Thursday, March 14, 2024

March Mash-up

Hello Poets,

There's one week before my spring break. Hooray!

I was fresh out of ideas for Poetry Friday. So, this mash-up feels like a bit of a cheat. But, I recommend creating mash-ups (formerly known as cento), though, for times when one's gray matter isn't quite up to the task of creating fabulous original thought.

Here's how to mash up: Find very different poems. I like nursery rhymes and classic poems. Then, mash them up together any way that strikes your fancy. Don't forget to give credit to the original authors. 

Here's an example of a mash-up between Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay and a version of I See the Moon as sung by Meredith Wilson:

March Mash-up


Nature’s first green is gold,

   I see the moon and the moon sees me,
Her hardest hue to hold.

  Shining through the branches of the old oak tree.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

   Oh, let the light that shines on me,

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

  Shine on the ones I love.
So Eden sank to grief,
  Over the mountains, over the sea,

So dawn goes down to day.
  Back where my heart is longing to be. Nothing gold can stay.

  Oh, let the light that shines on me,
Shine on the ones I love.


There's a new poem on World's padlet. https://padlet.com/mitchellhubeimom/2024-world-ivf6ca0h9vp0flmq/wish/2918722436


Thank you, Tanita Davis, for hosting this week's round-up!

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Gathering & Women's History Inspiration

Friends,

This post is a two-fer...and no one is more surprised than me.

Ramona is hosting Spiritual Journey today Laura Purdie Salas is hosting Poetry Friday. This post is for both. 

When Ramona shared her OLW, Gathering, as a prompt. I smiled. I love this word. It's welcoming and warm. I didn't think I had anything to write about...but then...I did.

This weekend, I'll gather with school librarians at a regional conference in my area. We'll swap ideas and talk over issues that we deal with on a day-to-day basis. I gain so much camaraderie and fellowship from these gatherings. 

My most local group that is part of the larger region is hosting a craft boutique at the conference. We will accept donations toward a scholarship in memory of our late friend, Beth. Beth was an outstanding school librarian who inspired us regularly before she passed away several years ago. I miss her spunk and laugh every time we, her librarian friends, gather. 



During the pandemic lockdown I found myself weeding...cleaning out closets, weeding my school library, spending time organizing. Simultaneously I gathered old and pretty paper from discarded books to make crafts.



I've had lots of fits and crafting starts...and hours watching YouTube. But, being in my craft area, gathering supplies to make something for someone else fills my soul with joy. I find the activity of making soothing, healing even. I hope someone picks up a pretty paper and takes it home.



It's Women's History Month! I love finding stories of women who made our world a better place but may not be well known to us.

'Fog Bank' by Emmi Whitehorsehaiku by Linda M.


Emmi Whitehorse is an artist whose work is featured in the National Gallery of Art's Artist Spotlight, 10 Contemporary Women Artists to Know. I thought her work, Fog Bank, fit this haiku.

The World Poem Padlet has gained a new entry. Gosh, I love to see poems pile up!

Thank you, Laura Purdie Salas for hosting the round-up this week. I'll get around to reading and commenting on posts after the conference.




Thursday, February 29, 2024

What the Letter Said

Hello March Poets,

Our Inkling challenge comes from Margaret this month:

Persona Poem: A persona poem has a specific audience, conveys a message, is written in the voice of another person, place, or thing, and uses direct address.  Sample poem, “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes.

I dug into my photos from my recent trip to Germany for inspiration. 




The portrait's description of the artist, date, and details from a quick Google search gave me some rich material to work with.



What the Letter Says

You hold me light

these words penned by Ernestine

      My dear Angelika

Greatest gift of your parents,
this sister.

      You are now 15 years old.
      I have

Long now living a different life, another world.

      copied this for you from
      Klopstock:
As if time or distance
would grow between you.

      Beautiful is, Mother
      Nature’s splendor of your invention

As if her lifeforce doesn’t
flutter in lines of ink

      scattered in the corridors; more
      beautiful happy face

Her embrace falling,
fell from my pages         that thinks the great thought

      of your creation again!
into your gaze,
and tender embrace.
  Your sister, Ernestine
  Hamburg 1822


Linda Mitchell 3/1/24


Inkling responses to the prompt:

Margaret Catherine

Molly

Heidi

Mary Lee



Week 9 World Poem is on the padlet


Thank you Linda Baie at Teacher Dance for hosting our weekly round-up. Your heart-felt post about turmoil in the world and choice is a lovely leap day post.

