A heron sits

upon a telephone pole

calling, calling.

Searching for a friend,

family, a home.

He cries a heron call

and then lifts off.

      I saw this great blue heron on my morning walk in Tucson, AZ--a long way from any body of water.  He was quiet noisy calling out.  Watching this bird made me realize how important family is to me too.

     For today's poem, can you write about family?  Have fun!
    

Nap Time

Do I have

to take a nap?

My hands want to

clap, clap, clap.

My feet want to

tap, tap, tap.

Oops, I heard

your fingers

SNAP

and point toward bed

where I WILL

nap.

     Can you snap your fingers?  Do you remember when, how you learned to snap them?  How about writing a poem today on all the noises you can make with your hands?  Or simply write a poem about something you can do with your hands or feet.  Hope you have a jolly good time writing.

More Tea Party

I'm having fun with the tea party.

Liz Steinglass suggested a duck.  Here is a first draft.

If you invite a duck to a party,

watch out for his big feet.

They are webbed and wet

and you can bet

he'll use them both to eat.

     When I lived in North Carolina, there was a man in our community who was born without arms, so he had to do everything with his feet.  He never wore shoes because he needed his toes to pick up his fork, to drink his coffee, to turn the page in the book he was reading.

     He was the nicest, most interesting man.  He had his own gardening company and even on the coldest of days, he'd be outside, barefoot, working.

     Since I'm still on the tea party, would you like to come?  Write your own poem to include in the comments below. 

    Happy Saturday, I'm off to the Library to look for Laura Numeroff 's If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, to see if I can learn more about rhyming from her.  

    Each of the faculty at the Highlight's Founders Workshop, Poetry for All, stressed reading as well as writing, so I'm off for the reading part.

     

Tea Party

Yesterday I suggested you try writing a poem about a tea party.  I just got back from the Highlight's Founders Workshop in poetry, so I'm running.  I'm busy, there is so much to catch up on.  Sorry this post is late.  But Linda Anderson asked me a question about having tea in a bubble and it got me to thinking.  I could use my response for today's poem.

Hey Linda,
  The bubbles are magic, so you can put as many imaginary folks in a bubble as you'd like. There you go again, Linda--how wonderful--you've got me thinking, a funny series of poems (probably quatrains) with advice for having tea parties.

The Snail
 

Never invite a snail for tea
he'll slobber on the plates
and eat half cookies.
He'll leave his slime
all over the place,
and will not brush crumbs
from his face.


I'm jazzed about all the things I learned at the workshop and all the ideas I need to follow up on (and the revisions I want to work on).  The workshop was a wonderful experience--
I recommend it for anyone who has the chance to attend and loves children's poetry.

One of the free books in my "BAG" was Eileen Spinelli's TEA TIME TODAY; Poems to Sip and Savor.  It is a delightful book with lots of tips on how to have the most delightful tea parties.  I'm going to need to study this book to see how my poems are different. 

But, your challenge for today is to write a poem about one person you'd invite to a tea party, or someone you wouldn't want there.

Never invite the hippo,
you really don't want him there.
He will crack your hand-painted china
and smash your dainty sitting chair.

    (Yuck, that really needs some help with the meter, but the idea is there to get you started.)  Have a super Friday and I sincerely hope I get some of this work done so I can really work on my poetry and have my own party.

    I welcome your comments, or your poems (please) in the comments section below.  Thanks for dropping by.  I appreciate all your help.

Bubble Magic

The faeries are blowing wee soap bubbles,

they're growing like flowers in the tall grass.

They are sending you an invitation

come along every young laddie and lass.

Come play with the bubbles and drink some tea.

Dine in your bubbles and blow one for me.

     Yesterday, children's poet Eileen Spinelli gave me a bottle of soap bubbles.  She said it would help me to get in touch with my inner child.  It was a bottle of magic.  I took the bottle outside and blew bubbles. They settled in and on the long grass.  The glistening orbs made me think they would be the perfect thing for a faerie tea party.  Each one held a rainbow.
     This poem has a really long line for me.  It is a pentameter (5 foot) line.
Do you like blowing soap bubbles?  Can you write a poem about that today?  Or experiment with using your own pentameter line.

It's RAINING

It is starting to rain

what does it matter?

On the tin roof

pitter      patter

The drops are falling

fatter and fatter

ping  Pang  PONG

I'll get NO sleep

while the rain

sings  

        its song.



I'm in Honesdale, PA at a Highlight's Foundation Workshop titled Poetry for All.  I'm having a good time learning from David Harrison, Eileen Spinelli, Rebecca Kai Dotlich and 20 other children's poetry writers.  It has been raining and I've been watching little frogs jumping along a path, a garter snake slithering through the poetry rock garden and a robin red breast building a nest--all things very different from the desert of my home.  The rain is different too.  I'm enjoying everything here.
    What are you enjoying today?  Can you make a list of the things you enjoy?  What makes you happy today?  Choose one thing to write your poem or use them all in your own list poem.  Have fun.
 

My Pogo Stick

This is my pogo stick

it bounces up and down.

I jump and jump

on my pogo stick

until I tumble down.

     Write about one of your toys or possessions.  Start with the line, This is my _________________  (fill in the blank) and get rolling.  I'd love to see poems about the things you treasure.  Have fun writing.