Poem in Your Pocket?
Yes!
Pick a poem
from the offered bouquet
carry the fragrance
of words which refresh
and delight
Place a poem in your pocket
and travel
to new lands
make new friends
discover old memories
enliven the senses
and then
share it
Pam Webb
a writer's journey as a reader
Archive for the category “Words”
Get Your Poems and Pockets Ready…
Get your poems and pocket ready. April 24th is National Poem in Your Pocket Day!
From Poets.org:
On Poem in Your Pocket Day, people throughout the United States select a poem, carry it with them, and share it with others throughout the day.
You can also share your poem selection on Twitter by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.
Poems from pockets are unfolded throughout the day with events in parks, libraries, schools, workplaces, and bookstores.
Create your own Poem in Your Pocket Day event using ideas below or share your creative ideas with us by emailing npm@poets.org.
Last year I downloaded the poems selected especially for PYPD and printed them out on colored paper and rolled them up and handed them out to students from a special canister. They unrolled them and smiled and shared them. Yes, some ended up on the floor, but mostly my freshmen and AP seniors thought it pretty cool to have their own poem to carry around for the day. I enjoyed watching them excitedly ask one another, “Which one did you get?”
So–you’ve got the website link, now get on it! Get those poems ready for those pockets!
A Brief Interruption to Our Scheduled Poetry Programming
One of my goals for Spring Break is to knuckle down and really get productive on my own writing. I have been more reader than writer of late and I need to reverse that status. However, here it is Friday and school starts again Monday. Never fear, I still have great hopes of revising and sending out more manuscripts. I have to remind myself to keep working, even though that little voice in the background keeps sniveling: “But I’m on vacation!”
Fortunately I found some needed motivation in Writing Like Crazy’s post for the day.
Writer’s Digest, who always has the best writer’s advice, also runs fabulous contests. Currently offered is their 15th Free Lucky Agent Contest.
Three winners will be awarded the following:
1) A critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of their work, by the agent judge
2) A free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com
The focus of this particular agent contest is Young Adult. The agent is Andrea Somberg, a literary agent with close to fifteen years experience, and represents various fiction and non-fiction projects including those aimed at young adult and middle grade audiences.
I plan to spend the next couple of days fine-tuning my YA manuscripts and submitting them before the deadline which is Wednesday, April 9th. For more details on the contest go to this link 
Poetry Workshop: Getting in Shape with Concrete Poetry
First the grammar lesson, and then the poetry workshop lesson.
Nouns
A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense. There are many types of nouns: common, proper, possessive, singular, abstract and concrete.
Concrete Nouns
A concrete noun names animate and inanimate things that can be perceived through the five senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. Examples are: cats, doors, waffles, teachers. A concrete noun is the opposite of an abstract noun such as concepts like: love, liberty, courage.
With the basic noun lesson understood, let’s move on to the Poetry Workshop: Concrete Poetry.
Concrete Poetry: aka Shape Poetry aka Visual Poetry
Poetry in which the overall effect is influenced through visual means by forming or arranging the words in a pattern that reflects the subject or meaning.
The concrete aspect comes from basing the poem on tangible nouns, ones in which employ the senses, as opposed to abstract nouns. For instance, I can write about how cats see us, but are often invisible as they hide in plain view or I can emphasize the cat aspect by shaping the words around this concrete noun:
image: laurelgarver.BlogSpot.com
Sometimes the poem and its shape is humorous:
image: gardendigest.com
And sometimes it is more art than actual words:
image: prn.bc.ca
Other times there is a message within the message that turns out to be abstract after all:
For the most part, concrete poetry is a visual blending of text and shape. It’s an interactive expression, a melding and mixing of art, thought, feeling. Get into poetry by getting into shape.
Explore more with forming!
Does Our Spelling Miss the Mark?
I am discovering something shocking about myself. A habit that I never thought I would succumb to. And one I am not sure I am steeled enough in resolve to remedy this habit. Oh, my, how did it happen. Yes, I will admit it: technology. I’ve grown sloppy in my dependence of that little red underscore telling me I’ve slipped in my spelling. I used to be an excellent speller–pride goeth and trippeth me up. But I got quite cheered up when I came across this ditty by Samuel.
