Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.7

By ru:user:NikolayS (ru:Файл:Lockstitch.gif) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0, GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The very last category in the Featured Pictures section of Wikimedia Commons is Animations. This animation of a sewing machine completing a lockstitch opened the door on a flood of memories of my mother, her little black Singer sewing machine, and all of the clothes she made for me and my dolls.

In my notebook, I jotted:

me by the front door

Easter Dress

daisies, yellow sash, folded socks, white patent leather shoes

eighth inch buttons on Barbie's clothes

patterns--tissue--pins--pinking shears

(It was at about this point that I started crying, and I didn't stop until my poem was done. Who knew that the animation of a sewing machine's stitch could unleash such a flood of memories?)

precision, measured

constant

love

And here's my poem:

A MOTHER'S LOVE

A mother's love:

measured in yards

of fabric on the dining room table

and rows of eighth inch 

doll clothes buttons.

A mother's love:

tissue-patterned

with traditions and rituals,

lockstitching the seams

of son-daughter-husband-family.

A mother's love:

made from scratch,

sturdy and functional, but embellished

with rick rack and sequins

and pearl head snaps.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

We work in conjunction,

you and I,

collaborators on this intricate design.

As you step up,

I move down;

as you dance in,

I shuffle out.

We shift gears in lock-step,

sewing together this family

with threads from the tapestry

of our own parents' history ...

genetics as the glue that binds.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

From Carol (Carol's Corner)

"Sewing Lesson"
Grandma Grace
detrains
in a stunning
cardinal red wool coat.
"She made it herself,"
my mother says.
"I didn't inherit the sewing gene,
But she can teach you to sew."

At the fabric store
we sit on high stools
perusing the willowy brunette models
in wide swirling skirts
that spin across the pages
of the Butterick and Simplicity catalogues.
I imagine twirling through the halls
at James Madison Elementary School
my own wide spinning skirt.

Grandma Grace commandeers
the dining room table
and we pin rustling paper patterns
to colorful cotton cloth.
My grandmother exhorts me
to cut carefully
makes me re-pin
more than once.
I draw blood and
Grandma Grace
dabs my finger
with a tissue wadded
from her apron pocket.

And then we are ready for the machine.
I practice on scraps of cloth
until my grandmother declares
me ready to assemble the pieces
of my gorgeous swirling skirt.
It is hard to make straight seams
and I become well-acquainted
with the seam ripper.
Zippers are harder still.

And then my dress is done.
I model from my runway
on the dining room table
disappointed that
the chubby little girl
in the straight cotton shift
with the resewn seams
and crooked zipper
looks nothing like
those willowy brunette models
in their beautiful swirling skirts.

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.6

I'm going to be in the fly fishing shop at our new Cabela's store today for the Ladies' Spring Day Out event from 9-1:00 talking to folks about Casting for Recovery. I have been involved with Casting for Recovery since 2005, when I was a participant. I have written about it many times here on the blog. Use the search box ("Casting for Recovery") to find these posts, if the spirit moves you. And if you want, you can even "like" the Ohio CFR Facebook Page!

One of my favorite fishing memories happened in Maine when I treated myself to a trip to L.L. Bean's Women's Fly Fishing School. After I completed the classes, I fished on several rivers in Maine before returning home. One was much like the picture above, and although I wasn't dressed like that pre-1920's fisherwoman, I was standing on a large boulder, fishing alone. Alone, but not alone. A flock of cedar waxwings crowded the bank, chasing after the fly I was casting. I was having no luck with the fish, so I just stood quietly to enjoy the birds. When I had been still for a few minutes, one of the birds perched on the tip of my fly rod! My favorite fly fishing catch of all time!! Here's a haiku about that day:


RIVERBANK IN MAINE

Cedar waxwings flocked,
curious about my casts.
Calm fly rod: bird perch.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013


From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

"There's some metaphor at work here,"
the first whispered to the other,
who lounged against the rotting log,
watching, waiting, wondering.
"Oh," the second replied, handing the first
a sandwich she had made for them to savor
while she fished solo from the rock,
"and what is that?"
The first took a thoughtful bite, and leaned back,
eyes scanning the sky
as the sound of the line from her pole
zinged its way into his mind.
"I don't rightly know," he admitted,
"but surely there is a metaphor swimming in that river."
The second nodded,
"And if anyone will catch it,
it will be her."
The two men sat up now, dazzled by her expertise
as she pulled and twisted the pole,
the lure sliding and slinking along the water's surface,
guiding the fish towards her
through some unspoken magic that neither the fish
nor the men,
nor even the father who had once taught her,
could even begin to fathom,
and then, as was her want, she let them all go,
set them loose,
so she could walk home alone, and free,
without their thoughts and talk crowding her head.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

