Poetry Friday - Emily Dickinson #657

I dwell in Possibility -
A fairer House than Prose -
More numerous of Windows -
Superior - for Doors -

Of Chambers as the Cedars -
Impregnable of Eye -
And for an Everlasting Roof -
The Gambrels of the Sky -

Of Visitors - the - fairest -
For Occupation - This -
The spreading wide my narrow Hands -
To gather Paradise -



For more verses for Poetry Friday, visit Wild Rose Reader. Enjoy.

Poetry Friday: This is Just to Say - Poems of Apology and Forgiveness

It's been many moons since I've shared a poem for Poetry Friday, so I've been saving this book. Written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, this book holds delights on every single page.

It has the two characteristics that the best of children's literature always exemplifies - compelling text that can be understood on many levels with charming illustrations that amplify the text and entertain over multiple readings.

Inspired by the poem of the same name by William Carolos Williams, Mrs. Mertz has her sixth graders write poems of apology as part of their poetry unit.

The book is divided into two parts. First come the poems of apology. They are then followed by the responses. Each pair of poems reveal a relationship between one of the student's and someone else.

Stolen jelly doughnuts, unrequited love, and failing in the spelling bee are just a few of the topics that are turned into lovely and delicious poems. The apology and its response echo together much like traditional call and response songs. The effect is both bittersweet and affirming as we delve below the surface of Mrs. Mertz's sixth graders and their emerging selves.

I highly recommend this book. It's charming, sweet and invites the reader to linger and savor the emotional landscape. Before I share sample poem, Poetry Friday is being hosted at Read, Imagine, Talk today. Head on over to find more terrific poems to celebrate Poetry Friday. Here's your poem!

To my Mom:

Brownies - Oops!

I smelled them from my room

a wafting wave of chocolate-ness.

I listened for movement,

ears pricked like a bat's.

I crept down, stepped

over the sleeping dog.

I felt the cold linoleum

on my bare toes.

I saw the warm, thick,

brick of brownies.

I slashed a huge chunk right out of the middle.

The gooey hunks of chocolate

winked at me as I gobbled them.

Afterward, the pan gaped

like an acusing eye.

My head said, Oops!

But my stomach said, Heavenly!

by Maria

National Poetry Month Fun for Kids and Teachers

What better way to celebrate Poetry Friday than to celebrate National Poetry Month? Helping students create their own poetry is a wonderful way to fine tune their literacy skills. The following links will take you to some wonderful free materials to use with students to help them learn how to express themselves through this ancient art form.

Classroom activities, lesson plans and web links from the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English. http://www.readwritethink.org/calendar/calendar_day.asp?id=478

Online student writing workshop with Jack Prelutsky - beloved children's poet.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/jack_home.htm

All poetry all the time from the Academy of American Poets http://www.poets.org/

Wonderful ways to celebrate National Poetry Month from the Children's Book Council
http://www.cbcbooks.org/yppw/celebrate/

How to teach poetry to children, poems for kids, and lots of poetry activities http://www.poetryteachers.com/

Poetry Friday: Ogden Nash

It's hard not to smile out loud with some of Ogden Nash's witty poems. Some could almost be considered "poem-lets" because of their brevity. But there are lots to choose from.
Here are a few samples:

The Guppy
Whales have calves,
Cats have kittens,
Bears have cubs,
Bats have bittens,
Swans have cygnets,
Seals have puppies,
But guppies just have little guppies.

The Firefly
The firefly's flame Is something for which science has no name
I can think of nothing eerier
Than flying around with an unidentified glow on a person's posteerier.

Further Reflections on Parsley
Parsley
Is gharsley.

Poetry Friday: Good Friday

For such a solemn day in the Christian world, it seems appropriate to focus on poems of death and resurrection. Our culture is much more removed from the "business" of death than in most of the history of mankind. In previous centuries, the rituals of death were integrated into the daily lives of people. Certainly in the United States, we have sanitized the process and relegated it to hospitals, funeral homes and churches.

Today, we commemorate the most famous death of all - the one that can be said to have changed the course of human history. Whether you are religious or not, Christian or not; the belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has profoundly impacted civilization.

Children no longer understand death to be a natural part of our life process, but are surprised and even traumatized by death. Most have not been raised on farms; many have never had a pet; some still have all those they love still present in their lives. They have not experienced the death and rebirth cycles of nature and do not understand that death and life are two sides of the same coin. For adults, it is always good to be reminded that the daily deaths we experience are the prelude to rebirth.

Today is an opportunity to begin to teach children how to understand death in a larger context outside themselves and their own experience. I've chosen one of Emily Dickinson's poems for today. As good poetry always does, its emotional impact can be felt on many levels.

XXIV.
Afraid? Of whom am I afraid?
Not death; for who is he?
The porter of my father's lodge
As much abasheth me.

Of life? 'T were odd I fear a thing
That comprehendeth me
In one or more existences
At Deity's decree.

Of resurrection? Is the east
Afraid to trust the morn
With her fastidious forehead?
As soon impeach my crown!

Poetry Friday: The Moon is La Luna

The Moon is La Luna: Silly Rhymes in English & Spanish is a delightful introduction to poetry and Spanish for little ears. It was also one of the many wonderful books submitted to the Cybils Awards this year. Some samples:

Grande is big.
Pequeño is small.
And nada is nothing at all.

The sea is el mar.
To float is flotar.
If you miss the boat,
You won't get too far
If you try to float
'Cross the sea in your car.

Written by Jay M. Harris and illustrated by Matthew Cordell, the poems engage readers in word play while the amusing illustrations demonstrate what could happen if you used the wrong word. For example:

In Español, papá means "dad."
("paPA" is how it is said.)
But papá (said "POP-a") doesn't mean "dad."
It means "potato" instead.
So watch how you say it,
Unless you would like
A potato to tuck you in bed.

The idea of being tucked into bed by a giant potato sends little ones into gales of laughter. Introducing inventive word play when children are highly attuned to rhyme is a wonderful way to train their ears to listen to the differences between English and Spanish. I highly recommend this book to "little" ears of all ages.

The Poetry Friday Round-up is at The Simple and the Ordinary today.

Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday is becoming quite the event in the children's literature blogging community. Kelly Herold at Big A Little A is credited with generating the excitment for this often neglected area of literature and her blog is also today's host. A visit will take you to dozens of other sites where you will find a variety of perspectives on poetry today. By the way, Kelly is also one of the co-founders of the Cybils Awards which have just finished up for this year. I was thrilled to be a part of the reading panels this year. See the Cybils' widget on this page for an evolving (I assume totally random) array of submitted titles.

And I have to credit Kelly Fineman, a writer and poet who documents her journey at Writing and Ruminating with introducing me to the wonderful world of kids lit bloggers after I met her at a SCBWI meeting in Los Angeles last August. Meeting her led me to find the community of folks blogging for avid readers and supporters of children's literature and thus to the Cybils, but it also gave me the oomph I needed to start blogging myself.

So, my contribution to Poetry Friday is one of my favorites as a young reader - "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, (1832-1898). I still love its rhythm and its invented words that sound so real because they could have been. Such is Carroll's mastery, I never suspected they weren't real until I was older and studied the poem. It still is one of my all-time favorite read-alouds.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought -
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffiling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Poetry Foundation has a good description of Poetry Friday. We're making new friends and sharing poetry. Join in the fun by checking out today's host site - Big A, Little A.