A plan for the improvement of spelling in the English language
By Mark Twain
For example, in Year 1 that useless letter “c” would be dropped to be replased either by “k” or “s”, and likewise “x” would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which “c” would be retained would be the “ch” formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform “w” spelling, so that “which” and “one” would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish “y” replasing it with “i” and iear 4 might fiks the “g/j” anomali wonse and for all.
Generally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeiniing voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez “c”, “y” and “x”—bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez —tu riplais “ch”, “sh”, and “th” rispektivili.
Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.
And there you have it, my students will embrace this plan for sure. I think some of them are on the trial plan already. I wonder how “vacuum,””anoint,””disappearance,” and a few other pesky bugs fair under Sam’s plan?
Verse for Wear
1st edition (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
First word purging and now onto verse wearing.
Throughout the year I also collected poems from my daily feeding from www.poets.org. Daily offerings are contemporary, while weekends focus on past classics. I began subscribing for a couple of reasons:
1. Poetry appreciation came into my life later than sooner and I’m making up for lost time.
2. Since becoming an AP teacher I figure it’s best practice to move beyond my basic knowledge of Frost–doctors must keep up on new practices, so as a practicing English literature teacher I should as well.
After a year of daily dosing of poems I have found I’m still drawn more to the classic poets, yet still appreciate the “now” of poetry today and listen, for the most part, what is being said.
So, here are the poems that I keep in my “save” file. I plan to wear these verse offerings by pulling them out for discussion in class. And here, as well. Any comments? Are you more contemporary or classic in your poetry choices?
All poems and bio information are from poets.org
Edgar Guest:
Guest has been called “the poet of the people.” Most often his poems were fourteen lines long and presented a deeply sentimental view of everyday life. When his father died, Guest was forced to drop out of high school and work full time at the Detroit Free Press, eventually considering himself “a newspaper man who wrote verses.” Of his poetry he said, “I take simple everyday things that happen to me and I figure it happens to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of them.”
Only A Dad
Edgar Guest
Only a dad with a tired face,
Coming home from the daily race,
Bringing little of gold or fame
To show how well he has played the game;
But glad in his heart that his own rejoice
To see him come and to hear his voice.
Only a dad with a brood of four,
One of ten million men or more
Plodding along in the daily strife,
Bearing the whips and the scorns of life,
With never a whimper of pain or hate,
For the sake of those who at home await.
Only a dad, neither rich nor proud,
Merely one of the surging crowd,
Toiling, striving from day to day,
Facing whatever may come his way,
Silent whenever the harsh condemn,
And bearing it all for the love of them.
Only a dad but he gives his all,
To smooth the way for his children small,
Doing with courage stern and grim
The deeds that his father did for him.
This is the line that for him I pen:
Only a dad, but the best of men.
From the book "A Heap o' Livin'" ©1916
Joyful Moments Web Designs Graphics © by Mary (Garren) Morand © MARY MORAND WEB PAGE – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Webmaster ~ E-Mail ~ Comments
I appreciate this poem because it gets a shout out to dads. There are so many poems that exult moms (which I don’t mind) and I think fathers get shorted on all they do and how we feel about them.
Radar Data #12
by Lytton Smith
It was in the absence of light
as when near new moon and
no moonlight; as when a part
of a picture is in shadow (as
opposed to a light); as when
in the condition of being
hidden from view, obscure,
or unknown–in concealment,
or else without knowledge
as regards to some particular;
and of the weather, season,
air, sky, sea, etc., characterized
by tempest; in times, events,
circumstances etc. subject to
tempers; inflamed, indicative, predictive, or symbolical of
strife (harbinger of coming
trouble)-a period of darkness
circumstances etc. subject to
tempers; inflamed, indicative, predictive, or symbolical of
strife (harbinger of coming
trouble)-a period of darkness
occurring between one day &
the next during which a place
receives no light from the sun,
and what if it is all behind us?
I no longer fear the rain will
never end, but doubt our ability
to return to what lies passed.
On the radar, a photopresent
scraggle of interference, as if
the data is trying to pretend
something’s out there where
everything is lost.