Podcast of Kevin's poem here

From Cathy Mere (Merely Day by Day):

THE DESTINATION

Tiny stones
reach across the water,
spaced close enough
to see the possibility
of the unexplored,
yet distanced,
to make the crossing
difficult.

I poise myself
upon the first,
trying desperately
to balance,
extend,
step,
hoping to cross,
safely.

For a time I steady myself
between the two rocks,
finally pushing
to the next,
it wiggles
back and forth,
I am unsure I will stand
strong.

Water rushes,
reminding me to be
cautious,
vigilant,
stone after stone
I slowly cross the water,
until I reach my
destination.

©Cathy Mere, 2013


From Carol (at Carol's Corner...and be sure you click on the link to her blog to read about her process for this poem):

"Cathedral"
Sunday.
Not for her
a steepled sanctuary
hard wooden pews
raging orations
Hymns from the burgundy
robed choir
mixing in a smoky haze
with yesterday's gossip.

Instead
she hikes her skirt
and climbs a rock pulpit
to worship
in a cathedral
of rushing water.
River choir
sings glory hallelujah
As she casts her line
And lifts her heart
heavenward.

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013

From Steve (inside the dog):

Fly Fishing: a haibun
Balanced upon a cold rock, she considers her options. Surrounding her, the rush of meltwater, the balm of balsams, the persistence of granite, and the fullness of time. Perched starkly above the translucent surface, she imagines the murky world of trout below -- their hungers, their desires. Each moment contains a lingering delight and a plunge. The door opens through the deep eddy of understanding, and an unsteady step into the swirling waters.


a hand-tied midge arcs
toward icy trout-waters --
craving of ripples

© Steve Peterson





You might have noticed that there is no attribution for this picture. That's because it's in the Public Domain. Here's what Wikimedia Commons had to say about public domain as it relates to this photo:

"This Canadian work is in the public domain in Canada because its copyright has expired due to one of the following:

1. it was subject to Crown copyright and was first published more than 50 years ago, or

it was not subject to Crown copyright, and

2. it is a photograph that was created prior to January 1, 1949, or

3. the creator died more than 50 years ago.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923.

Public domain works must be out of copyright in both the United States and in the source country of the work in order to be hosted on the Commons. If the work is not a U.S. work, the file must have an additional copyright tag indicating the copyright status in the source country."

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.5

Wikimedia Commons Photo by The National Park Service

Along with pictures, there are sound files on Wikimedia Commons. I can't figure out how to download and embed them here, so you 'll have to click on this link to listen to wolves howling.

The photo above is of an eleven-member wolf pack in winter, in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, taken by the National Park Service.

I won't share my process for this poem. It was wordy and officious and moralistic. At some point, I told myself to live up to my reputation for writing sparsely.

US AND THEM

divide

plow

whack

pave

build 

mine

pollute

wild

howl

pack

brave

single

file

commute

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) left this beauty in the comments:

I ride the back of the pack -
my paws wobbly along the edge of the path,
as I raise up my voice
to harmonize and synchronize
and synthesize the tones of the leaders,
our echoing songs shifting among the hills
as winter arrives, and I vow, once again,
to survive.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

Listen to Kevin read his poem with the sound of the wolves in the background on Vocaroo.

Carol (Carol's Corner) takes the idea of the wolf pack to the playground at recess:

"Middle School Recess Duty"

Full-coated
eighth grade
he wolves
point noses skyward
and howl passion
at shapely
she wolf
beauties
preening themselves
in the sun
by the jungle gym

while sixth and seventh grade wolves
crawl on their bellies
whimpering
acquiescence.

(c) Carol Wilcox

If you have a minute, go back to yesterday's post and check out the poems Carol and Kevin wrote based on the image of the sculpture "Le Silence."

All of the posts so far can be found here. At some point I'm going to have to write a post or an article for Choice Literacy about how this project has already impacted my classroom.

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.



