PO-EMotion -- Disgust

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Quinn Dombrowski

ODE TO THE EASTER EGG WE FOUND IN MAY

Along with a dust bunny from in back of the shelf

the innocent cat rolled you out.

In the dark, shoeless Dad stepped upon you

and let out a startled shout.

Your elliptical shell crunched and shattered,

a noxious stench rose and oozed,

the cat wisely galloped away

as the stink cloud spread and grew.

We opened all of the windows,

shooed the stink cloud out of the door.

Next Easter there will be no hunt.

To quote Dad: "Nevermore. Nevermore."

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

Her poem summarizes the rest of ours!

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

Teachers, especially of younger children, will relate. Ew.

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Questions for a Litterbug

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments here and at 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. 

The roundup of 2015 Poetry Month projects throughout the Kidlitosphere can be found at 

Jama's Alphabet Soup.

PO-EMotion -- Anger

"Wild Platypus 4" by Klaus - Flickr: Wild Platypus 4. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons 

WHY CAN'T YOU ACCEPT ME FOR WHAT I AM?!?!?

I'm an

egg-laying

duck-billed

beaver-tailed

otter-footed

evolution-confounding

naturalist-baffling

real-life

no-joke

Australian-born

coin-featured

MAMMAL!

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

The first four hyphenated pairs in my poem today are borrowed straight from the Wikipedia article on the Platypus. Just goes to show that you can find your inspiration just about anywhere!

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

She passionately asks those fighting for big truths 
to remember how much the small stuff matters.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

She finds anger on the playground.

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Kay WAS spittin' mad!

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments here and at Poetrepository for her poems.

Yay! 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. 

The roundup of 2015 Poetry Month projects throughout the Kidlitosphere can be found at 

Jama's Alphabet Soup.

PO-EMotion -- Surprise

DRAGONFLY'S SURPRISE

All you can see
is the agile,
iridescent
aviator
I have become:
emperor of
the pond's airspace.

Imagine this:
in my nymph-hood,
I ruled below,
terrorizing
pond's murky depths,
spent years hunting
insects, tadpoles,
even small fish.
Extending my
overgrown lip:
flashing, snatching,
holding, munching.

Molting revealed
larger wing buds
each time, but no
hints of future
aeronautics.

Until one day,
in early dark,
I climbed a reed,
stopped with my head
above water,
learned to breathe air.
That accomplished,
I morphed from a
water creature
to the wonder
you see today.

Never, ever
undervalue
a lowly start.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

Seeing something in a new way can surprise us.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

Her surprise will make you smile!

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Today, she has a gorgeous series of similes for surprise.

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository or A Year of Reading.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments here and at Poetrepository for her poems.

Yay! 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. 

She has an unwanted surprise today.

Bridget, at wee words for wee ones, has a gardening surprise today!

Ramona, at Pleasures from the Page, has a spring surprise today!

The roundup of  2015 Poetry Month projects throughout the Kidlitosphere can be found at 

Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Amy has today's Poetry Friday roundup at The Poem Farm.

PO-EMotion -- Fear

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Don deBold

FEAR

A shadow passes over my voice

like a hawk circling a field mouse,

like a heron targeting a bullfrog.

I freeze.

I didn't even raise my hand!

Why did she call on me?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

She's got three very different poems for today.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

She shares school fears, too.

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

Strong girls overcome fears in her poem.

Linda, at TeacherDance, will join as often as she can.

Check the comments here and at Poetrepository for her poems.

Yay! Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) is back this year,

 leaving poetry trax in the comments.

Jone is doing a "double L" challenge. 

She and I are cross-poLLinating our challenges whenever possible. 

Today I have a bullfrog for hers and she has fear for mine!

The roundup of  2015 Poetry Month projects throughout the Kidlitosphere can be found at 

Jama's Alphabet Soup.

