Pennies

For the next half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

Along with all of the songs she wrote about the issues of her times (still current now), Malvina Reynolds also wrote songs for children. In the documentary Love it Like A Fool, she mentioned that it irked her that men were taken seriously when they were any age, but with her white hair and her songs for children, she became known as "The Singing Grandmother." Anyone who's been listening along through this month knows without a doubt that Malvina Reynolds was much much more than a "Singing Grandmother."

Pennies

The beaded coin purse
full of loose change,
mostly pennies,
bulged on the kitchen counter
beside the mug full of leaky pens and
pencils with dried out erasers.

In the top dresser drawer
beneath silky slips
that hadn’t been worn in decades
was stashed a plastic bag of pennies.
All wheatheads,
collected because perhaps they’d become valuable.

Mom’s laudable thrift,
learned at the knee of necessity
makes my lack of frugality
appear extravagant.
Her someday was always out of reach.
Mine jingles in my hand.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Sing It, Malvina!

April 1 -- Working for Change
April 2 -- A Lifetime Filled With Change
April 3 -- Red
April 4 -- Little Red Hen
April 5 -- Childhood Dreams
April 6 -- Lonely Child
April 7 -- Quiet

April 8 -- Storyteller
April 9 -- Troublemaker
April 10 -- Girl Power
April 11 -- Choices
April 12 -- My Gal, Mother Nature
April 13 -- Not a Joke
April 14 -- I Don't Mind Failing

April 15 -- What is Feminism?
April 16 -- Holes
April 17 -- They Can Have Their Cake and Eat it, Too
April 18 -- We Won't Be Nice
April 19 -- Grass is Persistent
April 20 -- Ticky Tacky
April 21 -- Regrets

April 22 -- Skagit Valley Forever

April 23 -- The World's Gone Beautiful

April 24 -- Rain

April 25 -- I Live in a City

April 26 -- The Hard Work of Real Human Beings

April 27 -- Current Events

April 28 -- Pennies

Joann has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Teaching Authors.

The Hard Work of Real Human Beings

For the next half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

Through her music, Malvina addressed issues of diversity and collaboration, as well as economic and labor issues.

The Hard Work of Real Human Beings

Where do cherries come from?
They come from a tree!
And who picks them one by one?
Neither you, nor me.

Where does asparagus come from?
It grows in a field!
And who stoops down to cut each stalk?
Neither you, nor me.

Where do apples come from?
They grow on a tree!
And which strong worker fills buckets all day?
Neither you, nor me.

Where do peppers come from?
On bushes, low and green!
And who must pick each single one?
Neither you, nor me.

How much money do they make?
Do they have the things they need?
Who values their important work?
Neither you, nor me.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

4 Labor-Intensive Crops Farmers Wish They Had Robots to Harvest

I Live in a City

For the next half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

Through her music, Malvina addressed issues of diversity and collaboration, as well as economic and labor issues. 

Riddle Poem

What is bigger than all its parts,
full to the brim of stops and starts,
more colorful than the boldest rainbow,
only silent when buried in snow,
less significant than it wants you to believe,
a problem to solve, a tragedy to grieve?

("...a city made by human hands")

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Rain

For the next half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

Another unifying topic in Malvina Reynolds' songs is the environment. The next few days will feature songs written in the 1960's and 1970's, but which are fresh and topical today.

Ode to an Inch of Life-Giving Rain

Oh, Rain!
You fall so abundantly further east
but we treasure every hundredth of an inch
here on the western high plains.

Oh, Rain!
You have rescued the wheat crop,
not to mention the Russian Olives
in the windbreak on the north side of the house.

Oh, Rain!
You lift every spirit.
Are your ears burning? The inch that fell last night
is the topic of every conversation at the post office.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

The World's Gone Beautiful

For the next half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

Another unifying topic in Malvina Reynolds' songs is the environment. The next few days will feature songs written in the 1960's and 1970's, but which are fresh and topical today.

The World is Asking Not to Die

The world is asking not to die,
yet humans look away,

overpopulating the planet,
changing the climate past the point of repair,
destroying biodiversity in a mass extinction,
killing oxygen-producing phytoplankton with nitrogen runoff,
polluting fresh water sources,
acidifying the ocean,
contaminating air, water, and soil with plastics and chemical compounds,
depleting the ozone layer,
clearing forests at an alarming rate.

How can humans look away
from a world that is asking not to die?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Skagit Valley Forever

For the next half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

Another unifying topic in Malvina Reynolds' songs is the environment. The next few days will feature songs written in the 1960's and 1970's, but which are fresh and topical today.

wild is worth saving --
find your own Skagit Valley --
fight for our future --

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Regrets

For the next half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

Another unifying topic in Malvina Reynolds' songs is the environment. The next few days will feature songs written in the 1960's and 1970's, but which are fresh and topical today.

