Poetry Friday today is hosted today by the foodie
princess, Jama Rattigan at Jama’s
Alphabet Soup. Thank you Jama!
In the middle of May, Your
Daily Poem shared a poem by a poet new to me, Barbara
Crooker,
who has published numerous poems and books, gives workshops and
readings. Many speak of the importance
of being thankful for the little things, and there is even a meme titled Thankful Thursday, a way for bloggers to
post about those parts of their lives for which they give thanks.
Barbara’s poem is titled
Gratitude and it touched me with its
clear message, right here, right now in the late spring into summertime. No
matter how many times I read about others’ thankfulness, I am grateful for
their words and say a silent thank you for the reminder to me.
And, here at the end of
my school year, it is especially appropriate to say my thanks for the wonderful
colleagues I have, for the school where I can practice what I preach-to be kind
to children and let them learn.
The
poem begins
This
week, the news of the world is bleak, another war
grinding
on, and all these friends down with cancer,
or
worse, a little something long term that they won’t die of
for
twenty or thirty miserable years—
and
the rest is found here.
She liked this one, epecially Piggie
flapping his arms, & understood most of the other jokes. I liked the fact
that friends were helpful to Piggie who really, really wanted to fly.
This is the one she liked most,
& laughed at the fun times in the rain. She loves the expressions & can
tell when they are sad or happy, & then really wants to know why. I
thought again that the book shows such friendship & can imagine having
great talks with young students about friendly actions.
This too was a little abstract because my
granddaughter doesn’t yet know that you can be allergic to something. It was funny with the big sneezes and even
the alarm concerning the friendship might have to end showed Elephant’s usual
worries over nothing. It would be good
for checking to see if young students are inferring what Elephant is so worried
about. 