Robyn has the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Life on the Deckle Edge.

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.4

Wikimedia Commons: Le Silence by Antoine-Augustin Préault

Wikimedia Commons has lots of famous art to explore. I saw a plaster cast of this sculpture by Antoine-Augustin Préault at the Art Institute of Chicago last month. The title is Le Silence. It is a carving on the tomb of Jacob Roblés and can be found in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Today's poem arrived as I as ironing a pair of slacks. Isn't that how creativity often works? You quit trying so hard and...boom. There it is.




LE SILENCE

On the days I long for silence
remind me, please
of giggles.

On the days we pass in silence
remind me, please
of finishing each other's sentences.

On the days that seem filled with silence
remind me, please
of chickadees.

On the nights I hear only silence
remind me, please
to listen for the music of the spheres.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013



Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind) left this in the comments:

Shhhh,
she said,
as I raised my voice to protest
yet again the unfairness of it all
as if my words could change this stone barrier
when I know now that what I
needed was
silence.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

And Carol (Carol's Corner) wrote this wistful beauty:

"Shhhh…"

Shhhhh…

Let us not speak 

of pools at summer's end

dropped ice cream cones

jeans that used to fit.

Neither will we speak of

birthday cards not mailed

library books overdue

friendships left untended.

And of course there will be no talk of

toddlers now adults

nests that echo emptiness

forgetful parents

And please do not bring up

Bubbles burst

Broken promises

Dashed dreams.

We will not speak of these.

Shhhhh…

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013

If you have a minute, go back to yesterday's post and check out the responses from Carol (not to be missed) and Lisa (I've got a new "career" :-).

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.3

Before we get too far along in the month, I'd like to explain where I got the idea for this project. Or at least trace back to some of the seed ideas that led to it.

1. BLOGGING
When you put your ideas an opinions out there into the world several times a week for 7+ years, you think hard about the way you use others' work based on the ways you hope others are using yours.

2. POETRY FRIDAY
Most every blogger who participates in Poetry Friday is very mindful about getting permission to share another poet's whole poems, or else they post a part of a poem and link to another site (or the book) where the rest can be found. I've never been turned down when I emailed a poet to ask for permission to use a poem on our blog. All were thrilled to be asked.

3. STUDENTS AND COPYING
Teachers and librarians have made it crystal clear to students that copying others' work is very very bad. And it is. We don't want them to copy others' homework or others' answers on math tests. But children overgeneralize our adult finger-shaking and believe that if they put a red umbrella in their story, then any other child in the class who puts a red umbrella in their story is copying, which is very very bad. Parody feels to children like it, too, should be illegal. It seems too much like copying.

And yet I see my students (taught, sometimes, to do this by other teachers) dragging images to their computer desktop to use without attribution in their projects...without a second thought about copying. It seems like it's just easier to ban all kinds of copying than it is to explore the fine lines of sharing and remixing ideas and to take the time to ask for permission or cite attribution.

With this project, I want to

• raise awareness of the resources that are available and freely offered for use/reuse
• model attribution etiquette
• promote the spirit of creative collaboration

The graphic I created as the logo for this project? I found the image by doing a Google search of "Creative Commons," then I narrowed my search by choosing "Images," and then (MOST IMPORTANT STEP) I went up to the OPTIONS icon (looks like a grey gear at the top right of the page) and chose "Advanced Search." From there, I scrolled clear to the bottom and chose "Usage Rights --> (drop down) Free to Use or Share." The image I selected for my logo is in the Public Domain. I inserted it into a Word document, repeatedly typed the title of the project so that it would wrap around the image, played around with the fonts until I got it to look the way I wanted, took a screen shot and voila! My logo was born! I made something new by combining my ideas with the freely shared ideas of others.

Today, I'm thinking about this quote

"Welcome to a new world 

where collaboration rules."

which came from this video on the Creative Commons website: Wanna Work Together? (Go watch the video. I'll wait...)


THE RULES OF COLLABORATION

1. Share ideas.
2. Create with joy.
3. Work together.
4. Don't destroy.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

(First day of school after break...brain drain...that's the best I can do right now...maybe I'll come back later with something more inspired...or maybe not...)


Here's a sweet little "almost haiku" from Lisa (Steps and Staircases):

Well said, as always--
Mary Lee, monitor and guide
of Internet hallways!

