Thursday, September 01, 2016

Poetry Friday -- Three Things to Remember


image via Unsplash


Three Things to Remember
by Mary Oliver


As long as you're dancing, you can
     break the rules.
Sometimes breaking the rules is just
     extending the rules.


Sometimes there are no rules.



Penny has the roundup this week at Penny and Her Jots.




24 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:16 AM

    Dancing. And writing poetry. :)

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  2. Yes - dancing and writing fiction! Viva la rule breakers.

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  3. Anonymous10:42 AM

    Excellent! :) I posted Mary Oliver pieces all last month. She's so great.

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  4. This is the PERFECT poem for a new school year. I'm going to share with my (slightly frustrated) teens to celebrate having reached Friday!

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  5. Keep dancing and the pen moving.

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  6. This feels like a perfect poem as kids head back to their desks in school. Just a little advice to remember when the rules begin to overwhelm? Thanks for posting it, Mary Lee.

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  7. I love this poem a lot. But this just popped into my head... first you must have some rules to choose to joyfully (not scornfully) break, manipulate or change! That's when the true fun starts!

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  8. Thanks for sharing this, Mary Lee. Now to remember!

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  9. Love this! Keep dancing and breaking the rules!

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  10. Mary Oliver has the best rules. =)

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  11. Such joy in this one--thanks for sharing it!

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  12. Sometimes, when you're writing poetry, you can break the rules. :-)

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  13. Love the joyful image you paired with the poem!

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  14. Indeed - more dancing, less rules!

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  15. Yes! Let's live this way....every day. Chores and obligations be damned.

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  16. I'm with Donna (and with Mary Oliver, as always)--first you have to know what the rules are. THEN you can enjoy extending or ignoring them more.

    Now then: should a nearly 14yo boy be allowed to spoon his younger girlfriend under a blanket in front of movie in the living room with his parents? I'm entering a territory where the rules are very unclear!

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  17. Note to self: read this one daily.

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  18. Don't forget to sing, too! We need more dancing and singing today!

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  19. The trick is figuring out how and when to break them! Yesterday in class I heard myself say to eighth graders, "It's OK if you dab, but do it quietly, please." I guess that's encouraging dancing --- sort of!

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  20. Rules... we need them, and we need to break them... how else can we become ourselves? Thank you for the poem, Mary Lee! xo

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  21. Such fun to break the rules! Even better to just keep dancing! Thank you Mary Lee, as always.

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  22. A fabulons poems and words to live by.

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