Today's poem is a Golden Shovel. The last word in each of my lines reads down, like an acrostic, and is a line from today's song by Malvina Reynolds, "Let it Be." Last month, I buried the story of the loss of two beautiful and magical places inside a book review, and when I set out to write today's poem, it became a lament of the most recent replacement of magic with convenience. Clearly, I'm not over that yet.

Regrets

You do the best you can until you

can do no more. You think

about the choices that

you made and you

wonder if your love

could ever have been enough for her

survival. You planted and

weeded and you

hoped someone else would want

to become caretaker to

this magical place where kids could discover

the workings of nature -- how

intricately she's

designed -- made

with milkweed, for example, expressly so

there can be monarchs. Because you

loved that plot, you take

it personally that they leveled her

and undid all your work; took apart

a piece of what made this world good and

right, wild and free. Your regrets threaten to break

 your belief in yourself, but her

 beauty remains whole in your heart.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Sing It, Malvina!

April 1 -- Working for Change
April 2 -- A Lifetime Filled With Change
April 3 -- Red
April 4 -- Little Red Hen
April 5 -- Childhood Dreams
April 6 -- Lonely Child
April 7 -- Quiet

April 8 -- Storyteller
April 9 -- Troublemaker
April 10 -- Girl Power
April 11 -- Choices
April 12 -- My Gal, Mother Nature
April 13 -- Not a Joke
April 14 -- I Don't Mind Failing

April 15 -- What is Feminism?

April 16 -- Holes

April 17 -- They Can Have Their Cake and Eat it, Too

April 18 -- We Won't Be Nice

April 19 -- Grass is Persistent

April 20 -- Ticky Tacky

April 21 -- Regrets

Tabatha has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week at The Opposite of Indifference.

Ticky Tacky

For the next half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

One of the strongest unifying topics in Malvina Reynolds' songs is politics and protest. The next few days will feature songs written in the 1960's and 1970's, but which are fresh and topical today.

Ticky Tacky
(to the tune of "Little Boxes")

It’s the sameness, lack-of-change-ness
It’s the absence of diversity
Economic inequality
Absolute conformity

It’s a boilermaker
Never varying
So redundant
Truly tedious

It’s the absence of diversity
And it all looks just the same.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Grass Is Persistent

For the second half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

One of the strongest unifying topics in Malvina Reynolds' songs is politics and protest. The next few days will feature songs written in the 1960's and 1970's, but which are fresh and topical today.

Grass Is

People want to tame me or
Eradicate me. They underestimate my
Root
Structure and my
Indomitable
Spirit. I am
Tenacious. I
Exist
Not to please, but to break concrete and spread
Truth.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

We Won't Be Nice

For the second half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

One of the strongest unifying topics in Malvina Reynolds' songs is politics and protest. The next few days will feature songs written in the 1960's and 1970's, but which are fresh and topical today.

We Won’t Be Nice

Cause a disruption
Form an obstruction
March and rally and chant.

Shake up the status quo
Make a line and block the flow
March and rally and chant.

Rebel with civility
Abstain from docility
March and rally and chant.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

They Can Have Their Cake, and Eat it, Too

For the second half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

One of the strongest unifying topics in Malvina Reynolds' songs is politics and protest. The next few days will feature songs written in the 1960's and 1970's, but which are fresh and topical today.

Let Them Eat Cake was recorded live in concert, November 1972.




They Can Have Their Cake, and Eat it, Too

They sugar coat the truth for us,
fake the daily news,
make us look the other way.
What could they possibly lose?

They divert to keep the facts at bay,
disguise false validations,
sweeten fibs with taradiddles,
no need for vindication.

“What could we possibly lose?” they ask,
on the brink of a nuclear war.
They’re blind to even the simplest truths,
and deaf to our uproar.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Holes

For the second half of National Poetry Month 2017, 

Malvina will Sing It, and I'll write a poem in response.

One of the strongest unifying topics in Malvina Reynolds' songs is politics and protest. The next few days will feature songs written in the 1960's and 1970's, but which are fresh and topical today.

The World in Their Pocket was recorded live in concert by KQED in 1967.

Holes

They say the world is richer,
With jobs and giant bankrolls.
But their logic’s got a hole.

They say we’ll build the pipeline,
Bother with leaks and spills later.
But their logic’s got a crater.

They say the world is safe,
In their constant Twitter spasms.
But their logic’s got a chasm.

When crater, hole and chasm
Become a vast abyss,
They’ll say, “Oops, we were remiss…”

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

What is Feminism?

What is Feminism?

Some women
have the luxury of
joining a cause.
Fighting for equal rights
and equal pay.
Finding their voices,
expressing their true identities.

