Monday, September 25, 2023

It's Monday - Recent Books I Loved

     

        Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow!  Happy fall! 


        Olivia's seventh grade year has begun in a Boston school, probably the same old thing, until new girl Eden arrives. They say it's not love at first sight but their friendship grows quickly because Olivia has started a poetry club and Eden joins. One never knows what goes on with kids' home lives and both of these girls, though quickly friends, then moving into a closer loving relationship, have troubled homes. They each continue a relationship during the after-school time and through texts, and readers soon realize they hide home life from everyone. Like everyone, both make mistakes. Olivia insults Eden and the sweet relationship ends. The story, and the poetry, fills up with their feelings, while Eden is included in another group called the "Crash", pushing her to party and play the games often played, like spin the bottle. Poems by Olivia are set on the left; those by Eden are on the right. Soon, with huge regrets, Olivia creates the idea of a poetry night with her poetry group, hoping to write a poem of apology for Eden, to fix the damage done. The joys and worries come through with heartfelt emotion, so much that one wishes to step in to help them and others in the background. From Eden: "I try to own the chaos,/and not let it own me." Kate Fussner's verse novel, her debut, feels as if many middle-grade readers will hold tight to the story as they live their own fears and triumphs, and learn that sometimes words can show both regret and love, and can help their growing up. 



         Yes, I know it's still September, but this book is so popular at my library I had to return it faster than usual! Bruce, again, remains grumpy, and not even a tiny part of his heart holds Halloween traditions close. This time, the gang at Soggy Hollow tries something new, giving a performance of the "Legend of Soggy Hollow" and Bruce is in it, well, not always happily. This could be read anytime one wants lots of giggles, mostly at Bruce, and a surprise mystery at the end from Ryan T. Higgins makes a super way to celebrate Halloween and stories about Bruce!



       As a grandmother, this story glows, and I wish I had done something similar. Long ago, eight years old, Maude buried a red tin box under a favorite dogwood tree. And then she grew and grew, but that is not the rest of the story. That happens after her own daughter, then granddaughter, Eve, is born, and grows to about the age of eight. There is a feeling that brings them both to drive and drive to see, to find that red tin box. With Even Turk's full-page muted paintings enhancing Matthew Burgess' beautiful story of a loving secret kept for many years, the story will fill your heart and, perhaps, inspire you to find your own tin box. (I have returned to see a maple tree that I climbed and sat under when I was a child. And I have sat under it with my granddaughters, telling them of all the fun I had sitting up in that tree and reading, so long ago.)


        Two groups, gathering in the dark, one in the sky, witches? The other watching birds and flying kites in the sky. Hoefler tells the story with the two voices while Luyken's illustrations bring the story from the darkness into a satisfying "light in the dark". It's lovely to "see" and celebrate the images, with lots of silhouettes, as they first appear mysterious with only a hint of truth. Then as the story unfolds, readers will begin to understand this message of belonging. I love that the book is published horizontally. This will make a terrific discussion after a read-aloud!

Thursday, September 21, 2023

Poetry Friday - Worker Pay

  

          It's Poetry Friday! Thanks, Carol Varsalona HERE at her blog, Beyond Literacy Link, for hosting. She has captured "summer's end" in lyrical poetry accompanied by her own summer memory photos. I'm seeing (already!) a few witches and ghosts around the neighborhood. It seems some are absolutely ready for this ending! 

        I was out sweeping my patio of the leaves fallen already, really just to be outside on a lovely day, two days until fall. In hiding lay a tiny, lovely surprise! It felt like a last goodbye, as Carol writes, "summer's end".





     Wishing you this kind of autumn's beginning: "It was a beautiful bright autumn day, with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it."

                                             Diana Gabaldon, Outlander



Monday, September 18, 2023

It's Monday - Sharing Some Great Reads!

    

        Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow! I feel so busy and finally finished David Grann's The Wager. You may know his work from Killers of The Flower Moon which is terrific, as is The Wager, and I was totally amazed at the endurance of these seamen. 
        FYI - I shared my review of Irene Latham's new picture book, The Museum on the Moon last Poetry Friday here! It's a terrific book!


