Poetry Friday - Gifting Is the Best!

  It's Poetry Friday, and Tabatha Yeatts-Lonske is hosting HERE at The Opposite of Indifference. Thanks for hosting, Tabatha! 

  

             A.A. Milne - Winnie-the-Pooh - “Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”

           For anyone who is participating or has participated in exchanging postcards during this mid-wintertime, you know what a joyful thing it is to receive some real mail, among the numerous pieces from everyone else who wishes to sell me something, a product, a membership, a visit from the "window" people! 

         And, this year, in the midst of our crazy, worrisome time in the US, it's especially marvelous to take the walk to my mailbox (We have 'blocks' of boxes in my neighborhood.) and discover a huge treat!

        Thanks to Patricia Franz and Mona Moelkel for the lovely art and poems! Not only are what they sent wonderful gifts, but I realize they've also given me, along with others, a gift of their time spent creating! 

Here’s a ditty of thanks

For all of the labor

Sent through air to a box

I opened to discover,

What they created and penned –

Beauty like no other

                     Linda Baie © 

#PoetryFriday - Love My Mail

             Poetry Friday is with Laura Shovan HERE on her website.  Don't miss her introduction to Laura Purdie Salas' new book, Finding Family, which sounds like quite a lovely and poetic story about loons who are raising a duckling.

         Hooray! It's warming up here in Denver, last I looked there was the sun and 45 degrees. If you believe that's laughable and not so warm, a high of 6 happened last Monday.  Thanks, Laura Shovan for hosting!

          I'm warming up also with more marvelous postcards and happy notes from Jone's postcard extravaganza. Here's what I found in the mail this past week. Thanks, Gail A., Carol V., Margaret S., and Linda M. (Click to enlarge.)

Linda Mitchell sends wishes with the rabbit's good luck!

I love being outside, and scenes like this one from Gail Aldous

Sorry that the mail messed up Margaret's card,
but it remains the sweetest message. She has a new grandbaby!

I'm not ready for more snow. Our snowfall from weeks ago
still hasn't melted. Yet I love Carol's picture
and message that "life glistens". 

        I wrote it before and now write it again. The postcard wishes and beautiful words make a fantastic welcome to the new year. Thanks to everyone! 

a snow-crunching walk

for words of wishes in the mail –

cuddle-up reading

Linda Baie ©

Poetry Friday - January Gratitude

           Poetry Friday is with Marci Flinchum Atkins HERE.  Be sure to see the books she's recommending that connect with her own interesting book for children, Wait, Rest, Pause, all about dormancy! Thanks, Marci!

       January welcomes a new year and in my part of the world, also means winter and of course, snow. We just had our snowiest storm in January since the nineties on Wednesday. I cleaned off the bird feeding station and my car (no garage), shook evergreen tree branches, and shoveled around the car (off-street parking). I love being outdoors but it was a lot to do! 

       There is a person, a Jennifer Thomas, on Twitter who shares words she discovers and loves. The recent one I read was mufflements. She writes that "it’s an old Lancashire word for thick, insulating clothes that keep the warmth in and the cold out." I thought you might like it, too!  

You knew there was a "but", didn't you? But, in January, thanks to Jone Rush MacCulloch, who has a new website here, for starting a marvelous tradition a few years ago of people sending postcards with beautiful words to others to welcome the new year. I was happiest this week getting my mail because instead of the continuing junk and pleas for donations, I received four cards from Jone, Mary Lee, Carol L., and Marcie, our host today. It's a lovely thing to receive "smiles" in the post box! Thanks to these four poets for them! Each seems to mirror Mary Oliver's words: “Pay attention. / Be astonished. / Tell about it.” 

I will remember:                         out of tree crumbs

                                                        live curious, each day a wonder -

            

                                                        create with peace

                                                                     after Carol, Jone, Marci, and Mary Lee

Poetry Friday, "Neither Rain Nor Sleet"

 

         Poetry Friday is with Laura Purdie Salas, at her blog, Small Reads for Brighter Days, here.  Don't miss her sharing of another part of her new book, We Belong out very soon! Thanks for hosting, Laura! 

        Wishing you all a warm and cozy weekend, with at least a few poems that make you smile. It's been snowing again, after sixty degrees early in the week but today, more sun! I hope you've stayed safe and mostly cozy! 

         The last time I shared my lovely postcards, I lamented about the late or missed mail and all that postal workers have to do, even in a snowstorm! It has improved! 

Looking around, I found a sort of poem here, from Mental Floss. It is a history I did not know. No matter what you and others may believe, this is NOT the motto of the USPS, and was written in ancient times. 

