Thursday, February 14, 2013

Valentines, Friday Poetry and Cybils, oh my!

        Welcome everyone to our exciting end of the week, Poetry Friday.  I am so happy to be your host today.  The Cybils Awards were announced yesterday.  Congratulations to Laura Purdie Salas, winner of the 2013 Poetry Cybil for BookSpeak! Poems About Books, and to all the other winners!  The full list can be found here.  The finalists deserve another bit of love, too, and here is that list.
          And, I know Valentine's Day was yesterday, but I couldn't resist carrying it over just one more day!  Hope it was sweet for everyone!




             I've been much enamored of poet Laura Shovan's birthday countdown with postcards.   Find her at Author Amok if you haven't already.  I hope she won't mind if I sneak in a vintage Valentine postcard to welcome you to Poetry Friday.  As I've written in the past, my life these past months has involved moving and cleaning out, and in my house, that meant throwing out many postcards and other correspondence or memorabilia.  Don't worry, I kept a lot too!  In my 'keeping', I found a few old holiday postcards, still unused, so this one is for all of you, and especially Laura, on her way to a big birthday!  I wouldn't say the cupid is especially cute, but she is trying to be!  



         This has always been a favorite time of year when I taught my mixed group of middle-school students.   I shared, we studied, and then the students (and I) wrote love poems.  They could write to anyone, or anything, and despite some occasional reluctance, the poems were wonderfully fresh and creative.  I wish I could share some with you, but they have disappeared with the students.  Students wrote to elusive boyfriends or girlfriends, grandparents, pets, favorite foods or backpacks, etc.  And they shared discoveries of old love poems.  Here is one that I often gave them, one that was popular with everyone, because the students were always surprised how modern it seemed, even though written so very long ago.

           This is a small part of Trollius and Cressida, by Geoffrey Chaucer

How To Write A Love Letter 

 Don't write too neat, and use a little guile--
 Let tear stains blot your words once in a while
 But if you find a word you think is clever
 Use it but once, don't harp on it forever!


                                       The remainder is here.

RoundUp here:  -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laura Shovan is on a poetic road trip, and sends us a postcard-of course-and a poem from the "world's most unique restaurant".  You'll find out more when you click the link here!  

Stephen Withrow shares his poem inspired from the recent storm in the east, Blizzard Country.

Myra GB at Gathering Books gives us a review of an anthology with two voices and a love song by Joni Mitchell, carrying on the love from Valentine's Day.

Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy is playing with triolets this week, writing poems from two different sources.  

Iza has some surprises in store in her love poem about challenges and compromise.  

Laura Purdie Salas shares the poem, Skywriting, from her Cybils-winning poetry book, BookSpeak! Poems About Books.

Douglas Florian at The Florian Cafe shares an original poem about moving by Emily Bronte.

Robyn gives us lots of good information about Jill Corcoran's anthology, Dare To Dream...Change The World, including a poem from recent Cybil's winner, Laura Purdie Salas

Charles Ghigna offers a look at A Symphony of Trees at Father Goose and at Bald Ego, he shares Dream Girl, a poem fit for Valentine's Day!

Renee at No Water River requests our company for a fine puppet production of her poem that gives us Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in six verses, plus a visit with her co-producer, Julie Rowan-Zoch, fair artist!

Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference shares a number of poems from Elizabeth Smither, including interesting words and links about the Oxford comma.

At A Year of Reading, Mary Lee shares a poem reflecting upon her very tiresome week!  

Margaret has had a filled up week with Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day.  She has written a series of traveling haikus at Reflections on the Teche.

At Mainely Write, Donna writes of a part of Gull Haven, her new home that is being renovated. Read the story of this wonderful house here!   

Tara at A Teaching Life was inspired this week by a guest of honor for the State of the Union address, and shares a poem by Maya Angelou.

Jama, at Jama's Alphabet Soup, shares Irene Sherlock's prose poem about our complicated relationship with food.