From Carol (Carol's Corner), after a looooonnnggg day of work, this brilliant Abcedarian, which I'm thinking I'll make into a poster for my classroom motto:

"ABC's of Collaboration"

Avail yourself of every opportunity

Because you never know when

Coming together could lead to creation.

Delight in differences

Engage in each other’s possibilities

Feel free to make mistakes.

Give up the need to be right and 

Humble yourself to others’

Intelligence and imagination.

Just be ready for surprises.

Know that there will be conflict

Laugh a lot.

Make miracles together

Never quit listening asking sharing believing

Open your eyes and your heart

Plan a little, play more.

Quiet the inner doubter

Resist the need to be right

Stay open to surprises

Take time to laugh.

Up the ante.

View the world through new eyes

Wonder at what might be possible

Excite yourself about others’ ideas

You never know when your

zeal might reap rewards. 

© Carol Wilcox, 2013

If you have a minute, go back to yesterday's post and check out some of the fire-breathing poems that Carol, Linda and Kevin wrote!

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

New Professional Book: Assessment in Perspective

So, last month, I begged for an advanced copy of Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan's new book ASSESSMENT IN PERSPECTIVE:  FOCUSING ON THE READER BEHIND THE NUMBERS. Tammy and Clare are good friends who I have known for years and I have been very excited about their work in assessment. I had no time to read the book when it arrived, so I thought I'd just skim through it until I had time a week or so later. Well, you can imagine how that went. I ended up reading it cover to cover in less than 24 hours. Then I told everyone I knew about it.  It is that kind of a book.

I love assessment. I believe good instruction is based on assessment. I love to look at data, to dig into my students' work looking for patterns to help me teach well. However, I am becoming a little alarmed at the ways we, as a country, have been talking about data and assessment during the last few years.  I have been worried that we have been talking more about numbers, than about children.

So, you can imagine how happy I was when I first heard the title and subtitle of this book!  Perfect! And the cover photo made me even happier. A teacher and a child reading together--that is assessment!

This is a book that speaks to teachers today. It reminds us to keep our eye on the reader but it does not discount the tremendous stress and mandates we are all dealing with when it comes to assessment. Tammy and Clare have figured out how to help teachers stay grounded with good literacy practice through this time.  In this book, they share their story.

The most important thing about this book is that it focuses on children and on authentic assessments every day.  It acknowledges that some assessments just don't give us information but they are part of a mandate. It acknowledges that one number doesn't tell a whole story. And it acknowledges that students have a key role in their assessment. So many important points in this one book.

I am excited about the conversations this book will start as it is purchased for school book talks. Chapter 1 is called, "Moving Beyond Numbers: Finding the Stories of Our Readers". In this chapter, the authors are honest about their own experiences with assessments-times things went well and times they didn't.  They acknowledge the fact that NCLB has caused many of us to "focus more on administering assessments, reporting quantitative data, and accountability, and less on understanding the assessments we are using and the type of information they can provide about our readers. Many of us have been so busy trying to implement an assessment plan that little time is left to use it to understand out students."

And they remind us that it is what we DO with the data and assessments that matter....because "Assessment and Instruction are Inseparable."

I cannot possibly share every important thing this book says or every line I underlined. What I can tell you is that this book made me happy.  Happy because it is the conversation we need to be having right now. It is the conversation that is about teacher agency and teacher decision making. It is the conversation about the story behind the reader. It is the conversation that will get us back to what we, as teachers, know assessment is really all about.

This is not a quick read (yes, I read it quickly but I'll read it again:-). It is also not a book you'll want to read alone. Trust me, you will want to talk about this book.

Data-driven instruction is a reality teachers everywhere are living with. And it is not a bad reality.  I don't know one teacher who believes we should not be using assessment to inform our instruction. But sometimes we lose sight of the child behind the numbers.  This book is a about assessment, about our students' stories and about teacher agency--things that matter to all of us.

A must read for sure!
(The book should be available this week from Stenhouse. In the meantime, you can preview the whole book online!)

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.2

Wikimedia Commons Featured Picture by Lilly_M

Another section to explore on Wikimedia Commons is the featured pictures. I found this fire-breather in the category "People."

Here's what I jotted in my writer's notebook throughout the day as I thought about this image:

bad breath
anger (teacher?)
dragon
transformation
(I like the almost-rhyme of dragon/transformation)
circus act
remember to breathe OUT!
what's the story abt the diamonds vs. frogs and toads out of one's mouth?
fairy tale? superpower?


