Mainely Write

It's Poetry Friday and there are so many things going on!  I have my grandchildren and daughter visiting. Got up early to squeeze in this post! Took a walk yesterday with my grandson and looked at the roots of a spruce uprooted in the windstorm in early March.  The ledge it was perched on was fully exposed, along with its shallow root system.  Sad but interesting!  What a challenge to live with shallow roots on a granite ledge! I think Pickles may be sneaking in to make some jello later today! What a challenge to be able to make sneaky Jello... Tomorrow I will have my grandson pick a Bear poem's author out of an Easter Basket or Bonnet to see who gets the jelly beans!  So it you were planning on writing a poem for this fellow, please do so and get it posted on his Padlet by bedtime tomorrow!  I challenge you to write one if you haven't yet! On Sunday, the A to Z Blogging Challenge begins. There will be over a thousand bloggers attempting to blog eac

Welcome to my Poetry Friday post!  Laura Purdie Salas is hosting today, so make sure you click the link and visit more poetry today!  And go to Ed DeCaria's Madness Poetry to vote on the newest round (4), where Laura has her new poem up! I am up in Northern Maine where the snow is deeper and the air is colder and winter hangs on the longest.  But I love it up here.  There is a lot of sky.  First looking at the image I saw an alligator that I hadn't seen before... then a duck right there in front of him...so first this: Driving through Just passing by Alligator eats A ducky sky. by Donna JT Smith Took this picture from the car window last night as we drove through the countryside. And then this: Beneath the Sky Fields stretch on beneath the sky waiting for  another try another spring to come reveal The rich brown soil the farmers feel between their fingers testing it to see if all is firm and set for planting on beneat

Don't get excited!  Photo is from some long ago warm season. I am going to quote from the comments of Diane Mayr's Random Noodling here to help us out with my post: Diane's quote: "There's a guidelines sheet available from the Haiku Society here that you might want to check out. It always helps to read haibun, which you can do in online journals such as Haibun Today . Everyone writes a little differently, but what I try to do is to write a haiku that isn't directly related to the prose portion, but instead takes the reader somewhere else only to end up in the same place." And here is my comment to Diane that same day:  "I do love your haibun, and thank you for the link to more. I've spent a bit of time there now, just reading. I wanted to try a haibun for a haibun... " I went to Haibun Today, and read through a number of Haibun.  I did not go to the Haiku Society link yet...but will.  My haibun for a haibun: What&

Though I realize many of my Poetry Friday friends may have read these two poems, I decided to fudge a bit and post them here for today.  Now to concentrate on the A to Z poems for April!  I will be doing Maine Vanity Plates A to Z with a poem for each!  Sunday, April 1 will be the first one, but no A to Z posts on Sundays in this challenge.  If you're amind to join in, sign up at http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2018/03/master-list-sign-ups.html On of my all-time favorites found on a family van!   Solar Bear dressed for spring rain...  The second poem was my favorite of the two.  The Authletes liked it, but I could have used more student votes on that one.  Ah, well.  I shall try again. This is my poem for Round 1 (word: imbroglio) a limericky poem, lots of tweakes and to make the rhyming format, there was only one spot I didn't like, but couldn't manipulate enough without starting over : Licked Bought a fudgy ice cream on a stick; Thought I’d ride my bike

My watercolor cow...no relation to any cows in Round 2...and there are a few! Round 2 in the Madness Poetry Tournament, held by Ed DeCaria has begun with the second assigned word, and a new authlete "opponent".    I'm in to this round in a bout with J.J. Close - a formidable opponent!  We got our word  on Friday and had 36 hours to write a poem. Voting for these bouts is now open, and close this Tuesday.   Link to calendar My first round word was "imbroglio" - this round is "untenable"!  Lots of challenging words and fun kid poems in this round!   It is not too late:  If you have a classroom or are a homeschooler - register your students as a class , have them read, talk about the poems, and then decide how they'll vote!!  You will feel extra ready for April's poetry month.  They may want to set up a classroom challenge on their own with a word of the day to write to???  Or not.  And of course, any adult can go there t

It is Poetry Friday!  And there is so much goodness going around in the poetry world!  Bear with me (oh, I just got that... a pun... you'll see later)  Read more for a suh-we-e-e-et challenge for you! Our hostess today with all the link-ups to poetry is Michelle H. Barnes at Today's Little Ditty .  Visit her to find lots of poetic goodness.  On Wednesday, Michelle posted my Golden Shovel poem in response to Nikki Grimes' challenge.  You can read it here if you've a mind to... Thursday evening the polls closed and I found out that I'd won my bout ! Today Round 2 in the Madness Poetry Tournament, held by Ed DeCaria begins at noon with the second assigned word, and a new authlete "opponent".    I'm going on to the next round in a bout with J.J. Close - a formidable opponent.  We get our word in shifts sometime after noon on Friday, so I may not be making the round of poetry links until after Sunday.  We'll have 36 hours from the issuing of

Today is a voting day for Round 1 in the Madness Poetry Tournament, held by Ed DeCaria.   I've now been to all 32 match-ups, read the two competing poems of each, and voted, plus made comments... been busy!  But this is well worth the time and energy.  First, these poets have put their words on the line - with 36 hours to write a poem using a given word.  Second, I learn a lot about poetry the more I read it.  Third, there are some words out there I evidently need to learn...like my own challenge word "imbroglio"! Fourth, it gets your mind mellow and energized at the same time! So go there today and most of tomorrow.  Sign up to vote (you will need to enter and verify your email), and read and vote!  This is time you won't feel you have wasted!! And if you have a classroom - register them, have them read, talk about, and vote!!  You will feel extra ready for April's poetry month.  They may want to set up a classroom challenge on their own with a word of the da

February was Laura Shovan's birthday month, and to celebrate, she posts a challenge to poets to write about a designated topic - and this year it was a piece of art we owned.  So we were writing ekphrastic poetry every day (that we could, or felt inspired to).  I accomplished the warm up in the last week of January, the challenge of the 28 days of February, and now I am in the midst of the wind-down first week of March.  Yesterday's ekphrastic was inspired by embroidery done on silk offered by Catherine Wallian Flynn.  It was given to her husband's grandfather by a Chinese officer when they served together in Asia during World War II. The artist is unknown. Birds of Spring Cutting through the evening sky Tumble-flying joy on wings, Dodging others sweet in song - Waters flight-touched making rings. These the flocks of spring to come, Wings with song strummed in delight; These befeathered creatures sing In the fading of the light. Melting ice begins to flower,

It's Poetry Friday, so it is fitting that many poets and poem lovers are gearing up for March Madness Poetry .  I've made the cut for the competition (despite my stupor lately)... Register yourself (as an individual) and/or your class (even homeschoolers!) to vote for your favorite poems. There will be an insane number of poems and variety of styles and usage of words at Ed DeCaria's in March ! Today I am sharing the post from Laura Shovan's Wind Down from February's Ekphrastic poetry challenge.  The inspiration is a painting by Patty Gulledge.  I truly wanted to do something serious...but as I looked at the buoys and thought about the rows of buoys lined up to be painted afresh each spring to ready them for duty, the very last line, the punchline of a joke, kept coming to me... You have to go with what you are given. Buoy's Team Like worn out team shirts After the last game The buoys were brought in To repaint and stain Then strung on a l