Irene at Live Your Poem... has a wonderful interview with Laura Shovan (Author Amok), who not only writes poems from postcards but is a poetry journal editor.  The links are in the post!

Matt shares a lovely message for all of us in his poem at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

Diane at Random Noodling shares two poems, her own Valentine haiga and another  poem from BookSpeak!! by Laura Purdie Salas!  And Diane has a poem by Robert Greeley at Kurious Kitty, as well as a quote by him at Kurious K's Kwotes.  

Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass writes an ode to her bed.

At Wee Words for Wee Ones, Bridget offers a poem of regret.

Violet, of Violet Nesdoly/Poems has begun a new project, poems about women in the Bible. This one is about Leah.

Tamera at TameraWillWissinger gives some sweet thoughts to mourning doves, more Valentines.


Carrying on their science/tech theme, Sylvia and Janet share a science poem at The Poetry Friday Anthology.

At  Poetry for Children, Sylvia features more about our Cybils' poetry winner, Laura Purdie Salas.  

At Bildebok from Cathy Ballou Mealey, Cathy shares a poem about a birthday made all the more special by a blizzard.

Amy at The Poem Farm has written a poem inspired by a gift from Joy Acey.  

There is a review of J. Patrick Lewis' When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders from Anastasia at Booktalking.

MMSocks wants to know if one can retrieve a Valentine at The Drawer of M. M. Socks.

At Bildungsroman, we find a poem by Philip Larkin.

Jone at Check It Out shares a sweet poem about doughnuts by Gregory K. and offers a giveaway of his poetry book, The Late Bird.  If you don't have it, go over to check this out!

Andi at A Wrung Sponge has an original haiku about snow.  

At Readertotz, Lorie Ann tells about a picture book about Passover, The Longest Night by Laurel Snyder and Catia Chien, and shares the text from it.  Then, at On Point, Lorie Ann shares a quote and a part of her verse novel, Loose Threads

Janet S. has a review of Twosomes:  Love Poems from the Animal Kingdom by Marilyn Singer and Lee Wildish at  All About The Books.

Instead of Chaucer, we receive a beautiful understanding of how to write a love poem from Ruth, at There Is No Such Thing As A God-forsaken Town.  

 


73 comments:

  1. Thanks for hosting, Linda. I have an original poem at Crackles of Speech inspired by the recent nor'easter in New England -- "Blizzard Country":

    http://cracklesofspeech.blogspot.com/2013/02/blizzard-country-by-steven-withrow.html

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    1. Thanks Stephen. I imagine the storm was something to contemplate! Certainly the news was rather frightening!

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  2. Linda,
    I'm playing with the TRIOLET this week. One from a quotation by Natalie Goldberg and another from Mother Teresa. Come visit at: www.poetryforkidsjoy.blogspot.com
    The post will be up at midnight MST.

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    1. Thanks Joy, sounds interesting! I'll round you up at midnight!

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  3. Thanks for hosting, Linda! Yes, Congratulations to Laura Salas and all the other winners! I am also carrying Valentine's Day over with my poem: Will You Be My Valentine? http://izatrapani.com/wp/?p=2097

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    1. Thank you Iza. I'm looking forward to another Valentine!

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  4. Thanks for hosting, Linda, and celebrating the Cybils--all of the Finalists:>) I'm in with "Skywriting" from BookSpeak and a little love for the Cybils process.

    http://laurasalas.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/cybils-3/

    Great excerpt that you shared! I love that you need tear stains and guile both for a love letter!

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    1. Thank you Laura. What a lovely way to celebrate your award, with one of the poems!

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  5. A most moving poem about not moving, by Emily Bronte, over at The Florian Cafe. http://floriancafe.blogspot.com/
    Thanx for hosting.

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    1. Thank you. I just moved so will be interested to read what Emily has to say about NOT moving.

