Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.29

Photo by Sara&Joachim, from Wikimedia Commons

MEERKAT JUMP ROPE RHYME

eenie

meenie

miney

mo

three little meerkats

all in a row

one looks left

and one looks right

and the third won't 

let you out of his sight

three little meerkats

all in a row

eenie

meenie

miney 

mo

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

Wait!

Did you hear that?

Stand still;

Hesitate.

Become the world -

Become the landscape -

Become a statue

and do nothing but

wait.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast of this poem is here. 


From Carol (Carol's Corner):

"Meerkat"

Me?

Meerkat.

You think I'm kinda funny looking?

Those stripes

on my back?

unique.

none of the other

fifty fellows

in my large mob

(or some people call it a gang or clan)

look exactly like me.

That hairless patch on my belly?

The place

where my black skin shows through?

That absorbs heat while I'm standing

on my rear legs,

early in the morning

after cold Kalahari desert nights.

And those big eyes

on the front of my face?

For watching.

African tribesmen

trust me to

protect their villages

from werewolves

that attack stray cattle

And I gotta take my turn at sentry duty

while others are foraging.

We forage for food

every day

Meerkats don't carry around

any stored body fat. 

That long curved claw?

That little hummer

can dig my weight

in sand in only seconds. 

Mostly, I'm foraging for insects

but if I'm really hungry

I might dig up a scorpion.

Not to brag,

but did I mention

that unlike you humans

I'm immune to

the venom of scorpions.

And those black crescent-shaped ears?

they close.

keep out soil

when I'm digging

pretty handy

a fella's gotta be able to hear

to protect himself

from brothers

who might want to kill him

to up their status

in our meerkat mob.

My long tapering tail?

Yeah, it's different

from my bushy-tailed

mongoose relatives.

That tail helps me balance when I stand upright,

And I use it

for signaling.

The Dutch didn't call me

stick tail

for nothing.

Me?

Sun angel.

You still think I'm kinda funny looking?

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013 

From Linda (TeacherDance):

Mom says:

“Look at the camera, children.

Smile for Daddy!”

But I keep thinking that something’s up,

and Billy and Jake need to keep their eyes open

for 

jackals on the left

lions on the right

and I need to look up

for the eagles.

They call us merely-cats

but we’re always lookin’.

Okay Mom,

we’re going to smile now.

Oops, where’s Billy!

©Linda Baie, 2013

From Cathy (Merely Day by Day):

Sentries

together

we listen for

hawks,

jackals,

eagles.

we watch

tirelessly.

together

we stand

while others

hunt

for lizards,

insects,

birds.

foraging

for food.

we are

ready

at a moment's

notice

to bark

our call,

warning all

to take cover,

to hide

deep

in our tunnels.

together

we stand

strong,

we protect,

we are

the lookouts,

guarding

our mob.

together

we are

one. 

©Cathy Mere, 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.

Screen Free Week, Concussions and Stuff...

A Year of Reading will be taking part in Screen Free Week 2013. This is a week for turning off screens to find more time to read, play, hang out with family, etc. Our Screen Free Week will begin after Mary Lee's National Poetry Month series ends on April 30.  We will be off the blog from May 1-May 5.

Franki will have an extended Screen Free Week. Due to a never-ending concussion, she will most likely be unable blog for 4-6 weeks.  Mary Lee will cover on her own for a while (as she has been for weeks) as Franki takes time to recover.

Enjoy your time during Screen Free Week!

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.28

Photos by Gideon Pisanty (Gidip) גדעון פיזנטי, from Wikimedia Commons

This photographer has five photos of this female long-horned bee collecting nectar and pollinating this flower. Yesterday's photo prompted poems about work, and perhaps today's will, too. That seems fitting, because today is Workers' Memorial Day, "an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work."

