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Friday, December 21, 2007

Poetry Friday -- One More Day

As I looked for a poem for today,
the ones that caught my eye were mostly about sleep.
That's the first thing on my agenda
for tomorrow.
I will spend this day,
this four-days-before-Christmas day,
with a class full of preteens
who will begin the day
with a 30 minute dance party
and end the day with a Holiday party.
Which state standards should I try to meet in the middle time,
the time between those two excitements?


Back to tomorrow.
Check out Billy Collins' poem Reading Myself to Sleep. It's in QUESTIONS ABOUT ANGELS. I decided not to pick a sleep poem because what I really want is time for myself. I give you

MORNING
by Billy Collins

Why do we bother with the rest of the day,
the swale of the afternoon,
the sudden dip into evening,

then night with his notorious perfumes,
his many-pointed stars?

This is the best—
throwing off the light covers,
feet on the cold floor,
and buzzing around the house on espresso—

maybe a splash of water on the face,
a palmful of vitamins—
but mostly buzzing around the house on espresso


(The rest is here. Round up is at AmoXcalli.)

8 comments:

  1. Cracking up that you found poems about sleep! Perfect.

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  2. My favorite phrase out of that poem is still "buzzing around the house on espresso." Still. It makes me giggle every time.

    And good luck squeezing any education into the last day before winter break.

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  3. Wonderful poem, even though I'm not a morning person. To read Collins, though, I could be convinced to get up earlier! Happy holidays!

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  4. Anonymous10:00 AM

    And the lawn steaming like a horse. I love me some Billy Collins in the morning.
    Sleep tight, Mary Lee...

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  5. A dance party! I love it. I'm thinking we should move to Ohio for 4th grade. One of his favorite tree ornaments is a disco ball.

    Susan T.
    Chicken Spaghetti

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  6. That "his" refers to Junior. Oi vey.

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  7. Mornings are my favorite time of day, and Billy says why so well. Everything is possible in the morning. I just wish it didn't stop at noon. :)

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  8. There's something magical about morning - when the whole day is just filled with possibilities, anything can happen. Billy Collins is one of my favorite poets. Thank you for sharing.

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