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Epistolary Poem

Hello Poets,

I'm sorry that I'm not sorry to see February leave...maybe it's a good topic for a poem? What do you think?


Dear February,


Before March arrives,
I’m saying goodbye.

This isn’t a surprise.
We both know
our relationship--
has run its course.
Though we romanced
through those
raw January weeks,

I’ve seen you
looking more
and more at Snowdrops
popping up around the mailbox.

My heart-shaped candy box
is empty.
There's no more champagne.
We had a great run.
Valentine’s Day,
Lunar New Year.

Mardi Gras
Red and gold sparkles
                                for days.

Let’s not part
with bitterness.
We’re adults.
Maybe next year
we’ll catch up
over drinks.
Take care,
I wish you all the best.


Linda


There's a new WORLD poem up on the padlet. Thanks so much to Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for hosting our round-up this weekend.


Friedman, Leo, and Pearley B Shelton. The Broken Heart. [Chicago: North American Music Company, 1919] Notated Music. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2013563438/>.


Thursday, February 15, 2024

Mardi Gras Dragon

Hello Poets,

I just loved this photo from Margaret Simon's post, 'The Photo Wants to be a Poem' on Wednesday.

photo. Margaret Simon 

I wrote a draft...but then, I didn't like it. Whenever that happens, I treat the first draft like it's an exercise. 

I try to re-write the poem in a few different forms to see if anything fresh surfaces for me.

        dragon heat sweep sweeps
        with this late-night revelry
        toss mardi gras beads 

                              Linda Mitchell


My go-to exercises always include haiku and triolet. I've recently added Kwansaba and Elfchen. These short forms give me constraints but a short commitment to the page. They help me revise.


Electric

sequined wings

pink and green

Fire-breathing bead queen

Dragon

Linda Mitchell



What revision strategies do you recommend?

This dragon made an appearance on World's padlet too.

Guess who's hosting our weekly round-up? It's Margaret at Reflections on the Teche. Thanks, friend.


Friday, February 9, 2024

Animals at Play

Hello Poets!

I'm having fun with Laura Shovan's 12th Annual February Poetry Project. This poem came out of this week's prompt from Heather Meloche. 

Do you know animals that play?

Linda Mitchell 2/9/24

There's a new poem on World's padlet. The poem also came from this week's February Project writing.

Many thanks to our friend Carol who is hosting this week's poetry round-up at Beyond Literacy. 


Saturday, February 3, 2024

Love is...

I really didn't think I'd post this month for SJT. Life has kept me busy with a lot of details and less time than necessary to complete any of them.

One of those details was actually a myriad of smaller details. My school obtained a $5,000 grant for STEAM maker stations. My library partner and I seized the chance to create stations that featured high-quality nonfiction reading.

First, we asked teachers of science and math what concepts needed review and/or enrichment. Then, we planned out six stations that involved student creativity and thinking about those topics.

It's been busy, busy, busy rolling stations out to students this week as the kids love them! My partner and I have learned at least as much as our students in what to do and not to do and what supervision is needed where at what crucial moments. 

I find that this station work teaches so much more than STEAM. We are explicitly teaching behavior norms, language norms, and thinking norms. I've been coming home pretty pooped each day. But, on balance, I think more good learning has occurred than not. 

Yesterday, I sat with students at the 'Moonsand Mitosis' station. After we scooped moon sand on our trays and I showed them how to form a model of a stage of mitosis we just played and talked.

I found that students were longing to talk to an adult about life. My Tite 1 school is populated mainly by global majority of immigrants and children of immigrants. Time speaking about various topics has value.

I enjoyed listening to a group of students compare schools in another country to what they were experiencing here. Even though I heard some stories of tremendous challenges, I remembered what a friend and social worker taught me to ask, 'What do you miss?'

Kids from even the toughest, roughest places could remember the good things that they miss from home. This is love...remembering, speaking it, sharing it with someone new.

Love can be big. And, love can be small. Either way, it reaches all around the world.


Sending you love too! Linda M.