BEES

clamber

climb

pry

nectar 

pollen

sky

home 

hive

fly

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

My leg gets stuck
at every opening
I crawl into
so that I must always
ask for help
before returning
home.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013


From Margaret (Reflections on the Teche):

fly

buzz

land

flower

sweet

syrup

busy

happy

bee 

©Margaret Simon, 2013

From Linda (TeacherDance):

We appreciate

the time the bees

are busy buzzy, 

making their knees

fat and golden,

pollen fuzzy.

©Linda Baie, 2013

From Carol (Carol's Corner):

"ABC's of Honeybees"

Apian adventurers

busily buzzing

ceaselessly collecting

diving and delving

ever exploring

fragrant flowers

groping gardens

hoping honey's

ingredients are inside.

joyfully journeying

keenly kavorting

looking leads to

miraculous meadow of

never-ending nectar

obviously the only option is to

pull from petals make

ready for recycling

suck into second stomach

through tubular tongue

unload and use

working wings to dehydrate

extract any extras

zweeeeeet!

(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.27

Breakfast Break of the Scaffolders
Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-09409 / CC-BY-SA

Work and rest. That's what's on my mind today.

The trick 

is learning to rest

in the midst 

of your work.

That,

and balance.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Linda (TeacherDance):

Breaktime (in the clouds)

high time for breakfast

did you bring the news

I have a bag of donuts

for munching with the views

I can balance here on top

while I take my break

just don’t want the wind

to come and give a little shake

©Linda Baie, 2013


From Carol (Carol's Corner):


"Precarious"

Look
the view
from up here
head brushing clouds
fingertips cold steel

please
be still
don't lean much
because my perch
is precarious

your
courage
is making
me a little
uncomfortable.

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

My grandfather worked this place,

with brothers and cousins

and fellow blue-collar heroes,

riveting steel into the skyline

as dreamed by those down below ...

I listen to Springsteen -

with chords and lyrics

and stories of working-class men -

driving this steel on wheels

to spend hours in those towers ...

At lunch, I study the skyline,

watch the clouds,

imagine the dangerous balancing act

my grandfather's crew performed

each day, every day,

as they built this city, 

from the bottom up.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast of this poem is 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.

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.26

Creative Commons photo by Brocken Inaglory. The image was edited by user:Alvesgaspar
From Wikimedia Commons Featured Images: Natural Phenomena

BUBBLE

thin 

skin:

just

water 

and 

soap

clear sphere:

a vessel 

of hope

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

Hold me gently:

fingertips touching tender skin;

for inside,

I remain invisible

and vulnerable to the way things have been.

I float above this world,

in a cloak of color

but my rainbow drains easily,

so be gentle.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast for this poem is here. 

From Carol (Carol's Corner):

"Soap Bubble"

A gentle puff
rainbow carriage
appears
dancing
shimmering
glimmering
inviting me
to journey
to a magical
far away
fairy world.

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013

From Margaret (Reflections on the Teche):

To see life
in a bubble
like a looking glass
transparent
spherical
silky
slide across
slip inside
pop
fly!

©Margaret Simon, 2013

From Lisa (steps and staircases):

Chalk bubbles offer an invitation to draw.

and a haiku:

Bubble reflecting
my home, my world, me; this day
an island in time

©Lisa

From Cathy (Merely Day by Day):

Bubbles

Bubble, Bubble,
blow, blow.

Bubble, bubble,
grow, grow.

Bubble, bubble,
soar, soar.

Bubble, bubble,
more, more.

Bubble, bubble,
fly, fly,

Bubble, bubble,
high, high,

Bubble, bubble,
drop, drop,

Bubble, bubble,
Pop!

Pop!

©Cathy Mere, 2013

Laura Purdie Salas has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Writing the World for Kids.

