Library Matters: Poetry Month

Showing posts with label Poetry Month. Show all posts

#IMWAYR December 23, 2019

#IMWAYR time again, when readers share what they have been reading and find out what others have been up to in the past week. Kathryn hosts the adult version of this meme at Book Date. Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers host the kidlit rendition. Whatever you are looking forward to in your next great read, these are fabulous places to start your search.

It's been three whole weeks since I last posted here. How are you all? I've been busy. REALLY busy. Between working more than I want to, cleaning house, trying to get homemade Christmas projects accomplished, send off cards, finish up shopping and wrapping presents, I have hardly had any time for reading with my eyes. Tomorrow we are babysitting my grandson all day. I still haven't finished one of my husband's socks. He may get it as an unfinished kit. Hope you have your lives under better control.

Titles with a 🍁 indicate this is a Canadian Author and or Illustrator.

Clicking on the title of the book will take you to the Goodreads page of the book.

RECENT BLOG POSTS

Poetry Friday December 20th, 2019

CHRISTMAS PICTURE BOOKS

4 stars

The Day Santa Stopped Believing in Harold by Maureen Fergus 🍁 & Cale Atkinson 🍁(Illustrations)

Hilarious, sweet and endearing all at the same time. When Santa stops believing in Harold at the same time as Harold stops believing in Santa, Christmas gets to be a bit dreary. I laughed as Santa used the same rationale to justify his disbelief in Harold as children regularly do when they let go of their own beliefs in him. I'd like to say this book will be good for readers from K on up, but I suspect some parents will not want their children to entertain disbelief as early as 5. Still for sophisticated younger readers and older ones, this will be an entertaining read. It was a hit with the grade 3/4/5 students I read it to.

5 stars

Auntie Claus (Auntie Claus #1) by Elise Primavera

I am a huge fan of this feminist Christmas story. Sophie loves her aunt and wonders where she goes off to on her annual business trip that lasts from Halloween to Valentine's Day. She wonders about the diamond key her aunt always keeps around her neck. This year, Sophie stows away in one of her aunt's trunks to find out.
I started reading this to a group of 3/4/5 students before lunch and we didn't get it finished. Some were ready to have me finish before leaving, but given that we were decorating gingerbread houses after lunch, I thought it best that they get lots of running around time.

4 stars

Santa's Stuck by Rhonda Gowler Greene & Henry Cole (Illustrations)

This is one of my granddaughter's two favourite Christmas picture books. (The other is Carl's Christmas) Santa eats so many delicious treats on his journey that he ends up getting stuck while heading back up the chimney. The dog, the reindeer, the cat and her kittens try their best, but No-o-o-o luck -- Santa's stuck! It takes a clever mouse to come up with an ingenious plan to save Christmas.
Ada loves to shout help along with Santa, and can get carried away chanting No-o-o-o luck -- Santa's stuck!

5 stars

Carl's Christmas (Good Dog, Carl #3) by Alexandra Day

This is one of my favourite Christmas picture books, but I must admit that I am a fan of all the Carl books by Alexandra Day. It's also one of my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter's favourite. We are both happy to read and reread it. (Like all the Carl books, it's nearly wordless)

5 stars

The Cat on the Dovrefell: A Christmas Tale by George Webbe Dasent & Tomie dePaola (Illustrator)
This is absolutely my favourite Christmas tale ever! I have read it numerous times to groups of children and not only is it always a hit, it is never boring to reread. The spare text and Tomie de Paola's art make this book for me.

NOVELS

5 stars

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys & Maite Jáuregui (Narrator), Richard Ferrone (Narrator), Oliver Wyman (Narrator), Neil Hellegers (Narrator), Joshua Kane (Narrator), Lisa Kaplan (Narrator)

I adored this novel. The best thing about historical novels is how much we learn about the past. I knew a bit about the Spanish civil war, but had no idea what life was like for ordinary people in the years that followed. Ruta Sepetys creates characters readers can't help but become invested in. I'm sure it can't be easy to do this with so many, but I came to care for almost all of them. I loved the ending.

POETRY

4 stars

Recess in the Dark by Kalli Dakos, 🍁 Erin Mercer 🍁 (Illustrator)

This collection of poetry tells of the life of school children who live in the Northwest Territories where the sun doesn't shine for a long part of the winter. Each page of poetry is accompanied by a few sentences telling us more about the particular activity.
Erin Mercer's art is charming and sure to appeal to readers.
This tells the story of indigenous children, but neither of the creators are themselves indigenous. Kalli Dakos spent time as a teacher in the north and returned on author visits and to lead poetry workshops with the children at Alexander Mackenzie School. This book was inspired by one of those visits.

4 stars

African Acrostics: A Word in Edgeways by Avis Harley 🍁 & Deborah Noyes (Photographer)

The book pairs photographs of African animals with delightful acrostic poems. The back matter contains information about each animal and where the images were taken. It also includes examples of different kinds of acrostic poems. I had no idea there were so many variations!
This is one of those books writing teachers should have in their collection.

