good old days #1 of 31

Last February my grandfather passed away.  He fell & broke his hip on a Thursday night, wasn't strong enough for surgery, and passed away on Sunday.  One day I still had all four of my grandparents.  The next day I didn't.  This past month I've been thinking about him often.  And missing him. 

Last Saturday during the Dublin Literacy Conference, when Ralph Fletcher invited us to write using his poem "The Good Old Days" in his general session, my thoughts immediately went to my grandparents.  This is what I came up with:

Sometimes I remember
the good old days

visiting a house with
both grandparents still inside

each having their
own brand of love

struggling to find
a balance

Nannie at the window
eager to listen

PawPaw in his chair
eager to share

I still can't imagine
anything better than that.

What do you see?

The Blue Between

Everyone watches clouds,
naming creatures they've seen.
I see sky differently,
I see the blue between-

The blue woman tugging
her stubborn cloud across the sky.
The blue giraffe stretching
to nibble a cloud floating by.
A pod of dancing dolphins,
cloud oceans, cargo ships,
a boy twirling his cloud
around a thin blue fingertip.

In those smooth wide places,
I see a different scene.
In those cloudless spaces,
I see the blue between.

~Kristine O'Connell George
She says poetry is like, "being startled when you suddenly see the world differently." Stop and look carefully at your world...what do you see?

used book shop

Stashed in attics,
stuck in cellars,
forgotten books
once big best-sellers

now hopefully sit
where folks, like cows
in grassy meadows,
stand and browse.

In a yellowed old history
of Jesse James
two earlier owners
had scrawled their names.

I even found
a book my dad
when he was in high school
had once had,

and a book I found-
this is really odd-
was twice as much fun
as my new iPod.

I always get hooked
in this dusty shop.
Like eating popcorn,
it's hard to stop.

~X. J. Kennedy

There is nothing like finding that book that you've been looking for in an old book shop. When Mandy & I visit a new town, we always seek out the book stores in the area. It's always fun to see what we can find!

Suppose

Suppose I were as clever as a bird
and the words for what I am
could be contained
in one precise song,
repeated, repeated
while each jubilant phrase
spells it all
in variations
too refined for the human ear

Or that the song has not yet been found
but waits inside me
like the long note that sounds
when a blade of grass
is placed between the thumbs
and blown

It could be
that the place my words are looking for
will turn out to be so small
that there will be room for nothing
but silence
-or an ocean so large
some waves will never reach
the sound of the shore

~Siv Cedering

Reading other writer's words and soaking in eloquent sentences help me find the words I need to say. But only by writing and practicing the craft of writing, if only for myself, is the truest way to find my voice.

Where She Went

It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be.  I do not think I would.

~Edna St. Vincent Milay

This exerpt from "Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink," is the introduction to Gayle Forman's new release Where She Went. With an introduction like that, what promise for what lies ahead! I cannot wait to turn the page.

This Is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

~William Carlos Williams

This week I received a gift from my dear friend Mandy & was introduced to a collection of poems from Joyce Sidman's This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. This anthology was written mostly by students inspired by Williams' poem. I was deeply moved by the honesty and genuiness of the apologies and responses. I was immediately hooked on the first poem by Thomas and his apology to Mrs. Garcia in the office for stealing the jelly doughnuts. I'm inspired!

Sara Holbrook!

Our poetry project began this year by purchasing a copy of the anthology Seeing the Blue Between by Paul B. Janeczko for all of our 7th grade language arts students. Every week we've been focusing on a specific poet/writer's advice and selected poem. Our students have been soaking in poems everyday. Last week we were honored to host visiting poet, author, performer, and educator Sara Holbrook!

Sara worked with 7th graders on Tuesday crafting poems using extended metaphor, personification, and similes. She guided them through the art of performance poetry and prepared them for performing their poetry for family night. It was refreshing to see Sara not only share her poems, but also help students craft their own. She worked alongside them and helped them understand the "why" of poetry. We also selected 10 students to eat lunch with Sara. The students were hesistant to talk at first, but it didn't take them long to warm up and chat away! Our art teacher spent time over the past couple of weeks helping our students make paper and use it to make covers of handcrafted books. Students used these books to create collections of poems they've written all year. We were able to disply these at the family night event. We loved watching students share these special collections with their family and friends.

Wednesday morning, Sara presented vocabulary instruction to middle school teachers using her newest book High Definition. The rest of the day, she worked with 6th & 8th graders in their content area. Sixth graders used their upcoming social studies vocabulary words to write and present poems to reinforce learning in an authentic, meaningful way. Eighth graders wrote poems in their science class and presented them in class.

Favorite quotes of Sara's visit:

"words don't just lay down on the paper and behave themselves"

"the more you write, the more ideas will come up off the page"
"hear what others write... build a community of writers"
"as the boss of your own poem you get to decide how it is said"
"poetry gets us thinking about bigger ideas"
"ideas bubble up off the page as your pen flies across it"

Sara backed up everything we teach our students about writing everyday. It was a joy & honor to have her in our school for two days.

...from This Place I Know

To You

I think I could walk

through the simmering sand

if I held your hand.

I think I could swim

the skin shivering sea

if you will accompany me.

And run on ragged, windy heights,

climb rugged rocks

and walk on air:

I think I could do anything at all,

if you were there.

A favorite by Karla Kuskin in Georgia Heard's collection This Place I Know. This anthology, assembled in response to the events of September 11, is for anyone who is trying to recover from horrific events.

Seeing the Blue Between

We are so excited about this project! (And the prospect of really focusing on the blog since school is well underway!!) This past spring we won a grant from our local Junior League (thanks ladies!). Our project is called "Seeing the Blue Between" taken from the book by the same title, edited by Paul B. Janeckzo. The grant allowed us to purchase a copy of the book for each of our 7th graders. We are spending a week on each poet... studying their advice to young poets, digging into their poems, noticing how they use words, talking and reading poems to each other, finding other poems by the same poet, and discovering who we are as poets.

On Mondays we read the poet bio found in the back of the book, read their advice, and read their poem(s). Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays are spent rereading the poems with talking partners (which is a fantastic tool to build fluency). We are finding that some poems lend themselves to certain mini-lessons that address grammar, some spark ideas for writer's notebooks, while others are simply enjoyed for the week. The plan is to wrap the project up this spring with a visiting poet. The details of that are still in the works, but we should know within the next few weeks who our visiting poet will be. We've participated in visiting author projects the past several years, but never with a poet. We would love to hear about some successful poet visits you may have had!

Our Friday posts will be devoted to sharing how the week went with our poetry and the blue our students helped to discover.