#2- PO-EMotions: Fear

April is National Poetry Month. Every year, my dear friend (and poet Extraordinaire), Mary Lee Hahn chooses a theme, and writes a poem each day. Mary Lee blogs and posts her poems at two different places- YEAR OF READING and a fabulous new poetry blog POETREPOSITORY

This year, Mary Lee has chosen the theme, "PO-EMotions," and will be writing about a different emotion each day. She promises, "This year, I will write a poem a day that either evokes an emotion, or uses an emotion word in the title or body of the poem." If you want to read more about the emotions she will be touching on, go here. 

Today's emotion is fear.  All day yesterday, I jotted scraps and images that came to me. 


"fear"

every year
a little one hangs back
whimper crying
clinging to mama's hand
and I gently peel the two apart
reassure mom (who is also a little teary)

here there will be
books
watercolors
good friends
and recess

school
is not such a scary place
after all

Carol Wilcox, (c) 2015

The back story: For the past few years, I have been a literacy coach, mostly at elementary schools. On the first day of school, pretty much every year, I am assigned to kindergarten, where I spend the first hour or two consoling those little guys who are not quite sure about the school thing. Usually we become good friends, and by the time they hit second or third grade, we laugh about that first day of kindergarten.

********

"Fear"

that voice 
called fear
whisper shouts
in my ear

but what if…
and what if…
or what if…
even so, what if…

and I have to keep 
reminding that 
loud loud loud 
quiet voice,

"Peace!
Be still
and know that 
HE is God."

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2015

****************
And then a tanka (Japanese poem, five lines, syllables: 5-7-5-7-7)

"To my boys"

Often fear looks like
anger loud red hot breaking
easier to rage
than to acknowledge weakness
or holes grief has torn in soul

(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015

To read Mary Lee's, and terrific poems by several others, go to YEAR OF READING  or POETREPOSITORY