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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.17



By exfordy (Brian Snelson) via Wikimedia Commons


CRAZY

It's a crazy life --
I'm stuck in a zoo.
What else can I do --
I'll laugh!

It's a crazy life --
I have no real choice, but
I've still got my voice, so
I'll laugh!

It's a crazy life -- 
I can't spread my wings,
I've no freedom: that stings.
I laugh?

It's a crazy life --
look me right in the eye.
Can't you see that I cry?
It's no laugh.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013



Don't laugh
this could be you
stuck here with me
inside this zoo

where all we do
is prance and wait
for someone else
to navigate

we situate
ourselves, here,
while dreaming only
to disappear

I fear, though,
we're here for ages
tossing words
across our cages.


©Kevin Hodgson, 2013


From Carol (Carol's Corner):


Some things 
are not 
supposed to be.

Parrots,
even laughing parrots,
are not 
supposed to be
trapped
in wire cages.

Moviegoers
are not 
supposed to be 
trapped 
in theaters
hiding as 
their worlds implode.

Six-year-olds
are not supposed
to be trapped
in school bathrooms
"waiting 
for the good people
to come."

Celebrants
are not supposed
to be trapped
in a rain
of bb's and broken glass
blood pooling around them.

And none of us
are supposed 
to be trapped 
in a world
where we are
the audience
always waiting
for the next act 
in an
endless tragedy. 

Some things
are not 
supposed to be.

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013 



The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 


"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 


Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

8 comments:

  1. Apologies from the subconscious mind that picked the recent images. It actually thought this one was funny until it started writing the poem.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't laugh
    this could be you
    stuck here with me
    inside this zoo

    where all we do
    is prance and wait
    for someone else
    to navigate

    we situate
    ourselves, here,
    while dreaming only
    to disappear

    I fear, though,
    we're here for ages
    tossing words
    across our cages.

    - the podcast: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1nv8LMwFVET

    Kevin


    -Kevin



    ReplyDelete
  3. Mary Lee,
    I loved your poem. Sometimes all we can do is laugh.

    To celebrate two years of posting a children's poem each day on my blog, I'm giving away a POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL t-shirt. If you'd like the shirt, visit my blog at www.poetryforkidsjoy.blogspot.com

    JOY

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5:01 PM

    I thought it was funny too, until I read your poem. Made me think of Ivan.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Some things
    are not
    supposed to be.

    Parrots,
    even laughing parrots,
    are not
    supposed to be
    trapped
    in wire cages.

    Moviegoers
    are not
    supposed to be
    trapped
    in theaters
    hiding as
    their worlds implode.

    Six-year-olds
    are not supposed
    to be trapped
    in school bathrooms
    "waiting
    for the good people
    to come."

    Celebrants
    are not supposed
    to be trapped
    in a rain
    of bb's and broken glass
    blood pooling around them.

    And none of us
    are supposed
    to be trapped
    in a world
    where we are
    the audience
    always waiting
    for the next act
    in an
    endless tragedy.

    Some things
    are not
    supposed to be.

    (c) Carol Wilcox, 2013

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mary Lee,
    I absolutely love the poem and enjoyed it so much I read it twice! I especially enjoyed how you had connected your poem to a multimedia source. In my 2 years so far in college (working towards becoming a teacher) we have been encouraged to think outside of the box and incorporate different uses of technology. I really think that using media to inspire your poetry is not only creative but a good way to connect to many current events and bring a sense of real-life to your poetry. I also really like how you are giving your students an opportunity to work off the of the media you have chosen. I think it is so important and valuable for students to be connected to current events and especially current media. I can't wait to hear more of your poems!
    Sincerely a very inspired future teacher,
    Amanda

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your note, Amanda! I'm SO glad you found my project useful/inspirational. If you read the first week of posts, you'll see how I'm also connecting this in my classroom to teaching students to be good digital citizens and not take/share/use media from the Internet unless it the media is licensed as Creative Commons.

      Delete

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