Poetry Friday--The Round-Up Is Here!

Welcome to the Random Noodling edition of Poetry Friday Round-Up. To start things off I'd like to share a portion of a poem from "Book of Hours" by Kevin Young:

Soon the sound—

wind wills
its way against

the panes. Welcome
the rain.

Welcome
the moon's squinting

into space.
The trees

bow like priests.

The storm lifts
up the leaves.

Why not sing.

Read the rest here.

I read the last line as a question despite there being no question mark. Why not sing? Why indeed? There is so much to sing about at this time of year: gorgeous foliage, the upcoming holidays, even the weather!

Leave links to your Poetry Friday posts and I'll update throughout the day.

I'll begin the Round-Up with my other blogs: Kurious Kitty has decided not to post a poetry entry for today, instead she has included a short animation explaining why there will be no P.F. post. At KKs Kwotes, I have an awesome quote by Jean Cocteau.

Early bird Charles Ghigna was first with the poetry worm this morning! He has two original poems, one on the Artist Autumn at Father Goose, and a thought-provoking one at the Bald Ego on the "outer edges of truth."

At Great Kid Books Mary Ann Scheuer shares a Nikki Grimes poem, "Reward," from her collection Thanks a Million. Mary Ann also gives thanks to those who've enriched her life in so many ways.

Tabatha Yeatts has an original poem that she is submitting to Dr. Alphabet's Poetry City Marathon Anthology. You'll find it at The Opposite of Indifference, and you'll never look at poetry forms in the same way again!

Melissa at Through the Wardrobe has an original poem called "Crow." I love these lines: Calling, the intervals random,/only the tone predictable -/its broken yearning -

Toby Speed has a little black and white friend sharing hosting duties at The Writer's Armchair and she has an original poem, "Wondering" on the age-old question, why do cats purr?

At There's No Such Thing as A God-Forsaken Town, Ruth shares a Dickinson poem, "I Dwell in Possibility," and follows it up with a poem of her own, "Wave." Writing really does have therapeutic qualities!

Julie Larios at The Drift Record says: "Windfall apples are on my mind. So is my mom. So are boys eating apples, growing into young men who go to war. November thoughts." She shares a poem called "Apples" by Laurie Lee (I love the photo of the windfalls that accompanies it.)

Mary Lee takes a moment out from her NCTE conference in Orlando, to share "Hoppity" by A.A. Milne. And if you're not jumping after you've read it at A Year of Reading, then you need another cup of coffee!

Laura Salas shares two short poems from a collection by JonArno Lawson, Thank Again. So simple, yet so effective in expressing teen love and angst. I was really taken by "Frame, Mask and Mirror." And for the results of Laura's "15 Words of Less" exercise, this week titled "Those Dam Ibex," click here. (And yes, Laura, sheep can see 320-340 degrees!)

Kerry Aradhya has an interview with Jane Yolen and her daughter Heidi Stemple at Picture Books & Pirouettes. Kerry apologizes, "This may be cheating a little (since my post isn't directly about poetry)." No need to apologize, Kerry, John Dryden said, "Dancing is the poetry of the foot." And, it's all art!

At Carol's Corner she has a review of Ashley Bryan's newest work, All Things Bright and Beautiful, based on the hymn by Cecil Frances Alexander. Carol says, "WOW! WOW! WOW!" And after viewing the cover, I think she's right!

Elizabeth Alexander's luscious poem, "Butter," is featured at the Stenhouse Blog. I read that poem yesterday! What a coincidence!

Debbie Diller has Christina Rossetti's "What Are Heavy." Nice...

Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup shares "Thanksgiving Song" by David Steindl while remembering dear aunts/friends. Great lines from the poem: For winter, who strips trees to their basic design,/For stark, minimalist winter,/We give thanks.

At The Poem Farm, via NCTE in Orlanda, Amy has poem #25 in her series of poems about poems--secrets drawn in symmetry.

Castle in the Sea serves as the virtual home of Sally Thomas who today has an original November poem with these great last lines: Ten miles from Christmas Day,/A hundred miles from heaven.