       "Astounding" may not be enough to begin a response to David Grann's newest adventure in story-telling. "Comprehensive" comes to mind, too, as Grann takes us on this harrowing journey of the HMS Wager, in 1740, with other vessels from Great Britain on a trek to capture gold. They must venture around Cape Horn, a journey told in excruciating detail of the sea weather battled, the lives lost, even before they wrecked. The descriptions of diseases encountered add to the sorrow for men who so wished for acclaim, for honor in the completion of their goals, only to then be stranded as this ship broke onto rocks by an island that offered little sustenance for survival. This part, Grann shows, is only the beginning for those who sought to survive. That some did, and those kept journals of their days, gives authenticity to this tale that makes one want to grimace (and perhaps understand) at their decision-making in numerous ways. The intense detail shows the extraordinary effort of Grann's research as blow-by-blow, readers learn of the characters, the weather, and the sea as a foe like no other. It took me longer to read because I also was mesmerized by the detailed notes and bibliography. On a personal note, I have sailed on a three-masted schooner and though my voyages were calm adventures, I did know the flavor of the ship, the sailing terms, the feeling of the ocean swells when way out to sea. I'm glad to have had the experience when reading this awesome tale.


Thanks to Charlesbridge for this copy!


          Astrid Kamalyan celebrates her childhood memories by sharing an
Armenian tradition by letting readers spend time with a family on rug-washing day. Little Tato grabs a cherry plum and rushes off to join everyone as Bábo, her grandmother, directs them to wash those rugs! There are delightfully joyous scenes of children scrubbing and playing in soap bubbles, guided by happy Bábo, along with hilarious ones when the chickens get loose! And Astrid includes other cultural traditions like an apricot pie at the end. Information about the Armenian carpet-weaving tradition is also added along with some words in the Artsakh dialect are interspersed in the text with a glossary at the end. What a heart-warming book that will delight and inspire readers to share other family traditions, new or old. 

Thanks to Charlesbridge for this copy!

       It's a board book showing three children picking apples, and then they notice there are three colors, so they sort them, each taking a color. But wait! There are a few apples that are all three colors! What to do? It teaches sorting, comparing, and contrasting along with problem-solving.  plus a few tips for teachers or parents are at the back. This is one of six of the story-telling math series both written and illustrated by Grace. It seems very inviting!



       T
he notes tell this is the first of four books for young readers yet I wonder how interesting it would be for all ages to read and see the worry of young Koo who already sees problems in the world and then also takes in, as always, Stillwater's wisdom. They travel through the day, first at home, Koo cleaning up his room, then feeding and brushing their cat, and finally making a cake for new neighbors. Koo only is told later in the day that small acts of kindness are part of saving the world which he really wants to do. When one sees the actions that happen in Stillwater's and Koo's day, it is possible to see that their world has indeed been made better. Jon J. Muth gives hope for our world in his stories, through his calming, clear words and beautiful illustrations. He offers an author's note sensitive to children's needs which is an important part of the book, too.

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Poetry Friday - More Lunar Love

 

          It's Poetry Friday! Thanks, Rose Cappelli HERE at her blog, ImagineThePossibilities, for hosting.  She's written a wonderful reverso where she considers the love, or not, of fall! Be sure you check it out!


        Irene's newest book, The Museum on the Moon (Hooray!), with Myriam Wares illustrating is one I've been waiting for what seems like the lo-o-ongest time! And it is finally in my hands! Many reviewed it last week and their words were great to read bit by bit, but made me want the book even more. I am old enough to remember President John F. Kennedy's words in his speech challenging Americans in space exploration on September 12, 1962: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because it is easy, but because it is hard." We did!
       The Museum on the Moon creates an enticing beginning, starting with parts of the historical Apollo program. Irene welcomes us readers ('Earthlings!' all) to imagine a trip to a museum, this time to the moon! After her invitation, she writes of that first trip, only seven years after Kennedy's words, and Armstrong's footprints, 

                 "with no wind, no rain,
                   there's no way to erase"


                  "forever in space"

          Irene's poems take us on through history, poems in rhyme, poems in free verse, but accompanied by brief paragraphs of explanation of those "next steps" in our moon history and full-page illustrations by Myriam Wares. They include a Golden Shovel, an acrostic, and a ghazal, among other forms. Myriam's mostly black and white paintings, splashed sometimes with stars, often the museum artifact adding color to a bleak landscape give the feelings that do not surprise, showing the vastness of the moonscape. Examples of poems include the flags placed by those who were there, a picture of a family of one astronaut who stepped on the moon, a plaque commemorating one mission, and "two round bits of metal" in honor of two Soviet Cosmonauts who perished. 

