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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Poetry Friday -- Round Up is Here!



Ah Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky Retreats
by Walt Whitman

Ah poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats,
Ah you foes that in conflict have overcome me,
(For what is my life or any man's life but a conflict with foes,
the old, the incessant war?)
You degredations, you tussle with passions and appetites,
You smarts from dissatisfied friendships, (ah wounds the
sharpest of all!)
You toil of painful and choked articulations, you meannesses,
You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my tongue the shallowest of
any;)
You broken resolutions, you racking angers, you smother'd
ennuis!
Ah think not you finally triumph, my real self has yet to come
forth,
It shall yet march forth o'ermastering, till all lies beneath me,
It shall yet stand up the soldier of ultimate victory.


Mr. Whitman seems to have our number on this last day of a wrinkled, dog-eared, tea-stained old year. (Speaking of numbers, what will we call this year: twenty-ten or two thousand ten?)

On the last day of the year, we teeter-totter between looking back at the disappointments and failures of 2009 and looking forward to the shiny possibilities of 2010. (Come on "real self," I'm cheering for some "ultimate victory" this year!!)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Happy New Year and welcome, all, to the first Poetry Friday of the year! Leave your link in the comments; I'll update throughout the day, with a couple of hours off at some point to eat pork roast and sauerkraut.

Christine at The Simple and the Ordinary is first in! Her daughter wrote an original poem for the New Year, in which she ponders the perpetual end of the world.

Jama at jama rattigan's alphabet soup has a beautiful and haunting version of Auld Lange Syne.

Charles Ghigna at Father Goose is celebrating a new grandson at the end of an old year.

Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect starts the year with a poem about the push and pull of life. The poetry stretch results for this week are all poems about beginnings and endings.

Julie at The Drift Record greets us with Auld Lange Syne on glassharp, and then shares a sweet tribute to winter reading by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Diane at Random Noodling has a New Year haiku for the Year of the Tiger.

Greg at GottaBook shares an original about resolutions.

Tanita at Tanita S. Davis chose two quiet, thoughtful poems by Rainer Maria Rilke to start our new year. (Here's the "faux cousin" reference in case you're curious. The story can be found in the comments. Still makes me smile!)

Sarah at Reading, Writing, Musing... has some Rumi for us today.

Linda at Write Time has an original "beginnings" poem from Tricia's poetry stretch.

Sally at The Write Sisters shares inspiration for making it through the dark days of late winter.

Andromeda at a wrung sponge wrote an endings and beginnings poem for Tricia's poetry stretch. As always, the images in her poem are as evocative as her photograph.

Irene at Live. Love. Explore! has a special treat for us -- a video of her father reading Shel Silverstein and a promise/goal of a video a week in 2010!

Liz at Liz in Ink wrote a poem for the new year this morning while her family was still asleep.

Lisa at Lisa in Little Rock starts off with haiku by Issa and ends with "To Mother" by Louisa May Alcott.

Carol at Carol's Corner found a January poem that seems to have been written just for her...and for the rest of us for whom images of house cleaning, new office supplies and a dissatisfaction with grading resonate!

TAKE A BREAK FROM POETRY AND CHECK OUT THE CYBILS SHORT LISTS.

Becky at Becky's Book Reviews reminds us that there's lots to celebrate in the new year: Be Glad Your Nose is On Your Face (which is actually a collection of poetry by Jack Prelutsky)!!

Lori at On Point has a tail-wagging haiku for the new year.

April at Teaching Authors has six word resolutions and goals! a book give-away! and a poem for the new year!

Erin at Miss Erin shares an original -- a strong statement with which to begin the new year.

22 comments:

  1. Happy New Year - my daughter wrote a poem especially for the occasion. It's up at The Simple and the Ordinary

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  2. Let's hear it for real selves!! (Also, pork and sauerkraut)!

    I'm bidding the old year goodbye with a sublime version of "Auld Lang Syne" by Mairi Campbell.

    http://jamarattigan.livejournal.com/361506.html.

    Happy 2010! ♥

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  3. Have a great two thousand ten!

    I took part in a New Year's haiku exchange this year. You'll find my greeting at Random Noodling It should be up shortly after midnight.

    I love the Whitman poem. He's got my number right here: You toil of painful and choked articulations, you meannesses,/You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my tongue the shallowest of any;)

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  4. A very Happy New Year to you all!

    A new poem for my new grandson and his precious parents:

    FATHER GOOSE blog

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  5. My post will publish just after midnight. I'm in with Love Poem With Toast.

    Thanks for hosting and Happy New Year!

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  6. Hi, All - and a very happy new year. (I vote for saying Twenty-Ten!) This week I'm feeling a little corny - new year's can do that to me - so I posted Robert Louis Stevenson's "Picture-books in Winter" over at The Drift Record

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  7. Happy New Year! This week, I have a poem I wrote for the Poetry Stretch at Write Time.
    http://ldkwritetime.blogspot.com

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. From the The Write Sisters: a poem on the season (and on writing) from New Hampshire's own Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

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  10. I'm calling it "twenty ten" cause I think that sounds cool. Thanks for doing the round up. I'm looking forward to a morning of poetry reading! I am in with a beginnings and endings poem for the stretch.

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  11. Happy New Year, Mary Lee, and thanks for hosting!

    I'm in with a favorite from childhood - Shel Silverstein's "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" read by my father on video.
    http://irenelatham.blogspot.com/2010/01/little-sarah-cynthia-to-start-new-year.html

    Thanks!

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  12. Anonymous10:12 AM

    Oh, Mary Lee. What a perfect poem to start the year with. "It shall yet stand up", indeed.

    Happy new year to you! And here's my post -- a just-freshly-written original to start the day.

    http://liz-scanlon.livejournal.com/137683.html

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  13. Happy New Year! Here you go, starting with a haiku from Issa, from Lisa in Little Rock

    www.lisainlittlerock.blogspot.com

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  14. Richest blessings in 2010!I'm in with a new favorite January poem…
    www.carolwscorner.blogspot.com

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  15. Happy New Year!

    I'm up with a re-issue of my original called Resolutions since it's New Year's Day and all that. (So far, by the way, I haven't broken any of mine!)

    Thanks for hosting....

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  16. Anonymous12:21 PM

    For Poetry Friday, I'd like to share a bit of news about the new online publication I'm starting for kids, called Berry Blue Haiku, which will be devoted to haiku, obviously.

    If anyone is interested is submitting, please see our guidelines at: http://cobaltcrowproductions.blogspot.com/

    Our first issue is slated for June 2010.

    I'd also like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!!!

    Gisele

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  17. Happy New Year! I'm in with a review of Be Glad Your Nose Is On Your Face.

    Becky

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  18. Hi Mary Lee,
    Thanks for hosting. Today at www.TeachingAuthors.com, April Halprin Wayland shares her original poem, "This Year," and invites readers to post a six-word New Year's resolution. See http://www.teachingauthors.com/2009/12/new-year-win-book-six-word-resolutions.html .
    Happy New Year, everyone!

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  19. Oops, I see now that you already mentioned April's post at TeachingAuthors. But I still wish everyone a happy New Year! :-)

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  20. I'm in with an original poem: http://misserinmarie.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-dont-think-it-should-be-dictated.html

    thanks for the roundup, and happy new year!

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  21. Thanks for filling our first day of the New Year (and New Decade!) with so many fine poems, reviews and blogs.

    Here's another new blog your readers might enjoy
    BALD EGO blog

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