Dash #607 Never Stop Writing

          When I was younger, I enjoyed reading poems and would often write nonsense poems just for the sake of rhyming.  It wasn’t until I was in high school and taking a creative writing class that I learned about many different types of poetry and have often attempted writing different styles.  Some styles I prefer more than others.

          I wrote poems for many years.  I wrote poems and started many different story lines, but I don’t think I ever finished a single one.  My mind has mostly raced ahead of my pencil.  The word processor seemed to add an ease to writing stories and biography.  I now have the ability to add things and delete things and not worry about marring the paper in any way. 

          I rarely write poems anymore.  Sometimes I will work on stories with Jenna.  But mostly what I write are truths and journaling.  Once in a while I take out a pen and paper to accumulate thoughts or take notes.  But mostly I do it electronically.  It is faster and tons easier to read.  I write letters and emails electronically. But I do print letters and send them through the mail.  I mostly write my eldest granddaughter – well I address her personally, but the letter is really for the entire family. 

          Once in a while I will send a letter to someone I have never sent to before, for example this letter was sent along with heirlooms – one before she was even born.  On Thursday I sent a letter to my grandnephew who has cancer.  He is four.

          I enjoy writing.  I don’t enjoy poetry as much as I used to – though I have my moments enjoying certain styles like those mentioned in posts here and here. I have since purchased Mirror, Mirror and Follow, Follow. see here

My favorite poets are Carl Sandburg and Langston Hughes. I especially love Langston Hughes and have read most of his collections – many of which are not poetry.  He has written books about a character named “Simple”. Very Funny!

Throughout the beginning of my blog there have been some styles of poetry added to some of my posts – most seem to be about the weather, but there are some others.  Perhaps I’ll share a few of my earlier works if I make the time to look for and compile them and post them.  It will be a while if it indeed happens. Don't count on it.

Destiny, Rewritten by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

My latest reading is a book written by Kathryn Fitzmaurice.  One funny thing about the book itself is that the book jacket is on upside down.  Onlookers may think I am truly weird when I laugh out loud and yet I appear to have the book upside down – but really, just the jacket is.  The library taped it down that way.  I don’t know whether mistakenly or as a symbolic gesture.

Destiny, Rewritten takes us on a journey through the eyes of a  sixth grader named Emily Elizabeth Davis.  She was named after Emily Dickinson because her free spirited, English-teaching mom wants the destiny of her daughter to become a poet much like Emily Dickinson.  Only the Emily telling the story doesn’t particularly care for poetry. She does like romance novels though and will often write letters to Danielle Steel.

Her mother had given her a book that she had purchased on the day before her daughter, Emily was born. It is The Complete Works of Emily Dickinson poems which she says contains over 700 pages. Emily's mom has scribbled notes in the margin to let her daughter know that this poem reminds me of the time you were born, this is when you did a certain thing in your life.  A treasured book that Emily will look at, but doesn’t seem to appreciate the way that her mother does - though she does look at it..

One day she asks the question about the identity of her father and is finally told that his name is written in the book with all the poems and notes.  But there are so many pages  that Emily doesn’t know where to begin.  Her mother reminds her that perhaps it isn’t in her destiny to push it. 

As Emily searches through the book, she is told she has a phone call.  While on the phone, her brother donates a box to good will.  It wasn’t even the right box.  Emily’s book hadn’t even been in either box, and suddenly it has been donated.

Much of this story has made me laugh out loud.  There is a chapter on comparing Laura Ingalls to Emily Dickinson and what an exciting life Laura Ingalls read and how boring her sister Mary was.  I thought that was hilarious.

My latest reading is about the search for the accidently-donated book.  Reading about overly organized Emily trying to change her destination has really put a smile on my face.  I highly recommend this book – even if it appears to be upside down.

The Elements Seem to be Teasing Us Still

This post was created two summers ago.  I don't know what button I hit that made the post change to Feb 2015. Today the winds blew strong - but it was warm outside.  Go figure.  We did use the air conditioning in the car (never have I done that in February) and although it has been warm today, it hasn't been SUMMER warm.