About This Poem
“People are always curious where a name like ‘Lytton’ comes from–and it’s not from modernist biographer Lytton Strachey, but gothic novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton. He famously came up with the opening phrase (in Paul Clifford) ‘It was a dark and stormy night.’ But I’ve begun to feel guilty mentioning that; his opening sentence is actually pretty good, so I’ve begun writing a whole series of poems that try to translate, rework, recuperate it.” Lytton Smith
This is My Life
by William Stanley Braithwaite
To feed my soul with beauty till I die;
To give my hands a pleasant task to do;
To keep my heart forever filled anew
With dreams and wonders which the days supply;
To love all conscious living, and thereby
Respect the brute who renders up its due,
And know the world as planned is good and true-
And thus -because there chanced to be an I!
To give my hands a pleasant task to do;
To keep my heart forever filled anew
With dreams and wonders which the days supply;
To love all conscious living, and thereby
Respect the brute who renders up its due,
And know the world as planned is good and true-
And thus -because there chanced to be an I!
This is my life since things are as they are:
One half akin to flowers and the grass:
The rest a law unto the changeless star.
And I believe when I shall come to pass
Within the Door His hand shall hold ajar
I’ll leave no echoing whisper of Alas!
Over the course of his career, Braithwaite founded a publishing company and taught creative writing at Atlanta University. His poetic style was influenced by English Romantic poets John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and William Wordsworth.
This poem smacks of resolution for the New Year. It stirs a resolve to become better than I am and to leave no regrets at the passing of the day. Yup, that’s what a poem should do–get some soul stirring going.
My hopes are that your New Year will be filled with verse, be it created or found, and that the words will resonate in your life into others!
Related articles
- Coping Skills. #26. Writing Poetry (annarosemeeds.wordpress.com)
- Open verse and other poetry forms (vicariouslyinlovewithyou.wordpress.com)
Vacuous Vocabulary?
The wonders of iPhonology have allowed me to copy and collect words throughout. I have a tidy little word zoo in my notes files and some words remain oddities to be gaped at, while others become part my lexicon. This year I have collected a list of vocabulary words that range from antiquated to techno lingual. Are these etymological critters known to you?
syllogism
Salmagundi
detritus
ameliorate
penury
tyros
averred
panegyric
chimera
dilatoriness
salubrious
ignominy
sophisms
opprobrium
insouciant
nepenthe
internecine
probity
chiasmus
insouciant
ineffable
eschatological
palimpsest
vitriol
frisson
perjorative
gentian
perspicuity
parousia
demotic
pellucid
obeisance
pelf
elegiac
ineluctable
effulgently
nimbus
These came from hither and thither through my lexiconic ramblings ranging from children’s books to devotional studies to contemporary and classic reads. Is it mindless (my title reference) to collect words? My hopes are to incorporate, refresh, and enfuse my personal dictionary with items from the collection. In actuality, I periodically scroll through the list and gloryosky at them. I like their looks, their sound, and some I like their meaning.
Any of you collect words? Any sharsies?
What We Say: #7
English: Bakers Oven Early 19th century shop and dwelling on the corner of Bailgate and Westgate (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As we swing into the season of baking I thought this bit of idiom history would be of interest. Mmmm, coconut macaroon, anyone?
BAKER’S DOZEN: HISTORY
Once upon a time in long ago England bakers cheated. At least some of them did. Weighing out their goods some of these dishonest bakers would employ short weights which meant paying out more money when buying buns, breads, and cakes. The powers of weights and measures thought this quite wrong and decreed heavy penalties for bakers who practiced weighing short on their goods. Not wanting to incur the wrath of the law bakers decided to increase their popularity by giving away an extra when purchasing twelve. A baker’s dozen became a custom and carried over into modern times.
APPLICATION
Who doesn’t like getting an extra tasty bakery treat?
MY THOUGHTS
I’ve heard of bakers dozen used in many different ways–anywhere from describing that odd extra to receiving a freebie. I’m wondering how bakery goods were sold way back then if weighing were involved. I like the per piece myself. “Wait, I’ll that one (the BIG cookie), yeah, that one right there.”
Oh Willa–Your Pioneers!
”The Song of the Lark ”Oil on canvas, 1884 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As I continually research my own pioneer novel-in-progress, I return to favorites for inspiration. Having reread most of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House of the Prairie series, I am moving on to more grown-up fare such as Willa Cather’s Midwest trilogy of My Antonia, Song of the Lark, and O Pioneers!