Other women
have the necessity of
work.
Finding the work
and doing the work.
Keeping their families fed,
running the businesses.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017





"My mother came from a long line of women who worked outside the home. Her grandmother ran a deli while her husband read Torah. Her own mother and father ran a naval tailor shop. When I was in the fifth grade, my mother’s father died, and she and my father and grandmother ran the shop together."

http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

I Don't Mind Failing

Language alert: if watching the video with children, be prepared to hit the mute button at :33-:38 and 4:15-4:20. Also, apologies (and gratitude) to William Carlos Williams.

This is Just to Say 

I have failed
the test
that measures
my worth

and which
you were probably
planning to use
to pigeonhole me

Forgive me
I refuse your labels
I am deliciously
worthy and capable


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017





Sing It, Malvina!

April 1 -- Working for Change
April 2 -- A Lifetime Filled With Change
April 3 -- Red
April 4 -- Little Red Hen
April 5 -- Childhood Dreams
April 6 -- Lonely Child
April 7 -- Quiet

April 8 -- Storyteller

April 9 -- Troublemaker

April 10 -- Girl Power

April 11 -- Choices

April 12 -- My Gal, Mother Nature

April 13 -- Not a Joke

April 14 -- I Don't Mind Failing

Dori has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week at Dori Reads.

Not a Joke

Not a Joke

Isn’t it funny
(not a joke
no humor
no puns)
Isn’t it funny
how war creates a necessity
that strips away all the labels
previously preventing a person’s
life work?

Isn’t it funny
(not a joke
no humor
no puns)
Isn’t it funny
how the devastation of war
creates industries
and builds an economy out of
destruction?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017




“My mother was writing her dissertation when I was little and got her Ph.D. in 1939. But it was the middle of the Depression; she was Jewish, a socialist, and a woman; and she couldn’t get a job teaching. But when the Second World War broke out, she got a job on an assembly line in a bomb factory, and Bud went to work as a carpenter in a shipyard.”

http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

My Gal, Mother Nature

“...it was while doing graduate work in English there (University of California Berkeley) that she did some student teaching. She used pop songs to teach her high school students about rhyme scheme and meter, as they were not poetry readers."

http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

Malvina Reynolds would have been at Berkeley in the 1920's, and "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" was a popular song then. Perhaps it was one she used to teach about rhyme scheme and meter.

Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue
Words: Sam M. Lewis and Joseph Widow Young; Music: Ray Henderson (1925)

Five foot two, eyes of blue,
but oh, what those five foot could do:
has anybody seen my gal?

Turned-up nose, turned-down hose
Flapper? Yes sir, one of those
Has anybody seen my gal?

Now, if you run into
a five-foot-two
covered with fur,
Diamond rings,
and all those things,
Bet your life it isn't her

But could she love, could she woo!
Could she, could she, could she coo!
Has anybody seen my gal?




My Gal, Mother Nature

Birds and bees, rocks and trees
Oh the breeze and green green leaves
Has anybody seen my gal?

Skies of blue, rivers too
Nature? Yes we need her hues
Has anybody seen my gal?

Now if the skies are hazed
Parks are paved
Trash everywhere,
Species dead
Sewage spread
Bet your life there’s no clean air

The temps are high, could she die?
Could she, could she, could she die?
Has anybody seen my gal?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Choices

Choices

Even the right man
Must wait for the right time
Because mother is right
That “career first” is the right path.

But when you're on the left path
Your heart keeps looking for the right man
You left behind
For all the right reasons


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017






“It was while she was in high school that Malvina first met William “Bud” Reynolds, at a socialist dance. He was a merchant seaman, seven years older, handsome, and even more shy than she. He was self-educated, having left school after the eighth grade. They read poetry to each other in Golden Gate Park, but when he proposed, she refused. Encouraged by her mother, she had her sights set on college and a career.

She married someone else, and so did Bud. He ran for governor of Michigan on the Socialist ticket, with the slogan, “You provide the evictions, we’ll provide the riots!” They found each other again after she was divorced, and this time she said yes.”

http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

Girl Power

GIRL POWER

Gentle and meek are things of the past.
I am
Ready to take on the world. To
Lead,
Persist, and
Open doors
With my own talents, my own skills, and my own
Expertise. World, are you
Ready for me?

©Mary Lee Hahn

Troublemaker

Troublemaker
(Ever so slightly to the tune of "Little Boxes")

When we want
What they’ve got
And we ask for it
In the right ways
And the logic’s there
And the signatures
And they still tell us NO

Then we don’t stop
And we’re not quiet
And we make them
Pay attention now
To the voices
Of the people
Who pursue what they’re due.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

"I had first come to the attention of the principal’s office with a premature women’s liberation movement on the school grounds. At noon, the boys could leave the grounds to play around on the streets and to get hot dogs, hamburgers, coffee, and pop at the little store across the street. I circulated a petition that the girls be allowed out of the yard at noon also. The answer was no. It wasn’t proper for girls to be on the street. [The girls then asked that the boys be restricted, and were told] if the school tried to restrict the boys they’d just climb the fence. Probably in the same situation now, the girls would climb the fence. Then, nothing happened except that quiet, shy me was fingered as a troublemaker."

http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

Storyteller

Storyteller

Storyteller, storyteller
come on out.
Tell us a story.
What’s it about?
Pirates or dragons,
a farm or a zoo?
Zebras? Lions?
Kangaroo?