           A poem titled "Old Glory" commemorating the American flags there ends with the following solemn, heartfelt  words:

                                 "Now, time-tattered,
                                 sun-battered

                                 some fibers may be lost –
                                 but pride soars."

           More information can be found at the back, adding to the inspiration found in this poetic visit. There is a timeline with additional notes, some links to explore, and a few explanations of poetry forms that were used. 
           I imagine that some young readers will read a poem and say to themselves, "I want to know more about that." There is a poem titled "Gravity", a new activity I didn't know about on the Apollo 15 mission where the Commander tested Galileo's theory of gravity by dropping a feather and a hammer. After the beginning, Irene's words are:

                            "and now we know it's true
                              because it was on TV for all to see:
      
          against that starry backdrop, the poems' words themselves also drop. It's marvelous to "see".

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Poetry Friday - Holding Summer


          It's Poetry Friday! Thanks, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater HERE at her blog, The Poem Farm, for hosting. She's welcoming the new school year with an invitation you will want to accept! 

          One of my favorite books that I re-read is Ray Branbury's Dandelion Wine, from which comes "Hold summer in your hand, pour summer in a glass, a tiny glass of course, the smallest tingling sip, for children; change the season in your veins by raising glass to lip and tilting summer in.” 

           My family didn't have the pleasure of going to the beach this summer but we will again, I am sure. Meanwhile, the memories flow.


Playa Tivives, Costa Rica - 2022



                Bottled 

 

Patiently, words - liquid and flowing, 

astonishing, alarming on occasion – 

wait for writers to arrange them with a pen.

First, this day,

they take a sip of summer, 

smile with the sunset, 

stay close to siblings,

watch cousins race to the water, 

skip and splash, back again

to munch and grin,

Leaning on moms and dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents.

 

Linda Baie © 



Monday, September 4, 2023

Monday Reading - All New Books To Share!

   

        Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow! I hope everyone has had a nice Labor Day Weekend including today, too! 

 
Thanks to Charlesbridge for
this copy, published tomorrow!

           Traci Sorell and Charles Waters' book collaboration packs many issues into one school year, one eighth-grade honors English classroom, and a teacher who wishes to challenge her students. The focus is on six students, ones we have the pleasure of getting to know well. We feel their resentment and passion, the backgrounds that fuel the feelings between the wish to cling to tradition and the school mascot, and the hurt that continues because of that same mascot. The six students, all with differing beliefs and backgrounds are Callie (Indigenous), Sean (White-Irish), Teassa (White), Luis (Hispanic), Priya (Indian), and Franklin (African American).         
          Friendships grow and begin and they are also lost and broken as change happens through learning facts, considering opinions that were previously unknown, and through listening to others. Traci and Charles, through a free-verse format that allows readers to read each character's thoughts, show the students' clearly honest opinions. Subtly, through a phrase or word, readers can catch that change is happening. For example, this is from the student, Franklin: "I still love sports and banger sneakers,/ yet I can feel myself changing./And that's not such a bad thing, is it?" 
         Not everyone changes, nor does everyone change quickly. Some stay loyal to their original beliefs. After all, the mascot has been Rye High School's mascot for generations! But there at the end, while satisfaction for some reigns, Traci and Charles sneak in to have some small hint that the holdout, hmmm, might not stay clinging anymore.
        There are added resources at the back including a few pages of Cherokee and Salvadoran words translated that are found in the text. It will be a terrific book to read with a group or to read aloud to a class. I imagine terrific discussions where learning happens! 


         Linda Ashman crafts mask poems about each "winner" of the stinkiest, the "strongest bite", the "tallest", and on. Poems are enticing with the illustrations by Aparna Varma giving a 'hint' of the winner, then on the next page, the full picture of the animal with a paragraph all about it. There is lots of information at the back, too, including about endangered species, what mask poems are, and Recommended Reading. If one wants to learn about spectacular animals, this is an adventurous way to begin!