And here's the beginning of a draft of a poem inspired by the fire-breather:


FAIRY TALE MIX-UP

Shouldn't the dragon
have gotten the fire?
The sword to the prince
and for me, the lyre?

I fear for the princess
'cause I've seen the witch
____________________
________________ switch.

DRAFT © Mary Lee Hahn, 2013


If you have a minute, go back to yesterday's post and check out the TWO poems Carol Wilcox wrote! Cathy Mere left a quickie in the comments that I moved up into the post, too.

If you make a fire-breather creation, let me know and I'll include it in today's post!

From Kevin at Kevin's Meandering Mind:

Breathing fire
as thoughts
as imagination runs amok
inside my mind
even as the outside calm exterior of my eyes
permeates what others think they know of me
while inside,
something else altogether begins to spark
unseen.

© Kevin Hodgson, 2013


From Linda at TeacherDance:

I'm sorry to have responded
so heatedly to your game.
I never meant to sear you
with my blast of words aflame.

© Linda Baie, 2013


From Carol at Carol's Corner:

"Rage"

The flame

that smolders

deep within

sparks

then blazes

Your words

red-hot irons

that singe

char

incinerate

my heart

And I wonder

Does 

the rage

that burns within

scorch your soul

like it does mine?

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013


Katie (Archaeofrog Photography) wrote a book spine poem inspired by this image:

Knights of the kitchen table,
How to train your dragon:
Out of darkness ...
The fire within =
Holes
Out of the dust &
The City of Ember.
Absolutely Normal Chaos.
Dragons don't cook pizza.

(Check out the photo here) 

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations."

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

April: Upcoming Children's and Professional Books

It looks like April is another great month for new books! Some great new books by favorite authors and some others I am just totally excited about! Here are the children's and professional books I am looking forward to in April! In my opinion, these ares some of the "must haves" of April.

Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping

The Dark

Giant Dance Party

That Is Not a Good Idea

Lunch Lady and the Video Game Villain

Awesome Dawson

Assessment in Perspective

Connected from the Start by Kathy Cassidy

Crafting Digital Writing by Troy Hicks

Critical Media Pedagogy

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.1

Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year for 2012 by Pierre Dalous

When you go to the Wikimedia Commons site, you can't help but notice the picture of the year for 2012 -- this pair of European Bee Eaters. This picture will be the inspiration for my first poem-of-the-day for National Poetry Month 2013. I'll walk you through my process and we'll see what I come up with by the end of the post!

When I'm using an image as my inspiration for a poem, the first thing I do is just jot down whatever I see and whatever comes to mind:

gift
colors

I didn't get much down before curiosity got the best of me and I Googled this vibrant bird to learn more about it.

near-passerine (tree-dwelling)
before eating they remove the stingers
curved beak

I started jotting some lines, crossing through the ones I didn't like so that if I decided to use them later, I could still read what was there:

We are near-passerine,
eat bees minus sting.

go on sorties
for hornets

Black beak, red eye
I throw toss my gift into the sky.

I watch, you catch

Stained glass color swatches
cover us in patches.

I'm starting to get some couplets that I like (why couplets? I have no idea...) Now I'll try a different order:


Black beak, red eye                    (I don't like the eye/I...)
I toss my gift into the sky.    

We are near-passerine,
eat bees minus sting.


Stained glass color swatches
cover us in patches.


Time for a title? I'm not satisfied with the flow of the lines yet...

Black beak, red eye
Toss gift into the sky

Near-passerine
eat bees minus sting

Stained glass patches
Glowing feather swatches

Tunnel nester
Merops apiaster

I think I'll just call it what it is...




EUROPEAN BEE-EATER (Merops apiaster)


Black beak, red eye
Toss gift into the sky

Near-passerine
eat bees minus sting

Stained glass patches
Glowing feather swatches

Tunnel nester
Merops apiaster

DRAFT © Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

I'm not completely satisfied with this yet. After all, I've only worked on it for about an hour! What were YOU inspired by this pair of European Bee-Eaters to create ?

Carol, from Carol's Corner wrote this one really quickly...

Bees?
Complainers don't like 'em
But when you pull the stingers out
They are actually
quite tasty.

