Poem #9 -- More About Those Xs

photo by sczoron

Second grader came up to me

on the playground yesterday,

"Teacher, Teacher! There are so many Xs in the sky!"

I looked up,

and there were two immense contrails

making a huge X in the sky.

And then I turned and saw another...and another...and another...

five Xs in the blue spring sky.

I asked him how he thought they got there

and he said something about airplanes,

but I said I thought a leprechaun put them there

(X marks the spot for treasure)

and he ran off yelling about Xs

and treasure

and I was the rich one.

by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010

I wrote about this yesterday in haiku form. Today's poem is actually the text of an email to a friend telling the whole story. Because she loved it so much (especially the last line), I decided to make it into its own poem.

The Poetry Friday Roundup today is at Paper Tigers.

Here's a reprint of a bunch of the Kidlitosphere (and other assorted) NaPoMo projects that I'm following:

Gregory K. is once again hosting 30 Poets/30 Days with previously unpublished poems by favorite children's authors.

Tricia Stohr-Hunt is interviewing 30 children's poets, beginning with Mary Ann Hoberman, the US Children's Poet Laureate. The Poetry Makers list is stellar!

Jone MacCulloch shares Thirty Days, Thirty Students, Thirty Poems: original poems by students.

Jama Rattigan is posting original poems & favorite recipes by some of the Poetry Friday regulars.

At A Wrung Sponge, Andromeda is writing a "haiga" (photo and haiku) each day. Her photography is simply stunning. The haikus are amazing, too!

Kelly Fineman at Writing and Ruminating will continue the Building a Poetry Collection series she began last year -- selecting a poem a day in a kind of personal Poetry Tag (see Sylvia Vardell's version below) and providing analysis. I call this The University of Kelly Fineman because I learn so much in each post!

Sylvia Vardell is inviting poets to play Poetry Tag. She will invite poets to "play" along by offering a poem for readers to enjoy, then she will "tag" a poet who shares her/his own poem THAT IS CONNECTED to the previous poem in SOME way—by a theme, word, idea, tone-- and offers a sentence or two explaining that connection. What a creative idea!

Laura at Author Amok is highlighting the poets laureate of all 50 states this month...well, all the ones that have a poet laureate... Fun Fun!

Laura Salas is posting a children's poem per day from a poetry book she loves.

Lee Wind is publishing many new Teen voices during April for National Poetry Month. GLBTQ Teen Poetry.

Bud the Teacher gives a picture prompt every day during April and invites readers to post the poem it inspires in the comments of his blog.

ORIGINAL POEM-A-DAY CHALLENGE

Checks these blogs daily for new original poems by the following people:

Susan Taylor Brown

Jone MacCulloch

Elizabeth Moore

April Halprin Wayland

Liz Scanlon

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

If I missed your project, please let me know and I'll add it to my list!