Heidi is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup today here at her blog, “my juicy little universe.” Be sure to read her amazing collection of odes to the month of March across the centuries. And a happy birthday to Heidi tomorrow!
I’ve had thoughts of my mortality this week. (No particular reason, except I’ll be 65 this year!) Today I woke up thinking about my one word for 2023–ACT–and wrote this acrostic (with my new Sharpie markers).
A reason to thrive Cherished time Ticks on
Last year, my word was PURPOSE. I felt I spent the whole year with vague wonderings like, “Could this be my retirement purpose?” Then in 2023, I thought I just need to ACT on the needs around me. I won’t be here forever.
Last week in the Slice of Life challenge I wrote a golden shovel poem based on a quote from Irene Latham’s Poetry Friday post last week. Read Irene’s post here; it’s beautiful, and she is a good example of someone who acts–making opportunities for living well and doing good. The quote I used is “What if our only purpose really is to be present?”
What can I say except this day is precious and
if it must be my last, I will live it contentedly.
Our world will go on without me, and finally
only LOVE will prevail. But if I get another day, on
purpose I will live it–
really live it. Even if it
is just sitting inside, staying warm,
to read and write, I can still
be here, in this place, fully alive, opening this sweet
This week I wrote a lot of poems; I was not a student of meter. In fact, what’s meter? I was just cranking out poems. So, Linda, I’m sure I have lots of bad lines for the clunker exchange. Linda Mitchell is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today, and she has lots of “clunker” lines to exchange. Go on over and visit to join in the fun.
It was time for the June Open Write at Ethical ELA. That was fun! I have five days worth of poems from this lovely community of teacher-poets. Days One, Two, Three, Four and Five, if you are interested. Next Open Write will be July 17-21. You are welcome to join us.
I was on the committee to create a keepsake book for our principal and his family who are leaving next week to go back to the United States. I wrote one for each of the family members. These are the pages from the book that I wrote, after I removed the photographs of family, students, and staff, for the sake of privacy.
I did spend some time thinking about Poetry Friday before I got so busy this week. I wrote a definito poem created by Heidi Mordhorst. In Heidi’s words, a definito is a free verse poem of 8-12 lines (aimed at readers 8-12 years old) that highlights wordplay as it demonstrates the meaning of a less common word, which always ends the poem. Quite a fun way to learn and write about new vocabulary words. You can read lots of great examples here on her definito post.
When your family’s had a busy week
and dinner plans look bleak, just bits and
smidges of food left in dishes in the fridge–
tofu tetrazzini, a few pieces of beet,
a tub of butter, stale bread of sprouted wheat
a bowl of Gramma’s pasta, some sticky, gooey treats,
a few peaches and some plums, so cold and sweet,
four hard boiled eggs, and just a shred of meat…
then dinner becomes a rehash of this mishmash.
All those leftovers for dinner are manavelins.
And finally, here is one more poem I wrote to read at a 5C class poetry slam, the only grade 5 class I continued to co-teach throughout the school year. I taped it up near my camera, and everyone thought I had memorized it. I’m developing some bad habits with Zoom! (Or at least habits I’ll miss after this Zoom chapter.)
5 C Poetry Slam Poem by Mrs. Denise
Have you ever used the word manavelins?
Do you think I captured it in my definito of manavelins?
