Friday, April 19, 2019

Springtime Alarm Clock




Springtime Alarm Clock

Supposedly, time is a gentle songbird,
but someone forgot to tell
the robin outside my window
in the predawn darkness
who is singing jazz riffs
that would make Charlie Parker proud.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2019


Here is my metaphor:


















And here is Charlie Parker, who I chose randomly, but just learned is Charles ("Bird") Parker.




Amy has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week at The Poem Farm. She knows all about Everyday Birds and their alarm clock tendencies!


Thursday, April 18, 2019

After the Fire



After the Fire

The images of smoke and ash
spread from screen to screen around the globe.

As the loss of an ancient cultural treasure was mourned
by those who had experienced the holiness there
and by those who now would not,

a pair of girls enjoying a sunny recess in Ohio
searched the soccer field
for four-leaf clover,
eventually finding seven lucky clusters.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2019






Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Pluck



The classroom stuffed animals wanted to get in on the Haikube scene. Why should Hem and Rhino have all the fun? On the left is the hamster from Laura Shovan's book The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, in the middle is a camel one of my Egyptian students gave me, and on the right is Grumpy Bird. They watched last week while their small humans took the Language Arts state test, and the classroom is now ready (all math charts hidden or removed) for the Math portion of the state test. They know how hard their small humans have been working, and they wanted to write a poem to encourage them.



realize sweet grace
you hold dynamic marvel
you have pluck enough


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2019



Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Spring's Yellow




Spring's Yellow

Spring's
yellow

follows

winter's 
blue

bringing 

pink 
peace.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2019



Monday, April 15, 2019

Poetry is a Burning Blessing




Poetry is a Burning Blessing

your pen -- the matchstick;
ideas -- tinder, kindling, fuel;
poetry -- the fire


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2019


Sunday, April 14, 2019

Playing With Poetry -- With FIRST Graders!




I Went to the Mexican Store

I saw
rainbow vegetables.
But
the best part was
a pepper
reading a book!

©1st Grade, 2019


Holy Moly! First graders at the end of the day on Friday still have SO much energy and SO much creativity! Hats off to all the first grade teachers in the world! 

We were writing a 15 Words or Less poem and we had WAY too many words. One little girl took out four boring words ("green, purple, and striped") and replaced them with one juicy one -- "rainbow." Brilliant! You have to look closely at the top right corner of the picture to see the pepper reading a book. It's a green pepper in the corner of a cardboard box, but when you see it through first grade eyes, it sure is a pepper reading a book!


Saturday, April 13, 2019

Playing With Poetry -- With MORE Second Graders!





Pink Piglets in a Pen

You think I'm dirty.
I DO love
rolling in mud
but
I bathe in hay.


©2nd Grade, 2019


Another great group of young poets, and look at all we packed into that poem! Alliteration! Rhyme! Juicy word choices!



Friday, April 12, 2019

Poetry Friday: Playing With Poetry...With Second Graders!



The second grade team at my school has invited me to visit their classes as the "Visiting Poet" for their Poetry Month poetry writing unit. So. Much. Fun!

Yesterday, after I elaborated on what a poet actually does (lots of reading, lots of rewriting) and where I get my ideas (everywhere), we wrote a 15 Words Or Less poem together.

Our prompt was a picture of tire tracks in snow.


Our first draft was too long, so I shared my sneaky trick of using one of the lines as the title to reduce the word count. 

We wound up with this:


Today Might Be a Snow Day

The cars
make diagonal tracks
in the sparkly snow
from 
dusk to dawn.


©2nd Grade, 2019


It seemed ludicrous to be writing about a snow day when the temperatures here in Ohio hit the 80s today for the first time this season, but I know our friends in Denver and the upper midwest are dealing with Winter Storm Wesley, which will likely downgrade to lots of rain for us in the coming days.

Irene has this week's Poetry Friday Roundup at Live Your Poem.


Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Haiku for Hem




Hem didn't come running when I dumped the Haikubes tonight, so Rhino and I worked alone. Our haiku might not seem very flattering, but it's the honest truth. Hem is a rescue cat, and we're pretty sure he was taken too soon from his mother, causing him to miss out on some important early socialization lessons. He plays REALLY rough. He's ruthless. His favorite games involve trying to bite your hand when you pet him, biting your pants leg, and jumping human shoulder-height (after getting those wild tiger eyes) to try to bite the hand you are holding out. One of his nicknames is Mr. Bitey. Hem is a strikingly beautiful cat, but he's drawn blood from both of us many times, resulting in us calling him worse than simply a jerk. He is, however, quite the Daddy's Boy, and he is always able to charm his way back onto AJ's lap.


wild tiger eyes
wicked gleeful biting jerk
charm peace with the man


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2019


Tuesday, April 09, 2019

Promise and Power



Like the green of spring,
poetry is a promise
unspoken, yet heard.


(And on the flip side,
power is a glorified mirror.
Enough said.)


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2019