AMAZING PLACES- collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Happy New Year! Several years ago, my friend Terri introduced me to a new practice. Rather than make New Year's resolutions, she makes a bucket list on New Year's Eve. The list has to have the same number of items as the years in her age. That makes perfect sense to me, so I guess tonight I will start making a list with umm, well, never mind, a lot of things on it.

One of the things that will appear on my list will definitely be travel. It's one of my favorite things, and something I have not gotten to do very much in the last few years. It makes sense, then, that I would start 2016 by reviewing AMAZING PLACES, one of Lee Bennett Hopkins' newest compilations.

AMAZING PLACES includes poems about some really well known places- the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Missisippi River, the Liberty Bell, Fenway Park, and Harlem. It also includes a lot of less well-known places- the Oneida Nation Museum, the Watkins Museum of History in Lawrence, Kansas, Chinatown in San Francisco,  Ringling Circus Museum in Florida, National Museum of the American Indian, and Sandy Hook Lighthouse.

The list of poets included in this collection is pretty darn impressive- Alma Flor Ada, Jaime Adoff, Joseph Bruchac, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Kristine O'Connell George, Joan Bransfield Graham, Nikki Grimes,  Lee Bennett Hopkins, J. Patrick Lewis, Jane Medina, Linda Sue Park,   Prince Redcloud, Charles Waters, and  Janet Wong. Illustrations are by one of my favorites- Chris Soenpiet and also Christy Hale, who has illustrated a number of children's books.

Back matter includes informational paragraphs about each place, which would be a great resource when studying settings, or for multi-genre research reports. End pages locate each place on a map of the United States.

TREE SPEAKS

Here they come again
those pale, rootless humans
squinting at the far country
where gorge meets sky.
How they gawk at me,
thinking I'm lonely!
Yes, I am one of only
a handful of trees
clinging to these
sun-striped cliffs,
branches suspended
over a clear drop
more miles down
than the number of rings
circling my middle.
But lonely?
What do they know?
Daily, I listen to the echo
of the Colorado River rapids
bouncing off red-purple ridges
sculpted by water and time.
Each moring, I witness the swoop and swirl
of hawks dancing in the air
we share.
Each evening,
I happily offer my lmbs
as respite for majestic eagles.
Oh, yes,
this home of mine
stitched to the horizon
is Grand.
I will cling here forever,
waiting to be found
by those lost
in the endless beauty
of the Canyon.
Nikki Grimes
In AMAZING PLACES

Mary Lee Hahn is hosting POETRY FRIDAY at YEAR OF READING. In case you didn't know, Mary Lee wrote a haiku every day during the month of December, so be sure to go to her poetry blog, POETREPOSITORY, to read those.

Haiku #31

Not a great picture. My tree at sunset. They cut the big limb that extended over the neighbor's yard yesterday. 

Another not great picture. This is a chunk of the branch they cut off yesterday.
I'm sure there's a poem in the center, hoping someone will write it.

Phew! We did it! Thirty-one days of haiku! Hard work, but I have totally enjoyed writing with the little poetry community that we have created. Thanks to Leigh Anne Eck, Mary Lee Hahn, Kevin Hodgson, Steve Peterson, and Carol Varsalona! I have learned a lot from you!

"on writing haiku"
let's just write haiku
she said. i blithely agreed
i should have known
those seventeen syllables emerge
like blood from a rock
(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015


"lets just write haiku she said"
I blithely agreed
not knowing syllables
do not like to be dragged
from their underground caves
and carved into white pages.
(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015


"on writing haiku"
syllables revel in dark caves
they do not wish to be dragged out
pared, sliced, carved onto page.
(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015


"let's just write haiku,"
she said. i blithely agreed
totally unaware that syllables hide
in dark underground word caves
and vehemently resist
being dragged onto white page.
(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015


"On Writing Haiku"
desired syllables hide
in dark, underground word caves
vehemently resisting white page.
(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015


"When I agreed to write haiku"
I was unaware:
syllables lurk in dark caves
resisting white page.
(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015

Haiku #30

living creatures fear

winter's brutal onslaught

earth reduced to silence

(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015

OR MAYBE

living creatures hide

as winter's brutal onslaught

reduces earth to silence

(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015

This morning, I read Steve and Kevin's poems on Twitter. It occurred to me that I really have not seen many nearly as many living creatures- birds, squirrels, or people- this week. We haven't had much snow, but it's been super cold, with the high being around 20 most days. That's where this poem came from. 

SLICE OF LIFE

It started with an email from me to my poetry writing friend, Mary Lee.

OK, so here is a question. 

In April, we write thirty poems in a row. 

Every stinking day. 

For a whole month.

Why then, can I not write one more poem for the whole rest of the year???

Your non poetry writing friend,

Carol

Mary Lee responded with a challenge.

How about this small challenge: Join me in reading The Santa Clauses aloud on Monday, and then write a haiku a day in December and invite the students to come along for the ride. I'll publish mine at Poetrepository. You can tuck yours in the comments if you don't want to go all out on Carol's Corner.
Is that do-able? Then you won't be able to say you haven't written any other poems all year long!
:-)

 I thought that might be do-able. I didn't know, but have discovered since, that it's way harder to write a few words than a lot. And so, the two of us started out on December 1st. But here is the really, really fun part.

