SOL 17: Slicing Our Lives

March 5, 2017 Catherine Flynn12 Comments

This post is also part of “DigiLit Sunday,” hosted by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. This week’s topic is Slicing Our Lives. Please be sure to visit Margaret’s blog to read more Digilit Sunday contributions.

“…trust me, I’m going to take you somewhere…”
~ Colum McCann ~

I love listening to writers talk about the origins of a story or poem. So often one random, ordinary moment becomes a magical trail through time and space that leads to a breathtaking piece of writing. For some reason, these recollections reassure me. Maybe it’s because my life seems so very boring and ordinary they give me hope that, if I pay close attention, I do have things to write about.

The harder task is finding the bigger truth in the small moment. In her speech accepting the Newbery Medal for Flora & Ulysses, Kate DiCamillo explains that writers “have been given the sacred task of making hearts large through story.” No pressure, right?

These thoughts were swirling through my mind this morning as my husband and I headed to a local diner for our weekly breakfast ritual. Sunday mornings are always busy and we usually have to a wait for a booth. Everyone waits patiently, striking up conversations with strangers about how cold it is or the UConn girls basketball team’s latest win. When we’re shown to our seat, I always face the door so I can continue to people watch. It’s a diverse crowd, with people from all walks of life sitting side by side, eating a meal.

Last week I watched an extended family celebrate a little boy’s birthday. His dad was a big, gruff looking guy, but I marveled at how tender and caring he was with his son. Today, a mom and dad talked and colored with their two small children while they waited for their pancakes. The scene seemed perfectly ordinary. And yet here were two parents, probably juggling many of life’s demands, spending time with their children, paying attention to them, and letting them know through their actions how much they care about them.

When writers sit down before a blank page or screen, we hardly ever know what insights will be uncovered. Maybe there won’t be any. That’s the beauty of writing. We’ll never find those truths if we don’t look for them. And so we return to the challenge each day. Seeking the right word. Searching for the perfect phrase or sentence, we lay down our thoughts. Like a chef choosing the perfect ingredients for a recipe, we strive to shape our thinking into something worthy and nourishing. It’s our way of telling our readers how much we care about them.

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, Lisa and Lanny for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories every day in March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.

SOL 17: Becoming Smart

March 4, 2017March 4, 2017 Catherine Flynn11 Comments

“Now is the time to understand more, so we may fear less.”
Marie Curie

I was seven when I bought my first book with money I earned. My mother gave me a quarter every week for making my bed and picking my toys up each day. This precious coin always burned a hole in my pocket. I could hardly wait until our next trip to Hart’s Five and Dime.

This store was a mecca for me when I was a kid. I loved the bell that jingled when you opened the door. The air had a distinctive scent which might have been dust mingled with the comings and goings of a few shoppers. It was never crowded. The shelves were stocked with an eclectic assortment of household necessities: light bulbs, extension cords, dish towels, and soap. One aisle was devoted to yarn and needlework supplies. There was a candy aisle. And of course, a toy aisle. My sister always made a bee line for the Breyer horse models. I always went right to the books.

Near the back of the store, among rows of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, was a rack of Junior Golden Guides. These little books were almost square, about the size of a slice of bread. There was a Junior Golden Guide for what seemed to me like every imaginable subject. The first one I paid for with my hard-earned allowance was Seashells.

As soon as I got home, I raced to my room and assembled my collection of shells so I could use my prized new book to identify each specimen. I must have read that book a hundred times. Eventually I bought other titles from the series. Cats and Coins are the two that stand out in my memory. And so my life-long book buying spree began. I go through phases when I swear I’m not going to buy another book, ever, because I’ll never read all the books I already have. But then a favorite author publishes a new novel, or a new professional book comes out that I must read.

By Jessie Willcox Smith [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

This trip down memory lane began because of a statement made by Katie Wood Ray at the New England Reading Association’s conference last spring. I have always been a huge fan of Ray’s work. Her book, Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom changed my teaching. Her words have been front and center in my thinking ever since:

“We have to make ourselves as smart as we can be about our work so
we can be articulate about our beliefs.”

There are many ways we can “make ourselves smart.” Being observant and reflective as we spend our days with children is critical. So is reading the latest research from respected leaders in education, people like Katie Wood Ray and Vicki Vinton, Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. Reading the blogs of teachers from around the country, including many of us taking part in this writing challenge, is also key. These posts give us insight into how other teachers handle and react to the problems and issues we face in our own classrooms. When we realize we are not alone in our dilemmas, when we gather ideas and suggestions from other experienced educators, we feel more empowered to deal with the challenges confronting us.

Identifying my shells in my treasured Junior Golden Guide may not have been a milestone in world history, but it laid a cornerstone for a life of trying to make myself smart, a life of seeking to understand so I can do my part to make the world a better place.

SOL 17 & Poetry Friday: Happy Birthday, Billy Collins!

