Poetry Friday -- Inspired By

The poem of the day today from Poets.org is Day 29 (2020) by Jamila Woods. Her poem was inspired by Things I Didn't Know I Loved by Nazim Hikmet.

My poem-draft is inspired by both of them.

image via Unsplash

Things I Didn't Know I Loved

it's January 1st 2021

i'm sitting at the kitchen table

my hands are cold

but the space heater warms my feet

i never knew i liked

being warm and cold at the same time

it's like

winter lap swimming

the steamy heat of the natatorium

the shocking cold of the water

the satisfaction of having swum

it's also like sweet and salty

i've always known i liked

sweet and salty

pancakes with bacon

chocolate pretzels

icing on crackers

it's nothing like clutter and order

or is it

i used to hate the clutter in my mother's house

my apartment was clean and empty

i was young

now i'm sitting at the kitchen table

my hands are cold

i'm crowded by books lists mugs 

pencil case glasses case stacks of mail

pens in a cup headphones cat toys and

only the words on this page

have any semblance of order

at least my feet are warm

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2021 (draft)

Ruth has the first Poetry Friday Roundup of 2021 at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town.

Poetry Friday -- Inspiration

Because #DearOneLBH was such an inspiration to so many:

From the blog Incidental Comics by Grant Snider.

Amy LV has this week's Poetry Friday Roundup at The Poem Farm.

Messages from the Universe for the First Day of School

From GapingVoid.com

Seth Godin reminds us that we are in charge of creating culture:

"It's culture that pushes us to level up, to dig deeper, to do things that we might not otherwise do. It's culture that finds and encourages and pushes people to become better versions of themselves than anyone else expected to find.

What we need are caring human beings who will choose to change the culture for the better. 

Not all of it, of course. Merely the culture they can touch. The people they can engage with. The human beings they can look in the eye, offer to help, offer encouragement and offer a hand up. 

Once we reset the standard, it becomes the new normal..."

From Indexed

Something Big

Something Big
by Sylivie Neeman
illustrated by Ingrid Godon
Enchanted Lion Books, 2013
Review copy provided by the publisher

Little One wants to do something big. But he's not sure what that big thing might be, and Big One is having a hard time helping him figure it out. They go for a walk by the ocean for inspiration. It's hard to do something big when you're still small. But at the end of the walk, Little One does something small that actually turns out to be a big thing.

I used this book to start our conversations about what we could do to promote peace for the International Day of Peace on September 21. We watched the video of the international music group, Playing for Change, singing together from all around the world. (It's on the public blog on my class' website. You can watch it here.) We talked about how small things can often be big. Each musician is doing a small thing, but together, what they are doing is big. Huge, even. We brainstormed topics like helping others, caring for the environment, anti-bullying. And we talked about our own personal experience with peace -- when and where we feel it and how it feels.

Today, as we continue our work, we will talk about the situation in Syria, about the president's speech, and about the Russians' peaceful proposal. We'll talk a bit about 9/11 and think about those who responded to that crisis with no other thoughts in their hearts but to help. I'll read aloud Gandhi: A March to the Sea, which I mentioned in my 10-for-10 post.

Between now and Friday, September 20, my students will be composing short narratives on the theme of peace. These narratives might eventually become poetry, fables, narrative nonfiction, songs, comics, digital presentations, posters, and more. The assignment is a narrative with peace at its heart. We'll decide the container for the narrative after the writing is well on its way. And we'll find a way to share them with the world.

What will you do for the International Day of Peace?

Thought for the Day

ART IS A GUARANTY OF SANITY
Phoenix Convention Center

The Start of School

It's getting a little crazy here in Back-to-School Land. Times like this, the best we can do is point you to the writing of others. Bud Hunt, at Bud the Teacher, has a great post that every teacher needs to read, whether this is your first year or your 25th year (*finger pointing at self*): An Open Letter To Teachers, by Bud the Teacher. Here are a couple of my favorite parts:

Be humble, but fight like crazy for your students. (Did this today. Proud of self.)

You’ll have nervous days and scared days and failure days. But you’ll also have “yes” days. Write about, reflect upon, and learn from all of them, but build a special place to keep a record of the “yes” ones. Return to it when you need a boost on some of the not-so-good days.

I wish you well. I ask you to be brave and humble and kind and tenacious and wise and caring and gentle and fierce. We so need you to do well. And there are lots of folks out there who want to help. Do good stuff.

JBlack at Transitioning to Web 2.0 made a Wordle poster of Bud's main points. Very cool. Words to live and teach by.