NPM Spring Cleaning Day 26, Miscellaneous

 

I've been told it's never a good idea to have a file or a drawer or a box marked "Miscellaneous." It just becomes a place to dump things so you don't have to organize properly. You know, like when you're moving, and you've reached the point in the process where you hate all your possessions and want to just take them all to the dumpster. Instead of doing that (because you know you'll regret it), you put everything left into a box marked "Miscellaneous." I have done that many times, and I also have a folder in my email account called "Miscellaneous" and a desktop folder on my computer with the same non-helpful name. 

And now, a Miscellaneous blog post! That's because there are some tabs still open that don't fit readily into any of the other posts I've published or planned. But I don't want to close them without writing about them so that I can find them later. 

So here goes.

Jama's posts are always amazing, but this one, I just couldn't close. The tab's been open for ten months! I'm warning you; if you open it the same thing will happen to you. Here it is, if you dare: Strawberries: A Taste of Something Wild and Sweet.

 

Until I read this post from Amy Ludwig VanDerwater in May of 2019, I had never thought of this way of teaching about line breaks. Take a poem and reproduce it on a sheet or on the screen. Work with kids to break it up into lines. If it rhymes, it's easy. The rhyme generally is at the end of the line. But what if it doesn't? It's your choice where you break the line, but some choices are definitely more effective than others.

 

This post, a pdf by Tabatha Yeatts of poems about peace, has been open even longer, since April of 2019. It's so great, all ready to print out and make into a booklet. 

 

This is a presentation from Heidi Mordhorst on helping very young children write poetry. Do I even teach very young children? I do not. But this is so good, I just can't close it! 

Ross Gay wrote this poem, "A Small Needful Fact," about Eric Garner. You should definitely read it.

 

In September of 2020, Karen Edmisten posted this Emily Dickinson poem, and somehow it was so perfect for September of 2020 that I just kept it open on my desktop from then on, eternally. Amen. (But not any more. Closed, closed, closed!)

 

See that, six more tabs, getting closed! It's a National Poetry Month miracle! 

 

This is the ninth year of the Progressive Poem! See the schedule below to find where to go for today's line and to see who's participating this year.

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

 

   

And here's a roundup of some of the amazing, creative projects going on during NPM this year.

 

NPM Spring Cleaning Day 25, What the Living Do

 

I don't remember why I opened this tab or when, but I've had Marie Howe's poem "What the Living Do" on my desktop for a while. Howe talks in the poem to someone named Johnny, detailing some of the mundane tasks of her everyday life. Johnny, I think, is no longer living. She says to him, about life, "What you finally gave up." 

What the Living Do

Marie Howe

Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there.

And the Drano won't work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up

waiting for the plumber I still haven't called. This is the everyday we spoke of.

...

I've been thinking: This is what the living do.

 

Here's the rest. 

 

 

I have two poems, not on my desktop but in my inbox, that seem to go well with this one. Both came in the Poem-a-Day email from Poets.org this month, and I forwarded both to people because they struck me so forcefully. One is "Bobolink," by Didi Jackson. The other is "The Little Book of Cheerful Thoughts," by Jeffrey Harrison. 

 

One thing the living do is to hold on to friends who are depressed, and to try to give them reasons why living is the best choice. 

 

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

 And here's a roundup of some of the amazing, creative projects going on during NPM this year.

NPM Spring Cleaning Day 24, Prompts

 

Nobody can predict what is going to start a creative spark. But as I've been Spring Cleaning the open tabs on my desktop during this National Poetry Month, one thing I've noticed is that lots, lots of the tabs that are open are prompts and articles that I want to write about. I've written about some of them during this month, but there are still lots more open, so I decided to do an all-prompt post. Who knows? Maybe I will come back and write about them, and maybe some one else will get inspired by one or two of them too.