Here is the other media I've featured this week (and, of course, the poems the media inspired--poems by me, and by the three or four other people who have been playing along with me this month):

Thursday: Photo of Broadway Tower

Wednesday: Video of a Sushi Train 

Tuesday: Sound of Birdsong

Monday: "Irises" by Vincent VanGogh

Sunday: Animation of a Rubik's Cube (edited to add a video made by one of my students of him solving the cube in under 20 seconds)

Saturday: Old Map of San Antonio, TX

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.25

Broadway Tower, Cotswolds, England (Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year for 2007)
Creative Commons photo by Newton2 (cropped by Yummifruitbat)

FAIRY TALE

Once upon a long ago,
I stood before a tower.
Magic blew in from the east;
the hero met the coward.

Obstacles were overcome,
the happily came after.
Evil withered, crumbled, turned
the page to the next chapter.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

I light a match

to this cardboard castle

and burn the story to the ground,

finally free after so many years

of the roles into which we have been thrust:

the hero in shining armor

the damsel in distress

the fool juggling lives before the fickle king.

So now begins the new adventure,

free from the shackles of past

riding hard and fast 

into the fading sun.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast is here.



From Carol (Carol's Corner):

“Castle Dream”

the day is all about blue sky
and green grass and
a few wispy clouds and
i will march right up
to the enormous stone castle
after crossing the moat
filled with hungry alligators
i will lift the lions head knocker
bang authoritatively
on the heavy wooden door
and proclaim
i am a long lost princess
here to meet my prince
please let me into
and they lived happily ever after…

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013


From Linda (TeacherDance):


A Plea

Will you come to my castle fair?
I am so awfully lonely there.
‘Tis sitting tall at the top of a hill
and surrounding land is bereft and still.
No forest primeval’s near this hold;
no witches or dragons to shiver you cold.
Just me in the upper turrets of stone
wanting, oh wanting to call you home.

©Linda Baie, 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.24

Moving Sushi by Deror Avi on Wikimedia Commons

In science we learned about food chains

but clearly that does not apply

to sushi, which comes on a food train

chew-chewing as it passes by.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

The predator hunts,
biding his time,
as his dinner cavorts
with others in line.

One might think
there were hours to wait,
as dinner flows by
on a small blue plate.

Another night
with too many choices,
the predator slinks home
in his stomach, the voices

call out for some meat,
some rice, some fish,
something of substance
from the small moving dish.

But, alas, that won't be
so he takes out his bread
spreads peanut butter and jelly
and slinks off to bed.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast is here.

From Linda (TeacherDance):

With Apologies to Joyce Kilmer

I think I never want to see

a sushi train click-clack by me,

a train who only runs to serve

those with quick hands and steely nerve,

a train full of makimono and

futomaki - nori the outside band.

I will accompany friends who wish

to grab each and every tasty dish

But I’ll sit calmly with spring rolls and tea.

These trains aren’t made for fools like me.

©Linda Baie, 2013

From Carol (Carol's Corner):

"Sushi Train"

The sushi bar

in the neighborhood 

grocery store

opened to great fanfare.

Chefs banging gongs,

free samples

shouted invitations, 

to come try this fishy delight.

And I watched 

my neighbors- 

carts loaded with

pepsi, hot dogs, white bread, 

tortillas, enchiladas, frijoles,

chitlings, collard greens, mac and cheese,

crowd around

to partake

in a whole new world 

of sashimi, wasabi, and squid.

(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.23

"Bird songs recorded in the forest of Fontainebleau (France). You can especially hear some wrens." 

The author, barracuda1983, has released this work into the Public Domain. It can be found on Wikimedia Commons.

BIRDSONG

The leader of the early morning bird walk was a quiet-spoken angular man.

He led us across dew-soaked grass to the forest's edge.

Robins and Bluejays were spotted in the October sky;

Carolina Wrens sang way too loudly for their diminutive size.

Rarely were there surprises.

I remember mostly the comforting sameness of the walks.

Sassafras leaves, worm castings, 

and the sound of the woods waking up with a song in its heart.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

I find peace and solace in this space
with only the birds singing
their musical refrains.

When no one is watching or aware,
I join in, too,
meshing my harsh voice with theirs.

We remix nature together,
them and I, here in these woods,
until only the sunset quiets us down.