4 stars

Fly with Poetry: An ABC of Poetry by Avis Harley🍁
This is an alphabetically listed collection of different poetic forms. It begins with an abecdarian. (a poem that uses the letters of the alphabet in their proper order for each new line). Each one is presented in a poem with a description of this format at the bottom of the page. An illustration references the content of the verse.

NONFICTION

4 stars

Rocket to the Moon! (Big Ideas That Changed the World #1) by Don Brown

Fifty years ago I was just sixteen when men first walked on the moon. I remember our whole family crowded around our old TV watching in amazement. I had no idea what was involved to get to that point, but this book sure taught me a lot. It spans a length of time from Chinese firecrackers to the second world war, into the space and battle between Russia and America for who would reach the moon first. I appreciated the mention of Katherine G. Johnson and the 'human' computers. The back matter contains rich resources including: a timeline from 1865 to 2018, reference notes, a detailed bibliography, an index and a note from the author.
My only quibble is that the font is very small for my aging eyes.

CURRENTLY

I'm listening to Frankly in Love by David Yoon. I have nothing else on the go.

UP NEXT

I'm hoping to get listening to Call Down the Hawk (Dreamer, #1) by Maggie Stiefvater. As soon as I can get back to reading with my eyes, I'll start Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes and finish up The Dinner Party: A Symbol of our Heritage by Judy Chicago to complete all my reading goals.

PROGRESS ON MY READING GOALS

How exciting is this? I have reached nearly all my reading goals!

#MustReadIn2018 25/25

#MustReadNFIn2018 11/12 - one in progress

25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 25/25

25 books by Canadian Authors 98/25

Goodreads Reading Challenge 408/333

Poem A Day Challenge & Poetry Friday April 19, 2019

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm. Make sure you read her ongoing story poems about John and his dog, Betsy, and check out her page for links to more poets sharing work today.

In 1958, when I was five years old, my parents and other relatives set out on a great adventure north. I have been writing bits and pieces about that time for a while. Over the last couple of years, and as I write more, I interview remaining family members for more details and stories about their experience. To motivate myself to write, I plan to post bits and pieces of their saga here every Friday. They might not be in any kind of order. I'm just hoping to get some kind of reasonable drafts out there. I hope for feedback both on the construction of the poetry, and more details from family.

This is the third instalment. You can read the first one here and the second one here.

journey

they set off north
abandoning
the grey green shades
of cactus,
grease wood,
sage and
darker hues of
lonesome

ponderosa pine

left behind
irrigated

lowlands and
orchards ripe with fruit

hoodoos and
silt cliffs
saluted them
in the early morning
light of their leaving

took the ferry across
Okanagan lake
where Ogopogo
is rumoured to swim

saw terrain transform
from orchards
into ranch land

drove
through town
after town
when main street
meant something

reached the interior plateau
and headed west
through Kamloops
to Cache Creek
traversing
a desolate landscape

hills so barren,
the dried grasses
on their exposed bones
wearily waved them on

continued north again
up Highway 97
to Clinton where
they stopped,
rested,
spent the night
with family

Peggy and Maurice
welcomed them
fed them,
and sent them
on their way
the next day

onward they pressed
deep into the heart
of the Cariboo
passing through
country lush with lakes,
following the old gold rush trail
in search of a different kind
of riches

through
100 Mile House
William’s Lake
and Quesnel

mile by mile
groves of white and green
aspen attended them,
bearing witness

open grasslands
merged into
northern pine forests

that second evening,
arriving in
Prince George
they halted
overnighted with
family again
Alma and Red,
mom’s eldest sister

had fresh baked

huckleberry pies

waiting for them

next morning they set out
northeast across the rockies
on the last
leg of their journey
into what would become
their new homes
their new lives

Links to my previous April poems can be found here.

Here is a link to blogs of other participants in the poem a day challenge.

30/30 Poem A Day Challenge: Writing Poetry With Children

Last week I worked at Dickens and introduced two different groups of children to writing Haynuku poems. The first group were grade 3 & 4 and the second group was grade 1 & 2. I was impressed by all their work.

For Today's post I am sharing some of these poems.

First I showed them a few examples I had written. Then we wrote a few together. Finally they went off to write individually or in pairs.

A few of my examples:

coffee
black bitter
elixir of gods

showers
power the
earth with flowers

The primary class had been studying shadows and light so while their student teacher was teaching, I wrote a few on that topic

shadow
and light
two best friends

shadow
in front
light behind me

I wrote this one on the spot for one of the little ones who came in looking like a good wash was in order.

dirt
on face
proof of fun

He went on to write his own and put in soccer is fun.

When we started writing together, at first I picked the first word. Together we brainstormed ideas about the word and while at first I put them in order, after a few, the group came up with ideas for what to put in.

Some poems we wrote together:

blue
is rain
falling inside me

blue
ocean sky
and blueberry pie

huckleberry
tart sweet
beware of bears

september
is back
to school time

Some of the students began by copying the poems we wrote together and then went on to writing their own. Here are some they finished that I managed to take pictures of. Unfortunately I didn't take photos of the older students poems and haven't been back to the school since.

