Lucky Poetry Friday the 13th: The Roundup

It's a lucky Friday because there's poetry in the air. Greetings, everyone. Leave your links in the comments below, and I will round up at various points during the day! (Because of spam problems, I have to approve the comments before they're published. So, don't worry if you don't see yours crop up right away. It's comin'.)

First up is Little Willow, with "King of Griefs" from Sara Lewis Holmes' novel, The Rapunzel Letters. (It's high time I read that one!)

By the way, Sara L.H. joined the blogosphere recently. Stop by and say howdy. Chiming in on Poetry Friday, she shares a poem by Beverly McLoughland, a friend who "doesn't have a blog, a web site or a wikipedia entry. She prefers to focus on her writing, the very act of writing, and not at all on the publicity surrounding it." Welcome, Sara!

Summer weather inspired Kelly Fineman's original haiku. Check it out, and hum Martha Reeves & the Vandellas' "Heat Wave" as you head over.

A Wrung Sponge considers Rilke's Book of Hours, after hearing about it in a sermon.

Elaine M. goes poetic at two blogs. She reports, "At Wild Rose Reader I have two poems entitled "Bed in Summer." One was written by Robert Louis Stevenson--the other by me...many years ago. At Blue Rose Girls I'm going with nostalgia and a poem by Geraldine Connolly entitled "The Summer I Was Sixteen."

You'll find a bouquet of flower poems at The Miss Rumphius Effect: daisies, sunflowers, bluebells.

Scholar's Blog celebrates the birthday of John Clare and tells us a bit about his life. "Clare ...may be the poorest person to ever become a major writer in English literature."

Here's a book we all need: Sylvia Vardell's Poetry People: A Practical Guide to Children's Poets. Sylvia says, "This new book provides a comprehensive introduction to more than 60 contemporary poets writing for young people, from Arnold Adoff to Douglas Florian to J. Patrick Lewis to Naomi Shihab Nye to Gary Soto to Janet Wong, and many more."

Over at Becky's Book Reviews, you'll find a tribute to a mentor in the form of a poem by Judith Viorst.

Saints and Spinners has something cool: Carl Sandburg's "Arithmetic" and a link to a film of the same.

7 Imp's Eisha offers a haiku by Basho as she gets ready to leave Cambridge. (Eisha, don't forget Cavafy: "As you set out for Ithaka / hope your road is a long one, / full of adventure, full of discovery...")

Author Sam Riddleburger joins the fray with "kid poetry that won [the] Instant Poetry Contest at yesterday's school appearance." Sam says it's revolting (and he's right), but it's really funny.

Charlotte's Library looks at the anthology Talking Like Rain (great baby shower gift, by the way), which includes Joan Aiken's "John's Song."

Light verse and a very sad sonnet pop up in the fields at Farm School.

Karen Edmisten posts some advice on learning to read, by way of Jane Yolen's poem "Read to Me."

You're going to love the summer poem at The Simple and the Ordinary. Three children wrote it!

The Book Mine Set puts a tanka challenge on the table. Head that away to see the details.

Is this list intriguing or what? Journey Woman says, "I'm in with Maxine Kumin, lost horses, woodchuck murders, and a little bit about Cowboy Poetry."

Knights, dragons, and A.A. Milne turn up at Pixiepalace today. Oh, and Legos, too.

Sarah (Miss Spitfire) Miller offers a poem from the Persian Middle Ages: Hafiz's "Startled by God."

W.H. Davies' "The Boy" is the poem of the day at Colleen Ryckert Cook's place.

"The Test Scores Are In," written by A Year of Reading's own Mary Lee, is a cause for celebration.

"Tell me not in mournful numbers, / Life is but an empty dream! / For the soul is dead that slumbers, / And things are not what they seem." That's from Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life," and you can read the whole poem at Hiraeth.

Another Milne fan happens along the Poetry Friday path. For Adventures in Daily Living, it's the perfect day for "Pinkle Purr."

Reminding us that July 16th is Tell an Author You Care Day, MotherReader reviews Alison McGhee's Someday.

Direct from Oz,  Schelle sends some Aboriginal poetry. Awesome.

As someone who has tried to read Pablo Neruda in Spanish, I'm especially interested in World of Words' entry. She mentions a picture-book biography of the Chilean poet.

The Excelsior File remembers his radio days and broadcasts Big Poppa E's  "The Wussy Boy Manifesto."  "bar fight? pshaw! / you think you can take me, huh? / just because i like poetry / better than sports illustrated?"

A history of Britain, rendered in iambic tetrameter, is well worth reading, says The Old Coot.

A big welcome goes to Ipsa Dixit, "a tasteful stream of consciousness about opera, home education, knitting, environmental paranoia, parenting, and vegetarian cookery... not necessarily in that order," who offers some Mary Oliver.

A most helpful guide to first graders' favorite books of poetry can be found at Creative Literacy. (Yay! I'm saving this one to use at the school where I volunteer.)

Finding Wonderland has a poem by W.S. Merwin about absence.

Comments

[Elaine Magliaro]

Susan,

Thanks for doing the roundup this week. This is the second time I'm trying to leave a comment.

At Wild Rose Reader I have two poems entitled "Bed in Summer." One was written by Robert Louis Stevenson--the other by me...many years ago.

http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/2007/07/poetry-friday-bed-in-summer.html

At Blue Rose Girls I'm going with nostalgia and a poem by Geraldine Connolly entitled "The Summer I Was Sixteen."

http://bluerosegirls.blogspot.com/2007/07/poetry-friday-summer-i-was-sixteen.html

[Tricia]

Hi Susan,
I'm in today with some flower poems.
http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/2007/07/poetry-friday-flowers.html
Thanks for rounding us up!
Tricia

[Michele]

Hi Susan

I'm in, celebrating the birthday of poet John Clare.