As the moon rises it skyward arc,
the birds fall silent, to sleep,
yet still, I sing into starlight.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

From Linda (TeacherDance):

Back Home

Rasp and chatter
Carolina Wren
calls me
back to my forest friends
teakettle, teakettle
cheer cheer
cardinal flashing
spring is here

alive with chicka-dee dee
leafy-damp smell
walking in my forest
all is well

©Linda Baie, 2013

From Steve (Inside the Dog):

Where?

Where does
the birds’ song
come from?
Of course,
we know:
from deep inside
and past
the narrow
cords of sinew,
a drawn breath
squeezed tight,
a tiny explosion
of must
flung to the sky.
These things we
know. But
where does
the birds’ song
come from?
And how can
it alight so precisely
in the heart?

© Steve Peterson, 2013

From Carol (Carol's Corner):

frigid april morning

red breasted robin huddles

saving songs for spring

busy shovels throw

piles of wet slushy snow

no bird songs today

Hey Mr. Redbreast

ignore this swirling gray whiteness

sing your song of spring

welcome mr. robin

glad you brought your own sunshine

to this cloudy day

Three April blizzards

long to listen to bird songs

not clanking shovels

Mr. Weatherman

we should be planting flowers

not shoveling snow

One more blizzard then

we shut the door on winter

and welcome bird's song

Bird choir ignores

howling April blizzard to

sing spring aria.

April showers bring

May flowers, April blizzards

bring grumpy poets 

©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.22

Irises by V. VanGogh
Painting in the Public Domain, from Wikimedia Commons

IRIS

When I close my eyes,

I can smell their spice,

see the one white --

"Fire and Ice" --

my mother's pride.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

VanGogh had an ear for color

I have an eye for sound

He heard flowers blooming

I see music all around

When rainbow shades collide,

minor chords fall like stars -

he dipped into his palette

I strum on my guitar

And so you sit, wondering,

whether his ear heard what you see

while I keep my eyes open wide

for every note, a melody ...

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast is here.

From Carol (Carol's Corner):

"Iris"

I find them one day

in a brown paper bag

in the teacher's lounge

bumpy white bulbs

withered brown leaves

stringish roots

covered in dry dirt.

A sign on the bag says

IRIS- FREE TO A GOOD HOME.

I am told not to take too many

they will take over my yard

I select ten.

I am not a gardener.

do not know that iris

like to be planted

in mid to late summer

in groups of two or three

four inches down

with nitrogen fertilizer

in half sun.

I throw them in the ground

and forget about them. 

The next summer

my paltry efforts

are rewarded

with a rainbow of richness-

kingly purple,

a deep velvety night black, 

tawny lion's mane gold

and palest lemon yellow.

All that loveliness

pulled from a brown paper bag

in the teacher's lounge. 

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013 

From Cathy (Merely Day by Day):

Irises

I wait patiently

for the irises: 

indigo,

canary yellow,

coral,

to bloom 

in the flowerbeds

surrounding my house,

a sign of warmer days,

and a reminder

of my great-grandmother

whose hands first 

cared for them. 

©Cathy Mere, 2013

I'm going to mix up the pattern of media this week: Monday: Famous Art, Tuesday: Audio, Wednesday: Video, Thursday: Picture of the Year, Friday: Featured Picture (new category), Saturday: Potluck, Sunday: Animation.

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.21

By Silver Spoon (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons

I have a couple of students who are obsessed with Rubik's Cubes and who are AMAZING at solving this puzzle. They study videos, learn algorithms, and work with a timer to improve their times. This kind of thinking is completely outside my skill set. I am in awe of them. Here is a video one of these Rubik's Cube experts made of himself solving the cube in under 20 seconds:

Video used with the permission from mariojj123Cubing

RUBIK'S CUBE

Rotate layers -- twist twist spin --

Up and down -- twist twist spin --

Backwards, forwards -- twist twist spin --
It's solved! ...How did you do that?
Kindly repeat, but

Slower this time...

