Hi everyone,My thanks to Kathy Temean for pitching in to help announce our Hall of Fame Poets for March. I’m off on my jaunt but Kathy has read the polls and is making today’s announcement of our winners. Thanks, Kathy!As for Word of the Month Poet winners, I asked the judges for a quick turnaround before I left so I can announce them today too.
MARCH HALL OF FAME POETS:
Adult: Julie Krantz for Sandpiper
Grades 3-7: KnowEl Willhight for Here Comes the Sun
Grades 8-12: Ashley Swartz for Spring
MARCH WORD OF THE MONTH POETS:
Adult: Julie Krantz, North Carolina, for Sandpiper
Grades 3-7: Caleb Kynard, Ohio, for Rain
Grades 8-12: Ashley Swartz, Florida, for Spring
My thanks as always to everyone who participated in the month’s one-word challenge. Remember, we approach this challenge as a writing exercise to keep our imaginations fresh and get in some regular practice at writing poems. It’s all fun and our participants enjoy encouragement and supporting one another. Positive comments are always welcome whether you have shared a poem of the month or not.
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April marks our 19th Word of the Month. How many of the previous 18 words have inspired you to write a poem? Some of you will soon have enough for a book! Our word for April is SPACE. I hope you have fun with it.
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And now for still more good news! My Featured Guest this week is Kelly Milner Halls, a thoroughly entertaining author whose free spirit and love of children beam through everything she says or does. Here’s a brief bio and book list. Tomorrow you will meet her “in person.”
BIO:
Kelly Milner Halls is an award winning nonfiction author for kids, specializing in quirky topics of special appeal to reluctant readers. Her titles include Dinosaur Mummies, Albino Animals, Wild Dogs, Tales of the Cryptids, Dinosaur Travel Guide, Mystery of the Mummy Kids, Dinosaur Parade, Wild Horses and Saving the Baghad Zoo.
In the fall of 2011, her new book In Search of Sasquatch will be available. Alien Investigation, Hatchlings: A Lifesize Look at Baby Dinosaurs and her first fiction project, Girl Meets Boys will be published in the fall of 2012. Halls makes her home in Spokane, Washington with two daughters, one dog, too many cats and a four foot rock iguana named Gigantor. When she’s not writing or visiting elementary and middle schools across the nation, she’s working as her friend, YA novelist Chris Crutcher’s personal assistant and occasional cat sitter.
PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY:Dinosaur Mummies (2003, Darby Creek Publishing)
Albino Animals (2004, Darby Creek Publishing)
Wild Dogs (2005, Darby Creek Publishing)
Tales of the Cryptids (2006, Darby Creek Publishing)
Random House Dinosaur Travel Guide (2006, Random House)
Mysteries of the Mummy Kids (2007, Darby Creek Publishing)
Wild Horses (2008, Darby Creek Publishing)
Dinosaur Parade (2008, Lark/Sterling)
Saving the Baghdad Zoo (2010, HarperCollins/Greenwillow)
In Search of Sasquatch (2011, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Alien Investigation (2012, Millbrook)
Hatchlings: A Life Size Look at Baby Dinosaurs (2012, Running Press)David
Tomorrow is the last day of this month to post a Word of the Month poem. The word is FEATHER. So far we’ve heard from a dozen adult poets, about half our normal collection.
I wrote this note last Friday so I hope others have shared poems since then. I’m especially eager to see our young poets step forward with their contributions for the month!
The ballot boxes will be posted on the 23rd. Let’s have more activity before then!
Thanks again to all who participated in Word of the Month Poetry Challenge in January. WATER certainly inspired our poets!
Our judges have selected the following for Word of the Month Poets.
Adult Poet: Steven Withrow for Pilot Fish
Adult Poet 1st runner-up: Jane Heitman Healy for The Teacher
Adult Poet 2nd runner-up: Julie Krantz for Snowflakes
Young Poet, grades 3-7: Taylor McGowan for Untitled
Young Poet runner-up, grades 3-7: Iain Todd for You Were
Young Poet, grades 8-12: Jason Stiles for Water
Voters selected the following for January Hall of Fame Poets.
Adult Poet: Steven Withrow for Pilot Fish and Liz Korba for Fathom. Since Steven has already placed 1st (in a tie last month with Jane Heitman Healy) during this 12-month period, Liz becomes the January Hall of Fame Poet.
Young Poet, grades 3-7: Zack Safadi received the most votes for This is Just to Say. Since Zack has already won in this category during this 12-month period, runner-up Courtney Clawson becomes our January Hall of Fame winner for The Journey.