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Poetry Friday - Gifting!

 


I sat in a nearby park to watch!

 It's Poetry Friday! Thanks, Ramona Berhenki 
HERE at her blog, Pleasures from The Page, for hosting. Her sharing of an anthology from Lee Bennett Hopkins titled "School Supplies" feels just right for this beginning of the school year. 

        With all the turmoil and disasters happening in the world, finding gifts in my mailbox lifts my spirits. Among other lovely things, like Wednesday night's super blue moon, the summer poetry swap created by Tabatha Yeatts brings beautiful surprises that, like the cliché, keep on giving.

          I shared those from Tabatha, Denise Krebs, and Patricia Franz earlier in the summer. This past week, I received more creative bounty from Janice Scully and Jone MacCulloch. 




         One thing I also want to acknowledge is Janice's thoughtfulness. After I sent her a package, she replied with thanks and asked about her own gift sent. I never received it! Sadly, USPS is not always reliable. But Janice put together a second gift and that one arrived! Thanks so much, Janice for a poem of address to the marvelous redwoods and for Billy Collins, a favorite!


         Earlier in the summer, Jone wrote to ask if I had a One Little Word for the year. I did not, but did share that a favorite word is "serendipity". You'll see how Jone created a journal cover from learning about that word! Thanks for your creativity, Jone. You've given me a poem but also a journal's cover with secrets. I'll enjoy its message while capturing other favorite words!


             Jone also sent me a created calendar with poems from her for every month!

        This is a card made from the journal you can see in the picture above. The quote is penned there, and my word, 'serendipity' adds to others among the blooms! Also, Jone sent two poem postcards (below), one to keep and one to send with parts of my own words to Patricia! I think she knows how much I love the ocean!

Monday, August 28, 2023

It's Monday - Recent Books I loved!

  

        Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow! I missed again last week but I have a few to share this time. I have been busier at the bookstore which lessens the reading time. There are many books on my TBR shelf waiting, and I hope my life settles down a bit more as we move into fall. I hope all of you are doing well. Our heat last week was near 100 all week but Friday brought the edge of Hurricane Hilary, seventies, and rain! It's back somewhat warmer but I know many continue to have the terrible heat. Best wishes for better! 
        Some of the following are older books I thought you might like. Some are brand new!

       Twelve-year-old Jonas and his friends get into lots of goofy things, even in the halls of their school. There are girls and jealousy, though it seems that at their age, no one would admit it. It's hard for us adults to read Phoebe Sinclair's debut book and realize that life as a tween is really complicated, but it is! Jonas tells the tale in fast action, even when he has to take care of his little sister Rex (Roxanne) and it turns out she saves him from some embarrassment at times. Then there's his separated parents and having two homes, the entry of something totally new, zines, that a friend wants Jonas to create, too. The candy-snatching comes in when the friend wants Jonas to answer the question, "What's the worst thing you ever did?" and what turns into the real self-searching even twelve-year-olds must do. Zines by illustrator Theodore Taylor III complete the whirlwind of Jonas' life.
Thanks to Candlewick Press for this copy, out just a week ago!


       Many are taught NOT to judge a book by its cover and sadly people continue to judge by what they see, never digging deeper into actions. Christina Gonzalez shows this so wonderfully in this new graphic novel about five students, all in various ways Spanish speakers, who are ordered to do community service - together! Slowly through the book, with speech bubbles in both Spanish and English, readers begin to see each character for who they really are. There are revelations readers might also understand about oneself as the truths of each one are also revealed. It's interesting to see how stuck in a stereotype a person can be and how very difficult it is to break out into who they really are, especially without support. I enjoyed the incredible actions and emotional expressions Gabriela Epstein conveyed in her fantastic illustrations. It won many awards last year and I'm thrilled I finally got to read it!



       From long ago (1967), a wordless tale that's full of laughs and surprises. You have to see it!



       I'm sorry that I missed this book last year because I would have taken it to the beach with me, to read to my family, young and old. Like the young girl who visits her grandparents in their little house by the sea, we, too, would have looked for "little houses", what Kevin Henkes tells of this grandmother who shares that about shells. There are wonderings, like who lived in them, as grandmother also shares, "things we cannot see"; and when grandfather speaks about the wide world with so much to know, the young girl begins her own questioning. In beautiful, color-filled, illustrations by Laura Dronzek, I know how wondrous is the beach, and Kevin Henkes has lovingly taken me there. I am grateful!