In October 2019, Tabatha posted this poem called "If I Could Write Like Tolstoy." She wrote her own poem in this same vein, called "If I Could Write Like Edgar Allan Poe." Ever since then, I've had this tab open, and a plan to do my own "If I Could Write Like..." poem. I even tried one this past week. I called it "If I Could Write Like the U.S. Embassy," and it was about travel advisories. Haiti was already at Level 4, which is the worst of the worst, the "Do Not Travel" category. Nevertheless the Embassy managed to strengthen their cries of "Stay Away!" Now we have four official reasons Not To Come Here. Not only that, but the State Department is telling Americans not to travel to 80% of the world. For most of these places, the prohibition is COVID-related. Well, turns out it's easy to write like the U.S. Embassy - just go on and on about how bad everywhere is. But it didn't make much of a poem -- not yet, anyway. To be revisited.

 

Another open link from Tabatha is this list of mentor poems from December 2019. Lots of what seemed inspiring to her also seemed inspiring to me!

 

Margaret posts a new photo each Wednesday to inspire writing in her feature "This Photo Wants to Be a Poem." From that feature, I saved this photo from May last year. I really want to write about it!

 

In September 2019 Laura Shovan posted this great prompt. Lots of people wrote about it, but I didn't, just filed it away for later. 

The Time is Now at Poets & Writers magazine has weekly writing prompts. 

I've lost track of the origin of this one, but a few months ago, everyone was writing poems using new words from their year of birth, using this Time Traveler tool from Merriam-Webster.

 

Here's a Call for Poems posted by Jan. 

So there you go! And now I can close all these tabs!

This is the ninth year of the Progressive Poem! See the schedule below to find where to go for today's line and to see who's participating this year.

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

 

 And here's a roundup of some of the amazing, creative projects going on during NPM this year.

Poetry Friday: NPM Spring Cleaning Day 23, Happy Blog Birthday to Me!

 

Today I've been blogging for fifteen years. Happy Blog Birthday to me!

 

I love having this little spot on the internet that's mine. I love writing down what I'm thinking about and reading. I love being part of a community of bloggers. I've made friends through blogging I never would have met any other way. Fifteen years of regular blogging, more regular at some times than others, but mostly regular: this is something that has given me so much joy through these years. I'm proud of sticking with it. 

I couldn't decide how to celebrate my blog birthday, but I knew that fifteen years deserved some kind of celebration. Then I read this post over at the TeachingAuthors blog, which is celebrating twelve years of blogging. Esther Hershenhorn wrote that the gift for twelve years is silk. That's it, I thought! I'll look up the gift for fifteen years!

The gift for fifteen years is crystal, and since it's National Poetry Month and Poetry Friday, I'm giving myself some crystal poems. You may read them too, Reader. And have some cake. 

Here's Lines to Some Crystallized Violets, by Marvin Solomon. Sounds sort of festive and delicious, don't you think? I've never had crystallized violets, but I do keep a container of crystallized ginger by my stove and I often add a couple of pieces to a plain cup of tea.

 

And here's And Later...  by Jen Bryant, who writes of a kaleidoscope:

 

letting the crystals shift into strange 

and beautiful patterns, letting the pieces fall

wherever they will.

And here's Releasing a Tree, by Thomas Reiter, in which the crystals are snow:

 

Those grace notes

of the snowfall, crystals giving off

copper, green, rose—watching them

I stumble over a branch, go down

and my gloves fill with snow.

 

But I think my favorite crystal poem I found was this one:

 

What to Count On

by Peggy Shumaker

 