Young Poet, grades 8-12: Jason Stiles for Water
Young Poet runner-up, grades 8-12: Clarence Williams, III for Water
Thanks to all for being patient with me this past week. Today I’ll be in a studio from 9:00 – 5:00 but I did manage to complete all 20 scripts by yesterday and get the ballot boxes posted for today.
I do not have the poems posted below the boxes the way I usually do. I’ll try to get that done as soon as I can. Until then you can go to W.O.M. for adults and young poets and read their poems there.
David
HERE ARE THE ADULT POEMS FOR JANUARY
1 To Thyself Be True
by Gay Fawcett
Fish out of water
Choke and die
Can’t adapt
Can’t grow legs
Can’t get back in.
That doesn’t mean
The land isn’t beautiful
The air isn’t sweet
Legs aren’t grand
Or the water is better.
But fish out of water
Choke and die.
Please throw me back in!
2 Essence
by Lisa Martino
Fragile essence, basic need.
So clear to see, saving agreed.
Poured down the drain by careless men.
Warnings not heard, now world decreed.
Lottery given lucky men,
Unaware pampered noblemen.
Millions slowly greet the headstone,
Many more will meet the ghostmen.
Cries for help reach shores of stone;
Children play in lakes of fishbone.
Lines drawn in sand, deep damnation.
Wars fought for precious drops. Undone!
Such peril, abomination.
So vain, oh needless pollution.
Save ourselves, sustentation.
Heed these words. Prognostication!
3 Snowflakes
by julie Krantz
When snowflakes fall
so soft
so white
I cup my hands
like bowls
of rice
to catch
these lacy
stars
of ice.
But when
the sky
so cold
so bright
turns out
its snowy
winter light
I climb
in bed
to dream
all night.
4 WHAT AM I?
by Beth Carter
In some locales, I’m in short supply
but always in high demand.
I’m highly regarded,
yet often neglected.
I quench, refresh
and clean.
I can be found in bottles
for a fee.
Most think I’m the best thing
on a hot day.
And the most soothing
on a sore back.
I come out of the tap
for free.
I’m featured in springs
and caves
But rarely in the
dessert.
I’m in rivers,
lakes and oceans.
I’m mostly tasteless
with no calories.
Most consider me
a precious drink
Lately, I’m a liquid
used as torture.
Answer: Water.
5 Sippin’ River Water
by Ken Slesarik
Simply sippin’ from the Mississippi,
never seemed to simply satisfy me.
So I sipped some samples from the Nile
but grew tired of sippin’ after awhile.
Then I sipped some lakes, but I digress,
‘cause the best place to sip is the Tigress.
6 PILOT FISH
Naucrates ductor
by Steven Withrow
I buddy with a whitetip shark
And follow in his deadly dark,
The perfect tagalong.
I give my symbiotic terms:
“I’ll eat up all your lice and worms,
If you’ll help me survive.”
And when the feeding frenzies start,
My bodyguard fulfills his part
And shields me from the throng.
I’ll swim in any bully’s lee,
And pay any protection fee,
If it keeps me alive.
Copyright 2011 by Steven Withrow. All rights reserved.
7 Vacation Waters
by Janet Kay Gallagher
Sunny California here I come.
I will fly to Las Vegas and be
picked up by my son.
As the plane came under the
sunshine and clouds
I heard someone say out loud.
“It’s Raining here.”
Another chimed in,”Does it rain in
the desert?”
The reply, “It IS raining HERE!”
“It doesn’t rain in the desert.”
Another said.
Off the plane I moved ahead.
California here I come.
By the next day the rain was done.
Then sky opened and poured for days.
Flooding streets and washing away hills,
filling homes and cars with mud.
It would take days to clean up all this crud.
Rain and snow closed the Grapevine Route.
People were sranded and cold to boot.
I called home, I heard a tornado was near.
Everyone there wanted to know about the snow here.
The desert in California had wind, rain and snow.
When I am invited again, I will still go.
8 The Teacher
by Jane Heitman Healy
The teacher primed the pump,
pushed the handle down
and pulled it up,
again
and
again until
Water
flowed
from
the
spout.
The teacher put the student’s palm
into the outpour,
drew on the palm
with her fingers:
W-
A-
T-
E-
R.
Language
gushed from the fingers,
spilled from the spout,
flooded their minds–
and the teacher
keeps pumping.
9 Untitled
by Don Barrett
Water under control
what a wonderful sight.
A flood of water cause fear and fright.
A trickle down the street from someones lawn,
looks so serene in the light of dawn.