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  6. Thanks so much for hosting today, Linda, and for sharing all the Valentines and Cybils love! And hats off to a teacher who could get her students to connect with Chaucer. ;0)

    Looking forward to our spring SCBWI conference next weekend, where Jill Corcoran will be one of our terrific speakers, I'm in with a look at DARE TO DREAM... CHANGE THE WORLD.
    http://www.robynhoodblack.com/blog.htm?post=898358

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    1. Thanks Robyn. Can't wait to hear what you say about Dare To Dream, which I've shared with my school! It's a wonderful contest!

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  7. Thanks, Linda. We're listening to "A Symphony of Trees" at the FATHER GOOSE Blog and paying tribute to my "Dream Girl" at the BALD EGO blog

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  8. Happy Valentine's Day to you, too, Linda! It was lovely to work with you on the Cybils poetry judging. Phew! :)

    In honor of the day of love, I have a video of my poem "Romeo+Juliet (abridged)" as performed by finger puppets (of course!), with illustrations and an interview with Julie Rowan-Zoch.
    http://www.nowaterriver.com/poetry-friday-romeo-and-juliet-abridged-interview-with-julie-rowan-zoch/


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    1. Long distance groups are interesting to do, aren't they, Renee. It was good to work with you, too! Thanks for this terrific post (read yesterday)!

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  9. Thank you for hosting us so lovingly, Linda! Chaucer and a postcard, wow! I also like that we're in "Poesis" and that our zip code is from the Dewey!

    My post is about New Zealand poet Elizabeth Smither: http://tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/2013/02/elizabeth-smither.html

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    1. I'll be over to read about those interesting poems soon, Tabatha! A new poet for me!

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  10. Thanks for hosting and for the lovely Valentine! This week wore me out:

    http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2013/02/poetry-friday-take-deep-breath-and.html

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    1. Sorry about the week; hope this weekend holds the extra day for you, Mary Lee!

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  11. Thanks for hosting. Here in South Louisiana, we celebrated Mardi Gras, then Ash Wednesday, then Valentine's Day all in a row. It's been a fun week. I was traveling home from New Orleans through the swamp and wrote a little haiku series: http://reflectionsontheteche.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/traveling-haiku/

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    1. Wow, you have had a busy week, Margaret. But it does sound like fun.

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  12. Greetings, Linda! Thanks for hosting this week. I loved that little "instructions for writing a love poem" poem. Good advice for much of poetry writing!
    For our busy week, we've had two family birthdays, a bridal shower and Valentine's Day. Everyone seems to try to squeeze a lot into the shortest month!
    Here's my offering today: The House with the Straightened Wall at http://mainelywrite.blogspot.com/2013/02/today-is-poetry-friday-and-its-being.html

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    1. Very, very busy for you, Donna, like many I guess! Happy to see you writing more about Gull Haven!

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  13. Thank you for hosting today, Linda, and for providing advice that is wise all year long (not just on Valentine's Day)!. I am sharing Maya Angelou's "And Still I Rise" inspired by a guest of honor at Tuesday's State of the Union address:
    http://tmsteach.blogspot.com/2013/02/poetry-friday-and-still-i-rise.html

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    1. Your post sounds wonderful, Tara. I am interested in seeing who the guest of honor is!

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  14. Hi Linda,

    What great postcards! And I like seeing a bit of Chaucer here today :). Hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day yesterday.

    Today I'm sharing a poem which made me think about our complicated relationship with food by Irene Sherlock:

    http://jamarattigan.com/2013/02/15/friday-feast-eating-for-love/

    Thanks so much for hosting this week!

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    1. Good-for "food" for thought, right? Thank you Jama!

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  15. Hi LInda, so much good stuff! I love the postcards you contributed to Laura's project, and she is the subject of my post today. I asked her to put on her editor's hat and talk about her work with Little Patuxent Review. http://www.irenelatham.blogspot.com/2013/02/editor-chat-laura-shovan.html

    Thanks so much for hosting... happy day to you!