I wrote a few verses about how I am personally handling this heat (not well) and emailed them to a friend who made it into a song.  He’d sent me the chords and the fingering.  But seeing it on paper really doesn’t mean that much to me.  I think it was sweet of him to send it to me.

I've had two showers today but my body doesn't know it

I've planted flowers and beets but my garden doesnt' show it

I wash more clothes in summer than any other season

I'm so tired all of the time and summer is the reason

Why can't heat just stay away from me

Allow my body to breathe free

Allow my mind to think clearly

Please just let me be

cool again

I'm standing in a rather large pool of sweat

I can't believe I haven't melted away yet

And in addition the sun has fried my brain

Before this summer's over I will have gone insane

I want to be inside with the A/C blasting on

I'm looking forward to when the summer's gone

Why can't heat just stay away from me

Allow my body to breathe free

Allow my mind to think clearly

Please just let me be

alert again


My clothes are on the line and would enjoy little breeze

 
My allergies are so severe that all I do is sneeze

 
I'm washing sweat drenched clothes every other day

 
I can't believe that I have not melted away.

Why can't heat just stay away from me

Allow my body to breathe free

Allow my mind to think clearly

Please just let me be

clean again

And now my groceries are spoiling in the car

They weren't there long Nor did I drive too far

I spent more time just waiting in the line

But now I'm home and my groceries are not fine

                                                                krfalc

He didn’t include the last verse.  But I didn’t think of it until after I had sent the first three.

I actually hung the wash up and the wind started blowing fiercely.  It actually seemed to make the hotness more bearable – except it was almost too windy.  Jenna and I had gone to the park to eat lunch.  Everything kept blowing off the blanket.  After about three or four times of retrieveing items, we finally called it quits.  It appeared overcast later on in the day – teasing us with a chance of rain.  Rain made by perspiration.

Roland came home with some treats for family home evening.  They were pretty much melted by the time he got home – less than 2 blocks away.  In summer time there is no point in purchasing items such as candy bars or ice creams unless you carry a cooler in the car or if your intention was to turn those items into liquid anyway.

1st verse

  Am                                                                 G

I've had two showers today but my body doesn't know it

            Am                                                          G

Planted flowers and greens but the garden doesnt' show it

  F                                                                 G

Wash more clothes in summer than any other season

                                                                    Am

So tired all of the time and summer is the reason

2nd Verse

Am                                                  G

I'm standing in a rather large pool of sweat

  Am                                              G

Can't believe I haven't melted away yet

 F                                               G

In addition the sun has fried my brain

                                                                Am

Before this summer's over I will have gone insane

Chorus

Am                                    F

Why can't heat just stay away 

                                       Am

Allow my body to breathe free

                                     F    

Allow my mind to think clearly

                 G

Please just let me be

          Am

cool again

3rd Verse

 Am                                                             G

My clothes are on the line and would enjoy a breeze

 Am                                                   G

Allergies are so severe all I can do is sneeze

                                                           F

Soaking the fever rainment every other day

                       G 

Can't believe I haven’t melted away.

Repeat Chorus

Bridge

I want to be inside with the A/C blasting on

I'm looking forward to when the summer's dead & gone

Repeat Chorus

Two More Poems

Whenever the Wind Blows

When I fall asleep

I sleep quite hard

Whenever the wind blows

Slumber invites me

Into worlds beyond this one

When I fall asleep

My eyelids become heavy

My thoughts are put on hold

Whenever the wind blows

My husband can’t believe

How quickly I drift off
When I fall asleep

How the trees dance

And leaves often fall

Whenever the wind blows

There’s a calm cool breeze

That surrounds me but I miss it

When I fall asleep

Whenever the wind blows

                       

                                                                   

                                                            kfralc

Assisted Living

Harold

Bent over

Kissing

June

June

Kissing

Bent over

Harold

                                                            kfralc

  

Nearly Completed Section on Social Studies

We purchase workbooks for Jenna on occasion – mostly for fun on her part.  The last book we got has nine sections – including three parts of math, four parts of English, Science and Social Studies.

