older kids – Page 6 – Elizabeth Steinglass

adults, animals, older kids, younger kids

Butterfly

Tumbling through sunlight

Like a leaf in the wind,

The kite of a fairy

That’s broken its string,

The butterfly waltzes

To the echoes of spring,

Without ever wondering

What’s lifting her wings.

I’ve been watching the swallowtails gather at the butterfly bush. I caught a picture of this one last week. For the poem I thought spring worked better than autumn, so of course I used “poetic license.” Why limit yourself to what actually happened?

For more Poetry Friday go to No Water River.

September 21, 2012/6 Comments/by lsteinglass

adults, older kids, plants, younger kids

Acorns

photo by zimpenfish

Little heads
Without their faces,
Wearing hats,
Going places.

If I don’t write often, I feel rusty. It can be hard to scrape the rust off. I need to read my favorite children’s poets, and I need to go out for a walk. I feel the rhythm of my footsteps, and I look for things to write about. I take my notebook with me and write down ideas and phrases. Yesterday, when I was out walking, I saw acorns all over the sidewalk. This is what they made me think of.

For more Poetry Friday go to Random Noodling.

September 14, 2012/7 Comments/by lsteinglass

haiku, older kids

Back-to-School Haiku

summer sun
creeps across the floor

five days more

in the trees
cicadas whisper–
the grind of the bus

back to school:
familiar hallways
unfamiliar

assigned seats–
pointy crayons
in neat rows

history–
someone else’s name
in my book

cafeteria–
stepping out
on the ice

For more Poetry Friday go to Sylvia Vardell’s Poetry for Children.

August 31, 2012/14 Comments/by lsteinglass

all ages, animals, couplet, older kids, younger kids

Four Animal Couplets

Burrowing Owl by Squeezyboy at flickr

Never disturb a sleeping owl.

Their waking thoughts are always fowl.

Want to pet a porcupine?

You can be the first in line!

If you try to question a horse,

She will answer neigh, of course.

Think you can be a strong as an ant?

Think again. You can’t.

My poet-friend Sharon Barry shared a brilliant couplet in our poetry critique group this week. It reminded me of Ogden Nash’s wonderful couplets about cows and mules. I wanted to try, too. I wrote them all week. These are my favorites.

June 29, 2012/13 Comments/by lsteinglass

older kids

One Time

Hens by Obilac at Photopin

Mama, my sister, and me,

Just us three,

Went to the Saturday matinee.

Five minutes in, Mama hissed, “Let’s go!”

When the show

Didn’t seem too good.

She grabbed our hands with dazzling cool

To slip the rules,

Into the forbidden, next door.

Back in our car, we cackled like hens,

Pecking “Again!”

When this time, she said, “Maybe, we can.”

Mama, my sister, and me,

Just us three,

Spread out and scoured that car,

Like chickens picking for seeds,

We stalked the weeds,

Scratching and pecking until

We found on the floor,

Just enough more

For a one time only treat.

I spent the week reading and rereading Eloise Greenfield’s Honey, I Love. I love her simple, beautiful language, subtle rhymes, musical rhythms, and child-friendly voice.

June 1, 2012/5 Comments/by lsteinglass

adults, older kids

Birth Moon

round, white
scar
severed connection
useless remnant of the blasted
birth
of all

I just returned from Poetry for All, a children’s poetry workshop, at the Highlights Foundation in Boyds Mill, PA. It was such a pleasure to spend all my waking hours thinking about poetry. Our wonderful faculty included David L. Harrison, Eileen Spinelli, and Rebecca Kai Dotlich. Marjorie Maddox, author of A Crossing of Zebras and Rules of the Game: Baseball Poems came one night and walked us through an exercise about extended metaphor. I wrote this that night back in my quiet, little cabin.

Full Moon from Creative Commons by gnuckx

May 18, 2012/9 Comments/by lsteinglass

older kids, school, silly

Detour

On my way to the desk

I tripped on the rug.

When I looked to see why

I found my lost bug!

I tucked the blue cockroach

In my box of cool rocks,

And that’s where I found

My best holey socks.

Lying there, crumpled

They looked like a cat.

Except without ears.

I had to fix that.

I grabbed an old t-shirt

I started to cut.

I noticed the shirt had

A hole in the gut.

I got a red marker.

I started to sing.

I hit the right note

To make my walls ring.

That’s when my mom

Knocked on the door.

I put on the shirt.

I dropped to the floor.

“Where is your homework?”

She asked without blinking.

To my desk I waved weakly.

My poor heart was sinking.

“Then why are you there?”

She sounded unsure.

I answered her truly:

“I took a detour.”

I wrote this in response to David L. Harrison’s April word-of-the-month challenge http://davidlharrison.wordpress.com/adult-word-of-the-month-poem/. Unfortunately, I never got to post it there because I didn’t finish until May. I took a detour.

May 4, 2012/8 Comments/by lsteinglass

adults, older kids

Hear Me?

My voice fades in waves invisible

To me. I cannot see if they slip

Down the funnels into your head

Or chase the edge of the universe.

Michel Martin on NPR’s Tell Me More is celebrating National Poetry Month with tweet-able poems of 140 characters or less. I had never tweeted before, but I gave it a try. Tweeting made me wonder where my poem went and inspired this tweet-able poem. Do tweeting and/or blogging make you feel more heard? Or less?

April 20, 2012/5 Comments/by lsteinglass

older kids

Revealing

No scars, pimples, freckles, fat.

Perfection on glossy paper.

She dissolves in tears, revealing

The advertisement behind her.

Michel Martin on NPR’s Tell Me More is celebrating National Poetry Month with tweet-able poems of 140 characters or less. I haven’t tweeted (so far) but my ears perked up at the mention of a new form. I had to give it a try. Also, I have an eleven year-old daughter and lately there’s been a lot of discussion among the moms about body image. I haven’t actually heard anything from the girls yet, but I remember being a girl and spending hours looking at the glossy magazines in the library.

April 17, 2012/by lsteinglass

adults, older kids, plants, sonnet

An Army of Daffodils

Masses of daffodils have taken the hill.
On high they stand in search of enemies.
Whom do they imagine has the will
To move them? Tulips? Hyacinth? Pansies!
And whom on earth do they think they defend?
The house is Tudor, the oaks look fine.
Of course the forsythia count as friend.
They wear the same color, guard the same line.
I pause in the garden across the street,
Unafraid my motives will be mistaken.
Noting the crocuses fallen by my feet,
I open my notebook, raise my pen.
No match for the glaring army before me,
I take a flailing shot, give up, and flee.

March 19, 2012/by lsteinglass

Elizabeth Steinglass

Poetry for Children and their Grownups