Not one star, not even the half moon         

       on the night you were born

Not the flash of salmon

       nor ridges on blue snow

Not the flicker of raven’s

       never-still eye

Not breath frozen in fine hairs

       beading the bull moose’s nostril

Not one hand under flannel

       warming before reaching

Not burbot at home under Tanana ice

       not burbot pulled up into failing light

Not the knife blade honed, not the leather sheath

Not raw bawling in the dog yard

       when the musher barks gee

Not the gnawed ends of wrist-thick sticks

       mounded over beaver dens

Not solar flares scouring the earth over China

Not rime crystals bearding a sleek cheek of snow

Not six minutes more of darkness each day

Not air water food words touch

Not art

Not anything we expect

Not anything we expect to keep

Not anything we expect to keep us alive

Not the center of the sea

Not the birthplace of the waves

Not the compass too close to true north to guide us

Then with no warning

       flukes of three orcas

                 rise, arc clear of sea water

Do you notice that most of that poem is about what not to count on? I think that's kind of perfect for this fifteenth birthday, remembering what not to count on, and then reflecting on what to count on, all the time wondering how to fix the formatting of the post. That's blogging, right? Thank you, Readers! Thanks for reading, and commenting, and coming back again. If you wish, leave me a comment with a birthday greeting or a poem with crystals in it!

 

 

Here's what I posted this week:  On Saturday, a Sara Groves song. On Sunday, an interview with Thanhha Lai. On Monday, Tim Gels' poem about his empty school. On Tuesday, "A Hymn for These Times." On Wednesday, a webinar on nature poetry, plus an article.  And on Thursday, my lines for the Progressive Poem.

 

This is the ninth year of the Progressive Poem! See the schedule below to find where to go for today's line and to see who's participating this year.

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

And here's a roundup of some of the amazing, creative projects going on during NPM this year.

 

Today's Poetry Friday roundup is here. 

NPM Day 22, Progressive Poem is Here!

Today it's my turn to host the Progressive Poem. This is a fun tradition that's in its ninth year, and I've participated each year! This year, like last, each poet is writing two lines, so that the next person can choose between them.

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

Leigh Ann Eck gave me two lines to choose from:

 

We paddle and paddle to the island we see.

or

Ahh! Here comes a wave--let's hold on tight!

  

I chose the second line.

 

Every year, my kids give me helpful suggestions. One year, my daughter said my line should be "Suddenly, ninjas!" And this year my son offered: "But that was before the darkness came." I decided not to follow their advice (though I was tempted).

 

I wrote my two lines, one a little more abstract and one that went in a more concrete direction.  Leigh Ann had mentioned wanting to get back to kindness, where the poem began, and I shared that desire, so I tried to do that in my first line. Here they are:

To the boat, to kindness, to friendship's delight

 

or

Splashing and laughing, let's play until night!

 

If Janice chooses the first one, she can leave off the exclamation mark from Leigh Ann's line.

 

So here's the poem so far, without my line (waiting for Janice to add the one she picks):

 

I’m a case of kindness – come and catch me if you can!

Easily contagious – sharing smiles is my plan.

I'll spread my joy both far and wide

As a force of nature, I’ll be undenied. 

Words like, "how can I help?" will bloom in the street.

A new girl alone on the playground – let’s meet, let’s meet!

We can jump-skip together in a double-dutch round.

Over, under, jump and wonder, touch the ground.

Friends can be found when you open a door.

Side by side, let’s walk through, there’s a world to explore.

We’ll hike through a forest of towering trees.

Find a stream we can follow while we bask in the breeze.

Pull off our shoes and socks, dip our toes in the icy spring water

When you’re with friends, there’s no have to or oughter.

What could we make with leaves and litter?

Let's find pine needles, turn into vine knitters.

We'll lie on our backs and find shapes in the sky.

We giggle together: See the bird! Now we fly?

Inspired by nature, our imaginations soar.

Follow that humpback! Here, take an oar.

 

Ahh! Here comes a wave -- let's hold on tight!

 

 

It's your turn, Janice!

NPM Spring Cleaning Day 21, Nature Poetry

 

 

 

 

This webinar by Aimee Nezhukumatathil has been open on my desktop for nearly a year. It was recorded in May 2020, and it's full of ideas for how to write about nature when you're stuck at home in quarantine. But Aimee's prompts and book recommendations would be wonderful at any time. She did the broadcast for the North American Association for Environmental Education. 

 

This seems to go well with an article from December 2019 that's been open on my desktop for a while, too. It's about nature as a cure for gloom and depression. It works for me, better than almost anything else! 