 

 

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Poetry Friday - The End is A Beginning

 


      Welcome to Poetry Friday! I hope you are all doing well. Leave your links below! 

         Yes, time for BACK TO SCHOOL and Yes, I have seen a few leaves yellowing, dropping on the green grass! Wishing those of you who are so, so busy with your first days (weeks?) starting and hope it has been terrific and not too hot, or that the rain has disappeared from Tropical Storm Hilary. It's been near 100 all week here in Denver, and some schools do not have AC. I remember the challenges from years ago in my classrooms. 

from Vecteezy.com
  
          New and next! My grandson is off to find work, next steps for heading to PA school. The older granddaughter is starting high school; the younger one is starting middle school. I'm thinking of transitions for each, and for students I received in my own classes, termed "Advanced School", the middle-schoolers. Even as old as I am, finding time for self in any kind of play feels like a gift.

Resistance

 

This early adolescent spring, 

this theater of boys,

shows one grown tall, grabs one more fling 

with his old friends, his toys.

 

He plays and plays, barooms around, 

hoping no one hears the sound.

The only other life around

are buzzing bees, like thoughts he found

that reach into the boy’s ears.

He sits and listens to his fears

that all the future coming days

won’t be like all the grown-ups praise.

 

He only wants his monster truck, 

a track of dirt, a time to play,

the growing up, another day.

                             Linda Baie © 


       Wishing you all a great weekend, writing, reading, fun with family and friends or simply "be-ing"!



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Thursday, August 17, 2023

Poetry Friday - Pinkish

 

          It's Poetry Friday! Thanks, Molly Hogan HERE at her blog, Nix The Comfort Zone for hosting. She's sharing her favorite images of nature in special haiku. 
           While we all know some of the history of 'pink' in our lives, particularly here in America, the phenomenon has rather amazed me this summer, primarily because of Barbie, the movie, a long history capped this summer with an approach that is a bit different than the pink found only on the "toys for girls" aisles. Here's a NY Times article that I'm gifting. Hope it works for all of you. In part, Vanessa Friedman writes: "“Pink is the most controversial color in fashion history,” said Valerie Steele, the director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology and author of “Pink: the History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color.” “It has so many contradictory meanings. It has fully entered our bloodstream like a virus, and now different variants keep emerging.”

       “Barbie” seemed to herald the third leg of historical troika."

         I found numerous others when researching "Barbiecore", even one from Popular Science, where Jocelyn Solis-Moreira shares, "We can attribute the popularization of pink to one of King Louis XV’s most famous mistresses. Madame de Pompadour was the closest thing 18th-century French society had to a fashion influencer. Her fondness for pink in the arts shaped the culture and taste of people across Europe. “It became all the rage, and at the time it was gender neutral, so everybody was wearing pink,” says Naomi Greyser, an associate professor of gender, women’s, and sexuality studies at the University of Iowa." this and more!"

       No matter, because I turned to an old favorite book of poems for children, Hailstones and Halibut Bones, poems about colors by Mary O'Neil, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. I remembered that Mary had included a poem about pink, too. Wonder if today she would mention "Barbiecore"?


What is Pink? By Mary O’Neil

Pink is the color of a rose.
They come in other colors
but everyone knows
pink is the mother-color of a rose.
Pink is a new baby,
the inside of a shell..
Pink is a cooked shrimp
and a Canterbury bell.
Pink is peachbloom,
gauzy… frail
the wind’s exquisite wedding veil.
Pink is a bonbon,
pink is a blush,
some Easter bunnies
are pink plush.
If you stand in an orchard
In the middle of Spring
and you don’t make a sound
you can hear pink sing,
a darling, whispery song of a thing.
Pink is the beautiful little sister
of red my teacher said,
and a ribbon girls tie
round their head.
Pink is the sash
with the lovely fold
you’ll remember
when you’re old.
Pink is the flower on a lady’s hat
that nods and bows this way and that.

         Had enough PINK? Or, do you have a favorite "pink" memory? Happy Poetry Friday!

Monday, August 14, 2023

Monday Reading - Books to Note!