It only stayed two of us for about one day. Steve Peterson, a teacher from Iowa(@insidethedog), joined us almost immediately.  And so did Kevin Hodgson (@dogtrax). And LeighAnn Eck(@teachr4). And Carol Varsalona (@cvarsalona).

Originally, I thought I would write Christmas haiku the entire month. I think I ran out of ideas about a week in. Then I just kind of switched over and wrote about whatever-- nature, moments from the day. I'm definitely not a polished poet, but at least I have been writing every day.

Every morning Mary Lee posts on her poetry blog, Poetrepository. Kevin posts his on Twitter. Steve posts on Mary Lee's blog and on Twitter too. I publish on my blog, and in the comments on Mary Lee's and sometimes on Twitter, although that feels a little intimidating to me. There are usually a couple of different conversations about poetry- one on Mary Lee's blog and one on Twitter. And it's really, really fun.

It's also been a really playful thing. One week, Kevin played line tag with Mary Lee, picking up one of her lines, and including it in his poems. Another week, Mary Lee played poetry tag with herself, including a line from each day's poem in the next poem.

I'd never go so far as to claim that I am a poet like some of these folks are, but I've learned a lot. Haiku aren't supposed to have titles (mine usually do). Haiku often have kind of a kicker line- a surprise metaphor or ??? (those are really hard, mine don't usually have them). There's another closely related form, tanka- it's five lines, but a similar syllable pattern. Steve often writes those. They are supposed to have a hinge line in the middle, connecting two dissimilar images. That's really hard to do.

I'm really glad I took Mary Lee's challenge this month!

Haiku #29

This picture doesn't quite match. I took it at the beginning of our walk, before it got dark. 

sunset drags last blue gray

shards from sky, cold black winter 

night settles over earth
(c) Carol Wilcox, 2015

winter paintbrush spreads
gray blue palette across
snow white canvas
(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015

Haiku, Day #28

A few moments from today…

"ANYTHING HELPS"

that's what your sign says

I watch you shiver and wonder

whether anything could

(C) Carol Wilcox, 2015

"On Walking the Dog in Subzero Temperatures"

happy tail never stops

nose searches relentlessly

a gal could get lucky. 

(C) Carol Wilcox

"Just in Case"

Do not just drive away

Goodbye is not enough either

Say, "I love you for always"

Then smile and wave

until he can no longer see you.

(C) Carol Wilcox

Backstory: This month, my family has been touched by a couple of tragedies. Over Thanksgiving Weekend, a friend I grew up with lost his wife, in-laws, and brother-in-law to a drunk driver down in Arizona. Last week, a friend of my brother-in-law was driving his family back from a basketball game and was killed when another car crossed the median and hit their car head on. 

Today, I was dropping my son off at work when a frozen pop can exploded in the back of the car. I was a little distracted, and just kind of said, "Bye" as he jumped out of the car. A few minutes later, I realized what I had done and had to text him to remind him that I loved him. I'm planning on seeing him again at 9, when I pick him up at the end of his shift, but who knows for sure?

RANDOM BODY PARTS: GROSS ANATOMY RIDDLES IN VERSE- LESLIE BULION

I love books that are multi-layered. You know, the kind that you can read, and then read again, and then read again, and discover something new every time?

RANDOM BODY PARTS: GROSS ANATOMY RIDDLES IN VERSE is definitely one of those books. The book includes twenty poem-riddles about body parts-- some common-heart, lungs, kidneys, etc., and  some unusual: spleen, pancreas, and nose. The first time through, you read to solve the riddle.

Good Riddance
to Bad Blood
Behind the stomach, upper left,
This gizmo (wren's nest-sized),
Is where red blood cells come to die,
And germs get neutralized. 

This spongy, pulpy doodad hoards
At least a cup of blood,
Removing each blood cell that's
An aging, worn-out dud. 

It's white blood cells squelch, then remove
Bacterial invaders.
They battle every virus like
Infection Caped Crusaders. 

This power worker scours blood,
All night and all day through.
Yet most folks overlook it--
I don't think that's fair.
Do you?

Answer: The Spleen
And  then the reader gets a little extra information, because each riddle poem is accompanied by a factual paragraph:

Your spleen sits like a jaunty little cap tipped behind the rounded , top curve of the stomach. The spleen's red pulp destroys old red blood cells and returns iron to your blood. The white blood cells, from the spleen's white pulp, surround and destroy bacteria and viruses to fight infection.

But wait, there is another really cool thing! Each poem in the book is based on a Shakespeare play!!!!!

Quick as a Wink
Gritty
if not for me-----
that
is for certain. 

To see
or not to see;
I am the curtain.
eyelid

Or here's a portion of the heart poem…

Shall I compare you to a clenched-up fist?
You are more gloppy,
shaped more like a cone.
Rough handling pounds a fist upon its wrist,
But you're protected in your cage of bone.

Back matter includes poetry notes that explain each poem's connection to Shakespeare. There is also a glossary, and a diagram that locates the organs.

A terrific addition to your poetry/science library!