Friday, November 14, 2008

Poetry Friday Roundup



Welcome to my place!

Poetry intimidates me. I'm never quite sure if I've understood a poem the way the poet intended. That possibility exists in music as well, yet that' has not stopped me from learning and performing pieces. In my mind, poetry occupies a lofty place that I should approach only when I've paid my dues in studying.

Today I offer another way to look at poetry. Here is Michael Rosen, children's poet laureate of Britain, talking about poetry. The unadorned way he speaks of poetry, in language that anyone can understand, moved me. (I'd venture to say he'd considered every word choice carefully to arrive at these deceptively simple sentences; he is a poet, after all.)

Here are some examples:
  • Poetry is a great way of talking about things that matter to you.
  • It's also a good way to play with the language around us and playing pleases us.
  • Life goes by very quickly. Poetry is a way of stopping things for a moment and pointing out something to us.
Check out his website for his poems and video clips of him reading his own poem.

The Roundup
We have quite a few poems this morning related to nature: rain and wind and snow and the changing seasons. Sarah Reinhard is thinking about wood, and
posted about it here. Author Amok offers Eve Merriam's poem "Weather" together with a triumphant story of a reluctant third grade poet. Julie Larios has an original poem about rain and gargoyles at The Drift Record. From rain we move on to snow at A year of Reading. Speaking of snow, Sara is asking "When Does Winter End?" at her podcast site, A Cast of One. Fiddler brings us back from the end of winter to November here. Cuileann offers up Charles Simic's Windy Evening. All we need is a poem about hailstorms, anyone?

Here are the other bloggers with autumn on their minds.
Jone has an original poem; Kelly is in with If you were coming in the fall by Emily Dickinson; Kim accompanies her poem with photos; Janet shares a Tess Gallager poem and a lovely picture of a birds nest at Across the Page; and Tabatha has two poems and a bonus of the Simpson's version of the Raven. From The Raven, we fly-leap to Kermit at Chicken Spaghetti.

The election is featured at
Tiel Aisha Ansari's with Heirloom Diamonds and at MotherReader's with Okay, Brown Girl, Okay.

Here are a few more original poems: Stacy from Two Writing Teachers, Lisa Chellman with Pantoum of a Canine Spaz, Lori Ann Grove has hers posted here.

Dickinson is always well-represented at Poetry Friday: Tadmack has an untitled Dickinson poem and Karen E links us to Daily Dickinson.

Fuse # 8 is reviewing the William Carlos Williams picture book biography
A River of Words and Tricia in today with a poem by him.

John Mutford submits a Leonard Cohen poem, "A Limited Degree." jama shares "Oatmeal" by Galway Kinnell (and a cute picture). Linda shares Shel Silverstein as Diane of the Write Sisters remembers the movie theater of her youth. David elzey shares a trio of poems by Christina Rossetti today. Laura Salas posts a poetry event featuring Nikki Grimes, Joyce Sidman and others. And this is her offering from her weekly 15 Words or Less Showcase.

The Lost Pilot by James Tate is Stenhouse Publishers's tribute to our veterans. The Wild Rose Reader share a review of the children's book The Sun in Me: Poems about the Planets. At Blue Rose Girls, she has a Sherman Alexie poem entitled "Grief Calls Us to the Things of This World."

I didn't know there was a MTV Poet Laureate till today, as Mary Burkey links to Audiobooker's post. Little Willow quotes a portion of Charles Webster by Edgar Lee Masters at Bildungsroman. Kurios Kitty shares a poem by Ron Padgett.

And happy birthday to Sheila!

I will continue to round up the rest later in the day. If any of the links doesn't work, please let me know. Enjoy!

Two more submissions, one that makes me want to stand up and shout by Shelburns
over here and the other by erin.

Jill Corcoran is participating for the first time. Welcome, Jill. Carol remembers her father. Sylvia Vardell at Poetry for Children relates a story about poetry and children. Kevin has a message for would-be writers.

The last two offerings came in last night. From Anne Shirley, we have a poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye, and from Nadine Warner, A Chill in the Air by John Frank.

I think that's all, folks. Thanks so much for all your contributions. I'll be spending the weekend savoring them.

10 comments:

Erin said...

thanks for the roundup! here's my contribution: http://misserinmarie.blogspot.com/2008/11/bluebeard.html

Julie said...

You've done a fantastic job on the roundup, Yat-Yee - very thoughtfully organized. Thanks1

Anonymous said...

Yes, beautiful job with the round-up -- and I really enjoyed your discussion of Michael Rosen.

Yat-Yee said...

Thanks for the kind words, Julie and Janet. All this html-ing has given me an intense morning! But the poetry is definitely worth it.

Unknown said...

Thank you Yat-Yee for the round-up.
I published my first Poetry Friday post today here:
http://jillcorcoran.blogspot.com/2008/11/poetry-in-classroom-poetry-to-read.html

Sylvia Vardell said...

Thanks for rounding up-- and sharing those beautiful excerpts from Michael Rosen. I'm late, but I'm in with a story about using poetry with kids in Maine.
Sylvia

http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Hello, I'm in today with a message to those who shouldn't be writers:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=18021335&blogID=449024236

Anonymous said...

Yat-Yee! This is Mark Timmerman and I hope you remember the great piano lessons we had when I was little back in West Lafayette! You were a great influence on my musical career. I decided to google search you today and was pleased and surprised to find you a writer now-a-days. I am actually now a violinist and am about to get ready for the college/conservatory search! My family says hi and we hope to see you sometime!

P.S. I accidentally posted this same comment on a thing you had September 19, sorry!

P.S.S. my email is mmarktimmerman@aol.com, my parents and I would love to know how you are doing!

Yat-Yee said...

Mark! The little kid who took piano lessons so that he could play drums! Good to hear from you. I'm sending you an email.

Marinela Reka said...

Thanks for sharing this blog!

"Poetry is a great way of talking about things that matter to you"!

Or

Poems are us!

Where else can I express my self?
Moan about what happened to me
I think there is no place other than
In poems and literacy

All I need is a pen and paper
And write my feelings with no fuss
This is why poems are me
And if you feel the same, then poems are us!