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Monday, April 29, 2013

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.29

Photo by Sara&Joachim, from Wikimedia Commons

MEERKAT JUMP ROPE RHYME

eenie
meenie
miney
mo

three little meerkats
all in a row

one looks left
and one looks right
and the third won't 
let you out of his sight

three little meerkats
all in a row

eenie
meenie
miney 
mo

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013




Wait!
Did you hear that?
Stand still;
Hesitate.
Become the world -
Become the landscape -
Become a statue
and do nothing but
wait.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast of this poem is here


From Carol (Carol's Corner):


"Meerkat"


Me?
Meerkat.
You think I'm kinda funny looking?

Those stripes
on my back?
unique.
none of the other
fifty fellows
in my large mob
(or some people call it a gang or clan)
look exactly like me.

That hairless patch on my belly?
The place
where my black skin shows through?
That absorbs heat while I'm standing
on my rear legs,
early in the morning
after cold Kalahari desert nights.

And those big eyes
on the front of my face?
For watching.
African tribesmen
trust me to
protect their villages
from werewolves
that attack stray cattle

And I gotta take my turn at sentry duty
while others are foraging.
We forage for food
every day
Meerkats don't carry around
any stored body fat. 

That long curved claw?
That little hummer
can dig my weight
in sand in only seconds. 
Mostly, I'm foraging for insects
but if I'm really hungry
I might dig up a scorpion.
Not to brag,
but did I mention
that unlike you humans
I'm immune to
the venom of scorpions.

And those black crescent-shaped ears?
they close.
keep out soil
when I'm digging
pretty handy
a fella's gotta be able to hear
to protect himself
from brothers
who might want to kill him
to up their status
in our meerkat mob.

My long tapering tail?
Yeah, it's different
from my bushy-tailed
mongoose relatives.
That tail helps me balance when I stand upright,
And I use it
for signaling.
The Dutch didn't call me
stick tail
for nothing.

Me?
Sun angel.
You still think I'm kinda funny looking?

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013 




From Linda (TeacherDance):

Mom says:
“Look at the camera, children.
Smile for Daddy!”
But I keep thinking that something’s up,
and Billy and Jake need to keep their eyes open
for 
jackals on the left
lions on the right
and I need to look up
for the eagles.
They call us merely-cats
but we’re always lookin’.
Okay Mom,
we’re going to smile now.

Oops, where’s Billy!

©Linda Baie, 2013



From Cathy (Merely Day by Day):

Sentries
together
we listen for
hawks,
jackals,
eagles.
we watch
tirelessly.

together
we stand
while others
hunt
for lizards,
insects,
birds.
foraging
for food.

we are
ready
at a moment's
notice
to bark
our call,
warning all
to take cover,
to hide
deep
in our tunnels.

together
we stand
strong,
we protect,
we are
the lookouts,
guarding
our mob.
together
we are
one. 

©Cathy Mere, 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.

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:28 AM

    Mary Lee, you are amazing! Your poems this month have had such a wide range of tones. The silliness of this is just what I needed this morning. Thank you!
    Catherine

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wait!
    Did you hear that?
    Stand still;
    Hesitate.
    Become the world -
    Become the landscape -
    Become a statue
    and do nothing but
    wait.

    -Kevin

    The podcast: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1fOhADINwTX

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are so still looking, even though I'm sure it only lasts a very brief moment.

      I was mesmerized by the eyes of the one in the middle.

      Delete
  3. This is actually my second poem this morning. Started out just writing something super quick, to just kinda get it over with for the day, but then my curiosity got the better of me. I wondered about those meerkats. They are pretty funny looking. What about those circular eyes? And why were they together? Do they really live in groups. And what were they really doing? I looked them up meerkats on wikipedia. And pulled out some interesting facts. Then this poem came about.

    "Meerkat"

    Me?
    Meerkat.
    You think I'm kinda funny looking?

