Poetry Friday Round-Up Is Here!

Welcome to the Poetry Friday Round-Up. Leave your links and a brief description of what you're featuring on your blog this week. I'll summarize and post throughout the day.

The haiga below is for all you poets--get out and stand on your heads!
© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Image courtesy Library of Congress.

Here's the Round-Up:

My alter-ego, Kurious Kitty, tells us about an exhibit on Emily Dickinson's garden and shares her poem, "May-Flower." And, at KKsKwotes there is a quote by Dickinson.

Shelley has been writing about the dust bowl for nearly a year and has joined us this week. Check out her ongoing story in verse at Rain: A Dust Bowl Story.

Amy at The Poem Farm is on poem #37 in her poem-a-day-for-a-year. She shares "No Choister," which is a poem about an oyster! Amy also brings us the results of Poem-in-Your-Pocket day at an elementary school and shares a joyous dancing poem by a third grader.

At Check It Out we find kindergarten fibonacci poems--that's a mouthful, and that's a form I need to explore!

Tiel Aisha Ansari has an original poem, "Lorca," at Knocking From Inside. The last verse will take your breath away!

Laura Evans shares 10 tips on writing haiku (my favorite form) at Teach Poetry K-12. She also wrote a little haiku in reponse to my one above:

seeing the world
from another viewpoint
head stands with you

Author Amok is stopping in California on her 50 state poetry tour and sharing "Twin Cities" by Carol Muske-Dukes, the CA poet laureate.

Gregory K. has a thesaurus poem for us. It's a companion to his dictionary poem, of course! A thesaurus is one tool I could NEVER be without!

At The Drift Record Julie has another of Robert Williams Woods' poems about birds, this one is about a toucan. She shared one of his poems last week. I was so tickled by it, I went out and ordered a copy of How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers.

Poor Mary Lee had an addled brain after grading papers, but luckily for us, it led to her writing a delightfully funny little poem! Check it out at A Year of Reading.

Tabatha A. Yeatts has a look at poets' graves today! It includes photos, a video, and a poem! [Note: a place to look for graves, poets or otherwise, is Find a Grave. It's one of my favorite resources, I'm glad Tabatha mentions it.]

At Across the Page Janet has several poems about grosbeaks and also includes a link to the song of the grosbeak. A special thanks for that link, Janet! [Note: I had earlier listed Janet's name incorrectly. It's JANET at Across the Page. Sorry, Janet. ;-) ]

Here in New Hampshire, we have a rather meager offering of poetry outings, but in D.C., there's a plethora of poetry activities as Sara shows us this week at Read Write Believe. I am sooooo jealous. And by the way, I agree with Sara's assessment of the FDR memorial. It brought tears to my eyes when I saw it, and read the quotes, a couple of years ago.

At Wistful Wanderings (don't you love that blog name?) Alison has an original poem about procrastination.

Procrastination is my middle name--just ask my editor! Right, Mur? Speaking of Muriel...at The Write Sisters, Mur shares "Lilacs" by Amy Lowell and a little "farmerly" advice!

Jeannine writes about poetry about history, and explains her process in writing the recently released, Borrowed Names.

Shelf Elf has included at poem for Mother's Day, which is this coming Sunday! (How many of you forgot? Tsk, tsk.) She also includes the trailer for a documentary about a father who realizes that his child is growing up. If the trailer had me reaching for the tissue box, what's the film going to do?

Jama had my mouth watering when I looked at all the luscious photos of fondue makings. She shares a poem by Greg Pincus, "Ode to Chocolate Fondue," and a recipe to die for (or maybe that's to die from with its 1/2 pint of whipping cream).

Ruth gives us a review of an anthology with middle-school appeal, Poetry Speaks Who I Am. Ruth also reminds us not to forget Haiti and she says, "The mourning continues even as rebuilding begins."

Megan at Homeschooling on the Run went on a retreat with a Benedictine community and came back with "A Well-Ordered Joy," an original poem. My favorite lines: "Sometimes, I fall to watching faces at chapel./There are as many characters as hours in the Liturgy".

Over at Laura Salas' blog, we get a look at a new book by Robert Weinstock, Can You Dig It. The subject is dinosaurs and Laura highlights a little poem called "Brunch." [Note: look carefully at the book's cover for your first indication that the writer/illustrator has a sense of humor.]

Carmela from Teaching Authors checks in to say that this week, April Halprin Wayland will teach us about zeno poems. We're reminded that aside from it being Mother's Day, we also have National Picture Book Writing Week and Teacher Appreciation Week to celebrate!

The Stenhouse Blog has a third-grader teacher sharing some pun-poems inspired by a new book by Ralph Fletcher, Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing.

Toby posted a "word verification" poem. Don't know what that is? Check out The Writer's Armchair, then write one of your own to share!

Elaine, at Wild Rose Reader, has a special poem for Mother's Day, "Hope" by Janet Wong. Elaine dedicates the post to her own mother, whose picture is included. (What a nice daughter!)

I love the title of Tricia's post today, "Talk Nerdy to Me." At The Miss Rumphius Effect Tricia shares a poem by Matthew Dickman. She also reminds us to check out the results of her weekly "Poetry Stretch." This week's stretch was to write a sijo.

Little Willow at Bildungsroman posts part of the last stanza of "Tiger Lily," by Walter Adolphe Roberts, a poem of hope and strength.

Becky reviews Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer. This is a book of poems that can be read from the top down and from the bottom up telling the same story from two points of view. Amazing!

Karen Edmisten has graciously included Random Noodling in her original rhyming ditty, "Dreadlines." Send calming thoughts her way!

Amanda, at A Patchwork of Books, reviews an anthology of poems and quotes by Lee Bennett Hopkins called Sharing the Seasons. She recommends for classroom and home libraries. [Note: I'm sure she also meant to recommend it for public librarians such as me!]

The Cazzy Files has a poem for Mother's Day from Dear Mother, Dear Daughter: Poems for Young People by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple. Best wishes to Cazzy as she earns her MLIS!

Janet Squires looks at Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya, written by Donna Jo Napoli. Mama Miti means "mother of trees," and the book is about an environmental activist whose mission is the planting of trees in Kenya. Janet also includes companion titles.

And, at Chicken Spaghetti, Susan brings us the season's footware of choice, flip-flops, in a poetic adaptation of a school "memo."

Well poetry lovers, I've been rounding up poetry links for the past 12 hours. I'm going to call it a day. I will post any additional links tomorrow. Sweet dreams.

One more...Father Goose (Charles Ghigna) posts a link to his article, "Light Verse: A Surprising Business." Good for Charles for continuing to write and sell something that makes people smile!