May
2019
Poetry Friday: Poetry Hides
Mary Lee hosts the Poetry Friday Roundup today at A Year of Reading where she is celebrating Naomi Shihab Nye. (Thank you, Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference, for coming up with this brilliant idea!) If you are not familiar with the poetry of Nye, you are in luck because The Poetry Foundation just named Naomi Shihab Nye as this year’s Young People’s Poet Laureate! Mary Lee also highlights a fabulous-sounding book that I want to add to my collection, Colby Sharp’s The Creativity Project.
Back when I taught middle-schoolers, I loved sharing “A Valentine for Ernest Mann” with them. It starts like this…
A Valentine for Ernest Mann
You can’t order a poem like you order a taco
Walk up to the counter, say, “I’ll take two”
and expect it to be handed back to you
on a shiny plate.
Still, I like your spirit.
Anyone who says, “Here’s my address,
write me a poem,” deserves something in reply.
So I’ll tell a secret instead:
poems hide…
Click here to read the rest of the poem or here to hear Nye read it and explain the story behind it. I have to confess, those skunks get me every time.
Where Will I Find a Poem Today?
Poems hide
in the unfinished
business of my life,
in the basket of books—
half-read and yet-to-be-read—
sitting beside the rocker
where once I nursed and now I write.
Poems hide
in the yellowed keys
of our old upright piano,
in the flutes from around the world
that call for me to
breathe life and music into them
again.
Poems hide
in the constant interruptions
that pull my pen away from paper.
Poems hide,
but they are waiting
to be found.
Where have you found poems lurking in unexpected places?
Kimberly M. Hutmacher
June 5, 2019 at 9:47 am (5 years ago)Love this poem. Yes, poems like to play hide and seek. I’ve found that the more I exercise my poetry muscle, the better I get at finding them 🙂
Mrs. McGriff
June 7, 2019 at 7:38 am (5 years ago)Thanks, Kim. I agree, the more I write, the more ideas I find.
Michelle Heidenrich Barnes
June 3, 2019 at 8:38 am (5 years ago)Where do poems hide— it’s a beautiful question with no ugly answers. Thank you for your own beautiful response today, Kay! I remember when I was doing research for my interview with Naomi how lost I got in all the videos and interviews. Her inspiration and influence as a poet and a person is limitless.
Mrs. McGriff
June 3, 2019 at 12:28 pm (5 years ago)Thank you, Michelle. Naomi is an inspiration! I have enjoyed reading all about her and about things inspired by her this week.
Michelle Kogan
June 2, 2019 at 12:57 am (5 years ago)Poems hide in the air, suspended, eagerly wanting to be lassoed by whoever will wrangle one out… I pull many out when on walks. Love your poem Kay, and how poems hide in your “yellowed” piano “keys,” and flutes. I also loved hearing Nye reading her poem and telling us its backstory–smiling from all here, thanks! 🙂
Mrs. McGriff
June 2, 2019 at 8:15 am (5 years ago)Lovely line, Michelle! Like you, I often find poems on my walks.
cheriee weichel
June 1, 2019 at 5:41 pm (5 years ago)I got completely carried away with those links to NSM, before coming back and reading your poems.
I love your response poem to her work. I find poems hide only to surface in the middle of the night while I am trying to sleep!
Mrs. McGriff
June 2, 2019 at 8:15 am (5 years ago)Thanks, Cheriee. Isn’t the video of Naomi reading this poem and talking about its origin just wonderful! I should keep a notepad and pen by my bed to jot down those poems that wake me in the middle of the night!
Carol Varsalona
June 1, 2019 at 2:26 pm (5 years ago)Poems hide in our souls just waiting to be discovered, Kay. Your poem in reply to NSN’s mentor text is wonderful with its opening that speaks of the reality of life to the constant interruptions of our lives. There is such hope at the end that leads all to believe in the power of voice.
Mrs. McGriff
June 2, 2019 at 8:13 am (5 years ago)Thanks, Carol. I like to think of poems hiding in our souls
Ruth
June 1, 2019 at 9:29 am (5 years ago)I, too, love teaching this poem. Yours is wonderful! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Mrs. McGriff
June 2, 2019 at 8:12 am (5 years ago)Thanks, Ruth. This is such a great poem to share with kids.
Name*
June 1, 2019 at 8:48 am (5 years ago)What an outstanding take on our NSN celebration. I’m loving all of it. Where poems hide? That’s a whole new world of possibilities you’ve opened up for me. The unfinished pages….so lovely and thought provoking. Brilliant post. Thank you.
Mrs. McGriff
June 2, 2019 at 8:12 am (5 years ago)Thank you! I hope you find poems hiding scattered throughout your days!
Jone MacCulloch
May 31, 2019 at 11:26 pm (5 years ago)They hide in the files I haven’t looked at in years and in the writing room and in my dreams. Thank you for this.
Mrs. McGriff
June 2, 2019 at 8:11 am (5 years ago)I bet I could find poems hiding in old files! Thanks, Jone.
Mary Lee Hahn
May 31, 2019 at 7:08 pm (5 years ago)There are so many amazing poems…like this one…hiding in the Poetry Friday roundup, waiting for readers to come along with appreciations! I’m having some of those crazy teacher moments where we’ve been out of school a week and I can’t wait to try many of the ideas and share many of the poems I’ve found with my new class!
Mrs. McGriff
May 31, 2019 at 8:38 pm (5 years ago)Oh yes, I”m especially loving all the Nye poems and Nye-inspired poems. Have fun exploring and sharing with your new class!
Linda Baie
May 31, 2019 at 5:32 pm (5 years ago)I used this poem by Nye with my middle schoolers, too, Kay, a wonderful one that they loved. Now I love reading where your poems hide, love those “flutes from around the world” and the ending.
Mrs. McGriff
May 31, 2019 at 8:37 pm (5 years ago)My students loved it, too, Linda. I just unpacked some of those flutes today. Thank you for your words about the ending. I find endings so hard to write
Tabatha
May 31, 2019 at 4:28 pm (5 years ago)So many places for poems to hide! For a while I kept finding them while I was driving the car. Maybe I should have done a car collection. I like that they are hiding in your unfinished business 🙂
Mrs. McGriff
May 31, 2019 at 8:35 pm (5 years ago)Ha! I’ve found a few poems driving the car, too!