A torent in the same street after a three inch rain,
brings alarm and causes so much pain.
Life on a hill overlooking a meandering stream
what a sight to behold.
Raging water when you live in the valley takes away your life
water controlled in a bottle or bath that is what our life is about,
that is what we all do strive,
for happiness with our husband or wife
10 Water World
by Jackie Huppenthal
I rode the sea monster
braced for the storm
black thunder
white lighting
oh the rapids they formed!
We plunged into a whirlpool
were swept away by huge waves
blasted and drenched
by the falls
oh, when would I be saved?
then came the twisters
a cyclone
hurricane…
my day at the water park
Totally Insane!
11 Nature’s Jewels
by Barbara J. Turner
A string of dewdrops
on a clump of grass
shake and shimmer,
glimmer in the blush
of the rising sun,
diamonds in the ruff
suddenly stolen
by evaporation.
12 Water
by: Shalander Samuels
As the water goes down my throat, it engulfs the curves of my thirst.
It takes away the desire to faint from longing.
It teases me as I long for more.
I yearn and find comfort and pleasure in its intake.
Who knew water had such power?
If water did not fill the space we call the ocean,
we would only have a beautiful sunlight and dry ground to consume it’s magnificence,
we would be unable to captivate it’s beauty as we do.
Who knew water has such power?
Some use it to bathe, to drink, to wash, to cook, to relax, sometimes just to feel good.
Others use it as a sign of the times, to say things are changing,
Now that I am older and can appreciate the beauty of some deity’s blessing,
I smile and enjoy, feeling ultimate bliss, and get consumed by its power.
13 Ebb Tide
by Wendy Singer
I see right through you,
Yet twist in your current.
Running blue cold,
I struggle, chilled.
Polluted.
I see right through you.
My warm waves of purity,
Run softly, sweet.
Your tide slowly ebbs.
Cleansed.
I see right through you,
Boiling with life.
Crystal and clean.
You quench my thirst.
Refreshed.
14 Fathom
by Liz Korba
More than half of me is water
Drips and drops of H2O
More than half of me is water
I am rain, sleet, hail and snow
There’s a piece of me that’s ocean
I’m a little raging sea
And a bit of stream and river
Puddle, pond, a lake – that’s me!
More than half of me is something
That refuses to be still
I may wear down rocks, great mountains
Make a valley from a hill
There are times when I am able
To help living things to grow
And it’s true that I can take a life
Flash flood, an undertow
In great clouds you’ll find me floating
Though at times I’m underground
There are days when I erupt, make noise
Or not a single sound
Since so much of me is water
This explains a lot of me
But not all of me is water
There’s a part that’s mystery!
15 Winter Seasoned
by Vera Jane Goodin Schultz
like a bucket of chilled water poured over your head
flowing in freezing foreboding fingers down your spine
sometimes life puddles around your feet
icing you to stiff stillness awaiting the thaw
16 Driving the lonely highway
by Daniel Escurel Occeno
Driving the lonely highway
I get thirsty
Heading for anywhere
Someday
Someday
I will find
The truck stop in my mind
I do not really know where I am going
But someday
Someday
I will find
The truck stop in my mind
(And probably take a detour to a really good restaurant, if I get a multi-books contract.)
17 Waterlines
by Mimi Cross
In bed
At night
The waterday doesn’t leave me
I hear the ocean from my window
And I swear
My body is still moving
Floating
Washing in and out
With the waves
The pull of the tide
Like blood in my veins
The crash on the shore
The rush of a heartbeat
AND HERE ARE THE YOUNG POET POEMS FOR THE MONTH
1. Water
by Clarence Williams, III
Water is soul, liquid is life,
ice is cold,
giving your blood a fight.
The vapors of life fill my heart.
But water itself wouldn’t fulfill you,
nor would liquid itself.
Water is a liquid, liquid is not water.
So unlike most things that can’t live
without each other.
Water can live without liquid because
it is a liquid, but if the liquid isn’t water,
then there is no liquid at all.
Crescent City Jr Sr High School
Grade 10
Teacher: Mrs. L. Martino
2 Water
by Jason Stiles
Water
So gentle
So graceful
Water
So powerful
So strong
Water
So destructive
So devastating
Water
Destroys what it
Creates
Crescent City Jr Sr High School
Grade 10
Teacher: Mrs. L. Martino
3 Untitled
by Taylor McGowan
From murky oceans
to turquoise seas
it helps us all
from the birds
to the trees
Every raindrop
every speck of dew
is crucial to humans
like me and you
It’s carried in clouds
it floats on the breeze
it soothes burning lungs
when we start to wheeze
It’s home to the whales
and the colorful fish
and during a drought
it’s every child’s wish
It falls from the sky
it allows us to drink
it’s much more important
than most of us think.
