Poetry Friday

“Writing a poem is discovering.” ~Robert Frost

Not only is writing a poem discovering, but so is reading a poem, as I discovered!

I am not a horse person. It’s not to say I don’t like horses. I do. But I don’t ride them, dream of them or even think of them. So I’m not exactly sure why I picked up a poetry book filled with horse poems. Maybe it was the cover. There’s a shadow of a horse with a woman riding it and the shadowed fields make me want to jump into the picture and forget about all my cares and woes.

What I learned from picking up My Kingdom for a Horse, An Anthology of Poems About Horses, Edited by Betty Ann Schwartz, Illustrated by Alix Berenzy, is that it doesn’t always matter what the topic is, it’s the beauty of the written word that draws me to love poetry. Especially, such simple yet powerful word pictures. I had many favourites and there were poems by authors such as, Robert Frost, Christina Rossetti, Jack Prelutsky, Ruth Feder and many more including one by William Shakespeare.

Two poems which spoke to me and eased the stress out of my shoulders (which reading poetry out loud tends to do) were:

White Horse by Moonlight

Santo feeds
while the moon
comes up
curved like the bowl
of a silver spoon,
buries his nose
in silver
weeds.
Santo
the color
of moon.

~Tony Johnston, all rights reserved

Retired to Pasture

The meadow moist with morning dew
Is calling me to canter through
Its oak lined paths of pasture grass.
The brook beside it, as I pass,
Invites me down to quench my thirst.
To think that I had once been cursed
To trot upon the city streets
With honking cars in sweltering heat!
Refreshed am I as wind blown wheat.

~by Anita Wintz, all rights reserved

The Poetry Friday round up is at The Simple and the Ordinary

One Single Impression

I've written some poetry I don't understand myself. ~Carl Sandburg


This is my contribution to One Single Impression. This week's word is Change. Haiku is one form of poetry I find challenging, so this is a great opportunity for me to practice.

surrounded by silk

world opens infinitely

golden wings set free

I look forward to next week's haiku prompt.

Chant Poem

I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard



There is nothing to skip in Trout, Trout, Trout! (A Fish Chant) by April Pulley Sayre and illustrated by Trip Park (NorthWord, 2004).

April Pulley Sayre was recommended to me by my poetry teacher, Laura Salas, while I attended her online class, because one of the poems I had submitted for critique, she said, felt like it could be either a list poem or a chant poem. And as every writer knows the best way to learn is to read.

Unfortunately, my library did not have any of Ms. Sayre’s chant books. They had lots of her non-fiction work, though. So I did the next best thing I ordered one online. And, I loved it so much I just might have to add another to my library of children’s books.

In Trout, Trout, Trout! Sayre has done amazing things with rhyme and rhythm using fresh water fish names found in North America. I never knew there were fish called Gar, Shad, Loach, or Yazoo Darter. The words jump off the page as do some of the fish in Trip Parks magnificent artwork.

I don’t have a most favourite chant but here’s the first page:

Threespine Stickleback,
Freshwater Drum.
Lake Chub, Creek Chub,
Chum,
Chum,
Chum.

Trip Park has captured fish face personalities. Even the added dragonfly, bear, and worms dangling on hooks have been given their own persona.

There is also a glossary describing each fish she used in her book.

A great book for children (and adults, too). Fun to read, fun to look at, something to learn, and nothing to skip. Can’t beat that!

This Weeks Poetry Stretch

A poem should not mean
But be.
~Archibald MacLeish, Ars Poetica, 1926


This weeks Miss Rumphius' poetry stretch is about writing mask poems. These are poems written in the point of view of a person, an object, an animal, a condition, anything for that matter.

Mask poems are fun to write and important because they take youout of yourself and you get to be someone or something else for a bit. So close your eyes, pick something to write about and then feel what it is to be that something.

Here's mine, inspired by a picture of a lioness carrying her cub.

Another Home

Another preditor
Another move
Another home

HIgh above the ground
I dangle from
Mom's mouth

Swaying to the beat
Of her trek
To our new den

Her teeth embedded
Into my furry skin
Safe
Until

Another predator
Another move
Another home

by Marianne H. Nielsen, all rights reserved

Reading, Researching, Learning

"The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book. "--Samuel Johnson

I have now immersed myself in a non-fiction workshop which is something new for me. Needless to say, I am reading many, many non-fiction books for young children. And surprise! I’m loving it and learning all kinds of cool things that I never knew before. Or if I did I had forgotten them.

I have read about chameleons in Chameleon, Chameleon by Joy Cowley, killer bees in Outside and Inside Killer Bees by Sandra Markle, spiders in The Jumping Spider by Alice B. McGinty, the Great Barrier Reef in Wonders Of The World, The Great Barrier Reef by Peggy J. Parks, and many more.

For one of my assignments I have to submit part of a manuscript, so I knuckled down to do some serious research. And that’s fun too. Anyway, I spent a few hours yesterday reading up on my topic, and felt like a part of my brain, which hadn’t been used in a while, was now operating. I was feeling like Spring had arrived (alas, it hasn’t yet ). A little later in the day my youngest son came to me and began asking me some questions about the animal I had been researching. And I could give answers. This was a summer feeling now

So often when my children ask me questions, especially educational type ones, I don’t always have the answer for them. Sometimes we look it up together, but invariable these questions get asked when I’m in the middle of something and they have to go in search of the answer themselves, so I don’t always find out the answer. But now I’m ready! Watch out here I come…