[Sylvia]

Hi, Susan, and thank you for leading the round up. Hope you'll forgive me for a bit of shameless self promotion of my new poetry resource for grown ups: POETRY PEOPLE, A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CHILDREN'S POETS, just out this month. My post today offers more info about this labor of poetry love.
Sylvia

[Becky]

Here is my poetry friday contribution:

http://blbooks.blogspot.com/2007/07/poetry-friday-phyllis.html

[Alkelda the Gleeful]

Hi Susan,
Even though I've taken a few days off, I can submit a link, right? I'm submitting Carl Sandburg's "Arithmetic" with an accompanying film (it says "film clip" on the link, but nay, you can watch the whole thing). I posted this long before I knew about Poetry Friday:

http://saintsandspinners.blogspot.com/2005/09/arithmetic-is-where-numbers-fly.html

[Sam Riddleburger]

I'm in with kid poetry that won my Instant Poetry Contest at yesterday's school appearance.
IT'S REVOLTING!
http://riddleburger.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/poetry-friday-kid-wins-qwikpick-poetry-contest/

[Charlotte]

Hi Susan,
I talk about an anthology of poetry, Talking Like the Rain, and one poem in particular from it--John's Song, by Joan Aiken.

Here's my link:
http://charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com/2007/07/for-poetry-friday-talking-like-rain-and.html

Thanks!

[Becky]

I'm in with some light verse and a very sad sonnet from Arthur Guiterman,

http://farmschoolathome.blogspot.com/2007/07/poetry-friday-very-sad-sonnet.html

Thanks for rounding us up, and watch out for ladders and black cats, not to mention hungry raccoons! We're having to keep an eye on the new cat, who's most intrigued by the kids' frog farm...

[Karen E.]

Hi, Susan,
Thanks for hosting today. I was posting about my Ramona learning to read, and shared a poem by Jane Yolen. The link is below. Thanks!

http://karenedmisten.blogspot.com/2007/07/poetry-friday_13.html

[Sara]

Thanks for the welcome, Susan. And you rounded up my link without me having to raise my hand or anything!

[Christine M]

Thanks for doing the round-up, I have a poem that my kids and their friend wrote about summer.
http://simpleordinary.blogspot.com/2007/07/harry-and-pippi-have-friend-over-today.html

[John Mutford]

Hi there, thanks for hosting. I'm in with a tanka challenge. All you have to do is add 14 syllables to my haiku...

http://bookmineset.blogspot.com/2007/07/poetry-friday-tanka-challenge.html

[Nancy]

Hi Susan. Thanks for the roundup.

I'm in with Maxine Kunin, lost horses, woodchuck murders, and a little bit about Cowboy Poetry.

http://journey-woman.blogspot.com/2007/07/little-poetry-for-you-kumin.html

[cloudscome]

Thanks for doing the round up Susan!

[Mary Lee]

Our state test scores are in, and I wrote an original poem in response to my class' scores! It's at

A Year of Reading

[:: Suzanne ::]

Pinkle Purr is up at Adventures in Daily Living.

Thanks for doing the round-up!

[MotherReader]

Got mine up, finally. It's a picture book review of Someday. Here's the link: http://www.motherreader.com/2007/07/poetry-friday-someday.html

[Katie]

Thanks for doing the round-up! My post is here: http://www.pixiepalace.com/2007/07/13/poetry-friday-knights-and-dragons/

[Schelle]

I am very late this week - it's not even Friday any more... but I will post it anyway. An Aboriginal poem, and a sonnet in the style of Shelley. Thanks for the round up!

[Marcie Atkins]

I'm in with poetry from Pablo Neruda and a picture book biography about him. I am posting in Taipei, Taiwan at the airport. Happy Poetry Friday everyone!

[eisha]

Hey, Susan. Thanks, that's a great quote. I'll have to look that poem up.

[kim from hiraeth]

http://hiraeth.squarespace.com/journal/poetry-friday-henry-wadsworth-longfellow.html

Thanks for doing the round up this week! I've posted Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

[david e]

CHecking in this week with a bit of slam poetry from Big Poppa E entitled "The Wussy Boy Manifesto".

http://excelsiorfile.blogspot.com/2007/07/poetry-friday-wussy-boy-manifesto.html

[RM1(SS) (ret)]

A long day at work, but I'm finally home and back at the computer. I'm in, with A Rhyming History of Britain.

http://theoldcoot.blogspot.com/2007/07/rhyming-history-of-britain-55-bcad1966.html

[Rebecca (Ipsa) with Mary Oliver]

Summer has come with a heat wave - and Mary Oliver is once again helping me to accept the change in my wild and precious life.

http://ipsa-ipse.blogspot.com/2007/07/poetry-friday-summer-day.html

[katied]

This is pretty late but I thought I would give it a try. Poetry favorites for first grader's...what kids in the classroom seemed to come back to again and again.

[Jules]

Great round-up, the old-fashioned way without Mr. Linky . . .

Thanks!

[Sarah Miller]

Hey, wow! Thanks for including me in the roundup. I'm new to this Poetry Friday business, but I've been enjoying hunting up poems about poetry and literature. :)

[TadMack]

Oh, for goodness sakes. I forgot to link you. I'm in with a poem about absence:
http://writingya.blogspot.com/2007/07/poetry-friday-missing.html

[Susan T.]

Hey, TadMack. I am sorry that I missed you! I did Technorati searches, but somehow didn't pick up Writing Wonderland. My apologies.

[Kelly Fineman]

Thanks for hosting, Susan!

[Susan T.]

Hey, Kelly! Thank goodness you and Little Willow mentioned the roundup. I can confess now that I had completely forgotten. That is why I didn't use Mr. Linky! It was fun, though, seeing everyone's posts.