Hello Poets,
Except for our friends in the Southern Hemisphere...we are sweating away in my part of the world. I'm grateful that it's not as extreme for me as friends in the UK or the midwest USA. How are you all holding up?
This past week instances of poetry found me. I love it when that happens!
The poetry offered felt like it was delivered to me personally. A little prescription for my ears and brain that help me understand the world.
The first instance was a four-and-a-half-minute spot on the CBS Sunday Morning Show.
Like a majority of Americans, I am unfamiliar with military life, soldiering, and war. Yet, war has come for us these days--at least on three continents. I'm grateful to John Duffy for using poetry to paint pictures of even what is terrible.
The second instance was when listening to this 24-minute Scholastic podcast (free)
Representative John Lewis passed away just over a year ago. He too was in combat with a different enemy and different wounds from survival. One of the great stories of his life was the friendship he formed with young Tybre Faw who read Lewis' favorite poem, Invictus, at his friend's funeral. Author Andrea Davis Pinkney captured that friendship in a picture book that I am going to make sure my students have access to.
I'm reminded of the phrase, "such a time as this." Sometimes we make history and sometimes history makes us. In either case, those that can distill the experience into understanding for others are heroes. I am grateful for poetry that aims to prevent us from making mistakes of the past.
This past week, Ethical ELA had some awesome poetry prompts that I will be taking to my lesson planning time. This Japanese form, introduced by poet-teacher Mo Daley, inspired the newest poem on Star's padlet.
I hope you have a great week and poetry finds you.
Thank you, A(nother) Year of Reading, for hosting this week's round-up!
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