Happy Poetry Friday!

 

 

Welcome to Poetry Friday!

I can’t help but note that it’s May 1, the day after the last day of National Poetry Month. Is everyone exhausted? I know I am. I think I lost steam after about two weeks. To those of you who wrote a poem or shared a video or did anything else every day of the month, congratulations! It’s an impressive feat.

Though honestly, at this point, I’m impressed by everything everyone is doing and not doing. This certainly feels like a time for all of us to manage as we can and be understanding of ourselves and others.

Last Saturday I was supposed to appear at Scrawl Books in Reston, Virginia to celebrate what should have been Independent Bookstore Day. The day has been rescheduled for August, but the store asked those of us who were to attend if we’d make videos. This isn’t something I have any experience doing, but I gave it a try. I looked all over the house for a reasonable spot and recorded myself reading seven poems and describing two activities for kids to do at home. One is to color blank jerseys like those above (feel free to drag the image to your desktop). This is something my kids did for hours and hours. The other is to write a mask poem. I turned over the recording to my oldest who snapped his fingers and turned it into a video. Here you go, my first ever video offered with generous permission from Boyds Mills & Kane. Their guidelines allow me to share it on open platforms for two weeks and on closed platforms through the end of June. They would be thrilled to know (marketing@bmkbooks.com) if and how educators are using it. (You can also find a link to a Soccerverse Discussion and Activity Guide on my home page.)

 

 

What, if anything, are you doing for the first time while staying at home?

I do hope you all are well in every sense of the word during this awful time. We are fine and safe and together but devastated by the losses all around us.

Thank goodness for family, poetry, and friends.

Liz

 

 

36 replies
  1. Linda M.
    Linda M. says:

    Elizabeth, what a joy to hear your voice reading poems from Soccerverse. You did an amazing job. Your voice is fun and easy to listen to. The poems are wonderful! I’m so sorry about the cancelled appearance. There are so many disappointments everywhere.
    This week, the SWAGGERS are answering the challenge of writing an epistolary poem. I took a poem that I wrote from one of the #WaterPoemProject prompts. And, I am celebrating writing at least one poem per day…a silver lining of so much time at home. I’m thinking May should be revision month! Thank you for hosting this week. I hope you are and remain well.

    Reply
  2. Linda Baie
    Linda Baie says:

    I’ll return with my link but took the time now to watch & listen to your video, Liz. I had forgotten how much I love your book, each poem delightful & so motivating to want to get out there & play. You did a great job on the video. One of my granddaughters plays softball so I’ll send her the page so she can create her own team uniform and write a poem, too. She and I have been exchanging poems so here’s a good challenge for her. Thanks for hosting and happiest of May Days to you!

    Reply
  3. Heidi Mordhorst
    Heidi Mordhorst says:

    Hello, Liz, and thanks for hosting with your exciting new thing! You’re a natural, and I’m glad there is this way to do a cancelled bookstore program rather than NO bookstore program! I like the way you have the page front and center with you in the corner…nice effect.

    Reply
  4. Robyn Hood Black
    Robyn Hood Black says:

    WONDERFUL, LIZ! Terrific video and ideas – I’ll pass along to my daughter, who teaches third grade. Well, the thing I did this month that was new was ALSO learn how to make videos for YouTube! (Kinda in response to said daughter’s need for more online material.) I did learn a good bit, and did some things wrong — in fact, my post will feature links to the mini movies a blooper reel I’m working on as I type this – ha! Stay safe and well, you and yours.

    Reply
  5. Michelle Kogan
    Michelle Kogan says:

    Captivating video Liz, I love it! I also like your having the book pages front and center, then growing larger, and you in the smaller window. And what fun to hear you recite the poems. I’ve been very busy since our shelter in place began. Learning how to teach online and now teaching 2 art classes online–not much free time at all. Thanks for hosting the roundup this week.

    Reply
  6. Karen Edmisten
    Karen Edmisten says:

    Liz, how perfectly delightful to see and hear you reading from Soccerverse! I’m so sorry about the canceled event, though. So many cancellations and disappointments and of course, for so many people, things far worse than disappointment. As you said, thank goodness for family, poetry, and friends. Wishing you health, safety, and all good things.

    Reply
  7. janice scully
    janice scully says:

    You did an excellent job on your video. It’s so well done. Thank you for sharing it. I really love your book especially as it brings back my soccer mom days, especially your poems about shin guards for some reason.

    Reply
  8. Catherine Flynn
    Catherine Flynn says:

    Thank you for hosting us today, Liz! I really enjoyed listening to you read poems from Soccerverse. I think I’m with you about “Teammates” being my favorite. My soccer-loving nephews will adore this book!

    Reply
  9. Carol Varsalona
    Carol Varsalona says:

    Liz, your video was wonderful and I want to learn a few tips from you. I have to teach my hands-on ELA Summer Institute at the local college for grad students as an online course. Next week, I am going to ask for training. Back to your video. I like the way you engaged the reader through your poems. I have to say, Soccerverse, is a great name for your book. While I am mostly cooped up inside, I secretly want to break outside and play in nature. Maybe next week, I can calmly create some videos for my course. Thanks for hosting this week.

    Reply
  10. Sally Murphy
    Sally Murphy says:

    Elizabeth I love your poems and hearing you read them. You seem like a pro! Conicdentally, I have done my first face to face recordings of myself reading during lockdown. And coincidentally, my new book is also, in part, about soccer. Thanks for hosting today.

    Reply
  11. Bridget Magee
    Bridget Magee says:

    Well done, Liz! You are a pro on video and your book is so, so, good. I ordered my copy from an UK outlet so I could get an English version here in Switzerland. Thank you for hosting PF this week and I’m sorry about missing your bookstore visit. As far as firsts for me during lock down, I gave my first webinar via Zoom, daily video calls with colleagues and some with grade 1 students, multiple family reunion video calls, family game night via zoom with my daughter in CA, and made multiple read aloud videos involving my dog, Smidgey, for the school I work for. My anxiety around video conference calls has disappeared.(the only place my anxiety has gone down;) Here’s to the new normal, such as it is… 🙂

    Reply
  12. Joyce Ray
    Joyce Ray says:

    Elizabeth, I have never made a video, and I am really impressed by your first attempt! The lighting is perfect, the subdued colors make your book stand out wonderfully, and your readings are lovely. I especially love”Ball”, but the others you read are wonderful, too. Your book looks enjoyable on different levels, both as an engaging read and as an invitation to try out the forms you use. Congratulations on both the book and the video!

    Reply
  13. Tabatha
    Tabatha says:

    Congratulations on your first video! Nicely done!
    I am feeling upset today because at our neighbor’s house, three of them have an illness that seems like COVID-19 (extreme shortness of breath, loss of taste). They tested negative but are being treated as positive. They are in their 20s and 50s, but I am not at all confident that they will be fine, so I am worried. (I think we don’t have an inkling of what is really going on across the country…too little tests, too inaccurate tests, too little reporting.)
    Thanks for hosting us today!

    Reply
  14. Kay Jernigan McGriff
    Kay Jernigan McGriff says:

    Liz, thank you for hosting today and for sharing your poems and activities in the video. It has been a crazy time. I was able to write and publish a poem for every day in April for the first time. It helped that I was not working for most of the month. I started back (from home) this week. It’s not completely new, but I did start another batch of sourdough and have been baking, baking, baking–keeping the four in our household supplied with plenty of bread and homemade crackers, too! I’m trying out lots of new recipes.

    Reply
  15. Molly Hogan
    Molly Hogan says:

    Liz, thanks so much for hosting this week and for sharing your wonderful video. “Soccerverse” is a favorite of mine and it’s such fun to hear you read some of the poems aloud. Your reverso “Instructions to Field Players/the Goalkeeper,” is one of my favorites ever!

    Reply
  16. Irene Latham
    Irene Latham says:

    Dear Liz, I feel you on the where in the house to make the video problem! But you sure did figure it out, and how lovely that your kids could be involved, too. Brava! One new-to-me thing lately has been using the app BandLab to rehearse virtually with my cello group. 🙂 Thank you for hosting. xo

    Reply
  17. Kathryn Apel
    Kathryn Apel says:

    Oh, so good to see you again, Liz! This brings back lovely memories of our too-brief catch-up. But I am so glad I got to spend time with you – and carried a signed copy of your fabulous book home with me. Such a treat to hear you read from it!
    I’m not actually linking in – but I’m missing everyone, so I’m hoping to catch some posts on the round-up. (That said, I do have some links for parents and educators, on my blog, if anyone is looking for more ideas of things to do. Not a Poetry Friday post – but people are welcome to swing past and peruse.)

    Reply
  18. jama
    jama says:

    What a treat to revisit this book and hear you read the poems!! Great job with the video! As others have mentioned, it was a good idea to show the text while you were reading inset. Also, congratulations on the 2020 NCTE Notable Poetry Book Award! Thanks so much for hosting this week. 🙂

    Reply
  19. Rose Cappelli
    Rose Cappelli says:

    Wow! Soccerverse is definitely going on my must-have list. I enjoyed your video, Liz. You have a wonderfully calm read-aloud voice.

    Reply
  20. Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
    Amy Ludwig VanDerwater says:

    I love this book, Liz, and hearing you read brings it to life! What a generous share, and your son has some magic snapping fingers! Thank you for hosting today and for this book that all soccer-lovers will treasure. All health and love to you and yours. xx

    Reply
  21. Ruth
    Ruth says:

    Thanks for hosting! I liked your video, and it’s great that you’re trying new things. It’s also great to have tech-y children! I have a couple of those myself! I’m teaching from home, but unfortunately, not for the first time, since we here in Haiti have had a lot of lockdown time this year. But I am getting better at it, I think!

    Reply
  22. Karen Eastlund
    Karen Eastlund says:

    Loved the video, Elizabeth. So many great poems in your book. Congratulations! And thanks for hosting.

    Reply
  23. Sylvia Vardell
    Sylvia Vardell says:

    Great job with your video, Liz! You seem like a pro! And you know how much I love SOCCERVERSE!
    Making videos and Zooming has been a new focus for me too during this crazy time. I’m learning lots!

    Reply
  24. Christie Wyman
    Christie Wyman says:

    Hi Liz! I loved hearing you read the poems. The video is first-rate! It reminded me of a slightly sad private ZOOM session I held with one of my Kindergarteners earlier this week. She was so looking forward to playing KinderKicks soccer for the first time. Soccer is a sport that brings so many together, isn’t it? What I’m trying for the first time is working with sourdough starter! I’m part of Laura Shovan’s “Sisters in Sourdough” Facebook group — all of us using starter lovingly sent to us by Laura. Such a lovely way to connect, I believe. Thanks for hosting this week, Liz!

    Reply
  25. jan/bookseedstudio
    jan/bookseedstudio says:

    Hi LIz & welcome to “the movies!” How fortunate that we have these ways of communicating when we can’t be actually there, boots on & all. Brava!

    I love you question about new things during #saferathome.
    1/ more sprouts from seeds than ever
    2/ nighttime walks more often, around the neighborhood with my hubby – seeing the clear-sky moon phases & so so bright Venus
    3/ more bread/miuffin/quikc-bread baking (keep in mind this is Florida)
    4/ discovering frozen food brands that actually taste good
    5/ delving into treasure troves of paper left to me by my parents – old photos, magazines, clippings, greeting cards, etc. etc. they were archivists-in-training all their lives.

    Happy Weekend!
    Jan

    my Bookseedstudio today feature’s THE CAT MAN OF ALEPPO a difficult war topic, handled so beautifully by the team, which includes Poetry Friday’s Irene Latham.
    https://bookseedstudio.wordpress.com/2020/04/28/aleppo-3000-b-c-citadel-and-cat-man/

    Reply

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