PO-EMotion -- Anticipation

Flickr Creative Commons photo by eric lynch

ANTICIPATION

The end of the very last day of school,

standing poised on the edge of the pool,

smell of curry as I'm opening the door,

excitement of Christmas on the night before,

next in line for the roller coaster,

when will the toast come out of the toaster?

jitters, dread, a lack of patience,

waiting and waiting...anticipation.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Carol, at Carol's Corner, will join me again this year as often as possible.

She anticipates both the difficulties and the glories.

Kimberley, at iWrite in Maine, is joining me this month. 

Check out her moment of anticipation!

Kay, at A Journey Through the Pages, is joining, too!

She's anticipating the joys of spring.

Steve, at inside the dog, is sharing his poems 

in the comments at Poetrepository or A Year of Reading.

The roundup of  2015 Poetry Month projects throughout the Kidlitosphere can be found at 

Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Poetry Friday -- PO-EMotions

PO-EMotions

This year, I will write a poem a day that either evokes an emotion, or uses an emotion word in the title or body of the poem. I will be cross-posting at Poetrepository. You are invited to play along whenever you have the time or inspiration! Leave your poems or links in the comments (on either site).


The Emotions

W    4/1  anticipation

Th   4/2  fear

F     4/3  surprise

Sa   4/4  anger

Su   4/5  disgust

M    4/6   sadness

T     4/7   acceptance

W    4/8   joy

Th   4/9   courage

F     4/10  dejection

Sa   4/11  despair

Su   4/12  aversion

M    4/13  hate

T     4/14  desire

W    4/15  hope

Th   4/16  love

F     4/17  sorrow

Sa   4/18  happiness

Su   4/19  interest

M    4/20  wonder

T     4/21  guilt

W    4/22  shame

Th   4/23  contempt

F     4/24  distress

Sa   4/25  cheerfulness

Su   4/26  zest

M   4/27  contentment

T    4/28  optimism

W  4/29   pride

Th 4/30   relief

The emotions came from this list.

The first 8 (April 1-8) are from the theorist Plutchik. I rearranged the order to describe how I'm likely to feel about this project early on.

The second 8 (April 9-16) are from the theorist Arnold. (His list overlaps Plutchik's with anger, fear, and sadness.) Hopefully, by bracketing dejection, despair, aversion and hate with courage on one end, and hope and love on the other, I'll make it through this eight days. (And, yes, I intentionally positioned hope on Tax Day.)

The next 4 (April 17-20) are from the theorist Frijda. (His list overlaps Plutchik's and Arnold's with desire and surprise.) We'll need his mostly hopeful list to make it through the next one.

Another 4 (April 21-24) are from the theorist Izard. (His list is overwhelmingly negative, overlapping the others with anger, disgust, fear, interest, joy, surprise, and shame.)

The last 6 (April 25-30) were chosen from Shaver, et al. (2001)'s list of secondary emotions for the primary emotion joy. After three weeks of emotional ups and downs, I decided to end on high notes. These words, like the first 8, likely describe how I'll be feeling at the end of this month and this project. Especially #30.



Jone has the Poetry Friday roundup today at Check it Out.

Poetry Friday -- Announcing My Poetry Month Project!

SKEPTIC

Head tilted,

one eyebrow arched,

lips pinched:

Are you sure?

Seven days a week?

Really?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

That skeptic lives inside my head, but I'm going to ignore her. 

Will writing a poem a day that either uses an emotion word or evokes that emotion be any harder than writing a poem a day about obscure wonders of the world? 

("Um...yes," says my skeptic in my ear.)

Sorry, skeptic. We're doing this. And any of YOU who want to come along for the ride are invited to join us for an April that will LITERALLY be an emotional roller coaster!

I've created a list of 30 emotions that various researchers have identified, using this resource.  I'll publish the list next week. I made my graphic for this year using a public domain, no-attribution-necessary image and the graphic design site Canva. 

My poem today is for Heidi's MarCH CHallenge.

Last, but not least, Laura (who coincidentally shares a perfect PO-EMotion for today) has the Poetry Friday roundup at Author Amok.