When the weather cooperates, my weekend routine includes a walk with my dear friend, Colette, of Used Books in Class. After a winter of snow, cold, and wind, we were happy to walk every day over the Easter weekend.
Our walk takes us through the fairgrounds behind the firehouse, and as we rounded a corner on Saturday morning, this unusual sight caught my eye:
Maxine Greene urged people to see the world with “wide-awake eyes.” Naomi Shihab Nye wrote that “poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes…” I always share these wise words with my students and try to follow this advice myself. So of course I had to take a picture and write a poem.
A bumper crop of used commodes
Sit in the morning sun.
And although the fair is months away,
They’re ready for some fun.
Outside the information booth,
They form a jagged line,
Looking for the exhibition tent,
Ready for a turn to shine.
Alas, no ribbons will they win;
A sad, cruel fate awaits.
Their usefulness is now long passed.
They are ushered through the gate.
Last stop: the dump.
© Catherine Flynn, 2015
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for this space for teachers and others to share their stories each Tuesday. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.
Reading to the Core 
You really created something out of nothing! Impressive poem, Catherine.
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Love the commodes ready for fun but tragically led through the gate, and of course the quote from Maxine Greene. I remember her lectures being one quotable insight after another.
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This is quite impressive – and really shows that poems “lie” around waiting to be found!
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Too much fun. I can’t help but think about those toilets as having faces, some long, some with mouths wide open in protest.
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Love the poem! So cute and fitting to the photo! Very creative!
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So clever, Catherine!
I love “A bumper crop of used commodes
Sit in the morning sun.”
That’s so NOT the bumper crops that we think of in Iowa (beans or corn)!
Love it!
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I want to try this! Take a photo…write a poem! Love what you have done here! Thank you for sharing this!
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True sign of a writer, great job!
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Marvelous rhythm, juicy topic! I hope you will share this with your students. Poetry is everywhere!
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You found a poem in the commode! Way to go, and I love the rhyme. Poems really are everywhere.
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What an unexpected sight! And impressive response. Funny and a bit sad for the abadoned lot.
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Poems are definitely hiding everywhere, even in used toilets. Love the cleverness of this poem.
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Catherine, this little gem of a poem was hiding just waiting for you to resurrect it this morning after your careful noticing. I love it because it is fresh and formed from a ken eye. I would have never thought that a graveyard of commodes would make such an interesting topic. Bravo!
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What an irresistible image! I can see why it inspired you–I’m glad you found a poem in it, and shared it with us. Love “A bumper crop of used commodes.” What an image!
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