Storyteller, storyteller
spin us a yarn.
Make it a good one,
one that will charm.
One full of laughter,
or one full of fear--
no matter what you tell
all of us will cheer!

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

"The times I have been happiest were the rare times when I was one of a gang….I had a kind of gang when we lived on Buchanan Street [in San Francisco]. I must have been seven or eight. We would sit in the light of the street lamp in the evening on the high wooden flight of stairs, a dozen of us, and while the bigger boys played “One Foot Off the Gutter,” I would make up long stories to tell the others. I don’t remember what the stories were about, but they must have been interesting; I can remember the young voices in the evening, calling me to come out."

http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

Progressive Poem -- Line #8

Go ahead. Skip to the bottom of the post. Read my line. I know you want to. :-)

Short introduction for the uninitiated: Progressive poem, written one line at a time, one day at a time for the month of April. Tradition started by Irene Latham. Check the sidebar to follow along as the poem grows.

*  *  *

Didn't Heidi get us started off with a line full of pure possibility? She introduced our character.

I’m fidget, friction, ragged edges—

Then Tabatha gave us some show-not-tell action to help us get to know our character better. We've got a storyteller here (or at least, a story sprouter...hmm...a magical plant?).

I sprout stories that frazzle-dazzle,

Along comes Dori, who takes the word stories and cracks it open just a bit for us.

stories of castles, of fires that crackle,

Michelle linked the words fire and stories in a surprising way. Is our character a dragon?

with dragonwords that smoke and sizzle.

Diane established stanzas of four lines and a bit of conflict...

But edges sometimes need sandpaper,

...and Kat elaborated. (No, Kat, we won't change your Aussie spelling of vapour!)

like swords need stone and clouds need vapour.

Yesterday, Irene got our character ready for action...but without armour (don't you love how she gave Kat that wink?!)

So I shimmy out of my spurs and armour

And now I'm left to decide the action our character might take. Or would take if this were my own poem and not this big, messy, fun, collaborative, surprising thing it is every year  (this is our SEVENTH!!).

Our character might be a girl. That happens a lot in stories. So our character might be a boy. A boy who does atypical things. A boy who is searching for his true identity, who is willing to lose the frazzle-dazzle storytelling and the costume he's wearing, in order to try living honestly in his own skin. Yeah. I like that. For right now, in this small moment of Line Eight, that's who this poem is about for me. So what gift can I give to this child, what gift for all children who are in that tricky spot of growing up, when they have to take off the princess dress or the super hero cape and find out who they really are? 

(There are a lot of F words early on, and a lot of S words in the past 5 lines. Did you notice that? And we don't seem to be keeping to any syllable count or regular rhyme scheme...Can you tell I'm writing this line in my head as I write this post?)

facing the day as my fickle, freckled self.

Yes! I love it! And yes, I did go read Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins before I chose my words because it occurred to me that this character could be part of what Hopkins was praising -- so I borrowed "fickle, freckled" from him. I don't think he'd mind! And lookie there -- I used F sounds and S sounds in my line!! (A peek at the final edits: The line was originally "ready to face the day as my fickle, freckled self." Our character was going to FACE the day, but I went to the thesaurus and decided on BRAVE as a synonym that packs just a bit more punch, even though I'd have to lose an F sound. Then I read through the whole poem, including my line, and the rhythm seemed off, plus, I really really loved that F sound. So I went back to FACE the day. Then I had to consider the necessity of the word and...keep? lose? keep? lose? We already have a but and a so in this stanza...I'm going for the verb, folks! Fidget, friction, fickle, freckled...say that five times fast!)

Go forth, brave character! Whether or not you turn out to be seeking your true identity, or if other amazing adventures await you in this poem, we've launched you out the door. Have fun, Linda! Give us hints as to what THE DAY will hold for our character, whoever he or she or he/she might be!



I’m fidget, friction, ragged edges—
I sprout stories that frazzle-dazzle,
stories of castles, of fires that crackle,
with dragonwords that smoke and sizzle.


But edges sometimes need sandpaper,
like swords need stone and clouds need vapour.
So I shimmy out of my spurs and armour

facing the day as my fickle, freckled self.

Quiet

Quiet

Sometimes
it takes a lot of loud
to be noticed.
Roar your truth
in a pride of lions.
Demand change
with signs and signatures.
Surge with the chanting crowd
and be heard.

However
you don’t need loud
to be strong.
Sing your truth
as confidently as a single wren.
Gently nudge change
to the tune of genuine smiles.
Harmonize in a chorus
of allies.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Sing It, Malvina! 