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    1. It will be fun to read more about Laura's work, Irene. Thanks!

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  16. I have an affinity for the classics, so I was pleased to see some Chaucer this morning! I'm keeping it simple today, with a little something I put together a couple of days ago: http://mattforrest.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/poetry-friday-where-you-find-it/

    Thanks for hosting, Linda!

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    1. Thank you Matt, glad you liked the Chaucer. It is a pleasure to share some of the classic poets. Thanks!

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  17. Hi Linda! It's been a full-out poetry month for us, hasn't it? But, it was worth it! At Random Noodling I have a Valentine's Day haiga, and one of Laura's poems from BookSpeak!

    Kurious Kitty shares "the Conspiracy by Robert Greeley. Kurious K's Kwotes' P.F. quote is by Greeley, too.

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    1. I loved working with you & the others, Diane. I did learn a lot! Thanks for your links!

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  18. LInda,
    Thanks so much for hosting and for posting.
    Today I have an original poem "Ode to My Bed" at
    http://elizabethsteinglass.com/2013/02/ode-to-my-bed/
    Happy Friday!
    Liz

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  19. Hi Linda! Thanks so much for hosting this week. Like Mary Lee, I feel pretty exhausted this week, and it has not even ended yet! Tomorrow, Saturday, is our Annual Staff Lunch and I'm part of the organizing committee. Yikes! Thanks for having our link up, Linda, truly appreciate it.
    I LOVE loveletters. I used to make my male friends' loveletters to the girls they were courting (those were the days), and I would make it a point to make the love notes sound like them even if they were technically made by me. What can I say? I'm a loveletter writer. Born to write those sweet words. :)

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    1. Like for Mary Lee, sorry about extreme week. You are very busy I see! Fun to hear about your own love letter advice!

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  20. Linda, Great post to end a great week of celebrations. Thanks for hosting Poetry Friday, too!
    Today I have an original poem filled with regret ;).
    http://weewordsforweeones.blogspot.com
    Thanks again,
    Bridget

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    1. Um-m, can't wait to read your poem, Bridget. Thank you!

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  21. Linda, thanks so much for the Valentine postcard...Your cupid is cute and how about that delightful bit by Chaucer! I didn't know it existed (but then again, there's precious little I do know about old poets and their poetry!)

    Thanks for hosting today. My offering today is part of a new project I've begun: writing poems about women of the Bible. This one is titled "Leah" and it's HERE

    http://vnesdolypoems.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/leah/

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    1. Your project sounds good, Violet. I am interested to see what you share. It's great to see poems that have involved research.

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  22. Good Morning, Linda. Thank you for hosting Poetry Friday. I love your pink ink on the postcard you wrote to us, and the rose colored heart-shaped spectacles on the front! I'm carrying over Valentine's Day, too, with an Epigram For Mourning Doves at The Writer's Whimsy. http://www.tamerawillwissinger.com/the-writers-whimsy/2013/2/14/for-valentines-day-epigram-for-mourning-doves.html

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    1. Thanks Tamera. Your epigram of doves and love sounds wonderful.

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  23. Thank you for hosting and for all the info, love, and postcards! Janet and I are featuring a fun "why-ence" poem at our PFA blog: http://poetryfridayanthology.blogspot.com/

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    1. Great to see more of the wonderful anthology poems shared Sylvia. Thanks!

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  24. Hi Linda - thank you for hosting and sharing such pretty postcards! Always nice to keep the celebrations rolling for an extra day.

    This week I posted a poem about a birthday celebration in the midst of a blizzard. You can find A Milestone Brithday Blizzard at http://bildebok.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/a-milestone-birthday-blizzard/

    Thank you!
    - Cathy Ballou Mealey

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    1. Sounds interesting to have a birthday in a blizzard, Cathy. I wonder if some were 'snowed in'?

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  25. Oh, the idea of writing love poems to anything makes me so happy! I will absolutely be doing this, Linda. Thank you for the idea and for this post-so-full-of-love.