    Those stripes
    on my back?
    unique.
    none of the other
    fifty fellows
    in my large mob
    (or some people call it a gang or clan)
    look exactly like me.

    That hairless patch on my belly?
    The place
    where my black skin shows through?
    That absorbs heat while I'm standing
    on my rear legs,
    early in the morning
    after cold Kalahari desert nights.

    And those big eyes
    on the front of my face?
    For watching.
    African tribesmen
    trust me to
    protect their villages
    from werewolves
    that attack stray cattle

    And I gotta take my turn at sentry duty
    while others are foraging.
    We forage for food
    every day
    Meerkats don't carry around
    any stored body fat.

    That long curved claw?
    That little hummer
    can dig my weight
    in sand in only seconds.
    Mostly, I'm foraging for insects
    but if I'm really hungry
    I might dig up a scorpion.
    Not to brag,
    but did I mention
    that unlike you humans
    I'm immune to
    the venom of scorpions.

    And those black crescent-shaped ears?
    they close.
    keep out soil
    when I'm digging
    pretty handy
    a fella's gotta be able to hear
    to protect himself
    from brothers
    who might want to kill him
    to up their status
    in our meerkat mob.

    My long tapering tail?
    Yeah, it's different
    from my bushy-tailed
    mongoose relatives.
    That tail helps me balance when I stand upright,
    And I use it
    for signaling.
    The Dutch didn't call me
    stick tail
    for nothing.

    Me?
    Sun angel.
    You still think I'm kinda funny looking?

    (c) Carol Wilcox, 2013

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This needs to be a picture book, Carol!!

      Delete
  4. Carol, you made me do just a bit of research too, but mine came out somewhat darker. Mary Lee, so funny. The photo really reminded me of 'hear no evil, etc.', so your rhyme fits the hilarity of the pic. Kevin, this connects to my observations of prairie dogs, too. We have to stand so still ourselves just to get a glimpse of them. Thanks, Mary Lee! Here's mine:


    Mom says:
    “Look at the camera, children.
    Smile for Daddy!”
    But I keep thinking that something’s up,
    and Billy and Jake need to keep their eyes open
    for
    jackals on the left
    lions on the right
    and I need to look up
    for the eagles.
    They call us merely-cats
    but we’re always lookin’.
    Okay Mom,
    we’re going to smile now.

    Oops, where’s Billy!
    ©Linda Baie, 2013

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love the personalities you gave them, and getting them to stand still for a photo was a perfect pick of situations!!

      Delete
  5. Who doesn't love meerkats, and who wouldn't love these poems? Thanks for sharing, Mary Lee. I particularly like the shape of yours, and Linda's "jackals on the left/lions on the right." :0)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love your rhyme!

    Cat Mere ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  7. So after a little meerkat research (see blog) I wrote:

    Sentries
    together
    we listen for
    hawks,
    jackals,
    eagles.
    we watch
    tirelessly.

    together
    we stand
    while others
    hunt
    for lizards,
    insects,
    birds.
    foraging
    for food.

    we are
    ready
    at a moment's
    notice
    to bark
    our call,
    warning all
    to take cover,
    to hide
    deep
    in our tunnels.

    together
    we stand
    strong,
    we protect,
    we are
    the lookouts,
    guarding
    our mob.
    together
    we are
    one.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Every day I enjoy looking to see everyone's different "take" on the prompt. Today we really went in all different directions. Linda, your poem made me laugh and I know I will think of those meerkats every time I'm in a picture taking situation for the rest of my life! Mary Lee, love the take off on eeny meeny miney mo. Cathy, I was thinking along the same lines you were, I am going to take this piece to share in a nonfiction unit next week. And Kevin, I'm always blown away by the way you can look at a picture and write such big life truth

    ReplyDelete
  9. Cathy,

    Yours is the perfect meerkat shape!

    I, too, will share your poem with my students. It is a micro-example of what I am looking for with their NF research. You have your notes, your resources, and the original piece you created using your information. Thanks for the minilesson!

    ReplyDelete

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