This week I read The Comet Seekers, by Helen Sedgwick, a beautiful, lyrical novel about two seekers whose paths crisscross throughout the book. Amazingly (coincidentally?), there is a comet in our neck of the galaxy this month. Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková may be visible with a telescope or binoculars tomorrow evening. How could I not write a haiku about a comet today?
comet seekers scan
every corner of the sky
searching for marvels
![Comet detail of Bayeux Tapestry [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://readingtothecore.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/comete_tapisserie_bayeux.jpg?w=188&h=203)
Mary Lee Hahn’s #haikuforhealing project has grown on me, and I find myself composing haiku in my head as I’m driving, doing the dishes, or folding laundry. Yesterday as I headed out for one last round of Christmas shopping, flocks of geese flew overhead, inspiring today’s haiku.
patchwork clouds
stitched with vees of honking geese
hurrying homeward
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Wishing you all the happiest of holidays and a new year filled with love and joy!
Please be sure to visit Buffy Silverman at Buffy’s Blog for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Mary Lee Hahn‘s #haikuforhealing has become addictive, and Saturday’s snow scattered commonplace marvels everywhere.
tattered cobweb
now a crystal tapestry
transformed by winter’s kiss
a snowy thicket
strewn with breathing boulders:
deer hunker down
a mighty hunter,
sidelined by an icy gale,
dreams of chasing mice
Thank you to Stacey, Dana, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lisa for creating this community and providing 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. Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah, everyone!
“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”
~ Henry David Thoreau ~
Deep in the woods behind our house is a pond where our boys fished in the spring, searched for turtles and snakes in the summer and fall, and ice skated in the winter. As they grew older, they spent less time in the woods and at the pond, and the path that led to it became overgrown and impassable.
Earlier this fall, my husband cleared the path and the pond was accessible to us again. I spent some time there a few weeks ago, soaking up the peacefulness of the woods. It was a perfect spot to find “commonplace marvels” and to be inspired for Mary Lee’s #haikuforhealing.
cloudshadows float across
the pond’s unruffled surface:
sky mirror
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Please be sure to visit Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
I had such good intentions for writing a slice today. I started writing a post last night that had promise. I was sure I’d have time to work on it during lunch today. No such luck. Now I’m heading out to see George Takei’s Broadway show, ALLEGIANCE, at our local movie theater. I have been trying to keep up with Mary Lee Hahn‘s #haikuforhealing this month, so here are a few of my favorites from the past week.
blue jays perch in trees
ready to launch an attack
on sunflower seeds
bite-sized chocolate orbs
hide a surprise inside:
memories of you
loops of spun softness
slip off quicksilver needles
cozy hat blossoms
Thank you to Stacey, Dana, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lisa for creating this community and providing 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.
silver-suited Glenn
steered Friendship Seven toward the stars;
our dreams rode along
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
![By NASA/photographer unknown (Great Images in NASA Description) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://readingtothecore.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/john_glenn_entering_friendship_7_-_gpn-2000-000652.jpg?w=417&h=286)
The arrival of a new baby brings joy and always inspires me to break out my knitting needles. So it was this past weekend when my niece and her husband welcomed their third child, Vera. As I was putting the finishing touches on a frilly hat, I began thinking about picture books that spread the happiness a hand-knit gift brings.
Shall I Knit You a Hat (Macmillan, 2004) by Kate Klise and illustrated by M. Sarah Klise begins with Mother Rabbit hearing the news of “a blizzard moving this way.” She immediately knits a hat to keep Little Rabbit’s ears warm. Kind-hearted Little Rabbit loves his hat so much he asks Mother Rabbit to make hats for all their friends.
The theme of spreading love and warmth through hand-knitted hats is extended to sweaters for all, including animals, houses, and trees, in Mac Barnett’s Extra Yarn (Blazer + Bray, 2012). Hidden in the simplicity of this Caldecott Honor book, illustrated by Jon Klassen, are deep ideas about generosity and the true worth of a loving spirit.
Much to the dismay of his captain, Ned, the Knitting Pirate, by Diana Murray and illustrated by Leslie Lammle (Macmillan, 2016), loves to knit. But when an sea monster attacks their ship, Ned’s hand-knit “blanket with the jolly roger crest” comforts the angry beast and saves the day.
These books share a sense of love and comfort that we sorely need right now. They are perfect read-alouds for inspiring generosity in young children.
My knitting also inspired this #haikuforhealing, part of Mary Lee Hahn’s December haiku project.
loops of spun softness
slip off quicksilver needles
cozy hat blossoms
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Please be sure to visit Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers for more book recommendations.
Since Natalie Babbitt’s death at the end of October, I’ve been thinking about her lovely book, The Search for Delicious. (More about that here.) I’ve been keeping an eye out for “those commonplace marvels which [the world] spreads so carelessly before us everyday.” This morning, I noticed this “commonplace marvel” in the apple tree in my front yard:
fallen leaves reveal
robin’s hidden nest, holding
the promise of spring
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
Please be sure to visit Bridgit Magee at Wee Words for Wee Ones for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 