WHY TAI CHI? - a metaphor poem

WHY TAI CHI?

Tai Chi is a deliberate dance,
both solitary and in tandem.

It is a chorus
sung with body instead of voice.

You are rooted
to the floor,
yet bending
in invisible wind.

Begun with a mind full,
you end mindful:

self
moment
movement
calm


© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012




Poem #10, National Poetry Month 2012

Yesterday I got to Tai Chi class a little early, and so did a woman who was going to try the class for the very first time. She asked me to tell her what Tai Chi was like, and I found that the only way to really describe it was with metaphor.

I hope she'll keep coming back for a few years, because Tai Chi is NOT as I describe in my poem until you are deeper into the practice than the first few months of struggling to keep up while feeling very self-conscious.

Hmm...that's sounding like the growth of a writer, isn't it?

I've blogged a couple of times about Tai Chi, and last year I wrote a Tai Chi acrostic.




Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Linda at TeacherDance, Donna at Mainely Write, Laura at Writing the World for Kids (daily haiku), Liz at Liz in Ink (daily haiku), Sara at Read Write Believe (daily haiku), Jone at Deo Writer (daily haiku)...and YOU?

LOOK DOWN -- a forest haiku

LOOK DOWN

Tree stump and mushrooms --

two speckled brown and gold discs.

Forest floor surprise.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012

Poem #9, National Poetry Month 2012

Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Linda at TeacherDance, Donna at Mainely Write, Laura at Writing the World for Kids (daily haiku), Liz at Liz in Ink (daily haiku), Sara at Read Write Believe (daily haiku), Jone at Deo Writer (daily haiku)...and YOU?

BIRTHDAY CAKE - a food poem, a cooking poem

BIRTHDAY CAKE

Measuring Spoons
Our advice?
Be precise.

Kitchen Aid
I stand…
I mix, blend,
whip, stir, knead…
at your command.

Cake Pans
We’re fickle.
Three layers stick
whenever we pick.

Violets on the Windowsill
We choose
purple for our blooms.
You make the air go blue
because of what the pans decided to do.

Table
Come sit.
Unwind.
Write a bit.
Find
the humor in all of it.
Be resigned,
start again. Don’t quit.


© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012



Poem #8, National Poetry Month 2012

Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Linda at TeacherDance, Donna at Mainely Write, Laura at Writing the World for Kids (daily haiku), Liz at Liz in Ink (daily haiku), Sara at Read Write Believe (daily haiku), Jone at Deo Writer (daily haiku)...and YOU?

PETTY THEFT -- a newspaper blackout poem

PETTY THEFT

the 

snatch

was

a

fluke

the 

move

abandoned

denied  

for fun

and

fickle income

and

that

power

It was just the only option we

had.

I

feel really weird

Still 

it took

risk

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012

Poem #7, National Poetry Month 2012

I never should have let myself wander into the poetry section at Barnes and Noble yesterday.

I walked out with three new books: THE BEST OF IT by Kay Ryan, WHERE I LIVE by Maxine Kumin, and NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT by Austin Kleon.

If I accidentally start writing more like Kay Ryan and Maxine Kumin, I somehow think that won't be a bad thing. 

And newspaper blackout poems? Those are just plain FUN!

In 2010, I tried a newspaper blackout poem, but after reading Kleon's suggestions for composing, and more of his poems, I decided I would try again. 

Writing a newspaper blackout poem takes a lot of trimming back. (This reminds me of Janet Wong's advice here, or Susan Taylor Brown's advice here.)

Writing a newspaper blackout poem means being open to surprises. This article was about a band, and I wound up with a poem that sounds like a punk kid who, after getting caught stealing something, wavers between, "It was an accident!" "I didn't have a choice!" and "I know it was wrong...but it was also kind of fun..."

Murder yesterday, theft today. What will tomorrow bring?

Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Linda at TeacherDance, Donna at Mainely Write, Laura at Writing the World for Kids (daily haiku), Liz at Liz in Ink (daily haiku), Sara at Read Write Believe (daily haiku)...and YOU?

MURDER? - a food poem

Photo Credit: Farmanac iPhone App

MURDER?

Sunflower sprouts on my chicken salad:

baby sunflower plants.