Clickclick twisttwist spinspin

Updownaround, faster than you can follow.
Believe it...because you see it happen before your very
Eyes.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

"It only takes 20 moves,"
the boy whispered, as his father stared
at the young fingers
quickly swiveling and twisting the color tiles,
remixing the cube back towards its original and perfect state,
"and I can do it in less," the boy boasted,
barely looking at his hands in movement,
matching up colors in a blur of speed
and confidence.

Instead, the boy gazed intently at his father,
seeking a compliment, or comment,
or an acknowledgement at the very least,
but all he got was that dead-eyed look of an adult
suddenly realizing just how difficult it would be
to put his own fractured world back together in just
20 moves or less.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

From Linda (TeacherDance):

Mr. Rubik, thank you!
You gave magic to those
drowning
in two-dimensional school.
They got to show their talents
as their fingers twisted and turned-
all eyes watching.
The teacher turned away,
but his thoughts filled
with new ideas
of what might be. 

©Linda Baie, 2013


From Cathy (Merely Day by Day):

Rubik's Cube

I gave my cube a twist,

and then a turn or two,

the colors started mixing,

what was I to do?

I twisted more and more,

I tried to match a row,

but the harder that I tried,

the less I seemed to know.

Now I look upon my cube,

a tear drop I have cried,

because for the life of me,

I can't even match a side!

©Cathy Mere, 2013


From Carol (Carol's Corner):

"A Rubik's Cube Kind of Life"

The Rubik's cube,

Those six faces

red, yellow, blue,

green, white, orange,

a twist, a turn, a spin, 

in the hands of some 

the faces magically align.

In my hands

that crazy cube

doesn't quite work that way

I twist one way

sure that that will make a color align

but then another color

is misaligned

and I make one more twist

sure that I will create perfection

and then two faces are misaligned.

Sometimes life

is a lot like a Rubik's cube

all those facets- 

family, friends, finances,

job, house, God--

and I think if I just make one shift,

if I just get up half hour earlier,

or spend $20 less here or there,

or pray a little harder

just that one twist

and all of the faces will align.

Except they never do. 

(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.20

Map of San Antonio, Texas
(Image is in the Public Domain, from Wikimedia Commons)

For the third Saturday in a row, I am not at home, enjoying the leisure and luxury that is sometimes known as Saturday. 

I am in San Antonio, Texas at the International Reading Association conference. As I'm out and about today, I'll be thinking about San Antonio's past, the river that runs through it, and maybe those flat, dry plains that spread to the horizon from its edges. Maybe today's image is about the known and the unknown. So many possible directions to go with your writing, when you've got a map in mind.

winding ribbon of water

fed by natural springs

lined by hundred year-old cypress trees

polka-dotted by restaurant umbrellas

serenaded by mariachi bands

cruised by tour boats

beloved heart of San Antonio

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Linda (TeacherDance):

In My Mind’s Eye
This older map
of straight lines
hides the crooked stories
of the past:
in the houses
down the street,
next door,
across the way,
in the alley,
catty-cornered,
in the park,
third floor,
a street away,
at the second stop sign,
along the river,
just out of town.

I just need to look
and imagine.

© Linda Baie, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

Heading left,
I turn right;
North then south,
then easterly towards the wildest west,
until the present fades from view
into the past,
sepia-toned and yellowed with age.
The color drains
out of experience
as I dig deep into the stories
sunk down deep into the grids
of time.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013


From Cathy (Merely Day by Day):

the river
ever moving
meanders
surrounded by trees
watching
listening to the stories
that envelop it
for centuries
it babbles
gurgles
yet keeps many secrets
the river
ever moving
yet eternally entrapped
within this bed

©Cathy Mere, 2013

From Carol (Carol's Corner):

"Travelling"

long before the sun
climbs over the horizon

we travel eastward
across the plains of Colorado
past the cornfields of
Nebraska and Iowa
over the wide brown Mississippi
into Illinois.