March 3, 2017March 3, 2017 Catherine Flynn19 Comments

Billy Collins, former Poet Laureate of the U.S., is one of our most beloved poets. In honor of his birthday later this month, many Poetry Friday regulars are sharing their favorite Billy Collins poem.

I’ve been lucky enough to hear Mr. Collins read his poetry twice. Like his poetry, he is humble and filled with good humor. At both readings, he shared “The Lanyard.” The first time I heard him read this poem, I actually had my car keys on a lanyard my son had made at camp. Michael’s lanyard is long gone, but because of Billy Collins’s poem, I’ll never forget it.

Billy Collins at the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, August 2013

“The Lanyard”

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly–
a past where I sat a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

Read the rest of the poem here.

Edited to add: Because Heidi shared the same poem, I’m adding another poem. Since “The Lanyard” stirs up many memories, I thought “Forgetfulness” would be a fitting contrast. Enjoy!

“Forgetfulness”
by Billy Collins

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never
even heard of.

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses good-bye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraquay.

Read the rest of the poem here.

Please be sure to visit Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe for more Billy Collins and the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Thank you also to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, Lisa and Lanny for creating this community and providing this space for teachers and others to share their stories every day in March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.

SOL 17: Our Springer Spaniel

March 2, 2017March 2, 2017 Catherine Flynn8 Comments

During February, I participated in Laura Shovan’s Found Poetry Project challenge, “10 Words Found in the News.” I didn’t manage to write a poem every day, but I have drafts floating around that I may get to this month. The words that inspired this poem, smile, knitting, spaniel, power, underpants, staring, rage, drawn, magnets, and always, came from Vanessa Davis’s graphic novel, Spaniel Rage.

Our springer spaniel
used to curl up next to me on the sofa,
drawn like a magnet to my side.
I always worried her dog hair,
weaving its way into the sweaters
and blankets I was knitting, would
cause someone’s allergies
to flare and rage.

I smile now when I think of her,
staring out the window,
dreaming of chasing squirrels,
pulling underpants out of the laundry,
always making mischief.
But she always had the power
to make us laugh.
She always had the power
to melt our hearts.

SOL 17: “Something Shiny in the Rubble”

March 1, 2017March 2, 2017 Catherine Flynn8 Comments

“Sometimes fumbling is better than silence”
~ Irene Latham ~

Recently, I finally had a chance to read Kelly Barnhill’s Newbery Award winning novel, The Girl Who Drank the Moon. This gorgeously written ode to storytelling is layered and full of wisdom.

I was particularly struck by these lines:

“Every day the world shuffles and bends. Every day I find something shiny in the rubble.”

“She drew both mindlessly and mindfully.”

For me, these lines capture the essence of writing. Sometimes those shiny somethings reveal themselves only during the mindless writing, but they’re there. Keeping our eyes and minds open for them is the tricky part.

This is my fifth year participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge, and it has always been a rewarding experience. It’s also a stressful commitment. But it’s a commitment I’m willing to make. I’m looking forward to this month of writing with all of you. I’m looking forward to discovering the shiny things hiding in the rubble.

Slice of Life: Things to Do If You’re a Cabin

February 28, 2017February 28, 2017 Catherine Flynn8 Comments

Last year, a friend gave me a bracelet engraved with these words:

“You only fail if you stop writing”

Although I haven’t been posting too much recently, I have been writing drafts and snippets of poems for Laura Shovan’s Found Word Poetry project. These words, from “34 Books by Women of Color to Read This Year,” were last Thursday’s prompt: unicorn, cabin, glut, cousin, fever, sing, kitchen, flee, perch, & sour. Refuge was the bonus word.

When I first read these words, I thought how easy it would be to write a poem using them. After all, my in-laws had a cabin on a lake in Maine where we spent many happy summers when my children were young. I was confident the poem would write itself.

Wrong.

Sometimes it seems that if I have too many ideas, it’s hard to wrangle them into some sort of shape. When this happens, I usually set the piece aside, move on to other ideas, and let the tangled mess percolate for a few days. Sometimes the idea is ready, but not always. Other times, I have to find the right form for my words. That’s what happened with this poem. After reading Elaine Magliaro’s gorgeous new book, Things to Do (Chronicle Books, 2017), I knew how to write this poem.

Things to do if you’re a cabin:

Perch on the edge of a fish-filled lake.
Wrap yourself in weathered red siding
and dream of summer,
when a glut of cousins
flee the heat and seek refuge
in the shade of soaring pines.

Remember the
mouth-watering aromas
floating out of the kitchen
as Grandma bakes her famous
sour cream peach pie.
Strain to hear whispered stories
of knights and unicorns at bedtime,
then listen to loons sing
their haunting lullaby.

A glut of cousins, not quite ready for their bedtime story.

Thank you, Laura, for once again being so generous with your time and talents. Thank you also to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, Lisa and Lanny 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.