April 1 -- Working for Change
April 2 -- A Lifetime Filled With Change
April 3 -- Red
April 4 -- Little Red Hen
April 5 -- Childhood Dreams
April 6 -- Lonely Child
April 7 -- Quiet


Irene has the Poetry Friday Roundup (and the next line of the Progressive Poem) today at Live Your Poem. Come back here tomorrow for the 8th line of the Progressive Poem!

Lonely Child

Lonely Child

I’m quiet
She’s loud
I like alone
She likes a crowd

I’m shy
She’s bold
She likes to tell
I like to be told

I’m a cloud
She’s a storm
Hard to believe
Someday I’ll perform

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017





"I was a lonely child; I can’t remember any friends in grade school except Esther. Why she picked quiet, shy me for a friend, I don’t know. She was bold, laughing, quick. She would sit back of me in school and slowly pull one hair out of my braid. Miss Geary would say, “Hit her! With your ruler!” I never would. I liked Miss Geary. I intended to be a teacher, and would be like her—a good sport….I am still shy with people. I can easily face and talk with and sing to a hundred or a thousand. But at a party, next to a stranger, I haven’t much to say."


http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

Childhood Dreams

Childhood Dreams

Dream, child, dream.
Your bed is a boat
on the wide sea

of possibility.

Close your eyes.
Fling your arms wide.
Dance in the light
on the stage.

You’re a movie star today,
tomorrow a dancer,
maybe a teacher.
Dream, child, dream.

©Mary Lee Hahn




“My mother, Malvina Reynolds, once told me that when she was young, she would lie in bed and imagine that she was onstage, dancing, with a spotlight following her. She wanted to be a movie star, but she assumed that that would never happen, so she decided she’d be a teacher instead and work a smaller stage.”


http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/malvina-reynolds/

Little Red Hen

Little Red Hen

Red is the color of socialists,
and what do socialists believe?
Everyone works, everyone helps,
together, everyone achieves.

Hen asked for help planting wheat.
The other animals said no.
Hen did all the work without any help,

from seed to plant, flour, and dough.

Little Red Hen is a socialist

and what do socialists believe?
Everyone works, everyone helps,

together, everyone achieves.

Work is a part of the process:
no help with the work means no bread,
no help with the work makes you lazy,
when the lazy don’t help they aren’t fed.

Little Red Hen is a socialist,
and what do socialists believe?
Everyone works, everyone helps,
together, everyone achieves.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Red

Red

Malvina Reynolds’ parents were Russian Jewish immigrants
escaping discrimination and persecution
opposing World War I
subscribing to socialism
believing in common ownership of resources
wanting democratic control of decisions
hosting spirited conversations
filling the house with working class political activists
influencing Malvina’s young mind
coloring the way she would see the world.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

A Lifetime Filled With Change

A Lifetime Filled With Change

Malvina Reynolds was born
at the turn of the 20th century.
1899 turned to 1900.

She lived a lifetime filled with change.

Telephones were new but becoming widely used,
cities were being electrified.

First vacuum cleaner -- 1902.
First flight by the Wright brothers,
First World Series,
First crayons -- 1903.

Women were given the right to vote -- 1920.
Television was invented -- 1927.

Segregation and racial oppression escalated.
The Civil Rights movement
stood up and sat down
until
(and after)
the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Vietnam, Nixon, Apple Computers, Sony Walkmans.
Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malvina Reynolds lived a lifetime filled with change.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017

Working for Change

Working For Change

“Anyone
who puts his or her talent and effort
toward changes for the better
has tremendous
muscle.

(Much more than the negative people,
the destructive people.)

Because they have history
on their side
and they have the desires of the people
on their side
so they really can be very powerful
without all that much effort.

If you want to change
you can’t be desperate
even if the situation is difficult.
The fact that it’s good for the cause,
it’s good for you.
Because you become part of a community
that’s working to change
and that’s a very healthy thing.

You’re not just
grousing
and
complaining
but you’re working.

That will take away your blues.”

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2017


This is a found poem, a direct quote from Malvina Reynolds, taken from “Love it Like a Fool: A Film About Malvina Reynolds” at 25:35.

https://archive.org/details/loveitlikeafoolafilmaboutmalvinareynolds

Poetry Friday: 2017 Poetry Month Project

"God Bless the Grass" has been a favorite folksong of mine for many years. Recently, I got curious to know if Pete Seger wrote it, or just performed it. That's when my research brought me to the amazing life and work of Malvina Reynolds.

As soon as I started learning about Malvina Reynolds, I knew that I wanted more people to get to know her, and I could do that with a month of biographical poems about her life and inspired by her songs. Her work is once again quite timely, and I'm looking forward to introducing my students and blog readers to an amazing woman, activist, songwriter, and down-to-earth human being. I want to honor her, and make sure that her creativity remains alive in this world.