© Carol Wilcox, 2013


...and then wrote back later with (WOW!) this:

"European Bee-Eaters"

Not for us

dull sparrow brown

gloss raven black

or even blue of jay. 

Not for us

a shallow scrape

a rocky ledge

a woven crescent cup. 

Not for us 

chill rain or breeze 

a narrow range

still solitude.  

Not for us

those wriggly worms

the crunch of seeds

sweet meat of fruit.

We prefer 

an adventurous life- 

mixed colors bright

migration wide

deep tunnels homes

companions close

and bees

to please our palates.

Carol Wilcox

(c) 2013

Here's Cathy Mere's (Reflect & Refine) quick-write: 


On this branch we perch.
Together
we wait,
we watch,
we listen.
Soon we hear it,
A gentle buzz,
Growing louder as it approaches.
Snap!
Dinner.

© Cathy Mere, 2013

From Kevin at Kevin's Meandering Mind:

The bee sees only green pastures

and flowers dripping with nectar,

a soft and steady hum of wings

moving it forward into the unknown

that waits patiently on every branch.

© Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations."

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

March Mosaic

Spring Break in Chicago. Lovely skies, eh?

For a bigger view of the pictures, click on the mosaic, or you can visit this set on Flickr.

National Poetry Month: Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations."

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

Author Visit: Shane Evans

Last week, author and illustrator Shane Evans visited our school. It was an amazing day!  I had never heard Shane Evans speak before and it was quite a treat. Not only did he speak to our students, but he sang and celebrated life and dreams with us all day.  Everyone in the room was clapping and singing and smiling!

Before his visit, we read several of his books.  They are each powerful in their own way.  I was already familiar with some of his books but didn't know all of them. Discovering the books that were new to me was quite fun! Underground and We March are still two of my favorites but I loved discovering Olu's Dream and Chocolate Me.

Chocolate Me
 

A great day with an amazing author/illustrator!

Poetry Friday Roundup is Here!

Hyacinth Pulls the Covers Over Her Head 
and Goes Back to Sleep

The cues of light are right:

half day, half night.

But it's too cold to be bold:

to open, unfold.

Spring delights?

I withhold.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Charles Ghinga at The Father Goose Blog shares the poem "Pet Names" from his book Animal Tracks: Wild Poems to Read Aloud.

Bridget at wee words for wee ones chronicles her children's spring break with "Spring Break -- Day by Day."

Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup has a (self-proclaimed, but I agree) Good Friday Feast. Come ready to drool. Over the French Toast, too!

Buffy Silverman, of Buffy's Blog, shares her process and final poem in the MM2013 Tournament. I was rooting for you, Buffy!

Renee, haven't you been a little busy writing poems these last few weeks? When did you have time for another installment at No Water River in the "Poetry Is..." series (...with guest poster Elizabeth Stevens Omlor and a little Emerson)?

Joyce Ray at Musings shares some really cool ideas for writing poetry with children from her Build a Poem workshop. Cupcake poems anyone? Heidi? Jama?

Tamara Will Wissinger shares her (big) plans for Poetry Month.

Heidi at my juicy little universe has come up with a fun Poetry Month project -- 30words30days: a poem for busy people.

Robyn Hood Black is urging spring along with some e.e. cummings and Poetry Month news.

Laura Purdie Salas is focusing on colors today in another of her excellent Poem Starter videos.

Laura Shovan, at Author Amok, has a fabulous interview with Christy Hale, author of DREAMING UP.

Diane Mayr has a trio of offerings: At Random Noodling, an Easter senryu (like a haiku, but about human nature instead of Nature). Kurious Kitty shares William Blake's "Spring." KK's Kwotes has a quote by Jane Hirshfield.

Linda at TeacherDance has found the perfect William Stafford poem for two online communities -- Poetry Friday regulars and Slice of Life participants.

Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme has an original crocus poem for this last Friday of March. (His fight with snow, mine just had to contend with oak leaves the year I snapped this shot!)

Lori Ann Grover has "Plumeria" at On Point, and World Rat Day at readertotz.

At NC Teacher Stuff, Matt Barger shares "Just Before April Came" by Carl Sandburg. (The first line is not true where I live!)

Donna, at Mainely Write, shares a poem that grew out of a GoogleChat with her daughter.