Cather’s writing continually surprises me with its subtle acuity. She follows the nineteenth century omniscient style of narration that is no longer in vogue, yet as I read her seamless insights into each character, I realize I am easily visiting each character’s thoughts while still in the scene. That’s art. It adds so much more dimension to the reading that I find myself slipping from third person limited into omni in my own writing. *Sigh* Maybe I shouldn’t be reading Willa Cather–at least until I get my manuscript’s revisions tidied back up.
In that regard, unless you have your own concerns about being overly influenced while writing your own pioneer epic, I suggest rereading or experiencing Willa Cather’s O Pioneer!
Cover of O Pioneers!
Why?
It’s good stuff. Really good stuff. Setting, for instance. Turn to page 97 of your Random House Vintage Classic version and feast:
(Part III: Winter Memories: I)
Winter has settled down over the Divide again; the season in which Nature recuperates, in which she sinks to sleep between the fruitfulness of autumn and the passion of spring. The birds have gone. The teeming life that goes on down in the long grass is exterminated. The prairie-dog keeps his hole. The rabbits run shivering from one frozen garden patch to another and are hard put to it to find frost-bitten cabbage-stalks. At night the coyotes roam the wintery waste, howling for food. The variegated fields are all one color now; the pastures, the stubble, the roads, the sky are the same leaden gray. The hedgerows and trees are scarcely perceptible against the bare earth, whose slaty hue they have taken on. The ground is frozen so hard that it bruises the foot to walk in the roads or in the ploughed fields. It is like an iron country, and the spirit is oppressed by its rigor and melancholy. One could easily believe that in that dead landscape the germs of life and fruitfulness were extinct forever.
Personification, alliteration, imagery galore, tone, diction–it’s a banquet of literary delight. Cather dedicates this full exposition to set up how this coldest of seasons affects the characters. Steinbeck did much the same in Grapes of Wrath. Remember the turtle scene?
Sometimes I think we forget the importance of slowly revealing the story in our pressing need to “let’s get on with it” plot modernity mentality. Yet, there is an absolute pleasure in immersing oneself in the cadence of well-placed and balanced words.
Oh Willa–your pioneers keep singing to me of your prairie love through your song of fields, seasonal cadence, and your indelible tribute to those who left their mark upon the land.
Related articles
- Willa Cather’s Letters Released For Publication Against Her Wishes (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
There is no rhyme nor reason to poetry…
at least according to some of my freshmen. I can understand their point. Who wants to study grammatically incorrect phrasings and try to make sense of what they are talking about when you are doing all you can at trying to get a handle on whether it’s “A” day or “B” day and what lunch you have (“ummm, first lunch on “A” day or was that “B” day?). But we’ve made a commitment to Common Core and it’s full speed ahead.
Cover of Dead Poets Society
Actually, I’ve always been a proponent of poetry. I’ve brought cowboy poets into the classroom, Beatle songs, clips of Robin Williams doing his crazy wonderful teacher in Dead Poets Society, and provided recipes for poems. I had football players writing love poems and entering contests, mud boggers writing sonnets about their trucks. We’ve explored performance poetry through Taylor Mali’s incredible YouTube videos and we’ve participated in a packed-out community program of youth performing their own poetry.
Common Core though, I’ve noticed, has dented my zing. I’ve been having students prepare for their SBAC (I should know what that means) by writing up reaction paragraphs to each poem as a means of them practicing their critical thinking skills. There is nothing wrong with understanding and recognizing how, or what, or why the poem works, yet poetry is so different from prose. It should encourage the soul to sing. I’m afraid in my zeal for my students to do well on their tests by getting their writing skills up to stuff I’ve lost my way towards my original goal of greeting me with “What’s the poem today?” with that anticipation of a new flavor to relish.
Hmm, some Walt Whitman and Song of Myself might do it…
Cover via Amazon
Related articles
- Announcing PoetryMinute.org (poetry4kids.com)
- Poem (njwdragon.wordpress.com)
- Keep Calm and Write Poetry… (jemsloves.wordpress.com)
Pam Webb aka Cricket Muse
A writer's journey as a reader
Recent Award
Children’s Insider
Society for Children’s Writers and Illustrators
Pam Webb 