It’s in our hearts
It’s in our blood
It flows past shores
When rivers flood
It’s the very essence
Of me and you
For as long as we’re earthlings
Water’s meaning is true.
4 Frozen Water
by Max Zilba
When it gets warmer, I get a little sticky.
Sticky enough for me to turn into a person.
I have sticks for arms,
a carrot for a nose,
and buttons for eyes.
But the best part is
I can watch the children play and have snowball fights.
But after a while
when I see the icicles falling from above
I start to wonder “what will happen to me,
will I become one of them or something better?”
I wait, and wait, and wait.
I watch my nose, my eyes and my arms
slowly fall from my body.
I wait a little longer.
I slowly start to become water.
I just wait some more.
The children wake me
as they stomp on me with their boots.
It’s a ticklish feeling.
I soon become a splash
and fall into a child’s sock.
I can’t see anything except a light from above.
I want to get back into the fresh air.
I feel the ground shaking.
I hear a child crying
I fall out of the boot and meet some red liquid,
I’ve only heard of this before,
but I become part of it and become part of the child now.
I am happy.
5th Grade
MVCDS
Teacher-Nanette Valuck
5 Life without a friend
by Sahil Kattar
What have I done?
I feel cheated, but I haven’t even done anything
He won’t be there when I need him
I’m in the city with a ton of people,
but I don’t hear anything or taste anything.
The wind blows on me,
but that’s all I feel.
I don’t know where I am and where I’m going.
Hopefully somewhere where I’ll find some real friends.
He doesn’t even talk to me when I’ve been a good friend
I run past the city with honking horns and flashing lights
Thunder rages and lightning strikes
I dive into a lake.
As I sink to the bottom of the lake I get some feeling.
The water pours and gushes on me after the splash when I dove.
I stay in the silky liquid in comfort.
I launch back up above the water and feel great.
I realize
“Yeah I’ll find some other friends.”
I say energized
Fifth Grade
MVCDS
Teacher: Nanette Valuck
6 Revenge
by Alex Evans
The sound of a sword being drawn out of a sheath rings in the mist.
I turn around to see him, standing in the rain.
The sight of him angers me.
I draw my own rod of deathly silver and charge.
We fight and fight, water flying off our blades.
But then I’m on my back, my sword five feet away.
I lost, I lost, I lost…
Wait. I didn’t fail.
I kick at him, and get right up.
I run for my weapon.
When I return, I raise my sword,
And bring it down to finish it.
But I strike the ground; he’s no longer there.
I stand still in the night.
Listening.
Then out in the swirling mist I hear
A faint voice, crying:
“I’LL GET MY REVENGE!”
Fifth Grade
MVCDS
Teacher: Nanette Valuck
7 This is Just to Say (Water Parody)
by Zack Safadi
The dog
didn’t really knock over
Your Voss Water
Last night.
Forgive me,
It was 3:00am
And I was so thirsty.
But this is just to say,
Water will stay water,
And well,
A fancy design and the price
Won’t change the taste
Sixth Grade
Maumee Valley Country Day
Toledo, OH
teacher: Jana Smith
8 You Were
by Iain Todd
You were as blue as the sky,
But now you are stained red.
You were as smooth as silk,
But now you are full of craters.
Your home was as clean as soap,
But now it is scattered with bullets.
You were the only hole
But now there are many
That look just like you,
But they are filled
With pure blood
Not water
Like you.
You were a puddle of water,
But now you are just a filthy hole.
On a battlefield long forgotten.
Sixth Grade
Maumee Valley Country Day
Toledo, Oh
teacher: Jana Smith
9 The Journey
by Courtney Clawson
Trudge, trudge.
As I plod along, each step seems like an eternity.
My head aches.
My mouth is dry.
I am parched.
Suddenly, like a mirage in the desert, it appears out of nowhere.
I run now, pushing through the crowds, ignoring the
infuriated swarm of people.
I reach my destination.
THE WATER FOUNTAIN!
Slurp,
gulp.
The cold water runs down my throat with a tingling
sensation.
I take another drink, this time long…
and refreshing.
The water soothes my aching head.
I peer behind my shoulder at the aggravated mob of people,
realizing I just pushed through them to get to the beginning of the line.
And I prepare myself for the journey back…
with another sip.
Sixth Grade
Maumee Valley Country Day
Toledo, OH
teacher: Jana Smith
