Welcome to Poetry Friday! Today is my first time hosting, so I feel like celebrating, and there is a lot to celebrate today. To begin with, it’s the first day of spring! It’s also the International Day of Happiness. What better way to spread happiness than by sharing poetry? So share your poems, read what others have shared, and enjoy! And, to celebrate the publication of The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations, edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, I’ll be giving away a copy to one lucky person. Just leave a comment and a winner will be chosen at random. In the meantime, visit Poetry Celebrations for a sneak peek at this fun-filled collection.

It’s also World Folk Tales and Fables Week. To celebrate that, I’m sharing an original poem inspired by this photo (from a calendar I received for Christmas) and “The Frog Prince.” Although “The Frog Prince” is technically a fairy tale, the connection was too good to pass up.

No princess would refuse this frog
with shiny ruby eyes.
His pearl encrusted legs
would surely mesmerize.

But, oh, poor frog, trapped within
this jeweled enamel toy;
no longer can he jump and splash,
or sing his songs of joy.

Her company cannot replace
the summer sky above.
Back to the pond he’d rather go,
And forsake her possessive love.

© Catherine Flynn, 2015

Please leave your link in the comments and I’ll be back throughout the day to round up your links. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Spring is sprouting everywhere today!

Robyn Hood Black at Life of the Deckle Edge starts us off by celebrating spring with a triolet all teachers will relate to.

Buffy Silverman has a menagerie of animal poems at Buffy’s Blog.

At Friendly Fairy Tales, Brenda Davis Harsham has gorgeous photos and a lovely concrete poem about the coming season.

Michelle Barnes welcomes Laura Shovan to Today’s Little Ditty, where shares her plans for an upcoming poetry workshop and a list poem from Heidi Stemple.

Jama is also celebrating spring with a poem from Wendy Cope, a bouquet of photos, and a giveaway of a Julie Paschkis print! 

At Random Noodling, Diane Mayr has two poems for Heidi Mordhorst’s March CH challenge, and at Kurious Kitty, she shares Wallace Stevents “The Poems of Our Climate.”

Keri Collins Lewis, of Keri Recommends, takes us traveling to California with a tanka for Michelle’s challenge.

Colette Bennett celebrates the anniversary of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s “I Shall Return” speech with a tribute to teachers at Used Books In Class.

Matt Forrest Esenwine is sharing his original poem, “No-Moon Day” at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme.

Linda Baie at Teacher Dance has another sign of spring with her original haiku, “Arrival.”

Charles Waters has a poem of spring and a basketball poems for Heidi’s CH challenge today at his Poetry Time Blog.

Over at GottaBook, Greg Pincus tries to convince us he’s in a poetry drought. I, for one, find that hard to believe!

At The Opposite of Indifference, Tabatha Yeatts has a beautiful poem, written by her daughter, about finding poems.

Robins have arrived at The Poetry Farm, and Amy is celebrating with an original poem.

At My Juicy Little Universe, Heidi isn’t letting a little snow spoil spring sharing from hatCHing out. Her original poem about 4 year old chefs is making me hungry!

Laura Shovan and Laura Gehl have an interesting discussion about whether rhyming picture books are poetry at Author Amok.

There are more spring poems at Reflections on the Teche, where Margaret is sharing two poems from her talented student, Erin.

Cathy Mere at Merely Day By Day contemplates the beauty of being up before dawn in her original poem.

At The Logonauts, Katie is featuring Jane Yolen,Heidi Stemple and Melissa Sweet’s lovely new book, You Nest Here With Me.

Memories of childhood inspired Donna Smith of Mainely Write to write a hatCH poem for Heidi’s challenge.

Mary Lee ponders hummingbird hatCHings at A Year of Reading.

Catherine Johnson shares a peek into Alice Walker’s book of poems, There is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me.

Myra has a wonderful clip of spoken word poets Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye performing “When Love Arrives” over at Gathering Books.

Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect has two inconceivably good poems, both entries from her March Madness rounds.

Have you ever wondered what those black carts full of books at the library are thinking? JoAnn Early Macken share her idea in an original poem at Teaching Authors.

At The Drift Record, Julie Larios is sharing a spring spell, of sorts.

Julieanne Harmatz is sharing an amazing found poem her students have written from their responses to Jacqueline Woodson’s Each Kindness at To Read To Write To Be.

Karen Edmisten is in today with James Weldon Johnson lovely poem, “Deep in the Quiet Wood”.

Bridget Magee has a tanka about a crane fly for Michelle’s challenge at Wee Words for Wee Ones.

At Bildungsroman, Little Willow is sharing “If Spirits Walk” by Sophie Jewett.

Ruth has an original poem about a multitude of tears at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town.

At Reader Totz, Lorie Ann is sharing “Paulette” from Bronzeville Boys and Girls by Gwendolyn Brooks and illustrated by Faith Ringgold. She also has an original haiku at On Point.

Football season may be over, but that’s no reason not to celebrate Jone’s poem in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations.

Over at Pleasures from the Page, Ramona shares her thoughts about I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery by Cynthia Grady with illustrations by Michele Wood.

Just in time for National Poetry Month, Kim of Flukeprints has a review of A Poem in Your Pocket, by Margaret McNamara and G. Brian Karas, as well as how she plans to celebrate with her students.

At Poetry for Children, Sylvia Vardell’s 700th (!) post is celebrating the publication of The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations and features “Spring” by Jane Lichtenberger.

Carol Varsalona is anticipating spring in a lovely CH poem at Beyond Literacy Link.

This post is doing double duty for the March Slice of Life Challenge at Two Writing Teachers. Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for this space for teachers and others to share their stories each day during the month of March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.

             

“The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention.” 

~ Flannery O’Connor ~

Like this blue jay and everyone else in the northeast, I’ve stared at plenty of snow this winter. So how hard could it be to come up with a poem for Carol Varsalona’s “Winter Whisperings” gallery? I had jottings about winter everywhere, a false start to a poem here, a line that definitely should be abandoned there. Nothing was coming together.

Taking a cue from Kate Messner, I decided to try to capture the many different moods of snow into one “Sometimes” poem.

“Sometimes Snow…”

Sometimes snow
whispers itself into the world,
falling gently to the ground,
muffling every sound.

Sometimes snow
ROARS through the air,
the north wind sculpting it
into undulating drifts.

Sometimes snow
settles on tree branches,
offering itself to
thirsty blue jays.

Sometimes snow
is blue in the moon’s glow,
catching stark shadows,
crisp as X-rays.

But then, come March,
snow begins to
melt.
At first just a trickle,
then a torrent,
filling brooks and
streams and rivers,
washing away
our winter weariness,

welcoming spring.

© Catherine Flynn, 2015

Be sure to visit Robyn Campbell for the Poetry Friday Round Up, and thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, and Beth for this space for teachers and others to share their stories each day during the month of March and on Tuesdays throughout the year. Don’t forget to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts.