Reader’s Apology

What? Were you talking to me?
I’m sorry I didn’t hear.
I hope you will understand.

Even though you can see me,
I’m not actually here.
I’ve been sucked into my book.

This month Michelle Barnes shines her spotlight on Jane Yolan. To celebrate her book The Alligator’s Smile and Other Poems, Jane has challenged readers to write septercets, a form she invented. Septercets are composed of stanzas of three lines; each line has seven syllables. The poems can have any number of stanzas and may be rhymed or unrhymed. I found them interesting to write. Every form has its own characteristics and part of using a new one is discovering its secrets. Apparently I was not alone in finding the septercet appealing because Michelle’s September padlet is booming.

Next week I’ll be at Poetry Camp at Western Washington University with many other Poetry Friday poets. I can’t wait to meet everyone in person. I’m pretty sure we’ll be breaking the world record for most children’s poets in one place.

Happy Poetry Friday!

Liz

(originally published in Acorn, Fall 2013)

(originally published in Frogpond, Vol. 36:2 Spring/Summer 2013)

(originally published in Frogpond, Vol. 36:3 Autumn, 2013; Third Place Harold G. Henderson Award)

This month as one more way to celebrate National Poetry Month, I participated in the Spark Postcard Exchange. Amy Souza always comes up with such great ways to inspire art. I made four postcards to send around the country, and soon I should be receiving four from my fellow participants. To make my postcards, I selected four seasonal haiku I had written and added them to photographs I had taken.

I was also lucky enough to receive a post card from Juanita M., one of Jone Mac’s 5th grade students. I think my favorite part is the creepy backwards writing!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Liz

A Small Poem

Sit in the grass.
Look at the sky.
Smell a red tulip.
Hear the wind sigh.
Stop for an ant.
Watch it scurry away.
Thank our fine earth
for another new day.

I’m a little late for poem-in-your-pocket day, but here you have it, something to carry with you on any day.

Happy Day 20 of National Poetry Month!

Liz

Fibonacci

He
taught
the west
how to use
just ten numerals
to track the flow of goods and gold
and the spiraling growth of sunflowers and snail shells.

I enjoyed writing a cinquain for Adelaide Crapsey, the inventor of the form. So today I thought I’d write a Fibonacci for the mathematician, Leonardo of Pisa, who is known as Fibonacci. Fibonacci lived in the 12th century and was the son of an Italian merchant. He grew up traveling throughout the Mediterranean. His natural interests led him to study mathematics wherever he traveled. In North Africa he learned about the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. He quickly understood its advantages over Roman numerals. In his book Liber Abaci, he argues for their use and describes their practical application. As an example, he solves the question of how many rabbits you would have at the end of the year if you started with a pair and each pair produced another pair every month. The answer follows what we now call the Fibonacci sequence, in which each subsequent number is the sum of the two previous numbers. Thus the sequence begins 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13. The sequence also describes the spiraling growth of many natural objects, including the sunflower, the pinecone, and the snail shell. A Fibonacci poem takes the numbers in the sequence as the number of syllables in each line.

I hope you like it.

See you tomorrow.

Liz

Gone Fishing

There’s no time for homework.
I’m down by the stream,
perched on a rock,
fishing for dreams.

How many poems can I write about playing hooky?

Happy Weekend!

Liz