Continuing with ideas from the book. This time, "Photographs".
Remember to share:
Tabatha Yeatts has created a link to poems teachers and librarians can print for poetry month, titled "Poetry in The Halls". I'm grateful to be one of the poets!
Jama Rattigan has a post HERE with many poets' goals for April.
The Progressive Poem schedule can be found on the right!
I chose one of my own photos, a school one from second grade. Remember, sepia or black and white back in the day!
Retro
When I gaze upon the photograph
Of me
I see
A little girl whose face just makes me laugh
And pause
Because
I wonder what that countenance holds in?
Perhaps she chose to do without the grin?
Still me
I see
In having lingering thoughts of years ago,
I’m glad I bring all kinds of times to know
like round
Eyes brown
Reminds me of the sweet times in the past.
Each moment savored now to make them last.
Linda Baie ©
40 comments:
Ah, so cute, Linda! Love your line "Perhaps she chose to do without the grin?" The first time I read it as a statement... then I saw the question mark. Gave it a different twist.
Thanks, Alice, it was fun to write.
That last line is so true; trying to hold onto all sorts of memories. That's me! And I love that little face; chin up, wisp of blonde and smiling-straight-at-you eyes.
What a sweet photo paired with a sweet bit of poetic nostalgia.
Little Linda! You are so loving, and so wise too, in this photograph. You so perfectly weave the past with the now in this poem - what we were with how we wonder what we were. If only the photo could talk for one hour.... This series is a treasure. (I hope you are printing them all for your grandchildren!) xx
Linda, I want to have a conversation with this beautiful little girl! Thank you for sharing her (you!) with us. So happy for this continued series and what it's bringing to your life, and to ours! xo
Thanks, Kat, it is fun to imagine what the second-grade me was like.
Thanks, Kimberly. The poems have certainly taken me to new memories.
Wouldn't time travel be a good thing, what so many authors have written about, and sometimes it's revealing! Thanks, Amy, I am enjoying my poem goal this month.
Thanks, Irene, creating a kind of poem scrapbook has become a lovely journey.
This photograph of you is so precious. You look wise already. Perhaps you are pondering your future life as a poet?
Not only is your entire poem so lovely with its wonderful rhyming but these lines made me smile (even though your 2nd grade self did not): I wonder what that countenance holds in?
Perhaps she chose to do without the grin? I am going to backtrack to read more of your series.
Isn't it interesting to look back at long ago photos and try to recapture that "you" through the lens of the current one? This is a poem that is richer with each reading.
What a sweet photo!! Your expression is quite pensive. It's fun to wonder what you were thinking at the precise moment the photo was taken. She looks like someone my 7-year-old self would want to be friends with.
Love this photo of you, Linda!
"Still me
I see"!
What was the form you used? (Something of your own invention?)
You had a Mona Lisa smile!
I did write some very early on, but maybe not as a second grader! Thanks, Cheriee, you made me smile!
Thanks, Carol, imagining from a picture is lots of fun, especially when it's of self!
Yes, as I wrote above, it's a revelation what comes from looking and imagining. Thanks, Molly
Ah, that's a nice thought, Jama. We would have lots of fun together! Thanks!
It isn't a form I can name, Tabatha. I just started with those beginning lines and went with it. Thanks!
Ah, thank you, Elaine. That's a sweet thought.
What a sweet photo! This poem is a lovely look back with no regrets. I love the line "Reminds me of the sweet times in the past."
I have to agree--that is a sweet photo. Your poem is beautiful with is wistful looking back and questioning.
I love the way this form works when you read it. Slowing down on the short lines. I get the sense of looking long at the picture to find the you in her.
Awwwwwwwww, what a sweet face in this photo...this is YOU! I love it.
My favorite lines...the turning point, "And pause
Because"
I agree that this form is just perfect for this poem.
Beautiful is as beautiful does....and it does!
I see a bit of a smile that lies inside that expression, a taking in of all, turning it around and over. I like the "roundness" in your poem it goes with the roundness in your eyes, and your bringing us fully around from the first line to the last. Such a lovely poem and image of you, thanks for sharing both!
Oh, that picture! A kind, smart, beautiful girl - ready to embrace life, and you have, and you do. Thanks for sharing your clever poem and its origins. XO
Thanks to everyone. I've been gone all afternoon into the evening, celebrating Ingrid's tenth birthday! It's fun to hear your comments as I imagine me in second grade and now watch Ingrid being ten. Wow, time flies!
I'm loving this series! You make me want to get out some old photographs and write some poems. I think you should make these into a book and give it to family members for a gift. I know it would evoke lots of memories for other people.
Thanks, Carol, it might make a nice holiday gift? You should get out some old dog pics for your April poems!
I love how you had this "conversation" with your younger self!
I love "Still me I see" - such a fun poem!
Thanks, Mary Lee and Ruth, it is interesting to think about one's younger self, wondering what I really was like.
Well hello, Beautiful!
Still you
It's true
Keep savoring those delicious memories, Linda!
As a connoisseur of 2nd graders, I adore this one in her pinafore and peter pan collar, her barretted hair and restrained, you-won't-*uite-know-me smile. I like the structure of your poem too, almost a skinny, long and short, the way memories flood and then stall while one leads to another.
Thanks for the little 'ditty', Michelle. I will!
Thanks, Heidi. I only worked with 2nd graders in small groups, but know many of their teachers adored them, too. They are already changed from first grade, can do so much!
Such a sweet picture, Linda! The line that spoke to me was "I’m glad I bring all kinds of times to know." The picture is about that moment in time, but so much more. Thank you for sharing these memories with us in this way. -- Christie @ https://wonderingandwondering.wordpress.com/
You're welcome, Christie. Capturing parts of life is turning out to be really special this month.
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