This is the ninth year of the Progressive Poem! See the schedule below to find where to go for today's line and to see who's participating this year.

 

Tomorrow I add my line!

 

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

 
And here's a roundup of some of the amazing, creative projects going on during NPM this year.

 

 

Slice of Life Tuesday: NPM Spring Cleaning Day 20, Hymn for These Times

 

This year for National Poetry Month, I am Spring Cleaning the open tabs on my desktop. That is, I'm writing about them, so that I can close them and reduce my digital clutter. Recently a friend sent me this hymn, and I've had the tab open for a while:

Music and choral arrangement by Jay Rogers, words by Meggan Moorhead, and musical performance by Sam Robson, samrobsonmusic.com.

 

Part of life right now is weeping with those who weep. That means those who have lost family members and loved ones to the pandemic or to other illnesses. It means the victims of violence and suffering around the world. It means those who don't have enough to eat, or who struggle for daily necessities. It means those here in Haiti who have been kidnapped or affected by other traumatizing crimes. We are all members of the human family that experiences these things.

Not one voice but many voices

Not one note but still one song

Not one dying, not one grieving

All are ours and ours to mourn.

I want to turn away from the suffering, but that doesn't make it go away. 

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

And here's a roundup of some of the amazing, creative projects going on during NPM this year.

NPM Spring Cleaning Day 19, Tim Gels on the Empty School

 

I have had this poem by Tim Gels open on my desktop since last December, when he posted this perfect meditation on his empty school. I think we all feared that at the end of the pandemic we wouldn't know people, places, and things as we once did. And in many cases that fear has been realized, hasn't it?  Thanks for expressing it so beautifully, Tim.

 

This is the ninth year of the Progressive Poem! See the schedule below to find where to go for today's line and to see who's participating this year.

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

 
And here's a roundup of some of the amazing, creative projects going on during NPM this year.

NPM Spring Cleaning Day 18, Interview with Thanhha Lai

 

One day last week, we had a day off school because local religious leaders had called for a day of prayer for the lawlessness that is engulfing Haiti. Since I had some extra time, I went through some tabs open on my desktop and did some spring cleaning. I often save longer videos for when I will have time to watch them, and this has been open since last May. In fact, you can tell from the interview that it was recorded last April, during National Poetry Month.

Laura Shovan posted this interview with Thanhha Lai, the author of several books, including the verse novel Inside Out and Back Again, which I've been reading with my seventh graders for years. What a great conversation between two writers of verse novels! Some highlights for me: the question about whether writing verse novels is just a matter of writing prose and then breaking it up into shorter lines, why Thanhha Lai chose to write Inside Out and Back Again as a verse novel, and differences between first generation immigrants (especially refugees) and their children. Highly recommended viewing and listening!

 

One of the things my students can always relate to in this book (set during the Vietnam War) is the way Hà's teacher in Alabama, with very good motives, shows the class photos from Vietnam and makes Hà upset because she doesn't want her classmates to know Vietnam just for the war that's going on there. My students all have stories to tell of the way people only know negative things about Haiti, a country that they know is beautiful, is wonderful, is home. (I wrote more about that here.) As you read my words about problems here, know that there is much, much more to this country than its problems. 

This is the ninth year of the Progressive Poem! See the schedule below to find where to go for today's line and to see who's participating this year.

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

 
And here's a roundup of some of the amazing, creative projects going on during NPM this year.

NPM Spring Cleaning Day 17, Floodplain

 

Recently I was feeling mournful, and berating myself inwardly for feeling mournful, and then this song came on. I was comforted. Some people just feel things a lot, I reminded myself, and you, self, are one of those people. I looked up the lyrics and kept them open on my desktop so I wouldn't forget, and now that I'm posting the song, I can close those tabs: the lyrics, the video, and Sara's words about the whole thing.

 

 

Here's something Sara Groves wrote about the inspiration for this song. 

