In honor of Earth Day

Here’s one in honor of Earth Day AND National Poetry Month.

What would Mother Nature do?

What would Mother Naure think
Of trees burned down and air that stinks?
With dirty water in her sink,
What would Mother Nature think?

What would Mother Nature say
Of creatures who have gone away—
The kinds once here that aren’t today?
What would Mother Nature say?

What would Mother Nature do
To make the planet clean anew?
If she was standing here with you,
What would Mother Nature do?

   –from Mother Nature Nursery Rhymes

Share your nature loving poetry with us. Leave a comment!

An ode to the aftermath

Speaking of the aftermath, I found a poem that I think perfectly sums up the storm. Here’s your poem of the week:

Thief by Audrey B. Baird

LIke the Sandman,
Storm Man
slips through the night,
a bag of rain
on his shoulder.
Wind gusts
from his nostrils!
Lightning flashes
from his fingers!
Thunder crashes
when he opens his bag!

And, like a thief,
Storm Man steal slumber away.

——from Storm coming!

Share your storm poetry in a comment!

Double the pleasure

I was talking with some friends the other night about the poetic genius Shel Silverstein. Since I tortured you yesterday with my not very good magnetic poetry poem, I thought two Shel Silverstein poems would be a nice treat. Enjoy and leave us a comment with YOUR favorite Shel poems.

Put Something In

Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony goone dance
‘Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain’t been there before.

   —from A light in the attic.

The Voice

There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long,
“I feel that this is right for me,
I know that this is wrong.”
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What’s right for you—just listen to
The voice that speaks inside.

   —from Falling up.

Poetry – magnetic and un

One of the staff members here has a magnetic poetry board. I’ve wasted a lot of time moving those little magnetic words around to create a work of art. Just recently I discovered an online magnetic poetry board. Since it IS National Poetry Month, I thought it would be the perfect time to share it with you!

It’s from ReadWriteThink and you can find it here: http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/word_mover/words.01.html. If you don’t find the words you need, you can make “magnet” with your own words.

Here’s the poem I wrote, all with the magnets they’ve provided:

a good banana runs
to his quite quiet night
tired, he drinks
the guava moon

Pretty bad, huh? I KNOW you can do better. Leave us a comment with YOUR magnetic poem.

Happy NPM!

April is National Poetry Month! Try reading a poem a day. Here’s one to get the month started:

Homeroom

Poetry is the home for all my yearnings
each poem a separate room
where wandering words
find a cool bed, a bowl of soup

where names of trees and cities
and people I know who want to know
knock on doors, ring bells,
invite me in for coffeee and a rhyme

where a loost tooth
and a caladium can meet
in the same stanza
share the same breath
split a doughnut on the sofa…

Let me come home then, and
Let me bring my lusting with me
and if you find a room
that fits, that pulls you
in and pushes you out
then call that a “homeroom”
hang your own pictures
on its invisible walls
(use juicy colors
that fill up your mouth like a sneeze—
crocodile green, periwinkle,
   saffron
carve your own desires
on its invincible heart.

Make a poem
build a home.
—Kathi Appelt

Like it? I got this one from Kathi Appelt’s Poems from Homeroom.
Other poems in this book include Revelations in which a student crushes on her science teacher, and Dreaming in Haiku—a surprisingly excellent melding of poetry and math. This book will give your poetry muscles a good workout. Not only is it filled with great poems, it is filled with writing advice and exercises as well. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Got a favorite poem you want to share? Leave us a comment!