The map,
once a precisely
fractioned pamphlet
becomes an unwieldy mass
as it is recreased
refolded
then reopened

my stubby seven-year-old finger
wonderingly
traces our route
amazed that
I have journeyed this
so far into this
big wide world.

(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.19

Ocean Waves, by Luftrum via Wikimedia Commons

SWIMMING POOL MEMORY

I remember the day I learned to float on my back --
      lying in the middle of the pool's chlorine ocean
      listening to the sound of the water in my ears
      looking up at the blue blue Colorado sky
      feeling the cradle of the water rock me back and forth

I didn't hear them yelling at me to come out of the pool --
      lessons long over
      the other children wrapped in towels
      my own reverie broken
      feeling a loss when I climbed from water to land

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013


From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

She was always happiest
sitting by the window of the house
overlooking the Atlantic Ocean,
knotty hands knitting
as she listened to the rhythm of the tides
coming and going, like the years,
just like the years, coming and going,
and sometimes, I'd see her eyes close,
as if she were floating away for a few minutes
towards something better.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast is here.


From Carol (Carol's Corner):

“Underwater”

I am five.
Marge Westbay tells me to sit
on the steps at the pool
until it is my turn
to swim with her.

I mean to sit there
But then somehow
I am underwater
moving weightlessly
through a strange and magical
aqua green world

enchanted
by the dappled sunlight
dancing
on the bottom
of the pool

The lifeguard
drags me to the top
sits my bottom hard
on the edge of the pool
and scolds me
for moving toward that magic.

© Carol Wilcox, 2013

Irene has the Poetry Friday roundup at Live Your Poem...  Hopefully this week I'll be able to visit the roundup and catch up on some of the amazing projects others are doing this month!

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.18

Ansel Adams [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

ANSEL ADAMS IN CANYON DE CHELLY

meandering 

eroding

grain by grain

rising

towering 

from the plain

lighting

shadowing

changeable sky

framing 

shooting

artistic eye

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013


From Carol (Carol's Corner):

"Canyon"

Great canyon,

shaped

by the crushing,

grinding 

wearing

constancy

of movement.

you

who have learned 

the secret

of bending,

circumnavigating

and pressing

forward

you

who so clearly 

comprehend

pattern and layer

shadow and light

clarity and cloud

You

who know

great beauty

derived

from great adversity

teach me the secrets

of your

rock canyon

endurance.

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

You're out of breath,
chasing sunspots around this mountain
as if you were lighter on your feet
than a rainbow,
or faster than the fingers of clouds
casting shadows.

©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.

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.17

By exfordy (Brian Snelson) via Wikimedia Commons

CRAZY

It's a crazy life --

I'm stuck in a zoo.

What else can I do --

I'll laugh!

It's a crazy life --

I have no real choice, but

I've still got my voice, so

I'll laugh!

It's a crazy life -- 

I can't spread my wings,

I've no freedom: that stings.

I laugh?

It's a crazy life --

look me right in the eye.

Can't you see that I cry?

It's no laugh.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

Don't laugh

this could be you

stuck here with me

inside this zoo

where all we do

is prance and wait

for someone else

to navigate

we situate

ourselves, here,

while dreaming only

to disappear

I fear, though,

we're here for ages

tossing words

across our cages.

- the podcast: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1nv8LMwFVET

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

From Carol (Carol's Corner):

Some things 

are not 

supposed to be.

Parrots,

even laughing parrots,

are not 

supposed to be

trapped

in wire cages.

Moviegoers

are not 

supposed to be 

trapped 

in theaters

hiding as 

their worlds implode.

Six-year-olds

are not supposed

to be trapped

in school bathrooms

"waiting 

for the good people

to come."

Celebrants

are not supposed

to be trapped

in a rain

of bb's and broken glass

blood pooling around them.

And none of us

are supposed 

to be trapped 

in a world

where we are

the audience

always waiting

for the next act 

in an

endless tragedy. 

Some things

are not 

supposed to be.

(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.