I can’t believe the activity we’ve had from voters and visitors expressing pleasure in October’s dirt poems! We’ve been so busy that I hated to break in with a Saturday post so we have some things to cover now.
1) My poem of the week will go up on Monday instead of Sunday.
2) There is still plenty of time to vote. We won’t cut off the October balloting until twelve o’clock noon on Tuesday, November 3. Alyssa is ahead on votes at the moment but that could change by Tuesday!
3) On Tuesday afternoon I’ll declare our winner(s) for October. Be sure to check back for that announcement.
4) We’re establishing two divisions: an adult and a juvenile. Everyone is cheering for Alyssa and we hope that many other students will take the challenge to send us their poems too. But to keep the voting field even, let’s face it, most adults don’t have the same opportunities to campaign for votes that students do! What has happened here is that a heads up teacher, Nancy Raider, saw to it that her talented young poet had a chance to show us what she can do. And this has demonstrated the great potential for using ths blog poetry challenge not only for the benefit and amusement of adults but for encouraging who knows how many students to join the fun. I’m grateful to you all for helping us break ground and see the future more clearly.
5) Are you ready for the word for November? Here it is: thanks.
6) Here are important dates for the November challenge.
November 21: Cutoff date for thanks poem postings
November 23: Posting of all poems submitted
November 25: Voting begins on November’s thanks poems
November 30: Voting ends
December 1: Winners announced
Got all that? We had so many wonderful poems shared during our first month and I’m looking forward to reading our poets’ efforts in November!
With best wishes,
David
I see that Mimi Cross is getting people she knows to vote for her. Who knows she might catch up. I visited Tricia’s blog and I liked reading about the different styles of poems. Then I went over and looked at Steven Withrow’s blog. I didn’t realize he was an illustrator and a writer. His books look interesting.
I’ll put up the new kid activity and your new lesson later today, since it is after 3:00am now. Oh, but the clocks go back, so it is really only 20 after 2:00 am. Still going to do it later, I can barely keep my eyes open.
Kathy
By: kathytemean on November 1, 2009
at 3:20 am
Hi Kathy,
I hope you eventually went to bed! Mimi’s total is creeping up on Alyssa’s. Looks like a two-way race for now but there’s still time for others to weigh in. I hope they will.
Steven is a talented man. I enjoy his visits and what he shares on my blog. I’ve certainly learned a lot by checking in on other blogs. We have some terrific sites represented among those who have been stopping by mine.
David
By: davidlharrison on November 1, 2009
at 11:07 am
Here’s my attempt at a “thanks” poem. Inspiring topic! I worked out a complex syllabic pattern for this poem to give it shape.
ROCKHOPPERS
By Steven Withrow
Under the right whale bones
breaching the blue ceiling
of the New England Aquarium,
a waddle of rockhopper penguins,
tufted punks from the South Pole,
skrawks in a raucous chorus
as a feeder wades in wetsuited,
floating a bucket of tiny fish
for their lunch. And Marin,
who is four, watches them
through the low glass partition
with an aquarist’s rigor,
her mirrored mouth mimicking each grab
and gulp of open orange beak. She
presses against me, daughter
of my grateful heart, and asks,
“Why don’t they say thank you?”
I tell her, “I don’t know.
Penguins can’t speak like we do.”
But inside I think of how
they drop from rock to rock,
clumsy on their bird-feet,
until one, and then another, slips
without a splash into the cool pool
that passes here for home,
their cold and southern sea.
I name them Water-glider,
Tidal-feather, Torpedo,
and Swims-as-peregrine-falcons-fly.
We trace their loops and interlaces
and laugh as a pudgy male
pops his bottle-body up
onto the lip of a slick stone slab,
upending an unsuspecting hen,
before barging in line
for a chance at seconds.
After, Marin tugs my hand,
her patience for penguins at its end,
and we wander toward tanks
that hold cuttlefish, anemones,
lampreys, leafy sea dragons
practicing camouflage
among the fluorescent fronds.
Behind us, the hoppers chatter on,
clap their wings against their sides.
I want to turn and applaud,
but Marin has spied some mollusk shells
and we give thanks to them.
By: Steven Withrow on November 1, 2009
at 8:21 pm
Steven, WOW!
I love your poem! I printed it to read and enjoy again. I’m fond of syllabic poems and wrote one called “Somebody Catch My Homework” in the book of the same name. It’s one of the most subtle ways I can think of to help make a poem flow without being obvious about it.
Thanks for getting us started with the first poem of the month. You set the bar high, my friend!
David
By: davidlharrison on November 2, 2009
at 9:58 am
I’ve decided to rename this poem from “Thankless” to “Flightless, Thankless.” Thanks!
Steven
By: Steven Withrow on November 2, 2009
at 8:12 am
Then “Flightless, Thankless” it is.
thanks again, Steven.
David
By: davidlharrison on November 2, 2009
at 9:59 am
Thanks so much, David! This contest has become a great poem-starter for me.
Steven
By: Steven Withrow on November 2, 2009
at 11:51 am
Steven,
I’m glad that you are enjoying this too. I need to get think about what “thanks” makes me want to write.
David
By: davidlharrison on November 2, 2009
at 11:55 am