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Poetry Friday: Mortimer with a Kelly Fineman Poem

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Mortimer has hopped all the way from Irene Latham’s Live Your Poem blog to be with us today. Thank you, Irene for inviting me to host Mortimer!

Here’s How-to-Hop, “Mortimer Minute” style!
1.Answer 3 questions. Pick one question from the previous Hopper. Add two of your own. Keep it short, please! This is a Blog Hop, not a Blog Long Jump. This is The Mortimer Minute—not The Mortimer Millennium!
2. Invite friends. Invite 1-2 bloggers who love children’s poetry to follow you. They can be writers, teachers, librarians, or just-plain-old-poetry-lovers.
3. Say thank you. In your own post, link to The Previous Hopper. Then keep The Mortimer Minute going: let us know who your Hoppers are and when they plan to post their own Mortimer Minute.

Mortimer has selected the following question from Irene:

Mortimer: Funny poems or beautiful ones?
JRM: I love both but I like writing beautiful poems more. I love writing haiku and pantuoms.

Mortimer: I noticed you are involved with the CYBILS. How are the CYBILS nominations coming along?
JRM: people have until October 15, 2013 to nominate books. I think we have some good nominations but we can use more. Last year we had over 30 titles nominated in poetry.
We currently have just over 20 books. So please go nominate a great poetry book published this year HERE.

Mortimer: What do you love most about poetry?
JRM: I love how immediate poetry can be. Poems capture so much in such few words. Reluctant writers can be successful when writing poems. I love to create group poems with students when starting poems. I love their thinking in how to arrange poems.

This year I am finding poems to pair with the books I read such as Kelly Fineman’s poem ‘Sea Jelly’ with the book Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea By Steve Jenkins.

Sea Jelly
by Kelly Ramsdell Fineman

It’s not made of jelly; it isn’t a fish.
Mostly it drifts, but can move with a swish.
It doesn’t have lungs or a brain; most can’t see.
It captures its dinner tentacularly.
Named after a Gorgon who turned men to stone,
It’s best if you leave this Medusa alone.

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Mortimer is off to visit Linda Baie at Teacher Dance. Linda has been and is a CYBILs Poetry panelist for round 2. She’s a long time teacher of middle school students at an independent school for the gifted in Denver, Colorado. She has recently moved from the classroom and moved into the part-time position of literacy coach for the 8-14 year age group. She has a son and son-in-law, a daughter and daughter-in-law, one grandson and two granddaughters.  If there is any passion it is reading, writing and being outdoors. She just returned from a Highlights Foundation workshop for poetry writing, and blogs at TeacherDance

Poetry Friday is at Laura Purdie Salas. Thanks, Laura.

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Thank you for visiting Mortimer. I’d have you visit my house but Buster the doxie would chase you.
Happy Poetry.
Happy Friday.

MsMac

8 thoughts on “Poetry Friday: Mortimer with a Kelly Fineman Poem”

  2. Thanks for sharing your visit with Mortimer, Jone, and can’t wait till he comes to visit me! I was on a sailing trip once with students, and we saw so many, many jellies drifting by-amazing creatures, but don’t wish the sting! The poem is wonderful-will look for this book, love Steve Jenkins’ illustrations too!

  3. i so agree with your answer to Mortimer about the immediacy of poetry, capturing so much in so few words! Glad Mortimer had an enjoyable visit and conversation.

  5. Yes! That’s one of my favorite things about poetry, too–that even kids who *think* they can’t write will completely surprise themselves (and their teachers) with what they can do and express through poems. This is a fine Fineman poem (hehe). It’s one of the 2-3 I shared from the National Geographic anthology because it is so fun and entertaining–and factual! My most-loved kind of poem!

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