Poetry Friday — Hosting!

Posted

Hello, friends …

I haven’t hosted Poetry Friday in a long time and, if the truth be known,
I’ve only been a mediocre participant for awhile.
So I’m really happy that we’re gathering here today —
it legitimizes my wallowing in words for most of a day, and I get to catch up with all of you…

It’s been a time of big and heavy around here. 
One of my closest pals lost her beloved sister this week, way too early.
Another friend finalized her divorce.
And then, the Chileans pulled 33 miners out of a hole in the ground — alive and well after 70 days buried and scared. 

Life is like this, so startling in its tragedies and its miracles.
And here we are, so ill equipped but carrying on — crying as we need to and laughing when we can.
Thank goodness for poems that seem to understand.

Here’s my selection for today:

Nurture

BY MAXINE W. KUMIN

From a documentary on marsupials I learn
that a pillowcase makes a fine
substitute pouch for an orphaned kangaroo.

I am drawn to such dramas of animal rescue.
They are warm in the throat. I suffer, the critic proclaims,
from an overabundance of maternal genes.

Bring me your fallen fledgling, your bummer lamb,

lead the abused, the starvelings, into my barn.

(Read the rest here…)

And here are yours:

BREAKFAST

Amy at The Poem Farm shares a wealth of poetic examples and musings, including her 199th original poem in a year-long daily poem effort!

Susan Taylor Brown keeps with the poetic theme, bringing us a Borges poem about Browning!

Tabatha Yeatts has been playing with reversos or, in her case, same-os, and Greg at GottaBook keeps it original with This is Not a Poem.

Tanita Davis broached both poetry and fiction with a piece by Marie Ponsot.

At Carol’s Corner, you’ll find a poignant piece by Henry Van Dyke.

Follow that with one of Andi’s trademark photo-and-poem conbos at a wrung sponge.

Mary Lee at A Year of Reading has a deserved day off, and is heading to the county fair!

And lucky, lucky Author Amok has been at The Dodge Poetry Festival (along with poet Kay Ryan).

So has Diane at Random Noodling, and she’s in with a full report. (Plus, from her other blogs, we’ve got a look at Cynthia Rylant’s Boris, a lovely Cynthia Rylant quote, and a bonus video with some cat poems, too!)

Linda Kulp has it out with stink bugs at Write Time.

You’ll appreciate the seasonal thoughts — and Wendell Berry’s poem — at Across the Page and ALSO at There is No Such Things as a God-forsaken Town — with a Robert Frost poem. Great minds think alike.

Deo Writer‘s been on retreat and wouldn’t mind going back (as illustrated by Thomas P. Lynch).

And talk about retreats, don’t you want to go to Hawaii with Jama Rattigan and Robert Louis Stevenson?

Karen Edmisten shares just a lovely Ellen Bass poem that maybe, in tone and theme, is not unlike the Maxine Kumin I shared.

Sara Lewis Holmes takes us to one of my favorite poetry sites for a poem by Julie Leschevsky.

And from another one of my Poetry Sisters, Laura Salas, this poem by Wislawa Szymborska. (Also, it’s Laura’s birthday so swing on by to wish her well!) Also, go get yourself a prompt at her 15 Words or Less and don’t forget to read the poetic responses!

The always lovely and thoughtful Jeannine Atkins discusses inspiration at her blog this morning.

And Father Goose IS inspired — by bluebells! And also check out his painted window at Bald Ego.

LUNCH

It’s National Poetry Month in Great Britian and our friendly fomograms wants us to know about g.p.s. — the global poetry system for found poems. Tres cool!

Elaine Magliaro has, as usual, shared some finely wrought originality over at Wild Rose Reader.

From the Windowsill has a seasonally-appropriate review today, of Scarum Fair.

The Stenhouse Blog brings us an original, dog-centric poem by a 2nd grader — pretty remarkable.

And speaking of dogs, Jeni Bell shares a Valerie Worth poem called…. drum roll, please…. DOG!

We have another review from Paper Tigers Blog — of a book called Around the World in Eighty Poems.

And finally — something to listen to, with our friends at TeachingBooks.Net!

DINNER AND DESSERT

Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe shares another seasonal poem — a delightful original. 

And finally The Small Nouns brings us a Deborah Garrison poem.