Amy has this Poetry Month Eve Poetry Friday roundup at The Poem Farm. I'm looking forward to the Poetry Month projects everyone else is launching!

Books That Find Us

Did you ever feel like the Universe was speaking directly to you via your seemingly random book choices? Here's a run of recent middle grade novels (some are more middle school than middle grade/5th grade-ish) that had much to teach me about grieving and loss.

Be Light Like a Bird
by Monika Schröder
Capstone Young Readers, 2016
review ARC provided by the author

Wren's father dies in a plane crash and because his body is not recovered, she feels a lack of closure. Not only is Wren grieving, but her mother, in very different ways, is too. This is a beautifully written story of love, loss, grief, and healing.

Clayton Byrd Goes Underground
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad, May 2017
review ARC received at ALA

Clayton Byrd adores his grandfather, a jazz musician. Cool Papa is even more a father to him than his real father, who does not live with them. When Cool Papa dies, Clayton and his mother grieve very differently. She sells or gives away all of Cool Papa's belongings, and Clayton runs away with his harmonica to find Cool Papa's Bluesmen and join them on the road. Again: love, loss, grief, and healing.

Matylda, Bright and Tender
by Holly M. McGhee
Candlewick Press, March 2017
review copy provided by the publisher

This is probably the best middle grade (4-5-6) novel about loss and grief that I've read since Bridge to Terabithia. The author shows readers the depth of the friendship between Sussy and Guy -- from kindergarten until fourth grade. She shows us how fast life can change, and because she has made us love her characters as much as they love each other, walks the reader through the grieving process along with them. Love, loss, grief, healing, and a beloved animal, Matylda, the leopard gecko who was Sussy and Gus' shared pet.

One Amazing Elephant
by Linda Oatman High
HarperCollins, February 2017
review copy purchased at Tattered Cover

Lily Pruitt's grandparents are circus people. Queenie Grace is Grandpa Bill's elephant, and they are as close as human and animal could be. Trullia, Lily's mother, is a trapeze artist in the circus, but Lily is content to live safely in West Virginia with her father. Then Grandpa Bill dies, and Lily has to learn to overcome her grief and fear in order to help Queenie Grace through her grief. The story is told through alternating chapters from Lily's and Queenie Grace's points of view. Love, loss, grief, healing, and a beloved animal.

The Warden's Daughter
by Jerry Spinelli
Arthur A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, January 2017
review copy purchased at Tattered Cover

The Warden's Daughter is probably more middle school (6, 7, 8, 9) than middle grade (4, 5, 6), but readers who loved Maniac Magee might like finding similar details in the rich descriptions of the setting in this book.

Cammie's mother died in a tragic accident when she was just a baby, but as a twelve-turning-thirteen year-old, she is still working through acceptance and understanding. Her nickname has always been Cannonball because of the way she blasts through life, and this is the summer when everything explodes. She's not a nice character, but like the characters in Spinelli's book Crash, you stay with her and her story so you can see how she changes in the end.

As in all of these books, the main character dealing with loss and grief is the child, but there is also a window into the ways adults grieve as well. One Amazing Elephant and Clayton Byrd Goes Underground have parallel stories of grief because of children whose parents are estranged. One Amazing Elephant and Matylda, Bright and Tender feature beloved animals. Be Light Like a Bird and The Warden's Daughter have richly detailed settings.

It's been an amazing run of reading with overlapping themes and issues, but I have to say, I'm ready to read something a little lighter!

The Day the Bulldozers Came

Me and Marvin Gardens
by Amy Sarig King
Arthur A. Levine Books, January 2017
review copy from the public library

Obe Devlin is watching what used to be his family's farm developed into neighborhood phases, with street names that are ironic because they describe what was destroyed to create the development: Oak Trail, Pheasant's Nest, Orchard Way.

He struggles with identity (he cannot be the kind of masculine his father wants him to be), bullies, nosebleeds caused by a sucker punch from his former best friend in a turf war over what's left of the woods and the creek near his house. And he finds an amazing new breed of animal that could be the answer to all our problems, or the source of a problem as enormous as the worldwide environmental problems the human race has already caused.

But, there's a great teacher. A great science teacher. A teacher who really listens and who helps. Ms. G. goes on our list of 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature.

"Ms. G said I'd make a great scientist...I could be anything I wanted to be. But really, I knew I wanted to be a teacher like her. Finding Marvin Gardens had taught me so much. I wanted to pass it on...One hundred years from now, teachers would be teaching about things we would never guess. I wanted to do that. I wanted to find other kids like me and make them care about where they lived and how to make things better."

I loved this book, gave it a 4 on Goodreads for the writing. It got a 5 from my heart when I read in About the Author, "The day the bulldozers came to dig up my field was the day I started my dream of having my own farm. If you've ever seen something beautiful and magical be replaced with something more convenient, then you know why this story took me thirty years to write."