    Today at The Poem Farm, I have a word play poem titled "Let it Fly," inspired by a very special envelope sent to me by Joy Acey.

    http://www.poemfarm.amylv.com/2013/02/inspiration-envelopes-flamingos.html

    Happy Poetry Friday!

    xo, a.

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    1. Inspiration from an envelope? Sounds very fun, Amy. Thanks.

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  26. Thanks for hosting today! At Booktalking I'm sharing When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders by J. Patrick Lewis http://asuen.com/blog/?p=1007

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    1. This books sounds wonderful, Anastasia. Thank you!

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  27. Thanks for hosting. Can you ask for a valentine back? http://mmsocks.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/id-like-my-valentine-back/

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    1. Glad you're carrying on about Valentine's Day too. Thanks!

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  28. Happy Friday, and thanks for hosting! I posted he poem Days by Philip Larkin at my blog, Bildungsroman.
    http://slayground.livejournal.com/733873.html
    http://slayground.livejournal.com/733873.html

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  29. Thank you for hosting. If you love doughnuts, you'll want one after reading the doughnut poem by Greg Pincus. I also have a giveaway: http://maclibrary.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/poetry-friday-doughnuts-oh-doughnuts-and-a-giveaway/

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    1. Greg's book is terrific, Jone. I'm glad to hear about the giveaway & already love the poem! Thank you.

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  30. Me again! My own blog, http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/ features details about Cybils winner Laura Purdie Salas and her poetry. Thanks!

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    1. Great to celebrate Laura as much as possible, Sylvia. Thank you!

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  31. I was tickled to be able to send a valentine's e-card to my Airforce son from the New York Public Library yesterday. They had some vintage cards that were really something. Thanks for the Cybils shoutout here- love the celebration! And thanks for hosting. I have an original haiku at a wrung sponge today.

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    1. Sending a card from the library sounds wonderful, Andi. I shared some vintage cards of my mother-in-law's last year. They used to make them different, didn't they? Thanks for the haiku!

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  32. Oh, thanks for hosting! Shout out to all the Cybils judges! At readertotz we have The Longest Night:
    http://readertotz.blogspot.com/2013/02/poetry-friday-longest-night.html


    And at On Point I have my haiku There's hope. Look: http://lorieanngrover.blogspot.com/2013/02/poetry-friday-theres-hope-look.html

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    1. You are welcome, Lorie Ann. Thanks for both your posts!

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  33. Thanks for hosting.
    My selection is "Twosomes: love poems from the animal kingdom" written by Marilyn Singer with illustrations by Lee Wildish.

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    1. This is the sweetest book, Janet. I'm so glad you're sharing it! Thanks!

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  34. Oops, forgot to leave my link! http://thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com/2013/02/poetry-friday-bird-understander.html Thanks for hosting!

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    1. Thanks Ruth, I just saw your post on my reader & wondered if I'd missed you! Glad you remembered!

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    2. I'd love to read your students' poems! I always love the ones my students write when they talk about what (and whom) they really love!

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    3. I'll see if they put some in the anthologies we made. I'm not sure, but I'll look; they're all at school. It was great when they wrote them!

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  35. Very late, I know, but here is my contribution to Poetry Friday, or in this case, Saturday:
    http://readingtothecore.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/poetry-friday-…-and-francesca/
    I really enjoyed your Valentine postcard. I've been working on a poem after being inspired by Laura's postcards, too. Hopefully, it will be ready to share soon.

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  36. Hi, Linda. A belated thanks for featuring my project and for posting the link on my behalf. I love translations of Chaucer and classical Greek and Roman poets that reveal how "modern" their writing was. In love, it seems, things never change!

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    1. Thanks Laura! After some research (so I could tell the students) what I could find about this translation is that it was done in the 1930's and certainly is not in middle English, Chaucer's language. At times, I did share a line or two of his original words, but not always. Hope your trip was good!

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