Play - My Slice With Mice

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             Happy Halloween!  "There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch." ~Robert Brault

 

Play In Three Acts - My Slice With Mice

or - Please do not think of Beatrix Potter

     

Act I - Scene I - (evening) - Sitting with feet propped up, dressed cozy for bed, writing. A mouse runs across the floor. Eek!

             I get up, quietly go to the laundry room where I keep "stuff", like mousetraps. I have only one, and it will have to suffice tonight.

             Scene II - (morning) - I rise early, tiptoe down past the office, then to the kitchen (coffee first). I've placed the trap behind a wire wastebasket in my office against a wall. (wall recommended on Google) There is no mouse, and the cheese is gone. I carefully pick up the set trap, and get out the peanut butter after once again consulting Google.

Slice of Others' Lives, Including Trees

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       I realize that the end of the school year looms for all of you who are educators. You may have only a few weeks remaining, or more, but May means endings. I thought I'd share one thing I did sometimes at the end along with other "goodbye" rituals. I asked my students to show what new ideas/perspectives they thought important to know, at least they had begun to understand by this end of the year. They could use words but must present the "answer"  in some contrast and visually.  I do not have photos of student work, but do have a photo that demonstrates the challenge I gave often and know many of you also give to your students: "consider the other point of view". Live in someone else's shoes for a while, as that familiar quote says. My students and I encountered this tree on a trip a long time ago, and we spent an evening arguing about the importance of trees, of habitat; but on the other hand, those who need to make a living, to care for their families. We must consider "whose ox is gored?" when decisions are made. This tree was such an inspiring look at a LIVING thing that seemed to be giving its message in near-human form. Do you have particular activities to share that invite students to learn of other perspectives besides their own?

Do you see the face?

#SOL17 - #npm17 - poem 25 of 30 - Back to Nature

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"I think that we're beginning to remember that the first poets didn’t come out of a classroom, that poetry began when somebody walked off of a savanna or out of a cave and looked up at the sky with wonder and said, “Ahhh.” That was the first poem."

– Lucille Clifton

        See all the poetic events this month in the sidebar.  
My goal for Poetry Month: 
                                               TINY THINGS.  

 Antennaria microphylla - pussytoes

          I found my topic for the poem and post today by returning to nature and the past. I've written more than once about the primitive cabin in the mountains which we owned for years. I wrote for the first time here, nearly six years ago. The cabin became an important part of raising our children, allowing them to learn to love exploring and just "being" out of doors as much as we did. Then, last month I wrote one post that shared about selling the cabin. I have the fondest memories of our time there, the beauty I enjoyed and discovered. And aside from great times with family and friends, I renewed my love of nature, the living things along with the natural objects we often ignore like the brightly colored rocks in the stream, and the huge ones that were "living" in our meadow. These pussytoes were favorites to find, tucked within the wild spaces, spring greetings.

Pussytoes  

When touching the tips

of these pinkish blooms,

one only needs to know

the down-deep softness of feline feet

to understand why the name’s complete.

 Linda Baie © All Rights

#NPM17 - 4/30 Plus Slice of Life

Join us on Tuesdays with the Two Writing Teachers and others who post. 

"Imaginary gardens with real toads in them.       Marianne Moore's definition of poetry
      

       Poetic things of interest:  
See Irene Latham's  Progressive Poem's schedule on the page above.  
        If you'd like to see what everyone is doing for Poetry Month, look HERE at Jama Rattigan's post at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

      

         It's April,  and I am immersed in poetry. Each day, among all the other posts I'm trying to connect with, I'm writing a poem. My goal for Poetry Month: TINY THINGS. My choices may surprise you, and I'm excited to write, share, and read how everyone writes to meet their special goals for celebrating poetry month.

          Being immersed not only means writing but reading. Today I'm happy to share a new poetry collection and my poem about a "tiny thing."  Michelle Schaub has written a book about a summer activity I imagine all of us look forward to. I hope my sharing about it, that it makes you want summer markets to come soon, and you want more poetry delights.

A Promise

peach pit recalls  

over-bursting ripeness

of summer - 

skin-tearing, fuzz-dancing,

senses-squishing

sunlit green

Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved