Poetry Friday--Egg Challenge

I took the Miss Rumphius Effect Monday Poetry Stretch challenge this week which was to write a poem about eggs.

My entry was a tanka:

from the window
the jay's yolk-covered beak
all too visible
I've picked up shells before
...without knowing
                        © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

A tanka, like a haiku, is untitled, but, if I were to title it, it would be, "Pleading Innocent."



My favorite egg poem is from Russell Hoban's Bread and Jam for Frances (it's also found in Egg Thoughts and Other Frances Songs):

I do not like the way you slide,
I do not like your soft inside,
I do not like you lots of ways,
And I could do for many days
Without eggs.

If you're unfamiliar with Bread and Jam for Frances and the other Frances the badger books, then rush right down to the library and look for them. Do it now! They are delightful.

Another egg poem I'm fond of is "Boy and Egg" by Naomi Shihab Nye, which you can read here.

I'll close with the entry for "E" in Hilaire Belloc's "A Moral Alphabet":

E stands for Egg.

MORAL
The Moral of this verse
Is applicable to the Young. Be terse.

Great advice Mr. Belloc--it is my goal in life, at least as far as poetry is concerned, to be terse!

Have a great weekend, but before you do, indulge in more poetry at the Poetry Friday Round-Up hosted by Great Kid Books.

Haiku Sticky #42

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

Poetry Friday--Robert Frost, Rapper(?)

After hearing about it for days, my kids finally made me sit down to watch the parody of Jay-Z/Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind." What a hoot! And so much better than the original! (So there, you Yankees supporters!)

I suppose you really have to be from New Hampshire to get half of it, but, non-New Hampsters can still appreciate the Robert Frost rap found at 2:34.



"Granite State of Mind" is by the Super Secret Project, a very irreverent group that produces videos and music.

Jay-Z's song has given rise to many states' parodies. Check out YouTube and type in "[your state name or nickname] State of Mind."

What do you think Robert Frost would have thought of his poem presented rap style? Or of this interpretation?



Enough speculation for today! Take the time to visit Anastasia at Picture Book of the Day for the Poetry Friday Round-Up.

Haiku Sticky #41

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. Image by Lewis Hines courtesy Library of Congress.

Poetry Friday--Amazing!

The "Writers in the Schools" website has "A Poem a Day" email service during April, National Poetry Month. I signed up to receive poems written by school children but I didn't expect to be completely blown away by the writing of a 4th grader named Philip. Here's Philip's poem that, appropriately, was posted this past Monday:

Ode to Monday Morning

You’re ready for
school but you still
have 30 more minutes
left so you lie down
on the couch or sit.
It is the longest
30 minutes of your life.

Monday morning
is like homemade
play dough – you don’t
really know what
to do with it and
it takes forever
to wash off.

Holy cows! How I wish I could have written that second stanza! I'm not good with simile and metaphor, and this example is superlative! Good job, Philip! You've given me hope for the future of poetry in this country!

You can check out the WITS blog to catch up on the poems you've missed thus far this month. (By the way, thanks to the people at WITS who gave me permission to reprint Philip's poem.)

Photo by Eggybird

Here's a little Monday morning haiku that I wrote a while back:

monday morning...
three crows comment
on the traffic

Now that I'm studying the form, I've rewritten it as a tanka:

three crows comment
on the traffic
this monday morning
I wait at the light
and sip my coffee
© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

If you have a Monday morning poem, please share, then head on over to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast for the Poetry Friday Round-Up.