I was fascinated to watch one of the primary students who seemed unable to stop writing poems. When the rest of the class had finished and were busily engaged in outputs activities, she moved to a quiet spot to continue writing. At one point she stared, unseeing, out the window before returning to her notebook and scribbling down another poem.

These are some of her poems.

Harper

can't stop

writing haynuku poems

According to Robert Lee Brewer at Writer's digest"

"Hay(na)ku is a very simple poetic form, and it’s also one of the newest. It was apparently created in 2003 by poet Eileen Tabios.

Hay(na)ku is a 3-line poem with one word in the first line, two words in the second, and three in the third. There are no restrictions beyond this.

There are already some variations of this new poetic form. For instance, a reverse hay(na)ku has lines of three, two, and one word(s) for lines one, two, and three respectively. Also, multiple hay(na)ku can be chained together to form longer poems."

29/30 Poem A Day Challenge

April 29, 2018

Over the past week or so I have been watching the rhododendron bush outside our front room window. The buds, at first inconsequential, are now burgeoning and ready to burst forth. Today, with the first hints of this display, I wanted to honour its seasonal glory.

bloom soon rhododendron
buds
thrive
spike
skyward
buds
crack
open
pink
buds
soon rhododendron bloom

A Skinny is a short poem form that consists of eleven lines. The first and eleventh lines can be any length (although shorter lines are favored). The eleventh and last line must be repeated using the same words from the first and opening line (however, they can be rearranged.) The second, sixth, and tenth lines must be identical. All the lines in this form, except for the first and last lines, must be comprised of ONLY one word. The Skinny was created by Truth Thomas in the Tony Medina Poetry Workshop at Howard University in 2005.

It wasn't til after I finished this poem and was reading more about this format that I realized they are poems about social issues. I will try one of those soon.

Previous Posts

28/30 Poem A Day Challenge

April 28, 2018

Becoming a grandparent has been the most exhilarating and humbling experience of this phase of my life. Our two sons became fathers three days apart. Their little ones, now 10 1/2 months old, embolden me to reflect on who I am and encourage me to become a better person, to do what I can to make the world a safe, healthy and loving place for them to grow up in. Today's poem is for them.

promise

oh babies,
i want to promise
you everything
that we'll protect you
from everything
that no matter what
we'll be
here for you
but i know better

when your fathers
were young
i believed
i could protect them
from everything
i had no idea
that i couldn't
even protect them
from myself

Previous Posts

27/30 Poem A Day Challenge & Poetry Friday

April 27, 2018

These days I’m connecting up with Kidlitosphere Central for Poetry Friday. Today’s host is Irene Latham at Live Your Poem.

I have been reading poetry for as long as I can remember. Before I could read it, my mother used to recite Wordsworth to us. I started this poem earlier this month after finishing up a couple of powerful books of poetry back to back. I realize as I post this, that I should have included Dr Seuss in here as one of my first poetry mentors, but for today, here is my homage to at least some of my unwitting mentors.

under the influence

if only
i were a real poet
i would write you a love poem,
but the those poems
have already been written
decade by Amy Lowell
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
by e.e. cummings

if only
i were a real poet
i could sing
dragons into existence
like Ogden Nash
and make you laugh
and happy to be me
with Dennis Lee

if only
i were a real poet
I could write words that bite
with sharp wit
my resumé
like Dorothy Parker's,
would give you reasons for living

if only
i were a real poet
like Sylvia Plath
scrivening sentences
into strands of black diamonds
glimmering and glittering
as they slit into bare skin

if only
i were a real poet
punching out poems and
staccatoed sentences
like those of
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
and his cronies
who first made me
fall in love
with words

if only
i were a real poet
i could show you what it's like
to be inside and outside
at the same time
and how poetry is discovered
but Marilyn Nelson
has already been there

if only
i were a real poet
perhaps I could
wrangle words
like Bao Phi
who writes weather poems
about raindrops with more humanity
and promise
than many people I know

if only
i were a real poet
i might write
about being invisible
and under attack
at the same time
but Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
has already wordsmithed them

if only
i were a real poet
like El Jones and Shane Koyczan
I would pen passionate
spoken word sonnets
of truth and activism
and wake you up

if only
i were a real poet
i could whisper words
like the best of them
and you would see the world
how i see it

if only
i were a real poet

Previous Posts for 2018 Poem A Day Challenge

1. Easter Sunday Rumination on Eggs
2. Tulips
3. Untitled
4. Waiting
5. Truce
6. Thaumaturgy
7. Untitled dodoitsu
8. To Do List
9. Anniversary
10. Tribulation
11. Story Is Who We Are
12. Fears
13. Another Poem
14. Morning Headache
15. Love
16. Greg
17. Gift
18. Ceremony
19. Waiting
20. Storm
21. Ada
22. Haiku
23. Haiku
24. things
25. Funeral
26. Light

26/30 Poem A Day Challenge

April 26, 2018

I should have taken my own photograph to go with this poem, but by the time I finished writing, the light was gone. This image is from Erica Hughes, a blogger at Nine To Three Thirty.

in the procreation
of dark and light
day and night
the twilight time
the golden hour
of dawn and dusk
horizon agape in splendour
earth exists
in sacred silhouette
and promise