POETRY FRIDAY ROUNDUP

On Friday night, I was attempting some final cleanup of the Poetry Friday Roundup.

And then I got an error message from Blogspot. 

And then, just like that, my entire Poetry Friday post was gone. 

And none of the tricks I know restored it.  

So now I'm attempting to recreate the post, but if I forgot anyone, I apologize. 

Please let me know and I will add you back in.

It was (thankfully, I guess now, given that I'm having to relink everything) a very quiet Poetry Friday. 

A couple of early birds checked in on Thursday night…

• Robyn Hood Black shared an idea for a micro found poetry project. This would be fun to make for necklaces (teachers, think parent presents- Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day), or ornaments, or as a slumber party project. She's even tried it with middle school boys!
• Laura Purdie Salas  has a "Kidlit Combo," an original cinquain, "The Perfect Gift," in response to Sara Pennypacker's PIERRE IN LOVE. I think this type of response would be way fun to try with kids (probably Laura has already suggested that and I just missed it).  Laura's husband was having kidney stone surgery today and she requested that we send lots of healing thoughts their way. We hope everything went well today, Laura!

Naturally, there were several Thanksgiving/Black Friday posts…

• Penny Klosterman (a great aunt) and Landon (her great nephew) have teamed up to bring us Episode #7- "Leftover Turkey." The surprise ending reminds me of one of my favorite oldie but goodie Thanksgiving picture books, Lorna Balian's SOMETIMES IT'S TURKEY, SOMETIMES IT'S FEATHERS.
  
• In another poem with a clever ending,  Bridget Magee Wee Words for Wee Ones brings whole new meaning to the phrase, "Black Friday."
• Sylvia Vardell presented with Eileen Spinelli last week at NCTE. Eileen's poem, "Get a Life!" captures exactly how I feel about Black Friday (and shopping in general). 
• Amy Ludwig Vanderwater captures her time with family and friends in "Grace" and promises that she will share the audio version of this poem as soon as her phone returns from Toronto (thinking there must be a story behind that one)! At Amy's other blog, Sharing our Notebooks, she announces the winners of the QUICK WRITES giveaway. 
• Cathy Mere stopped by last night, while I was experiencing technical difficulties. Her original poem, "Yesterday and Today," reminded me of my mom and grandmother. It made me cry.
• Given the low turnout at Poetry Friday today, I suspect many of us are experiencing Meredith Holmes' sentiments, "In Praise of My Bed," shared by Ruth on her blog, There is No Such Thing as a God-Forsaken Town.

And several nature or weather-related (OK, mostly snow) poems…

•  Have you ever heard of a murmuration? I hadn't, at least until I read Diane Mayr's post today. A murmuration, it seems, is a flock of starlings, who fly in beautiful, almost choreographed patterns. Read Diane's original tanka, then watch the video of this glorious bird ballet. Wow!
• Donna, at Mainely Write, had quite the Thanksgiving this year. A storm knocked out the power at her house, so she had to transport Thanksgiving dinner an hour south. "A Question of Snow" is actually a poem Donna had written (probably on another snowy day in Maine) but it definitely fits the weather in the Northeast right now.
• Carol Varsalona wrote "Fall's Transition" in response to the snowy weather she is currently experiencing in Syracuse. She wants readers to remember that she will be collecting original poems and photographs for her Fall Festival until this Friday.
• At Year of Reading, Mary Lee Hahn has a light-hearted original poem in response to this year's first snow. Earlier this week, Mary Lee reviewed Bob Raczka's new December poetry book, SANTA CLAUSES, and has decided to try writing an original haiku every day in December. She'd like us to join her in this endeavor at her new poetry blog, POETREPOSITORY. 
• In the Pacific Northwest, Ramona is singing the praises of rain with an original haiku. She also mentions a book, ONE BIG RAIN: POEMS FOR RAINY DAYS, that sounds like a terrific addition to any poetry collection. 

A couple of folks were inspired to write by last week's NCTE festivities…

• I see Betsy Hubbard's name every week at Two Writing Teachers and her Chalk-a-brations show up throughout Kidlitosphere, but she says it's been a few months since she last posted at Poetry Friday. She's in today with two original poems she worked on at NCTE.
• Lots of Poetry Friday Regular's will find themselves in Kim Doele's poem, "A Poetry Teacher's Dream." And I totally agree with you Kim, there is nothing like meeting up with your poetry hero/heroines at NCTE

A few fantasy-ish posts…

• Michelle H. Barnes is wrapping up a month of collecting monstrously good haiku from lots of Poetry Friday friends. This challenge ends Tuesday and participants will be eligible to win a copy of SANTA CLAUSES. And even if you aren't inclined to write a monster haiku, you can still enter the drawing, by commenting on Michelle's post before Tuesday. 
• At Gathering Books, Iphigene invites us to visit the world of Tolkien, through one of his ballads, "Far Over the Misty Mountain." I'm not a big fantasy fan, but when I listened to the Youtube version of this ballad, it made me think I might add THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY to my TBR list for 2015.

And then there were poems as life truths posts…

•  Irene Latham, who describes herself as a thrift store shopper, has a recently re-illustrated and re-relased book, "I Like Old Clothes," by poet laureate, Mary Ann Hoberman. Be sure to listen to Mary Ann's reading of this delightful poem!
• Tabatha Yeatts offered two "Upon" poems today. "Upon Being Asked What I Believe In" by Carol Rhein has jumped to the top of my new favorites list (especially after a week with my two college aged sons who informed me this week that they "overstand" ideas that I can't even begin to 'understand!)

Thanks, too, to Linda Baie and Cathy Mere for stopping by to comment today, even though they weren't posting their own poems.

Enjoy the weekend!