Poetry Friday: My world, your world, our world, and Roundup

Welcome to Poetry Friday! I'm happy to be hosting you from Kampala, Uganda. Today I am using the November SJT (Spiritual Journey Thursday) prompt. SJT is supposed to be the first Thursday of the month; I am therefore over two weeks late in responding. This month's prompt came from Linda Mitchell and it was "My world, your world, our world." I hope she doesn't mind me borrowing it for my hosting gig. Share your world with us by leaving your link in the comments. I'm on East African Time, and it may take me a minute to get to the rounding up part, but I'll do it (the old-fashioned way) as fast as I can. I have comment moderation enabled, so you won't see your comment immediately. And finally, I have had quite a few complaints lately that people aren't able to comment. I apologize in advance if that happens to you. If you have my email address (I know that many Poetry Friday friends do), you can email me and I'll put up your link.

We all live in the same world, right? No, we really don't. Even if we are from a similar background and live on the same street, the way we experience our daily life may be completely different. And if we live in different countries, or have different pasts, or different immigration status, or even if I slept well last night and you were up with a screaming baby, we may have almost no commonalities between us. This can cause problems. We may find it hard to relate to people whose worlds hardly overlap with our own. People in the US got a reminder earlier this month of how different our worlds are, as voters on both sides wondered: how could half of the country think in a way so diametrically opposed to the way I do?

 

But being from different worlds can also be a source of great richness and beauty. One of the reasons I love reading a good novel is that it can draw me into the world of a character who isn't like me. It takes me out of my own head and helps me see in a new way. And in our relationships, we can share our worlds with others. My husband and I grew up in two different countries. Throughout our long marriage, we have shared elements of the cultures that informed our upbringing, as well as sharing the worlds where we've lived together (like Haiti, whose horrendous suffering we continue to watch, but from a distance now). Many years ago, I got to visit the country where he lived as a child. And at the beginning of this month, he finally got to visit mine. I took the photo at my childhood school in Kenya. I'm so thankful to have it as one of the places I love, and I'm so thankful that I've spent time on five continents, and seen many of the worlds on our great big planet.

 

My world, your world, our world

There’s just one spot on this earth
That saw the moment of my birth.
But I love so many places,
Take joy in so many faces.
My favorite? Don’t make me choose.
There isn’t one I want to lose.
The sky looks down from way up there
On my worlds, your worlds, ours to share.

 

©Ruth Bowen Hersey
 

Good Friday morning from a very rainy Kampala! One post came in when it was still Thursday, and then others overnight, so I'm starting the day by starting the roundup while it's still dark.

Linda, the source of today's prompt, got here first, and she is sharing a new book by Maria Popova called The Universe in Verse. It looks gorgeous, and Linda gives us a sample page about an octopus and living "wonder-smitten." Plus she has her own poem in response! 

Jama also has a new book for us, this one a picture book called Grand Old Oak and the Birthday Ball. The post isn't there yet, so I'll be going back later to check it out! 

Robyn has two fun poems in a new anthology, Clara’s Kooky Compendium of Thimblethoughts and Wonderfuzz, and she shares them with us. They are both full of wordplay and would be great to read with kids!

Tabatha has a Wendy Cope poem for us. Although I'm in hasty roundup mode, I had to click through and read the rest of it, and I was glad I had! 

Alan is reading a Billy Collins anthology of short poems called Musical Tables. (I don't know if it's new, but I haven't heard of it before -- I definitely want to check it out!) As if that wasn't enough, Alan also shares three of his own terrific short poems!

Jone knows that I always have trouble getting on her blog from my Ugandan network. Her comment and email both came through fine, but the link she sent doesn't take me anywhere. It will work for you, though! It looks as though she has some invitations today, and I sure wish I could see them!

Karen has a Rudy Francisco poem for us in video form. I can't wait to go back and watch it after I get done rounding up!

Matt is going to NCTE! I'm jealous, but then I'm not even an English teacher any more. He shares a video compilation of poems from Irene Latham and Charles Waters' anthology, The Mistakes that Made Us. It looks so good -- I can't wait to read it!

Well, I'm in my classroom now, and between the last paragraph and this one, there was some drama. It's not even seven yet, and I usually wouldn't be at school for about twenty more minutes, but my husband is going with some students on a little photography trip. In addition to our campus here in the city, we have some land called the Lakeside Campus. As its name suggests, it's right on Lake Victoria. Right now there isn't much on it in the way of buildings, but there are plans! Some students are going down to take pictures of it today for a calendar. I can't go because I have a very busy day in my classroom. We stopped on the way to school to get breakfast for everyone, and as we were pulling out from the bakery, in the rain with no visibility, my husband drove the car right into one of the deep and treacherous Kampala ditches. Our little car was immobilized, with the left front wheel deep in the ditch and the right back wheel at least a foot off of the ground. There was an enormous bang when we went down, so I was sure the car was also damaged. I climbed out the driver's side and my husband phoned for help, but before our colleague got there, a friendly stranger stopped and, with the help of several guys in rain gear, pushed us out. Our tough little RAV4 was fine and we went on our way. I've imagined going into one of those ditches since the first time I saw them, and now it has happened! 

Tiel Aisha Ansara doesn't post on Poetry Friday, but I love her poetry blog, and I have a tradition of linking to her every time I host. Her most recent posting is a wonderful bird poem, so you know I can't resist that, but I also have to link to "In Praise of Rain," given the weather conditions where I am this morning.

Carol has been doing Haiku for Healing, and she has several lovely haiku for us, paired with photos. Welcome, Carol!

Amy has a story poem about starting over and some advice about writing in the third person. I appreciated the very concrete event and the metaphor.

Rose is saying goodbye to autumn with a list poem packed with sensory details. I loved the mentor text she used, and Rose's poem makes a great mentor text, too! 

Irene wrote about a beautiful 20th century painting and found a poem about how it feels when a loved one comes back home. What a great feeling! 

Heidi, like me, is sad about missing NCTE, and she wrote a poem about it called "Beyond FOMO." There's always next year! 

Patricia is sharing a poem about madly searching for lost things. 

And now I'm waking up on Saturday morning. It's raining again. A few links came in overnight.

 

Molly is "kindling the light with small poems." She also has some of her gorgeous photography to go along with the poems. These are good ways to approach the darkness.

Carol has had a tough week, and she shares how she's coping. And one of those ways is with a sweet, fruity poem.

Margaret is reading and writing with her students. She's written an evocative poem about her place in the world, and she shares another by a sixth grader. Wow! I always love reading Margaret's students' work, and this one is remarkable.