Poetry Friday: Words

February 16, 2017February 18, 2017 Catherine Flynn20 Comments

I couldn’t keep up with life, work, and Laura Shovan’s Found Poetry Project, “10 Words Found in the News” this week. A few drafts are hiding in my notebook, and for now, that’s where they’ll stay. Thursday’s words, rural, warm, digester, dumps, compost, hanging, cartel, burial, peels, scraps, were culled by Ruth Lehrer from “The Compost King of New York” in the New York Times. They appealed to me immediately. My grandmother had a compost heap in her back yard for fertilizing her garden, and I initially went down that path. But, as often happens, another possibility presented itself.

Words
bubble up,
seeking my attention.
Some form a cartel,
hanging together
to demand a high
price for their use.

One or two peel away,
shimmering with possibility.

The rest are buried,
dumped along with
scraps of stories
and lines of abandoned poems
to a compost heap in some
rural part of my brain.

In the warmth and darkness
of my unconscious,
as if in a digester,
they ferment,
waiting their turn
to bubble up
to the surface
and bloom.

Please be sure to visit Jone MacCulloch at Check it Out for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Poetry Friday: Truth, the Last Word

February 9, 2017February 9, 2017 Catherine Flynn23 Comments

Once again, I am sharing a poem written in response to Laura Shovan’s Found Poetry Project. This year’s theme is “10 Words Found in the News.” For Thursday’s inspiration, Mary Lee Hahn chose Elizabeth Warren’s words from a CNN interview after she was banned from speaking on the Senate floor by Mitch McConnell. “They can shut me up, but they can’t change the truth,” Warren proclaimed.

As soon as I saw these words, Mary Lee’s post on Nikki Grimes’s amazing new poetry collection, One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance (Bloomsbury, 2017) came to mind. Using the Golden Shovel form, Grimes uses lines from and/or entire poems written by giants of the Harlem Renaissance to create new verses. Each line in the new poem ends with a word from the original verse. (Be sure to read Mary Lee’s post for a much clearer explanation. Better yet, get yourself a copy of One Last Word and read Grimes’s note about the form. The poetry, both the original poems and the new poems they inspired, is breathtaking. Warren’s statement seemed to be tailor made for a Golden Shovel poem. Here is my attempt at the form.

For more information about climate change, watch this video from Yale Climate Connections.

Please be sure to visit Katie at The Logonauts for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Poetry Friday: “Worldview”

February 2, 2017 Catherine Flynn13 Comments

This poem was written in response to Laura Shovan’s Found Poetry Project. This year’s theme is “10 Words Found in the News.” Laura’s goal is to “encourage everyone to look at that language as a poet. We can create found poems and word art to reflect what’s happening in our country and world.” Today’s words, worldview, help, shareholders, safer, protections, dishonest, media, replace, business, and Messiah, are from NPR’s February 1st story about Rex Tillerson’s approval as Secretary of State.

"Earthrise" Image Credit: NASA — “Earthrise” by the astronauts of Apollo 8. Image Credit: NASA

Let the worldview
we carry within us
be this:

We are all shareholders,
caretakers of the abundance
of our planet.

We owe her our protection,
to keep our water safe,
to help our neighbors in need.

This is the business of living.

Don’t dwell on the media’s howls
of dishonest, troubled souls.
Replace fear with love,
and find the power of your Messiah within,
in the light of your heart.

Please be sure to visit Penny Parker Klosterman here for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Slice of Life: News from the Natural World

January 31, 2017February 16, 2017 Catherine Flynn9 Comments

For the past four years, poet Laura Shovan has hosted a February Poetry Project. What started as “a birthday project” has grown to include 54 poets committed (or challenging themselves) to write a poem a day. I submitted one poem in 2015, when Laura’s theme was Pantone paint colors. Last year’s theme was “found object” poems, and I contributed many poems, but did not succeed in writing every day.

This year’s theme is “10 Words Found in the News.” Laura’s goal is to “encourage everyone to look at that language as a poet. We can create found poems and word art to reflect what’s happening in our country and world.” The project officially begins on February 1st, but Laura and other poets have posted several “warm-ups,” pulling words found in articles related to current events. I have been looking at these words and have tried to engage with them in way that doesn’t drive me to despair. One of my biggest concerns about the current administration is their total disregard for the environment and action toward climate change, so I’ve decided the most meaningful way for me to participate in Laura’s challenge is to view the words through the lens of the natural world. This may not always be possible, but that’s my goal.

Here is my first effort in response to warm-up#1, using eight of the ten words Laura’s randomizer pulled from Trump’s inauguration speech. I also changed some tenses. (factories, behind, pleasant, interests, disagreements, fallen, starting, complaining, cash, stops)

News from the Natural World

A honey factory
clings to a branch
high in an ancient maple.
Starting at dawn,
when the first rays
of sun peek from
behind purple hills,
bees begin their ancient
dance anew.

They have no interest
in disagreements
rippling through the world;
cash and complaints
have no currency here.
Golden liquid
is their only care,
oozing, dripping, falling,
from waxy honeycombs,
free for the taking.

Thank you, Laura, for once again being so generous with your time and talents. Thank you also 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.

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