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.

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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!