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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Free Stock photos by Vecteezy

Welcome to Poetry Friday - Welcome September

 

          Yes, green grass with yellow leaves, more are coming! Welcome to Poetry Friday everyone, September's beginning. It's twenty days until autumn! Click on the link below to add your posts.

      For all those starting anew: "The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps–we must step up the stairs." ~Vance Havner

    Our lives hold numerous thresholds; from youngest to oldest, starting can be exciting, daunting, happy, and sad. This time, I'm thinking of schoolchildren who wonder so much before that first day.  Do you imagine the first day's morning?

     I am not a great artist but I do like trying to sketch once in a while, thus my attempt from my imagination about that first day with all ages beginning again! Enjoy your Friday and the weekend!

Tick-Tock

 

See the afterglow

on students’ faces,

sunshine souvenir

from the neighborhood pool.

So long silly races with 

splashy-ends,

relentless fun,

their vacation run.

 

Hear the sighs

as they keep the swing-along,

goodbyes up the stairs

to summery songs.

Open doors await

to enter and then

they hop the threshold

to begin again.

 

Linda Baie ©

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Monday - Books Shared

Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who post their favorites. 

        


And Cathy Mere & Mandy Robek remind here that it's nearly time for #PB10for10! Are you getting ready?





Sixth-grader Obe Devlin has a lot of troubles. His beloved family farm has been gone for a while, most of it lost by a great-grandfather who "drank dirt" (you need to read it) and a small, beloved patch with a creek saved by a spunky great-grandmother. That 'patch' is where Obe lives and where, collecting trash that floats down into the creek, he discovers a wonder of a friend, one he is in need of, but this friend is nothing he's ever seen before, a combination of pig, dog, perhaps a peccary. Obe just isn't sure! We do discover other troubles, like his loss of his earlier best friend, gone to be with the crowd now living in the suburban homes built on the Devlin land. Obe tells this story, his problems, and his loves, like having still another friend from the bus named Annie, always with smiles and tissues for his constant nosebleeds. No worries, yes, there are worries. And A.S. King also lets Obe tell what's happening on this land 100 years ago, a perfect connection, but heartbreaking, too. The thread that binds is the environment. To Obe's science teacher, April is Earth Month, not just for one day, and it is she who tells about the need for everyone to do something to save the earth. Obe's love for nature, then for this new creature and his steadfast beliefs that make him stay lonely, showing his commitment to doing the right thing. You will love this character created by A.S. King. She writes that it took her a long time to write about losing a beloved cornfield, "something beautiful and magical replaced with something more convenient". I am so glad that she did.

         This is from my #MustReadin2019 list. Why did I wait so long?

        It's not the greatest dystopian book I've ever read, but it goes quickly and I imagine middle grade/early teens would love it. I'd love to see more character development, but perhaps that will happen in the next books. I am intrigued to think of what would happen if everything went dark, all electricity, all technology, and so on. It's like a sci-fi beach read, good for summer and I will read the next ones!