“Japanese Tree Frogs”

April 20, 2016April 20, 2016 Catherine Flynn3 Comments

At the Highlights Foundation Spring Poetry Retreat last April, Rebecca Kai Dotlich recommended A Celebration of Bees: Helping Children to Write Poetry, by Barbara Juster Esbensen. Esbensen, who passed away in 1996, was an NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children winner. (You can learn more about Barbara here, part of Rene LaTullipe’s “Spotlight on NCTE Poets” series.)

“Words are the beginning,” Esbensen tells us, of “the writer’s never ending but highly interesting task of discovering exactly the right word for this feeling, that sound, a movement, a color.” She goes on to describe beginning her work with children by asking them to “find some words” to, in the words of Sherwood Anderson, “throw into a box and shake.”

Having done this with students countless times, I couldn’t remember when I had last just played with words this way. So I got a marker and let loose. I had a photograph I’d found online in mind when I created my word splash, but when I went to find the photo, I found this instead:

I gasped when I saw it and knew this was the photo I had to write a poem about.

“Japanese Tree Frogs”

Under a bower
of glistening green lanterns,
tree frogs trill
their exuberant refrain,
welcoming the soaking spring.

Slice of Life: Alive Below Crystal

April 19, 2016April 19, 2016 Catherine Flynn8 Comments

It is National Park Week, and this year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. (Thank you to Tricia Stohr-Hunt, aka Miss Rumphius, for the heads up on this.)

My family and I are fortunate enough to have rafted down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon twice. This is an incredible experience, one that leaves you with a deep appreciation for the grandeur of the canyon and the power of nature.

The course of the river is punctuated by powerful rapids, but there are two that stick out in my mind. One is Lava Falls, which I’ve written about here. The other is Crystal, which was formed, literally, overnight.

“In December 1966 a storm unlike any witnessed before, dropped over 14 inches of rain in some places along the north rim. All this water sent debris flows crashing down side canyons [including Crystal Canyon]. When the storm had passed, the debris fan constricted the Colorado to less than a quarter of its original width, and a large boulder at the top created one of the largest holes on the river”

From “Nature, History, and Culture of the Grand Canyon: Crystal Rapid”

Brian in Crystal Rapid, August, 2007 — Brian in what I think is Crystal Rapid, August, 2007

Alive Below Crystal

Skirt the wave
at the edge of the hole,
kiss its lip with your paddle,
close enough to feel its power,
distant enough to avoid being sucked in,
overwhelmed by her might.

In the course of one life,
how often do these upheavals
occur?
The path is altered,
a chasm opens.
Never fully healed,
full of fissures that can crack
without warning,
bringing us to our knees.

Alive below Crystal,
our view forever transformed.
We’ve gazed into the face
of the cataclysm
and survived.

Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, Beth, Kathleen, and Deb 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.

A Fibonacci Poem

April 18, 2016April 18, 2016 Catherine Flynn6 Comments

National Poetry Month is rushing by, and although I’ve been sharing poems with students and created some book spine poems, I haven’t been able to keep up with writing a poem a day. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been collecting ideas and inspiration from all the amazing poetry projects going on in the Kitlitosphere. (Jama Rattigan has collected information and links to this poetry-palooza here.

Earlier this month, I found this lovely image on Twitter:

Cfob1GmUIAA3Xuu — “Gillyflower, Mayfly, Fly, and Snail” Artist/Maker: Joris Hoefnagel (Flemish / Hungarian, 1542 – 1600) and Georg Bocskay (Hungarian, died 1575), Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.

I knew right away I wanted to write a poem about that snail and flower. and started drafting a few ideas. I put it aside for some other ideas, but thought of it again when I read my friend Margaret Simon’s post this morning about Fibonacci poems. Fib poems are “based on the mathematical Fibonacci sequence which begins with 1,1,2,3,5,8.” What form could more fitting for a poem about a snail?

Snail
creeps
along
a garden
path, hunting for grub,
swirls of cream and plum guard her back.
Drowsy gillyflower leans down to whisper good night.

Revision: Finding the Best Words

April 17, 2016April 17, 2016 Catherine Flynn4 Comments

By Herkulaneischer Meister via Wikimedia Commons

“Poetry: The best words in the best order”
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge ~

Many writers rank revision right up there with root canals and colonoscopies, especially beginning writers. They’ve struggled to get their words down and now you’re asking them to change them?!? Or maybe they’ve hit upon a rhyme they think is perfect. Until you ask them what it means. Then they have to admit they really don’t know, but they like the way it sounds.

The magic of word processing has made the labor of revision much less overwhelming, but still it’s often hard for writers to let go of their words. (“Kill your darlings,” William Faulkner advised.)

This week I was working with a fifth grade student on a poem that had promise. His opening line had a nice rhythm and the second line had an effective repetition. Then came two lines he was really proud of. They rhymed, but he achieved that rhyme through weak, almost meaningless word choice that would stop readers in their tracks.

I began our conversation by reminding him that poems don’t have to rhyme. We had read many poems over the past week, immersing ourselves in persona poems and poems of address. A few rhymed, but most didn’t. Then I asked him to explain the lines to me, hoping he’d use some more effective vocabulary in his explanation. We spent a few minutes talking about what people often say when they lose things. (His poem was about an explorer searching for, but never finding, gold.) I asked him how he thought the explorer felt after expending all that time and energy for nothing.

Feeling like the explorer, I was getting frustrated trying to uncover a nugget of anything that made sense, but still coming up empty-handed. I tried hard not to put words in his mouth, but it was clear he didn’t have the vocabulary to say what he wanted to say. In the end, with the help of a thesaurus and a rhyming dictionary, he found the words he was looking for, even though I still had to explain some of the meanings to him. Was that cheating? I hope not. Because I think he learned some valuable lessons in the process. Now he has a better understanding of the words “sorrow” and “woe.” More importantly, he recognized how much better his poem sounded after making changes. His hard work of revision paid off.

What lessons were there for me in this whole process? I considered flat out banning rhymes in our next round of poems, but that limits student choice, doesn’t it? Maybe a better approach would be to study poems with rhyme more closely to discover what makes them work. And as always, it comes down to more writing. Because the more we write, the better the chance we’ll find the best word, and have the skills to put them in the best order.

Every Sunday, Margaret Simon of Reflections on the Teche invites teachers and writers to reflect on digital literacy, teaching, and writing. Please visit her there to read more about revision.

Poetry Friday: Laughter Across the Years

April 7, 2016April 10, 2016 Catherine Flynn17 Comments

Hats off to all of you who’ve been writing a poem each day in celebration of National Poetry Month. I have been working on a couple of long-term projects that have made it impossible to keep up with all the inspiring projects people have going. I admire your fortitude and creativity.

Today’s poem was initially inspired by Mary Lee Hahn‘s project, Bygones. When I started writing, though, I soon saw how this could work for Marilyn Singer’s April ditty challenge at Michelle Heidenrich Barnes’s blog to write a “poem inspired by the word ‘echo.'”

Laughter from two little boys
echoes across the years:

On your first set of wheels
you pedal down the garden path,
feet pumping
hands gripping
heart soaring

A glint of mischief in your eyes
An impish grin across your face

your heart soaring
hands gripping
feet pumping
as you pedal down the garden path
on your first set of wheels

your laughter echoing across the years.

Please be sure to visit Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Another Small Object Poem

April 3, 2016April 3, 2016 Catherine Flynn3 Comments

Early in March, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater challenged the readers of Today’s Little Ditty, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes’s blog, to write a poem about a small object. I immediately thought of this little hen that had sat on my grandmother’s what-not for years.

Then I tried to write a poem about it. That turned out not to be so easy. Throughout the month I wrote other small object poems, but kept thinking about this one. This morning I finally wrestled it into something I’m mostly satisfied with. In the spirit of all the poets who are writing a poem a day this month, I’m sharing draft number twenty-one.

Unlike the biddies nesting
out in our chicken coop,
you roost upon a bed of glass
instead of sweet, fresh hay.

You’re always poised and calm,
never cluck-cluck-clucking
or ruff-ruff-ruffling
your milky white feathers
when I lift you off your nest.

For it isn’t speckled eggs
you’re keeping safe and warm.
The eggs I find rainbow-hued.
You’re hatching jelly beans!

These pressed glass hens were also made of white milk glass, so I took some poetic license with my model so the surprise made more sense.

My friend Margaret Simon challenged me to write a poem each day in April with her. She has written and shared her poems at her blog, Reflections on the Teche. Be sure to visit her to read her inspiring words.

Poetry Friday: A Day Full of Poetry

April 1, 2016April 1, 2016 Catherine Flynn8 Comments

“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an ‘men
Gang aft agley”
~ Robert Burns ~

I started working on the poem I planned to share today on Monday. I drafted two versions and played with them both throughout the week. I recorded different lines on my phone on the way to work. But when I sat down last night, nothing worked. The poem just wouldn’t come together and it’s still a muddled mess.

My day was filled with poetry, though. I shared Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s poem, “Wonder,” with teachers at our Language Arts Committee meeting this morning:

“Wonder”

Water the wonder
that lives in your brain.

Water your wonder
with questions like rain.

Read the rest of the poem, and more about Amy’s 2016 poetry project, here.

Then the principal and I read this Douglas Florian poem during morning announcements:

Find this poem and more poetry ideas in Penguin's Guide to Poetry in the Classroom here. — Find this poem and more poetry ideas in *Penguin’s Guide to Poetry in the Classroom* here.

I shared many poems with my students throughout the day, but didn’t have a minute to think about my own poem. By the time I left work, my prime writing hours were long gone. The weather was writing it’s own poem, though. Dark gray clouds piled up in the northwest, while the sky was still bright blue in to the south. Impatient rain drops were falling and the wind was picking up. It was a gorgeous sight that made me think of this Emily Dickinson poem:

“A Drop fell on the Apple Tree” (794)

A Drop fell on the Apple Tree –
Another – on the Roof –
A Half a Dozen kissed the Eaves –
And made the Gables laugh –

A few went out to help the Brook
That went to help the Sea –
Myself Conjectured were they Pearls –
What Necklaces could be –

The Dust replaced, in Hoisted Roads –
The Birds jocoser sung –
The Sunshine threw his Hat away –
The Bushes – spangles flung –

The Breezes brought dejected Lutes –
And bathed them in the Glee –
The Orient showed a single Flag,
And signed the fête away –

Emily Dickinson

Please be sure to visit Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at her lovely blog, The Poem Farm, for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Slice of Life: Playing with Haiku

March 29, 2016March 29, 2016 Catherine Flynn6 Comments

“Attentiveness is your main tool in life.”
~ Jim Harrison ~

There is a kaleidoscope sitting on my desk this afternoon. When I saw it in the store, it reminded me of one my grandmother had at her house when I was little. So I bought it. I also thought my nephews would have fun with it when they visit.

When I got it home, I held it up to the light to watch the colorful patterns unfold. The plastic beads reminded me of snowflakes, but because they’re colorful, they also reminded me of flowers. This seemed like the spark of a poem to me.

I wrote several drafts, but wasn’t happy with them. Sometimes when I’m stuck, I read a few poems or flip through books about writing to clarify my thoughts. In her book Writing Toward Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way (Heinemann, 1995), Georgia Heard writes “the beauty of haiku is its brevity; it teaches you to use words more clearly and truthfully.

Here is my attempt to “spin [my] observations…as quickly and accurately as possible.”

Colorful snowflakes
blossom like flowers inside
my kaleidoscope.

This does capture my impression pretty accurately. Haiku isn’t my favorite form, but once I start thinking about them, they pop into my head. Here are a few more:

White birds swoop and swerve
over the river at dawn,
eyes peeled for a meal.

Warmed by bright sunshine
lilac buds grow fat and green,
chasing gray away.

By photo taken by H. Pellikka (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons — By photo taken by H. Pellikka (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

I originally wrote this final haiku two years ago, but I wanted to share it again:

Slices of life:
Pieces of hearts on the page.
Stories connect us.

Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, Beth, Kathleen, and Deb for this space for teachers and others to share their stories each Tuesday throughout the year and every day during the month of March. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.

Slice of Life: Poetry Collections I Love

March 27, 2016March 27, 2016 Catherine Flynn7 Comments

“Poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, everywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings.”
United Nations website
World Poetry Day announcement

Last week I shared a list of my favorite read-alouds. I realized, though, that there was no poetry on that list! Because poetry is meant to be read aloud, and because National Poetry Month is right around the corner, I decided poetry deserved its own list.