Floodplain

by Sara Groves

Some hearts are built on a floodplain
Keeping one eye on the sky for rain
You work for the ground that gets washed away
When you live closer

 

Closer to the life and the ebb and flow
Closer to the edge of I don't know
Closer to that's the way it goes
Some hearts are built on a floodplain

 

And it's easy to sigh on a high bluff
Look down and ask when you've had enough
Will you have the sense to come on up
Or will you stay closer

 

Closer to the danger and the rolling deep 

Closer to the run and the losing streak
And what brings us to our knees
Some hearts live here

 

Oh the river it rushes to madness
And the water it spreads like sadness
And there's no high ground
And there's no high ground

 
Closer to the danger and the rolling deep
Closer to the run and the losing streak
And what brings us to our knees

 

Closer to the life and the ebb and flow
Closer to the edge of I don't know
Closer to Lord please send a boat
Some hearts are built here

 

  

 

For some reason, when I try to post the information about the Progressive Poem on today's post, the formatting gets weird. But you can find that on any of my other posts so far for National Poetry Month.

Poetry Friday: NPM Spring Cleaning Day 16, More Spring Photos

This week I don't have any open tabs I'm cleaning up; instead, I'm sharing some photos that my friends continue to send after my appeal for daffodils, along with what I wrote about them. It doesn't fit my NPM theme, exactly, but it does fit my love for spring flowers and friends who send me photos of them. 

My daughter came through with daffodil photos, when the daffodils finally bloomed in her northern home.

Photo Credit: Daughter

Daffodils bow down
Honoring the passing wind
Worshipping the sun

Kay McGriff sent me this photo: 

 

 Demure yellow bloom
Looks shyly down at the ground
Hides her blushing face

Carol Trachsel sent me this photo, explaining that this house has been falling apart ever since she moved in nearby, twenty years ago. Every year the daffodils bloom.

The house’s skeleton,
open to the sky,
has let any ghosts that remained
dissipate
into the atmosphere

There are no echoes of arguments,
no smells from burned dinners,
no laughter
or tears

but in the garden
the roots still live
and every year
the daffodils reappear,
brief bright visitors
that honor
the sweat
and the sore back
of the gardener who planted them
more than twenty years ago.

 

I took this photo of my Easter flowers, sadly discarded. I wrote a golden shovel for this photo, taking a Shakespeare quote as my starting point.

For Easter this year I had lilies
standing tall and proud with that
Easter Sunday glory, but sadly they fester
quickly, and when they start to smell
it’s a betrayal that something so pure could sink so far,
the way when someone you love leaves you it’s worse
than an insult from a random stranger. Look, a stinky pile, worse than
a wedding bouquet made entirely of poison ivy and weeds.

Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

My friend Jill filled my Facebook wall with spring flowers again this week, and though I didn't write about them this time, they made me so happy. She said I could share some with you.

 

Today's last photo is completely different from the others, since it comes from a completely different place. My friend Azeem sent it one morning (my time), saying that he'd been listening to Paul Simon while getting ready for a party for his employees, and Paul Simon made him think of me. The photo took me right there to Kenya.

Photo Credit A.P.

 

View of Mount Eburu and Lake Naivasha, March 2021

Brown:
Dry grass
Dust

Green:
Thorn tree
Cactus
Scrubby plants

Blue:
Lake
Mountains
Sky sky sky sky sky sky sky

Here are my other NPM posts from this week:

On Saturday I shared a podcast about Lizzie Siddal, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, and a mysterious poem.

On Sunday I dreamed a world.

On Monday I had some Auden, and some me.  

On Tuesday there were Haitian bird sounds.

On Wednesday I shared some Paul Simon (he really is one of my favorite poets).

On Thursday, I posted a poem about moving.

 

This is the ninth year of the Progressive Poem! See the schedule below to find where to go for today's line and to see who's participating this year.

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

 

 

And here's a roundup of some of the amazing, creative projects going on during NPM this year. 

 

Jama has today's roundup!