Inspired by Molly H.

Hello Poets, Hello Friday!

Thank you, Jone for hosting our round-up this week at her blog, Deo Writer: Musings to Spark the Spirit. I can say that there is not a time that I have visited her blog or received a poetry gift from her that my spirit hasn't been sparked and soothed. Please stop by to see her writing and exquisite photos.

I love photos shared by Molly Hogan in her blogs and social media. The photo below really spoke a story to me. Thanks, Molly!

Photo by Molly Hogan

Again

Spiders
dismantle
Summer echoes.
Their long handled brooms
push piles of debris
and bits of hay.
The fried dough stand 
is already down.
Tilt-a-whirls trussed-up
on tractor trailers cross
the bridge heading south.
A confetti of squeals
and screams
laughter and dizziness
linger this foggy morning--
        --droplets on
late blooming asters. 

A ferris wheel web

still holds
a bit of breeze
from above the crowd
rounding us up again
down again
back again
into Fall.

(c) Linda Mitchell

Connections 9/21/18

Hellllloooooooo Friday and the poetry you celebrate.

This week's host is Erin. Please visit and welcome her with thanks at her blog, The Water's Edge  

Truth: Some weeks I have no idea what  to post for Poetry Friday. Then, there's a week, like this past week, when I'm tripping over poetry connections.  

Our US Library of Congress (with a chic new logo) 

https://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/

hosts Poetry 180  for high school students -- and the rest of us too.

A poem of  Ron Koertge's ' settled on me.  

Do You Have Any Advice for Those of Us Just Starting Out?
By Ron Koertge

Give up sitting dutifully at your desk. Leave
your house or apartment. Go out into the world.

Its alright to carry a notebook but a cheap
one is best, with pages the color of weak tea
and on the front a kitten or a space ship.

read the rest here

Last Poetry Friday Amy Ludwig Vanderwater's  message seemed to piggyback on Koetge's:

And remember this too: the more interesting things you do, the more you will have to write about.  I am not referring to fancy things, but rather a variety of things.  Today I may sit outside for a few moments and watch ants walk around. Or maybe I will draw the pictures up in the sky, wondering if anyone else sees the same penguin I see.  What I do affects what I write.  And so it is for you.

So do stuff.  And when you do, you'll have more boats and ants and clouds to write about later.


Jane Yolen's daily poem waiting for me in my inbox seemed related...and a blessing. She knows I've done stuff and prays that the words flow right. These three poems made me connected, yeah...I can go do life and write.

Writer to Writer: A Prayer

May the words flow,
the right ones.
May the arc rise
like the moon.


May the story ring
like Great Tom’s toll.
May the words in the mouth
sing the child.


May the telling have the lift
of challah in the stove.
May your readers find
on every page a trail of love.


May your imagination
And its wonders never fail.
May the book become eternity’s
bedtime tale.
©2018 Jane Yolen all rights reserved

Connections

Answering a Call for Octopus Poem

Happy mid-September Poetry Friday!

It seems impossible that we've reached this date on the calendar. I can hardly keep up. Dearest poet Amy Ludwig Van Derwater is hosting this week's round-up at her amazing blog, The Poem Farm. Thank you, Amy! I hope you will enjoy many offerings of poetry there.

I'm answering the call for Octopus poems that Dear Agnes: Postcards from an Octopus (Millbrook, 2018) by Irene Latham has inspired. See Irene's Desperately Seeking Octopus Poems blog of last week.

By the way, Agnes is getting good press already. Hooray! See the Kirkus review.

Did you know that the third week in June is Cephalopod Week? 

I didn't either!

Fortunately, for us, Science Friday on NPR does....complete with octopus haiku. Who knew? I may have to celebrate every year, now!

Celebrate Cephalopods

I didn’t know, did you?

Cephalopod Week

is third week of June

a date octopuses keep

With backward swims

scouting out prey

All eight of their limbs

hunt festive entrées

An Octopus parties alone

they’re really quite shy

If you find one at  home

she’ll squirt you with dye

Her masquerade ink

An off-putting greeting
Hiding from you

is all she’s needing

If you choose to observe

cephalopod week this June

show some reserve

party quietly alone...in your room

© Linda Mitchell

Friends Meet Friends at the National Book Festival

Hello Poetry Friday,

It's so lovely to see you. Mwah!

Carol is hosting the round-up at Beyond Literacy.  Thank you, Carol!

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting up with not just one but TWO poetry friends at The National Book Festival. It was an especially good time because the three of us meet virtually for critique but had never met in person before.

Left/Center Brian Selznick presents new H.P. cover art. Right Meg Medina launches Merci Suarez Changes Gears

And, we got to celebrate Margaret's new book Bayou Song (UL Press 2018) as a Children's Choice book representing Louisiana.

As you might imagine, we found poetry celebrated EVERYWHERE!

Poetry friends 

Meet between words
on celebration pages 

connected
kindred spirits
need no introduction

Poetry friends
recognize each other
immediately.

Emotions, read
shared, written, spoken.

Curiosity and knowing
walk side by side
easy breezy—

poetry friends.

(and in reverse)

Poetry Friends

Easy breezy--
walk side by side.
Curiosity and knowing
shared, written, spoken
emotions read
immediately

Recognize each other
Poetry Friends
need no introduction
kindred spirits
connected
on celebrated pages--
meet between words.

Poetry Friends.

(c) Linda Mitchell

Knowing Poetry Friends is one of my greatest joys. I'm so glad I got to see two at the National Book Festival. I would so love a Poetry Friday Friends Conference on the East Coast sometime. Who can make that happen for us?