Infanticide?

No, inPLANTicide.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012

Poem #6, National Poetry Month 2012

Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Linda at TeacherDance, Donna at Mainely Write, Laura at Writing the World for Kids (daily haiku), Liz at Liz in Ink (daily haiku), Sara at Read Write Believe (daily haiku)...and YOU?

YOU'RE MAKING A HUGE ASSUMPTION - a cat poem, a pet poem, a clerihew

YOU'RE MAKING A BIG ASSUMPTION

Willie Morris 

is a catasaurus,

yet his voice is a dainty "mew."

Don't let that fool you.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012

Our cat (known variously as Willie Morris, William, Will, and Bubba) is a gentle giant...most of the time (see first picture). He has enough LION in him, though, that he chased this visiting lab down the hall and then co-opted her den and blankie (second picture). Notice that Ruby is not even allowed to look at Will, let alone have her den back until Will decides it's time...

This poetry form is a clerihew. Wikipedia defines the form thus:

"A clerihew has the following properties:

• It is biographical and usually whimsical, showing the subject from an unusual point of view; it pokes fun at mostly famous people
• It has four lines of irregular length and metre (for comic effect)
• The rhyme structure is AABB; the subject matter and wording are often humorously contrived in order to achieve a rhyme, including the use of phrases in Latin, French and other non-English Languages
• The first line contains, and may consist solely of, the subject's name."

Poem #5, National Poetry Month, 2012

Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Linda at TeacherDance, Donna at Mainely Write, Laura at Writing the World for Kids (daily haiku), Liz at Liz in Ink (daily haiku), Sara at Read Write Believe (daily haiku)...and YOU?

SPRING IS A QUICK CHANGE ARTIST

SPRING IS A QUICK CHANGE ARTIST

sky

darkens

thunder

comes

rain

pounds 

down

sky

lightens

clouds

part

chirps

sound

'round

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012

Poem #4, National Poetry Month, 2012

Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Linda at TeacherDance, Donna at Mainely Write, Laura at Writing the World for Kids (daily haiku), Liz at Liz in Ink (daily haiku), Sara at Read Write Believe (daily haiku)...and YOU?

STREAMSIDE -- a river poem, a spring poem

STREAMSIDE

On the path
a girl is strolling,
by the path
a stream is rolling.

In the stream
the water glitters,
under water
crawdad skitters.

Path in spring
is good for going,
Stream in spring
is good for flowing.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012







Poem #3, National Poetry Month 2012

Thank goodness for my writer's notebook! The poem I thought I was going to write for today refused to be written. But I had bits and pieces of this poem in a discarded version of my SCUTTLE poem.


Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Linda at TeacherDance, Donna at Mainely Write, Laura at Writing the World for Kids (daily haiku), Liz at Liz in Ink (daily haiku), Sara at Read Write Believe (daily haiku)...and YOU?

BOXED IN -- a goose poem, a city nature poem

BOXED IN

They've made their home

in a commercial zone.

He struts down the walk

where no predators stalk:

the vigilant gander

threatening human bystanders,

while goose wishes she

had more privacy.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012

Poem #2, National Poetry Month 2012

Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, Linda at TeacherDance, Donna at Mainely Write, Laura at Writing the World for Kids (daily haiku), Liz at Liz in Ink (daily haiku)...and YOU?

Collaboration - a teaching poem, a learning poem

COLLABORATION

Teaching is collaboration,

Not an act in isolation.

Empty vessels don't exist,

Learners' efforts must persist.

Nothing's easy the first time,

But "Oh! I get it!" feels sublime.

Both of us must take a turn.

Two must try for one to learn.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012

Poem #1, National Poetry Month 2012

My student N. was so taken by the way the Madness! 2012 poetry tournament worked that she started asking me for words to use as prompts for her own poems. (Franki tells me the same is true of her middle schooler.)

I gave N. a couple of words, but then realized that she needed a self-sustaining strategy for giving HERSELF a challenge. So I told her about Amy LV's Dictionary Hike, and together we went to the dictionary to get ourselves some words. She got TIRE, and I got COLLABORATION. And so begins National Poetry Month 2012!

Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month.

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An addendum. Seems to fit with the poem in a Calvin and Hobbes sort of way...