Twice this has happened to me. Most recently just this month. The first was the field and woods and creek behind the school where I taught more than 20 years ago. Where we called owls on night hikes, saw turkey buzzard eggs in a ground nest in the hollowed out tree we liked to think of as Sam Gribley's tree, caught and released garter snakes, reenacted Lewis and Clark's scientific expedition, hosted Ron Hirschi, read and wrote poetry, sang John Denver songs, identified trees, cleared paths, dreamed big dreams. The corn/soybean field is now a football field. I haven't been back to see what's become of the creek. It's entirely surrounded by subdivisions, that much I do know.

The second was a little strip of barely-tamed wild between my current school and the playground. This Land Lab was started by teachers who have since retired or moved on, and left in my trust. It was the place where we planted native grasses and flowers. Where there were wonders to taste (a few blackberries in the summer, and lemon mint leaves to chew), and touch (soft lamb's ear and waxy sedum and prickly rattlesnake master), and see (black swallowtails and monarchs, preying mantises and goldfinches, and the cup plant that captured water in its leaf-cups and had a square stem), and hear (stand in the middle of those tall native prairie grasses and listen to the wind and imagine Ohio before the Europeans got here). I was just about the only teacher with any real investment in the plot, and because of that, just about the only one who worked to keep it from going completely wild. I knew that when I retired it would go away, so when the district offered to take care of the maintenance, I let it go. I thought they would keep the trees (one so tall it shaded my second story classroom window). They did not. They leveled it. They didn't even give enough notice for those who had offered to rescue as many of the plants as they could take -- the coneflowers, yucca, iris, catnip, daffodils, hyacinths, strawberries, and lilies. I wonder what they did with the goldfinch feeder the second grade teacher left outside her classroom window when she retired?

I feel like I've failed this small strip of wild, but perhaps it will be of more use in the long run as a grassy sward. It will certainly be more convenient. And although it's gone, nothing can erase the good it did with so many classes of students and groups in Environmental Club. Maybe I could have fought harder to keep it, and that would have been one lesson to teach by example. But maybe there is much to be taught through the pain of losing of a small piece of wild, seeing as we are on the verge of (in the MIDST of) losing so much of our beloved and wild Mother Earth.

Poetry Friday -- Get Started Immediately

THE FOURTH SIGN OF THE ZODIAC (PART 3)
by Mary Oliver

(in Blue Horses)

I know, you never intended to be in this world.
But you’re in it all the same.

So why not get started immediately.

I mean, belonging to it.
There is so much to admire, to weep over.

And to write music or poems about.

Bless the feet that take you to and fro.
Bless the eyes and the listening ears.
Bless the tongue, the marvel of taste.
Bless touching.

You could live a hundred years, it’s happened.
Or not.
I am speaking from the fortunate platform
of many years,
none of which, I think, I ever wasted.
Do you need a prod?
Do you need a little darkness to get you going?
Let me be as urgent as a knife, then,
and remind you of Keats,
so single of purpose and thinking, for a while,
he had a lifetime.


















John Keats, who died at the age of twenty-five, had perhaps the most remarkable career of any English poet. He published only fifty-four poems, in three slim volumes and a few magazines.

I've had my prod. I've had a little darkness to get me going. And indeed, "There is so much to admire, to weep over." What a beautiful world. What an amazing gift life is.

It's good to be back. Catherine has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Reading to the Core.

**Edited to add A. E. Houseman's version of this theme, the poem for today at The Writer's Almanac, a poem I am glad to have memorized so that I can hug it whenever need be. (The photo is an apricot tree, but it will do in a pinch...)


A Shropshire Lad, II
by A. E. Housman

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

2017 CLA Notables

2017 NCTE Children's Literature Assembly 

Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts Award Books 

(2016 Copyright)

27 Magic Words Written by Sharelle Byars Maronville, Published by Holiday House.

Before Morning Written by Joyce Sidman, Illustrated by Beth Krommes, Published by Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt.

Booked Written by Kwame Alexander, Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

A Child of Books Written by Oliver Jeffers, Illustrated by Sam Winston, Published by Candlewick
Press.

Cloud and Wallfish Written by Anne Nesbet, Published by Candlewick Press.

Du Iz Tak? Written and illustrated by Carson Ellis, Published by Candlewick Press.

Fishbone’s Song Written by Gary Paulsen, Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Free Verse Written by Sarah Dooley, Published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan Written and illustrated by Ashley Bryan, Published by Atheneum.

I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark Written by Debbie Levy, Illustrated by Elizabeth
Baddeley, Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

The Island of Beyond Written by Elizabeth Atkinson, Published by Carolrhoda Books.

Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph Written by Roxanne Orgill, Illustrated by Francis
Vallejo, Published by Candlewick Press.