          From the article: While the Postal Service has no official motto, the popular belief that it does is a tribute to America's postal workers. The words, thought to be the motto, are chiseled in gray granite over the entrance to the New York City Post Office on 8th Avenue and come from Book 8, Paragraph 98, of The Persian Wars by Herodotus. During the wars between the Greeks and Persians (500-449 B.C.), the Persians operated a system of mounted postal couriers who served with great fidelity."  

Neither snow nor rain

 nor heat nor gloom of night

 stays these couriers 

from the swift completion

 of their appointed rounds.

             Thanks to those whose beautiful creations have inspired and made me smile. It is lovely of Jone MacCulloch to manage this exchange for those of us who signed up. Thanks, Jone, for all the 'smiles' I find (finally) in my mailbox. Here are pictures from Jone, Robyn, and Carol V. I am grateful to each one of you, delighting in your fabulous creations.

Poetry Friday - Loving Systems Thinking

 

         Poetry Friday is with Elisabeth, at her blog, Unexpected Intersections, here.  Thanks for hosting, Elisabeth! 

        Wishing you all a warm and cozy weekend, with at least a few poems that make you smile. It's been quite a few days of winter weather for many of us. I hope you've stayed safe and mostly cozy! 

         Our neighborhood and probably others have struggled with receiving our mail in a timely way these past weeks. It has always arrived late in the day but now it may take 2 or 3 days to get anything or a big part of it arrives mid-morning. They are struggling with illness and, as the postman told me, about half the staff. This one I spoke to is doing double shifts, working from early morning until late evening.

           Thus, I'm trying to say thanks to those wonderful and creative people whose postcards I have received. I know that others have been sent because I am subscribed to the USPS 'informed delivery' but I still have not received some. I'm trying to be patient but it is frustrating!

             Thanks to those whose beautiful creations have inspired and made me smile. It is lovely of Jone MacCulloch to manage this exchange for those of us who signed up. Thanks, Jone, for all the 'smiles' I find (finally) in my mailbox. Here are pictures from Margaret S., Janet F., Michelle K., Gail, Mary Lee, Laura S., and Carol L. I am grateful to each one of you, delighting in your fabulous creations.

#PoetryFriday - Poems and Songs

Jan Godown Annino hosts our Poetry Friday today HERE at Bookseed Studio with a challenge today to "SING". She's "singing" with Amanda Gorman this time, a tune-filled post! Thanks, Jan! 

 

       More postcard hugs and a snowy song for Jan! I read on the list that Jan called for music and thought Tuesday and Wednesday about what I could "sing" about that would be "approved". Then, shoveling on Wednesday morning, I kept hearing the scrape back and forth of the snow shovel and had an idea. Sing along if you wish! Thanks for the idea, Jan!

      The ALA awards last Monday are always exciting, and even more exciting this year is that two Poetry Friday people won awards! Congratulations to Irene Latham, with Karim Shamsi-Basha & Yuko Shimizu, whose book, The Cat Man of Aleppo, won a Caldecott Honor. Also, Congratulations to Laura Shovan, with Saadia Faruqi , whose book, A Place At The Table, was named a Sydney Taylor Notable book. Both books are very special!  

And, perhaps the last of those awesome postcard hugs. It's nearly February!

    It's a good thing to listen to Becky Herzog's advice for "quiet" and she's celebrating music, too!

A Quiet morning

reflection on a new year

music to my ears

  Margaret invites me for a visit to her beloved bayou and a blue heron, peace most always there!

On wingbeats of blue

heron rises unstatued

heralding the new

#PoetryFriday - Celebrating

Laura Shovan hosts our Poetry Friday today HERE at her blog with a reflection of Amanda Gorman and an invite you won't want to miss! Thanks, Laura! 

 

        Postcards in the mail continued to offer hugs for me in these recent weeks.  

         First, a celebration from Wednesday. Most thoughts for the future lie with my grandson, Carter and my granddaughters, Ingrid and Imogene. I am hopeful they will remember this time and enter the world as fighters for justice for everyone, for America and for the world. Many of us worked hard to make good change for them and I am proud of all who did especially in this strangest of years of the Pandemic and political conflict. 

         You might see that I gave tribute to Amanda Gorman's final words of her poem. You can read the full text here. It was a precious ending to the ceremony.

        Postcard connections to share: I know that many of you have seen these on other posts, but I wanted to share, too, celebrating this time the beauty of connections offering sweetness and hope -- from Michelle, Diane, Jone, and Kimberly. It's a new year!

    Michelle's lovely art brought beauty flying into the new year.

Poetry Friday - Postcard Smiles

             Catherine at Reading to the Core hosts us today, sharing some lovely haiku written in December. Be sure to read her post, then visit others who are gathering to share their poetry offerings. Thanks, Catherine!