Thanks for being here everyone…

70 Responses to “Poetry Friday — Hosting!”

  2. Anonymous

    Liz,
    May poetry help to heal your friends’ pain and to soothe the souls around you in these days. Thank you for hosting and for allowing us to still gather ’round here.
    Today I’m in with “The Poem Palace”, #20 in my series of poems about poems, #199 in my year of daily poems. I also have a peek into a fourth grade class from Hamburg, NY as they share some community poems, one of which helped with their own healing.
    http://poemfarm.blogspot.com/2010/10/poetry-friday-mypowriye-199-poem-palace.html
    Yours,
    Amy

    • Anonymous

      Re: tanita says:

      Hey, Tanita — couldn’t comment on your blog, but I had to tell you I heard Marie Ponsot read this poem at the Dodge Festival. Fabulous poem!

  7. Anonymous

    “Life is like this, so startling in its tragedies and its miracles.
    And here we are, so ill equipped but carrying on — crying as we need to and laughing when we can.
    Thank goodness for poems that seem to understand…”
    So true. That sounds like a poem to me.

    This weekend is a time of profound joy for my highschoolers, who are ramped up about homecoming, and a time of profound sadness to me, as I say goodbye to a dear friend who passed away last week. I’m in with a poem by Henry Van Dyke. Thanks for hosting!
    Carol (www.carolwscorner.blogspot.com)

  13. Anonymous

    Hi there,

    I’m in with “October 10” by Wendell Berry, here: http://www.acrossthepage.net/2010/10/15/october/

    I love that idea of certain subjects being “warm in the throat.” And I loved reading your thoughts on tragedy and joy — even though they make me feel like a real whiner to be pouting about autumn.

  15. karen_edmisten

    It’s a lovely poem, Liz. Mine pick meshes with your theme, whether you meant to have one or not. 🙂 It’s “The Thing Is” by Ellen Bass — she so beautifully captures the simultaneous frailty and bravery of human beings.

    It’s here.

    Thanks for hosting.

  17. saralholmes

    Liz, I always include you in my Poetry Friday thoughts, whether you post or not. You’re that integral to my understanding of why we do this.

    I’m in today with a reminder that the Poetry 180 project is still out there, a stream of poetry free for the asking, supposedly for American high school students, but really, we can all use AT LEAST 180 days of poetry, right? I picked Poem #156 to share, Julie Lechevsky’s Dandelion.

  21. delzey

    global poetry system

    this week i’m sharing my latest find, a site that allows people to upload pictures and videos of the “found” poetry they come across. also, it’s national poetry month in great britain and i’m hoping by this time next year to turn october into international poetry month. or something.

    anyway, here’s the link for the curious.

    http://wp.me/p6FRi-eI

    thanks for hosting, liz.

  22. Anonymous

    Poetry Friday

    From Elaine M.

    Thanks for doing the roundup this week, Liz. I’ve been blogging light lately. Lots of things to deal with around here too–including two old and dear friends with cancer who have had major setbacks and a funeral for one of my niece’s brothers-in-law who died unexpectedly last week at the age of 53. I’m finding it hard to focus on blogging. I send my best thoughts along to you and your friends.

    At Wild Rose Reader, I have three original fairy tale poems about Snow White’s evil stepmother–and a Cybils reminder.

    http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/2010/10/three-original-fairy-tale-poems-cybils.html

  25. jeniwrites

    Hugs to you, and warm thoughts for your friends.

    I do love this poem — I really connected with it.

    I posted a poem by Valerie Worth, “dog,” on my blog. I love the details in this poem, and the way in which it reminds me of my own dogs, my “writing companions” most days. http://jeniwrites.livejournal.com

    Thank you for hosting Poetry Friday! Jeni

  27. jeannineatkins

    You’re too much, Liz. In the most excellent of ways. Thanks not only for hosting, but including my blog here when I forgot to give a shout out from the door. Hope your word wallowing day is providing that nurturing we all need.

  28. Anonymous

    a little late today!

    Hi, Liz. I’m in today with a seasonal piece of my own, “Ghosts” from Pumpkin Butterfly.

  30. Anonymous

    nurture

    Hi again, Liz–

    I had to come back and read Maxine’s poem properly. Having visited her barn, her corn, her fireside, I feel I can call her Maxine. This poem does indeed understand heavy times, and thank you for sharing.

  31. laurasalas

    Oh, Liz, hugs on all the heaviness. I hope happiness and recovery in your own home are making it easier to handle others’ sad news.

    What a beautiful poem. I’ve never read this one before and I adore it. My favorite lines are

    given my fireside inked with paw prints,

    and that last line.

    Liz, your living room is always filled with pawprints and laughter–thanks for gathering so many people into your life.

  32. Anonymous

    Nice blog

    It was certainly interesting for me to read that post. Thanx for it. I like such topics and anything that is connected to them. I would like to read a bit more on that blog soon.

    Katherine Trider
    escort in las vegas

  33. draynev

    Хороший блог!

    Занятно. Ждем новых сообщений на эту же тему 🙂