“The Peace of Wild Things”
by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the lease sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things…
Read the rest of the poem here
![By Dcordero7965 at English Wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://readingtothecore.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/blue_heron.jpg?w=445&h=319)
My sister’s dog, Lily, loves chasing balls. During a recent visit to my sister’s, Lily’s joy and exuberance were on full display as she and my brother-in-law played ball.
Black fur blurs,
a rocket zooming across the lawn.
She leaps, her quarry captured,
then tumbles to the ground.
Sphinx-like, she waits,
guarding her ball on the sun-dappled grass,
ever eager for the next round of fetch.
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Please be sure to visit Chelanne at Books 4 Learning for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
“The universe if full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.”
Eden Phillpotts
Most mornings I can be found walking along our quiet stretch of road with our dog, Lucy. Meandering may be a more accurate description. Lucy is a beagle and has to sniff everything. (You remember the Pokey Little Puppy, right?) Sometimes it takes us half-an-hour to go less than a quarter of a mile. This used to frustrate me because I. had. things. to. do! (More about that here.) But I stopped letting it bother me ages ago. The reason? I took a cue from Lucy and started really paying attention to the action unfolding all around me.
As usual, the birds were very busy this morning. These swallows greeted us as we started off, chittering “Hello!”
Then something upset this hawk, as he erupted from his perch in the pines with an ear-piercing screech.
As we moved a little farther down the road, we came across these berries. It looks like they need another day or two to ripen, then they’ll be a perfect breakfast for the birds in the neighborhood.
Goldfinches love the thistles that grow along the old stone wall at the edge of this pasture.
When we got home, more winged friends were waiting to greet us buzzing around in the hosta.
Finally, I sat down on the front step where I have a good view of this nest, which was strangely quiet this morning. The mama bird was very busy there yesterday.
Thank you, Lucy, for making me slow down and sharpen my wits to the “magical things” that are all around.
Thank you to Stacey, Dana, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lisa 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.
How can we make sense of yet another horrific act of senseless violence? Yesterday’s events in France have me in a state of despair. The light-hearted poem I had planned to share today now seems inappropriate. What to share instead?
As I walked my dog this morning, I was hyperaware of my surroundings, noticing traces of spider webs, ripening blackberries, and the cacophony of bird songs. Noticing the beauty of the world right in front of me. Somehow all this noticing reminded of me of this poem, which I wrote several years ago.
The Sand Beneath Our Feet
Sometimes in our busy lives,
we brush others aside
as carelessly as we brush
the sand off our feet
after a day at the beach.
But what if we stopped,
took a moment
for a closer look?
What wonders might be revealed to us?
The geologist, turning
her microscope to those few
grains of sand,
is rewarded with
an astonishing menagerie:
crystal jacks,
ivory sea urchins,
golden honeycombs,
swirls of pink cotton candy,
amber snails, spiraling ever inward.
Shaped by forces beyond our ken,
each one as different from the other
as you and I.
What pressures shaped you?
What winds and rains have buffeted you about?
What marvels have been forged
in the depths of your heart?
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Please be sure to visit Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
My mind and heart are overflowing with all the passion, knowledge, and energy that was shared by the colleagues I was fortunate enough to learn with and from at the International Literacy Association Conference in Boston. I’ll be reading, digesting and thinking about the sessions for weeks to come. But while the experience is still fresh in my mind, I want to share some key take aways.
“We all have a life worth writing about.” Adora Svitak
“Give your students a little piece of sky; help them soar.” Kwame Alexander
“We get better by doing the best we can” Mark Overmeyer
“Invite students to live writerly lives.” Paula Bourque
“Play opened avenues in my brain that I didn’t know existed.” Jennifer Jacobsen
“Look for the surprises in your writing…that’s where the gold of the story is hiding.” Cynthia Lord
“Let kids know our passion for reading” Penny Kittle & Kelly Gallagher
“Books provide imaginative rehearsals for the real world.” Kelly Gallagher
“Let kids know that “what they have to say matters.” Linda Rief
“We want kids to be responsive to the characters & themselves” Bob Probst
My weekend in Boston was also filled with seeing old friends and meeting online friends in real life.
If you’ve never attended a national conference, it’s an experience you’ll never forget. Thank you, ILA, for a wonderful weekend!
Thank you to Stacey, Dana, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lisa 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.
Summer. Thoughts turn to mornings of clearing away the clutter of a busy school year and lazy afternoons with a book, days at the beach, adventures near and far. But most of all, TIME to write! It’s been a slow transition for me this year, though, as I’ve been writing curriculum and taking care of other work obligations that seem to have no end. I’ve been de-cluttering like mad, but my writing has come in fits and starts and feels stale and stilted. The best remedy for this? Read poetry, of course!
So I revisited one of my favorite anthologies from the past few years, Firefly July (Candlewick Press, 2014). This entire collection, selected by Paul B. Janeczko and brilliantly illustrated by Melissa Sweet, radiates joy. On every page, poets surprise and delight with perfect images and metaphors. “A Happy Meeting”, by Joyce Sidman, is just one example.
Joyce’s poetry always gives me a jump start, and I remembered she has a new book coming out, so I went searching for more about that. As you may know, Before Morning, with illustrations by Beth Krommes, will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the fall. And although I didn’t find too much about that book, I did find this interview, from 2010, with Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
At the very bottom of the page, this treasure is waiting:
“How to Find a Poem”
by Joyce Sidman
Wake with a dream-filled head.
Stumble out into the morning,
barely aware of how the sun
is laying down strips of silver
after three days’ rain,
of how the puddles
are singing with green.
Read the rest of the poem here.
Wishing you all sweet, dream-filled summer days! Please be sure to visit Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 