               And, thanks to Jone MacCulloch for her yearly postcard idea. Finding more than ads and bills in the mail is always wonderful. 

from Carol Varsalona

frosted winter hopes
undeniably etch
windows of life
painting shadows of
wonder across a new year
dreams not deferred

from Jone, who always makes me envious
of her beautiful ocean visits

from Linda Mitchell
on the other side: a story of the year of the rat, and--

Some days we dash
to win the race.

Others, friends carry us
over dangerous rivers.

Each a heavenly gift.

#PoetryFriday - #NPM17- poem 28 of 30 - Tree

         Thanks to JoAnn Early Macken at Teaching Authors who is hosting this final April Poetry Friday. JoAnn has a terrific "drip-drop" poem in response to all the rain happening in her part of the world. See all the poetic events in the sidebar.

          "Writers don’t write from experience, although many are hesitant to admit that they don’t. If you wrote from experience, you’d get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy." — Nikki Giovanni

 See all the poetic events this month in the sidebar.  

My goal for Poetry Month: 

                                               TINY THINGS.  
But this time I have a "BIG THING", although it began as a tiny thing, a seed. I was driving through a nearby neighborhood, and saw what you'll see in the following pictures. I had to stop, as did others, to see why this beautiful tree was being cut down. I was told it was showing signs of rot inside, and the city said it was too dangerous to stay. The owner, the man you see standing, told me he thought it could have stayed a few more years, but it was an "order" from the city. He was sad. About that same time, Michelle had given her April challenge from Today's Little Ditty, to write from one of the previous challenges. I thought of Joyce Kilmer's Trees, and knew that was the poem I would use for a parody/tribute, Tamera Will Wissinger's challenge, found here. 

Click the photos to enlarge.

Poetry Is Everywhere!

           Penny Klosterman of "dragon" fame, is our host today for Poetry Friday at A Penny And Her Jots. I imagine she has much to share and will tame the dragon's fire while posting today's visitors. 

Happy February!

           Mary Lee Hahn's haiku challenge (#haikuforhealing) helped me through December. Today, I am grateful for Jone MacCulloch's challenge to send Poetry Postcards (#PostcardXExchange) that carried light to my life in January.  I was blessed with wonderful ones. Each postcard gave a life, a smile, and knowing that someone was sending good wishes. Here's a picture of all that came before, and the final one from Jone. I'm typed everyone's poems after the pics. Thank you, poets all.

Poetry Friday-Surprise Poetry

Here are all the poetry Friday posts, hosted by Violet Nesdoly who shares a terrifying poem connecting to the fire that's burning in Alberta, Canada. Be sure to find a way to help those who've lost their homes and possessions in Fort MacMurray and elsewhere. 

          I want to compliment Jone MacCulloch for the yearly joy she helps students in her school bring to so many of us from her Poetry Postcard project.  I've seen numerous articles recently about the importance of poetry for students of all ages. Here is one from Edutopia. When my former students re-connect, one thing they often remind me of is the good times we had when we wrote and read poetry. I KNOW that it's important, to read and write it, to share it with others. And so want to thank Jone and "my" poet Braeden who gave me  a surprise "smile" in my mailbox!

          There is serendipity too! My poem has a special connection. Before my husband and I moved to Colorado, we lived on a lake. It was a wonderful time. We had a dock, swam off the dock every chance we could, taught our son to swim there, canoed often. In the winter we ice skated. I never minded the fish, but several times in the summer as I sat lounging on the dock, I would see a head pop up, a turtle head. And those who had lived at the lake a long time said to watch out for the turtles, to be sure to keep moving when swimming because they bit toes. I still swam, but I also never forgot that advice. The turtle head was big!

           Here is my wonderful poem, thanks to Braeden and Jone!

Click to enlarge!

Gifts of Poetry

           Thanks to Katya Czaja of Write.Sketch.Repeat for hosting this first May Poetry Friday. Hopefully this is the start of something big-warmer springtime weather! 

             It was a wonderful April Poetry Month. So many wrote and invited others to write. I'm fearful of leaving someone out if I try to list all the April projects, but I read many, many poems and words about poems this past month. I needed an "April break" so I could keep up! Thank you everyone!

             One of the projects is one that has been dear to Jone MacCulloch (Deo Writer) for several years, and I was a lucky recipient of one of the Poetry Project poems created by students at her school.  Thanks to Michael C. for the lovely reminder of the beauty and mystery of snow leopards. Wouldn't it be awesome to really see one? Enlarge the picture to see that "tiny" leopard sketch.