Early in my teaching career, my poetry collection consisted of Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends, Jack Prelutsky’s The New Kid on the Block, and The Random House Book of Poetry. Thanks to the Scholastic book order, my collection started expanding to include collections by individual poets. My choices tended toward poetry about animals and nature, and Kristine O’Connell George and Marilyn Singer quickly became favorites.

Today my poetry collection takes up two long shelves in my bookcase. Here are a few of my favorites, both old and new.

Edited anthologies with selections by many poets:

Piping Down the Valleys Wild, edited by Nancy Larrick
Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young, edited by Jack Prelutsky
National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry, edited by J. Patrick Lewis
National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry, edited by J. Patrick Lewis
Another Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by More NCTE Award Winning Poets, edited by Beatrice Cullinan & Deborah Wooten
Knock at a Star: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry, edited by X.J. Kennedy
A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms, edited by Paul B. Janeczko
The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination, edited by Mary Ann Hoberman
A Pet for Me: Poems, edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins (any collection edited by Hopkins is a treasure; Don’t miss Renée LaTulippe’s wonderful spotlight on him here.)
Any of the Poetry Friday Anthologies, edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong

Collections by individual poets:

A Writing Kind of Day, by Ralph Fletcher
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, by Paul Fleischman
Hailstones and Halibut Bones, by Mary O’Neill
A Stick is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play, by Marilyn Singer (Marilyn’s collections of reversos are also not to be missed!)
A Maze Me: Poems for Girls, by Naomi Shihab Nye
An Egret’s Day, by Jane Yolen
In the Spin of Things: Poetry of Motion, by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You, by Mary Ann Hoberman (any book in this series)
Everything is a Poem: The Best of J. Patrick Lewis, by J. Patrick Lewis
Handsprings, by Douglas Florian
When the Sun Shines of Antarctica, by Irene Latham

This list just scratches the surface of the multitudes of wonderful poetry collections available from these poets and more. My 2015 Picture Book 10 for 10 post features more of my favorites.

Books for teachers and students about poetry:

Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School, by Georgia Heard
For the Good of the Sun and the Earth: Teaching Poetry, by Georgia Heard
Poetry Matters, by Ralph Fletcher
Seeing the Blue Between: Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets, edited by Paul B. Janeczko
Pass the Poetry, Please!, by Lee Bennett Hopkins

There are also many websites that feature poets, poetry, and ideas for teaching poetry. A Year of Reading, Mary Lee Hahn and Franki Sibberson’s must-read blog, lists links to the weekly Poetry Friday Roundup. This is a great place to begin learning more about all things poetic.

(Edited to add) Here’s another great resource from Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s top-notch blog, The Poem Farm: NCTE’s 2016 Notable Poetry List

What are your favorite poetry collections and resources?

Another Poetry Friday Slice of Life: A Galaxy of Seed Pods

March 25, 2016 Catherine Flynn18 Comments

“The world will freely offer itself to you unasked. It has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”
~ Franz Kafka ~

On Monday, I shared images and ideas I had gathered during a walk. Today I’m sharing a poem inspired by one of the sights nature offered to me.

A galaxy of seed pods,
barbed, earthy brown orbs,
shiver in the morning breeze.

In my notebook, I have two pages of drafts and lists of words about these sweet gum seed pods. Nothing was working until I asked myself what it was about this tree caught my attention in the first place. Although you can’t tell from the photo, it was quite breezy and these little balls were dancing in the wind. I immediately thought they looked like little suns, even though the color was wrong. Most of the drafts were much longer, but when I came back to them to write this post, these lines stood out. They captured the essence of that tree at that moment.

Reading to the Core

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Category: Poetry

“Japanese Tree Frogs”

Slice of Life: Alive Below Crystal

A Fibonacci Poem

Revision: Finding the Best Words

Poetry Friday: Laughter Across the Years

Another Small Object Poem

Poetry Friday: A Day Full of Poetry

Slice of Life: Playing with Haiku

Slice of Life: Poetry Collections I Love

Another Poetry Friday Slice of Life: A Galaxy of Seed Pods