Poetry Friday: Ode to Socks



Thanks to Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe for hosting Poetry Friday.

This year I am trying something new, an after school club, Poetry Rocks: Performance Poetry. Students will be learning poems for recitation. We will be sharing on Thursday, April 23 at our Local Barnes and Nobe.

The idea is due in part to Janet Clare who’s been involved with Poetry Out Loud.

I ran across this poem by Pablo Neruda as I was gathering poems for my group.  

Ode to My Socks

Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder’s hands,
two socks as soft as rabbits.
I slipped my feet into them
as if they were two cases
knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,
Violent socks,
my feet were two fish made of wool,
two long sharks
sea blue, shot through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons,
my feet were honored in this way
by these heavenly socks.
They were so handsome for the first time
my feet seemed to me unacceptable
like two decrepit firemen,
firemen unworthy of that woven fire,
of those glowing socks.

Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp temptation
to save them somewhere as schoolboys
keep fireflies,
as learned men collect
sacred texts,
I resisted the mad impulse to put them
in a golden cage and each day give them
birdseed and pieces of pink melon.
Like explorers in the jungle
who hand over the very rare green deer
to the spit and eat it with remorse,
I stretched out my feet and pulled on
the magnificent socks and then my shoes.

The moral of my ode is this:
beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in winter.

~Pablo Neruda

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Happy Friday.

Happy Poetry.

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Celebrate: Five Star Things About This Week

It’s Saturday, time to share all the good that’s happen in the week. Thanks Ruth for providing a place to celebrate.

ONE
Opportunity. This year my job have changed significantly with getting the laptops. One thing that’s seriously needed is more training. So being told I’ll get to attend the Northwest Council for Computer Education Conference mid-March. I am so looking forward to this.

TWO
Audition. Today I auditioned for an event, Listen to Your Mother. I don’t know if I’ll be one of the ten to twelve women to perform but it felt good to be open to the possibility to auditioning. I read a five minute piece on being a stepmom.

THREE
Writing. Writing my piece, “This Stepmom’s DNA is Love.” A huge part of this piece came from writings in the 90’s when I first met my step-daughters. I cannot believe twenty-five years has passed.

FOUR
Lunch. One of my writing critique group also auditioned for Listen to Your Mother. Because of her post on Facebook, I learned about this opportunity. So we were able to have lunch to celebrate our auditions. So good to have time to talk outside of our critique group.

FIVE
Light. The days are getting longer. This makes me happy. And this evening besides the new moon, Venus, and Mars.

What are you celebrating?

Poetry Friday: Taking a Stretch and An Announcement

Thank you, Linda for hosting Poetry Friday at Teacher Dance.

It’s my goal this year for more consistency in trying the Poetry Stretch over at The Miss Rumphius Effect. On Monday she gave us the Monometer form to try.  Here’s the definition: Monometer: a poem in which each line contains only one stress.

Here’s two I tried.  One for the fifth grade class I subbed in on Tuesday:

Subbing

subday
fifth grade
quiet
classroom
students
engaged
in their
learning.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ANNOUNCEMENT, ANNOUNCEMENT, ANNOUNCEMENT

it’s time
can’t wait
poem
postcards
by kids
sent to
your house
sign up.

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Celebrate: Five Star Things About the Week

Thank you Ruth Ayres for providing a place to celebrate our week. There has been much goodness in the week.

ONE

The CYBILS Awards have been announced! Head over to see the full list.  But I am so happy to announce that Voices From the March on Washington by J. Patrick Lewis and George Ella Lyon. Here’s the blurb:

Voices from the March on Washington by J. Patrick Lewis and George Ella Lyon takes the reader on a journey to August, 1963, when thousands converged on Washington in a march for civil rights. Through eloquent prose and verse poems that showcase a range of poetic forms and voices, the poets have recreated the individuals, both historical and imagined, who participated in the march and were changed by the experience.

A thoroughly engaging introduction by Lyon, a “Guide to the Voices” at the end, and all the interwoven stories in between combine to give us an authentic and accessible glimpse into the period and this important event — and offer older readers the chance to meet and imagine the widely diverse marchers, their personal backgrounds, and the private hopes that enticed them to join the march.

The immense amount of factual information contained in the poems invites further research, while the themes of civil disobedience, community protest, and racial tension serve as a mirror for current events regardless of where readers live.

The book’s timeliness–and timelessness–is summed up in this short verse, the title of which could easily be rewritten with the date 2015.

For All, 1963

If you contend the noblest end
of all is human rights, amend
the laws: The beauty of the sun
is that it shines on everyone.

Thanks to the judges:Diane Mayr, Renee LaTulippe, Matt Forrest, Laura Shovan, and Linda Baie.  They worked tirelessly to determine the winner from the Spectacular Seven Finalists.

TWO

Author Day at Silver Star. Author, Deb Lund, spend the day with us on Tuesday:

 

THREE 

Top Readers and Author Lunch:

Four

Having dinner with Deb Lund and other friends from my writing community.

FIVE

This week I leaned on my OLW: OPEN to address a work situation.  I hate conflict and it’s very difficult for me when there is conflict but it was a situation I in which I needed to be open.

What are you celebrating?

Poetry Friday: Valentine Edition

Thank you, Cathy for hosting this heart filled Poetry Friday.  At her blog, Merely Day By Day, there are more candy heart poetry. My afternoon Poetry Rocks club, put together some candy heart Valentines:

I wish the candy sayings showed up more.  Most of my students are first through third grade.  Some of them have choir on Thursday afternoon so the group was small yesterday.  We have today off. My favorite comment of the afternoon was that of a third grade girl, “This is totally sweet.”  In so many ways.

And the best Valentine of all will be the CYBILS’ announcement for all the winners tomorrow.

Happy Friday.

Happy Poetry.