Tuesday, April 28, 2015

PO-EMotion -- Optimism




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.

Carol, at Beyond Literacy Link, is writing alongside us when she can.
"Optimism"

Jone, at DeoWriter, is doing a "double L" challenge. 
She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible.


8 comments:

  1. 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.

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  2. I love it! Those sseds and bulbs that are planted may bloom for many years to come.

    My poem today is An Inconvenient Optimism

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  3. Every time I think I've read my favorite poem, you write another! Love the analogy in this poem - beautiful.

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  4. Love the parallel structure of this and the thought that what we do today matters. It certainly does.

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  5. I love this! That metaphor of all that we plant in the fall coming to fruition, beautiful.

    "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

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    Replies
    1. i enjoyed this one and now am eager to plant my pansies.

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  6. A late night completely different idea.

    OPTIMISM?

    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

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  7. 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).

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