Tabatha Yeatts, at The Opposite of Indifference, shines a spotlight on the Little Patuxent Review and poet Elizabeth Dahl.

J. Patrick Lewis is making a rock-and-roll appearance at Greg Pincus' GottaBook.

I'm so glad that Catherine, at Reading to the Core, found Mary Ann Hoberman's THE TREE THAT TIME BUILT! She shares "You and I" from this excellent collection.

Three from Sylvia Vardell: at the Poetry Friday Anthology blog, a loose tooth poem by Carole Boston Weatherford; an announcement about upcoming "poem movies" at the Poetry Friday Anthology/Middle School blog; and at Poetry for Children, her own blog, an example of a "poem movie" made by 6th graders at an international school in the Netherlands.

Tara @ A Teaching Life has some Walt Whitman to help us think about the week's current events.

Margaret, at Reflections on the Teche, has ambitious form-a-day plans for herself and her students for National Poetry Month.

Ruth has a Good Friday poem-hymn for us at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town.

Spring is coming to Steve's valley. His original poem is posted at inside the dog... .

Travis has a book spine poem (and an invitation to submit yours) at 100 Scope Notes. (Can't wait for the review of the book of book spine poems!!)

I love pomegranates and I love the story of Persephone. I hope Katie, at the blog a time for such a word, doesn't mind being rounded up via a Poetry Friday Google search. Maybe she'll join us every week!

MotherReader has a new installment in her "songs as poetry" series. Do you recognize it?

At Following Pullitzer, Gerard Manley Hopkins' "As kingfishers catch fire" for Good Friday.

Through the Looking Glass Book Review wraps up Women's History Month with VHERSES by J. Patrick Lewis.

Orange Marmalade shares "These Three" by X.J. Kennedy for Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Andi has a "text message found poem" at a wrung sponge. If you haven't cleared out your texts, you probably have one there, too, waiting to be found!

I'm pretty sure that in real life, Amy LV is still floating after the release this week of her first book, FOREST HAS A SONG. But for today, she's got her feet on the ground with a red boots poem at The Poem Farm.

At Douglas Florian's Florian Cafe this week, [in Just-] by e.e. cummings.

Anastasia Suen has a snippet of SPRING BLOSSOMS by Carole Gerber at her blog Booktalking, and she's started a new Poetry Blog for National Poetry Month (and beyond)!!

Cactus are blooming at Joy's blog, Poetry For Kids Joy!

Janet at All About the Books With Janet Squires is featuring KEEPERS: TREASURE-HUNT POEMS by John Frank.

Violet writes from an interesting point of view in her Good Friday poem today. "Betrayer" is at Violet Nesdoly / Poems.

At The Drift Record, Julie Larios spotlights the line-up for the 2013 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem.

Samuel Kent posts 5 new poems every week at I Drew It. His favorite this week was inspired by #MM2013: "Banking on the Tooth Fairy."

Betsy at Teaching Young Writers found the seed for this week's poem in her writer's notebook.

Cathy wrote a rhyming poem to honor her card-playing mom. I hope there's a little bit of hyperbole in her poem, too! You can find it at Merely Day By Day.

Keri at Keri Recommends is late to the roundup because she and her husband were working with their bees all day. She wrote a trio of haiku in honor of the day.

Iphigene at Gathering Books shares a Good Friday poem: "Todo y Nada/All or Nothing."

Jone is in with a poem that perfectly captures the last days of school before spring break. She posted it at her blog Deo Writer.

Happy Book Birthday, Amy LV!

Forest Has a Song: Poems
by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
illustrated by Robbin Gourley
Clarion Books, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

Today is the day! Happy Book Birthday to FOREST HAS A SONG!!

For an interview with Amy, see the Nerdy Book Club: Interview by Irene Latham.

For a peek inside the book and for some amazing tasty treats, check out Jama Rattigan's book birthday post at Jama's Alphabet Soup. (Trilobite cookies? Really?! "Fossil" is one of my favorite poems in the book, so no treat could be more perfect!)

For a wealth of poems and resources for teachers, go to Amy's blog The Poem Farm. Don't miss the "Find a Poem" tab. Amy has indexed her poems by topic and by technique -- an invaluable resource for mentor texts. You can also find her Dictionary Hike there.

For insight into how writers use their notebooks, Amy has her Sharing Our Notebooks blog.