Wendell Berry's "To My Mother" is featured at Karen Edmisten's blog today. ...And this, then,/is the vision of that Heaven of which/we have heard, where those who love/each other have forgiven each other, Ah, the SECRET!

Have you had enough gray November? If so, head over to Anastasia Suen's Picture Book of the Day where she introduces us to Smelly Bill: Love Stinks by Daniel Postgate!

Laura Shovan shares an original "feminist" poem, which she says "falls into the 'It gets better,' category--letting teens know that they won't always feel ugly, unwanted, marginalized or bullied." You can find it at Author Amok. It is painful, yet full of hope. My favorite lines: For you, I have put on a skin/that is uncomfortably familiar.

At A Wrung Sponge, Andromeda Jazmon celebrates with Chief Jake Swamp's Giving Thanks: A Native American Morning Message. She also passed along the sad news that Chief Jake Swamp passed away in October. (I found a tribute here).

Martha Calderaro brings us "Something Told the Wild Geese" by Rachel Field and includes some links to musical performances of the poem. It does make a lovely song. I listened to several other YouTube performances and I liked this solo version, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlYok1oFH9w.

At Check It Out, a book by Georgia Heard, Writing Toward Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way has funk-removal qualities! I'll certainly look for it, and follow Ms. Mac's advice to, "Find things to laugh out loud about."

The Book Maven reviews Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman. She tells us that the book is full of unexpected bits of information that children are sure to love, for example, a baby porcupine is called a "porcupette."

Blythe Woolston obviously has a love affair with poetry chapbooks. She calls them, "small treasures" and shares snippets from several. I personally love ones that are illustrated with woodcuts--there's something visceral about the combination of art and poetry.

Caryl reports that her part of Minnesota had its first snow! (I'm not ready for that quite yet!) At the Leaning Tower of Books, she shares Mary Louise Allen's "First Snow," and suggests looking at "First Snow: A Flickr-Generated Poem" by Felix Young. I did look at it, and replayed it with different images. It is a winter wonderful idea!

I left for lunch with my daughter in the early afternoon and now, 5 hours later, I'm back with the afternoon entries to the Round-Up:

Nicole at Saints in Progress shares a poem by C.S. Lewis, "Poem For Psychoanalysts and/or Theologians." It was the first poem of his that she read, and it remains her favorite.

At Endless Books, Beth has visions of daffodils in her head and thus shares Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud." She speculates that Wordsworth would have been pleased that someone is reading his work out of season. Don't miss the link to Jeremy Irons reading the poem.

Joyce Ray also has a Kevin Young poem, today, "Aunties," as well as an original poem inspired by the ruins of the monastery of Hildegarde of Bingen, which has this great stanza: Ivy anchors their moss velvet faces. /Rose thorns ramble over crumbled gables./Helpless to shelter, the stones stand sentry, /mute witnesses to divine desire. Visit Musings to read the rest!

Her 22-month-old son was the inspiration for Melissa Wiley's original poem, "Olympian Heights" found at Here in the Bonny Glen. The poem screams "little boy!"

Five years ago Carlie challenged herself, "to have a go at writing something personal and slightly vulnerable that included the top 25 most common nouns in the English language." The result, "My Uncommon Experience," can be found at Twinkling Along. Love the photos, Carlie!

Barbara is posting for The Write Sisters today and is sharing a Margaret Atwood poem, "This Is a Photograph of Me." It's a slightly strange poem, but one I definitely understand my fellow Write Sister liking. I'm not saying that Barb is strange--okay, maybe I am! (Only kidding, Barb!)


At A Teaching Life, Tara brings us "The Blue Between" by Kristine O'Connell George, and shares the story of a former student whose life includes this poem due to an early immersion in poetry in the classroom. Inspiring!

Shelley, at Rain: A Dust Bowl Story, reminds us to be thankful for what we have. Reading her dust bowl series of poems, can only make you stop and think. It wasn't all that long ago that America was brought to its knees...it could happen again.

Rasco from RIF celebrates her oldest son's birthday with "A Birthday Candle" by Donald Justice. Nice to meet you Carol Rasco!

Photo by ex.libris