PLANTING BULBS IN THE FALL
It will matter
that I gave them
time
and
choice.
It will matter
that they read
widely,
deeply,
voraciously.
It will matter
that we were family --
accepting
and
respectful.
It will matter
in a someday spring
when they
truly
bloom.
©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015
Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.
Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month.
Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!
"An Inconvenient Optimism"
Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems
in the comments at Poetrepository.
Heidi, at my juicy little universe, will join us when she can.
Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.
Check the comments at A Year of Reading or Poetrepository for her poems.
Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) is back this year,
leaving poetry trax in the comments.
Jone, at DeoWriter, is doing a "double L" challenge.
She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible.
What a wonderfully clever idea to compare your students to fall plantings, Mary Lee.Someday spring resonates with me along with the growing of reading lives. This should be one of the offerings for Spring's Symphony, but then again you have so many to choose from. Let me know what you think.
ReplyDeleteI love it! Those sseds and bulbs that are planted may bloom for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteMy poem today is An Inconvenient Optimism
Every time I think I've read my favorite poem, you write another! Love the analogy in this poem - beautiful.
ReplyDeleteLove the parallel structure of this and the thought that what we do today matters. It certainly does.
ReplyDeleteI love this! That metaphor of all that we plant in the fall coming to fruition, beautiful.
ReplyDelete"Optimism"
no flower
is more optimistic
than Miss Pansy
even on
wintery spring
days when snow
resting on her shoulders
is impossibly
heavy-wet
she lifts her face
skyward
and smiles.
(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015
i enjoyed this one and now am eager to plant my pansies.
DeleteA late night completely different idea.
ReplyDeleteOPTIMISM?
Today
I stood in front
of two classes of fifth graders
about two weeks
into a Civil Rights unit.
This week they are learning
about Brown vs. Board of Education,
Topeka, Kansas, 1954
and the teacher asked
if I would demonstrate
how to embed facts into poetry.
We read an article
about Thurgood Marshall
his father William
was a railroad porter
who loved the US Constitution
and debated court cases with his sons
every night at dinner
in high school, Marshall memorized
the US Constitution as punishment
and later on, he studied the Constitution
as a law student at Howard University
We talked about how
Marshall's tenacity
and his courage
and intelligence
had led to enormous changes
for African Americans.
And then tonight
I attended a neighborhood rally
last Saturday
a twenty-two year old
father of two
was gunned down
about two miles from my house
as he walked from his house
to a church down the block
to attend his uncle's funeral
there were five related shootings
in the neighborhood that weekend.
I stood at the rally
listening to a City Councilman,
the heads of several youth organizations,
and the chief of police,
the aunt of the boy who was shot
and watching as four Crips
dressed in hoodies
and sagging pants
with blue bandanas
hanging out of their pockets
made a ring around the back of the rally
their eyes were flat and dull
there was no sparkle
and it was hard to feel optimistic
about Thurgood Marshall's
dreams for America
(C) Carol Wilcox
Aww. This is lovely. This is the sort of thing one must tape to the front of one's computer monitor in the classroom so one can read it daily (hourly).
ReplyDelete