 

    Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow!
     I am sorry to have missed last week but my laptop was in for a needed repair and tune-up. I just couldn't find the time to do a post from my phone! Here are the recent books I want to share!

Thanks to Candlewick Press
for this copy!

         It's always fun to read books by Dave Eggers. Most are for adults, but if you want a book that not only tells a fun story, and is true, read Moving Millers' Minnie Moore Mine Mansion. At the same time, readers can see how inviting the use of alliteration can be, title included. It begins with early history, and builds page by page with awesome details in brown tones with a feel of history by illustrator Ju´lia Sarda`. The tale of a silver discovery, lots of money to build a mansion, then a descendant with a wish to raise pigs includes an amazing structural move, and Eggers' expected humor from the start to a laugh-out-loud finish.

       It was terrific to revisit Garvey again, trying hard to ignore his father's wishes for a football player. Nikki Grimes' words for middle-school-aged kids shine brightly again, this time teamed with artist Theodore Taylor III. I loved the brightly-colored chapter titles, like this one, "Three Bears" when Garvey says to himself, "It doesn't matter/how wide I am when I sing./Like Goldilocks, I/have finally found what fits./My high tenor is just right." Finding connections with his dad through music was a loving surprise to me again. It's a young teen story, a family story, a rich story for kids growing up!



       Christina Soontornvat writes of her own challenges of middle school in this graphic novel, expertly illustrated by comic artist, Joanna Cacao. Christina is part Thai and has become friends with Megan, the daughter of an Iranian immigrant. They appear to be some of the few kids of color in a small Texas town's middle school. The subtle but expected racist remarks do not help Christina's feelings of who she is and who she might wish to be, then the announcement comes for cheerleader tryouts. Megan is an acrobat who Christina believes will definitely be chosen. They are best friends but Christina is hurt when Megan chooses someone else to be her partner in the tryouts. Tension certainly increases and the student body chooses the finals! Facial expressions and background add so much to the story that holds so many layers to growing up. Even the bully is given a bit of sympathy!

           The lead-up to the tryout feels like my own challenges many years ago when I too, wanted to be a cheerleader. I even tried a gymnastics class at age 12, but starting that late is simply too late to learn backflips, etc. At least it was for me! The challenges in middle school often feel so rigid when kids are simply trying hard to discover who they really are, the kind of person they wish to be. I imagine adults and those in middle school (or high school) will make personal connections to this new book!


          I labeled this both nf & historical fiction because it is a story by Glenda Armand, based on her family's story. That "school train" holds many layers, first of Glenda's mother's time in the morning line to school, but it also meant education as a train to freedom, and the outward layer is a story of The Great Migration. In the early part of the 20th century, thousands of African Americans left their ancestral homes, some dating back to slavery, to move to differing places in America, for better opportunities for adult work and to escape most of the Jim Crow laws. Young Thelma tells the story from her own 'riding' the train, waving to the real train that once carried an aunt and uncle to California for a better life. Taking that step was both exciting and sorrowful, leaving friends and family, a home one has always known. The term Jim Crow is used throughout, first confusing Thelma because she thought it was a person and did not understand the real meaning until her father told her. Keisha Morris' collaged artwork fills the pages with heartfelt emotions as the train, this time of history, moves along. It's an excellent book for middle-grade readers and younger that can either begin or add to their knowledge of this part of African American history. There is a great piece by Armand at the back, with family photographs, too, plus a source list!


Thursday, August 10, 2023

Poetry Friday - Choosing Beauty

  

          It's Poetry Friday! Thanks, Tabatha Yeatts-Lonske HERE at her blog, The Opposite of Indifference for hosting and for a 'new' look at poetry that will bring a smile.

           My laptop is back, repaired! And here I am writing one of the shortest posts I believe I have ever done. But, I am weary after these recent weeks of all the political turmoil and now the terrible fires in Hawaii, and on. In varying ways, I am attempting to help those in need. Today I choose to focus on the beauty and the miracles of our world. What wonders there are to adore, to appreciate! I see some of you raising milkweed for the promise of butterflies, and, I think, the promise of a miracle. 


Vecteezy.com

Pretending

 

Caterpillars ride

on grassy stems,

tasting the feel

of the future.

 

Linda Baie ©

 




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