Mayday Written by Karen Harrington, Published by Little, Brown and Company.

OCDaniel Written by Wesley King, Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Olinguito de la A a la Z! Descubriendo el bosque nublado: Olinguito, from A to Z! Unveiling the Cloud Forest Written by Lulu DeLacre, Published by Lee and Low.

Plants Can’t Sit Still Written by Rebecca Hirsch, Illustrated by Mia Posada, Published by
Millbrook Press.

A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day Written by Andrea Pinkney, Illustrated by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson.

Raymie Nightingale Written by Kate DiCamillo, Published by Candlewick Press.

Soar Written by Joan Bauer, Published by Viking.

Some Writer: The Story of E.B. White Written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, Published by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The Sound of Silence Written by Katrina Goldsaito, illustrated by Julia Kuo, Published by Little,
Brown and Company.

Snow White: A Graphic Novel Written and illustrated by Matt Phelan, Published by Candlewick
Press.

Speaking American: How Y’all, Youse, and You Guys Talk: A Visual Guide Written and illustrated by Josh Katz, Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The Storyteller Written and illustrated by Evan Turk, Published by Atheneum Books for Young
Readers.

Treat Written and illustrated by Mary Sullivan, Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems Written and illustrated by Bob Raczka, Published by
Roaring Brook Press.

When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons Written by Julie Fogliano, Illustrated by Julie Morstad, Published by Roaring Brook Press.

When the Sea Turned to Silver Written and illustrated by Grace Lin, Published by Little, Brown
and Company.

Wills Words: How William Shakespeare Changed the Way You Talk Written by Jane Sutcliffe,
Illustrated by John Shelley, Published by Charlesbridge.

Yaks Yak: Animal Word Pairs Written by Linda Sue Park, Illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt,
Published by Clarion Books.

2017 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Selection Committee Members: Pamela
Jewett-Professor Emerita, University of South Carolina, Diana Porter-Eastern Kentucky
University, Jennifer Sanders-Oklahoma State University, Holly Sims-Western Oregon
University, Jane Bean-Folkes-Marist College, New Jersey, Cynthia Alaniz-Coppell Independent
School District, Texas and Sue Corbin-Notre Dame College, Ohio.

2 Must-Read YA Novels

I don't have much time to read YA fiction but it is my favorite kind of reading. Recently, I've read 2 YA novels that are must-reads. So if you are looking for YA, these are 2 I'd highly recommend.

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Thank You, Amy Krouse Rosenthal

http://www.whoisamy.com

As many of you, we were heartbroken when we read Amy Krouse Rosenthal's piece in the New York Times last week, You May Want to Marry My Husband. Chronicle books had a short tribute on their site this week. And others, like Malcolm Mitchell, have shared the ways she impacted their lives.  We are joining the world in sending love and prayers to Amy and her family.

Amy has given us all so much over the years. She has given so much to children, teachers and the world.  When I reflected on Amy's impact on our worlds, I searched her name on our blog. She has been the focus of 26 blog posts over the years.  We love her work and celebrate it here often. Her visit to our school in 2011 is one none of us will ever forget.  As preparation for that visit, her work inspired our 4th graders to do something to make a difference in the world.  We were lucky to have her at our Dublin Literacy conference that same year. 

I keep looking back at the list of children's books that Amy has written over the years. She brought love and joy and kindness to all of her work  Each book amazing in its own way.  Each one teaching readers important life lessons in a playful way.  In Duck! Rabbit! she taught us how to see things from different perspectives, In The OK Book, she reminded us that you don't have to be the best at everything you do, and in The Wonder Book she celebrated the magic of wondering.  The list goes on and on.

And, if you have not read her adult book, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, it is a must-read.  This books says so much and the creative way in which she puts it all together is brilliant.

For me personally, Amy's Beckoning of Lovely Project (inspired by the video 17 Things I Made) is what I think of every time I think of Amy.  For me, this project is the anchor that ties all of Amy's work together and the message is the reason we all love her so much. It is a project I go back to a few times a year when I need to remember what it is that is important in this life.  In all of her work Amy teaches us all to celebrate life and all that is part of life--all that is good in this world. This project was all about that.

We are heartbroken by the news of Amy's illness and cannot imagine a world without Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  We are grateful for all the ways that Amy has impacted our lives and the ways we have been changed  because of her work over the years.  We are better people because of Amy.

Amy's website says, "Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a person who likes to make things."  We think that making the world a better place is what she does best.  Thank you, Amy.

Poetry Friday

That's me down in the bottom right corner of the graphic, surrounded by and supported by love and helpfulness.

Here are a couple of haiku from my stint with #haikuforhealing:

11/30/16

overcast skies

unexpected kindness

ray of hope

12/11/16

Poetry to the Rescue.

in emergency

dial nine-one-one for body

eight-one-one for soul

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016

Michelle has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Today's Little Ditty.