what music goes with your color?  Have fun writing your poem.

WHAT IS POETRY?

WHAT IS POETRY?

Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.--W. B. Yeats
 
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 comes with a card in the mail.
It's the lacy silver threads left by a garden snail. 

It's daffodil trumpets covering the hill.
It's a deer at the creek, drinking her fill.

     Happy Poetry Month.  Oh, I'm having so much fun.  I do love poetry.  In talking to my sister yesterday, she said, "Your progressive poem looks like so much fun, I wish I could play."  

   So, here is your chance, if you'd like, in the comments, leave your own line or couplet on What is Poetry to you.  Start with It's.... and then fill in the blank.  Have fun.  If you need a day or so to think what you'd like to add, that is fine.  Over the weekend, I'll try to add some of your lines to the poem.

Too Much Watermelon

Once there was a mean old felon

Who stole our ripe watermelon.

He said it had zing.

He ate the whole thing.

Now he is achy-bellowin'.

     This form poem is a limerick.  I made up that last word.  Can you guess the meaning? It is a play/reversal on bellyaching.  I like making up words and discovering new ones.  Do you?  When I was in school I used to get into a lot of trouble for this behavior.  My papers often would be returned with red ink marking them and a note from my teacher, "This isn't a word."  Perhaps this is why I am a poet, so I can make up words.  It is also probably why I love dictionaries.  Here is today's challenge.  Make up your own word and leave it and its definition in the comments section below.  Today is the birthday of my birthday poet Theodore Roethke.  He's probably most famous for his poem MY PAPA'S WALTZ.  But he wrote a lot of other great poems too.  I love the line a congress of stinks, from THE ROOT CELLAR.  and try reading NIGHT CROW, to see if you get the same eerie feeling I do every time I read that poem.  I look at Roethke's line breaks, his word choice and I'm still wondering how he gets me to the point I'm at when I reach the end of the poem. (Sorry, You'll have to page down to find NIGHT CROW but there is an audio version too.)   So I'm off to have fun playing with words, hope you have a fun day too.