For the most part, the vocabulary and Language Arts seem too easy for her, while the math (for the most part) is spot on.  And she has breezed through writing and social studies.

Page 252 in the social study section shows “The Lady in the Harbor” comic illustration with trivial facts and pointing arrows

The crown with seven spikes stands for the seven seas and the seven continents

The torch is a light that welcomes travelers to the United States

The tablet shows the Roman numerals of the date the Declaration of Independence was signed: July 4, 1776

A foots forward position is a symbol of moving forward into the future

The Statue of Liberty stands on an island in New York Harbor.  She is a symbol of freedom and hope.

Page 253 invites the child to write a poem about what liberty means.    And these are the words she used to fill in each line that spelled out Liberty

Lady Liberty

Is standing by and looking at me

Being so beautiful

Eagerly, I want to hug her

Rare, oh, rare she is

Tall and beautiful

You are pretty liberty

Trying my hand at different poetry types

Acrostic:

                                      Father goes to work

                                      And

                                      Mother drives to school

                                      In the car

                                      Leaving

                                      You to learn

                                                                         I am a

    great Magician pulling           

 A rabbit out                  

   of my Green hat            

  I am

           a Navigating

 Astronaut who    

             loves to Travel       

  I am an    

  Oscar                

               winning Nominee

          Doublet:

Through the barn doors we see         

         a new born foal

                                                anxious to greet the morn         

     but a new moon rises        

            creating a still mood

          Reverso:

There is a hole                         Cold.

in my sock.                              My toe is

How did it get                          there.

there?                                       How did it get

My toe is                                  in my sock?

cold.                                         There is a hole.

Villanelle:

                             From the sky comes the snow

                             Coating the world in

                             A blanket, thick and white.

                                    Mother Nature has made         

The earth cold with her creation:                

From the sky comes the snow.

                                   We can make snowmen 

In the morning from      

A blanket, thick and white

And perhaps they will grow    

If the next night should bring  

From the sky comes the snow

We can’t wrap ourselves up.    

Too cold is

A blanket, thick and white

But we can make snow

Angels and other creations      

From the sky comes snow

A blanket, thick and white

                                                          kfralc

Now this is a book I would really like for my collection

One of Jenna’s favorite places to go is the library.  When we lived in our first house, we would often walk to the library.  But as there is so much congestion between our house and the library where we currently live, we don’t have the option of walking to the library anymore. 

          There have been times when I have gone to the library without Jenna.  Often it will be in search of reference books to answer a question that she has asked either that morning or some time during the week.

          Last year I found myself in the poetry section and had checked out a beautiful book called R is for Rhyme by Judy Young.  Unfortunately Jenna does not share my love for poetry right now.  She gets bored with it.  Even the rhymes which she so often does verbally.  She just doesn’t seem to care for reading or writing in rhyme.

          Between January and April the library puts award nominee books on display and encourages children to read the books and vote for them.  Jenna likes what she reads for the most part.  There have been only a few that are just okay or that she doesn’t like at all.  Last year we read three books that included poetry.  All three were given an “okay” or “I don’t like” vote.

Just recently we found one called Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer, beautifully illustrated by Josee Masse.  The poetry used in this book is called Reverso – which I have never heard of before.  But it is awesome.  Jenna likes it because of the fairy tale themes but doesn’t understand the beauty of just how these verses are written.

This is an example the author uses to explain it:

                             A cat                              Incomplete:

                             without                           A chair

                             a chair:                           without

                             Incomplete.                     a cat.

Except that the verses on every other page are written from a tale’s character’s point of view.  There aren’t an exact number of lines involved.  It is just the order in which it is written – top line becomes bottom and bottom line becomes top and is read with new meaning.  Only the punctuation is changed. 

My favorites are spoken by Jack first and then the giant – or the witch to Hansel and then Gretel to Hansel.  I haven’t tried Reverso myself yet.  It looks quite challenging.  And I thank Marilyn Singer for sharing.