As Jama said, today is extra special to Amy because it is the publication date of her FIRST book of poetry. Today is extra special to the rest of us (readers and poetry fans and Amy LV fans) because it is the publication date of her FIRST OF MANY books of poetry.

A TOAST TO AMY! Here's to the first book, and to all the rest to come!





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A Place For Turtles

A Place for Turtles
by Melissa Stewart
illustrated by Higgins Bond
Peachtree, 2013
review copy provided by the pubisher

There is so much to love about this book.

From the moment you open the cover, there is information. The endpapers have maps of a dozen North American turtles and their ranges.

The main text, across the top of a gorgeous two-page illustration, is brief and accessible.

On the first spread, we are given the thesis of the book. The structure of the text is identifiably problem/solution or cause/effect: "Turtles make our world a better place. But sometimes people do things that make it hard for them to live and gro. If we work together to help these special creatures, there will always be a place for turtles."

The main text of very spread gives the main idea of one human-caused problem and its solution. In the sidebar information, the problem is explained in more detail (including more information about the affected species of turtle) as well as what humans are doing to rectify the problems they've caused for the turtles.

We are getting ready to start nonfiction writing and research in my 5th grade language arts classes. Every topic won't lend itself to a cause/effect structure, but this will be the book I use as a mentor text for that structure.

On a side note...how did I miss this series, A Place For...? Stewart and Bond have books about bats, butterflies, frogs, and birds. I'm off to the library to check them out, and then perhaps to the bookstore!

Poetry Friday -- The One I Didn't Submit

Flickr Creative Commons photo "Macro Smiley" by BlueRidgeKitties

SEARCH ENGINE BLUES 

It seemed like a valid request. 

My computer didn’t agree.

Its cold, inhuman glare

left no uncertainty:

there would be no cooperation, 

no figures and nary a fact.

In an ironic change of conditions

I was the one getting hacked.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

This is the poem I didn't submit in the second round of Madness 2013, the poetry tournament hosted by Ed DeCaria at Think Kid, Think. My word was INHUMAN. I tried to write about Orion (human-shaped on an inhuman scale) but my muse wouldn't allow it. Or maybe I should say, I couldn't make anything of it. Whatever the case, I didn't trust the poem I eventually submitted, so I wrote this one and asked a few people to pick their favorite. Hands down, the one I submitted was preferred. You can't believe how scary it was (for me) to submit a poem with regular rhythm and rhyme! That is WAY outside my box. But it was the right poem at the right time. I moved on, and voting is in progress on the third round of poems.

My third round poem using the word CONSERVATIVE is here. When I signed up for #MMPoetry, I knew that most often, funny, rhythmic, rhyming poems carry the day in this contest. In the second round, I played that card myself! So we'll just have to see what my "gorgeous word portrait" (thank you, Carol Wilcox!) can do against an over-confident baseball player. Make sure you visit ALL of the third round poems. Read, vote for what YOU think are the best poems, and join the fun in the comments. 

Greg has the Poetry Friday roundup today at GottaBook, and I'll be hosting next Friday, on the eve (almost) of Poetry Month. I'm hoping to hear about lots of your Poetry Month 2013 projects. I'm hoping I will have decided by then what I'm going to do!



FTC Required Disclosure: This site is an Amazon affiliate, and purchases made through Amazon links may result in my receiving a small commission (at no additional cost to you).

The Market Bowl

The Market Bowl
by Jim Averbeck
Charlesbridge, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

Jim Averbeck (of In a Blue Room fame -- my review here) was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa.  Drawing on that experience, he has created an original folktale of Cameroon with a theme that will resonate with children (and, perhaps some adults, heh) who occasionally get in a hurry instead of taking all the steps to do something right.

In this story, Yoyo ignores the directions for making bitterleaf stew correctly. Luckily, she's creative enough to make things right in the end.

For a taste of Cameroon, there's a recipe for bitterleaf stew in the endmatter.

Perfectly Percy

Perfectly Percy
by Paul Schmid
HarperCollins, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

Can't you tell just by looking at the cover what will happen in a book about a porcupine who has a balloon?!?

The fun thing about this book is that even though you know what will happen, you have NO IDEA how it will all turn out in the end! Kudos to Paul Schmid for a perfectly delightful book that can be enjoyed on its own, or to lead students in thinking about making, confirming, and changing their predictions.