Poetry Friday - found treasure

        All the Poetry Friday Links can be found at Tricia Stohr-Hunt's blog, The Miss Rumphius Effect. Thanks for hosting today at the last minute Tricia.

                    "Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits."  Carl Sandburg

       I visited a favorite used bookstore last Saturday, and found a prize, an early collection of poems by Naomi Shihab Nye, 1986. The sales ticket left in the book is from Pittsburg, PA. The cost was $4.00. I paid more for it used! While I have nearly all of Naomi Nye's children's poetry anthologies, I haven't read very many of her adult poems, mostly when others share. This particular book is her third, and reviews say it shows a more mature poet, one examining themes of loss, particularly in her growing concern for middle east problems. 
      Interestingly, one of the poems that touched me is titled Jerusalem, but when I searched for it online, I found another poem with the same title. 

The poem in this book begins:

    Two girls danced, red flames winding.
     I offered my shoes to the gypsies,
     threw back my head and yelled.  

Learning Important Things-not just about writing

           Time for the Tuesday Slice of Life Sharing at the Two Writing Teachers blog. Come over to read and enjoy everyone's post!

       I've already written two other times about my poetry retreat last week (last Friday & Saturday), & as you can see from the badge on the right, I've also been writing in an online poetry class in September. I'm trying to focus on several things I can share as takeaways for teaching writing (teaching writers) in the classroom. I've written about happiness in finding one's passion, gratitude for people who really listen, and in this final post, want to emphasize the importance of being surrounded by beauty. Here are some photos, and thoughts about connections to a classroom.

A special space in a classroom can mean much
to a student who needs to be alone to write.

                  Looking out a window for one beautiful thing
among the rest is something writers do.

It's Monday, Here's My Reading

Monday - Books to Love!

             Sheila at Book Journeys started It's Monday! What are you Reading?, a meme where bloggers share the books read recently. Then, Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts and Ricki and Kellee at Unleashing Readers started one with a children's focus. Come read about some amazing books.

            On Oct. 1st, the nominations for Cybils awards opened. You have until Oct. 15th to nominate a favorite book in several categories from YA to easy readers, poetry to apps! Go here if you want to know more.

Sun Moon Stars Rain – written by Jan Cheripko

          I met Jan Cheripko at my recent poetry workshop, and what an interesting man he was, has written several books, and like all authors, loves his characters. And it shows in this book I discovered and read while I was there. They have a library of recent published books, and I was drawn to the cover and the title, a line from an E.E. Cummings poem.

           Danny Murtaugh, 17, has just dropped out of college as a music student, saying it's because he found his girlfriend with another boy, but there is a  melancholy feel about him that is mysterious and draws one into the story. We learn about his father's tragic drowning, his mother's anxiety over Danny dropping out, and that his love of photography takes him into the woods which is off-limits by a wealthy, but grumpy older man, fighting to keep his land from being taken by the state. It has a river running through it, and a dam may be needed. Sound complicated? It is, and then there's this girl, a new waitress at the local dinner, with whom Danny becomes entangled. Religion also plays a role in Danny's life as he shares what's going on during this particular time in his life. With all that, the story grabbed me immediately and I was immersed in the passion and depth of each character in Jan Cheripko's story. There are a few more I haven't even mentioned. Definitely high school and up, and well worth reading this introspective book about figuring out what one wants to be.

Celebrating Special People

         Thanks, Ruth, for Celebration Saturdays. Check HERE for the links. 

Don't forget to tweet at #CelebrateLu

      On Oct. 1st, the nominations for Cybils awards opened. You have until Oct. 15th to nominate a favorite book in several categories from YA to easy readers, poetry to apps! Go here if you want to know more.

          It was a spectacular week at my writing retreat that I was anticipating last Saturday. I've wondered how to share, what to share, and while I will celebrate poems that I wrote and poems I hope to write, I think I want to celebrate people today. This applies to those we live and/or work and play with, those we meet who are new, old acquaintances, too. 

         I want to celebrate how kind people can be, how honest and open, sharing pieces of themselves, if--a big IF--we are also kind and willing to listen. This workshop, while in the best of circumstances like beautiful surroundings, cozy places everywhere, and delicious food, we also nourished each other by listening, and by sharing. I met and worked with eight wonderful people this past week. We all do that, at work, in church, in other organizations, exercising, having coffee at Starbucks. And I'm hoping in all those interactions that we are kind, and willing to listen.

Grinning for Poetry Friday

                 Jama Rattigan, at Jama's Alphabet Soup is our perfect host today, ignoring the soup, and going straight to the sweets! Go visit all the desserts shared by everyone!  

                 I have been immersed all of September in poetry, and enjoying the writing with groups in two different worlds. Since the beginning of September, I've had the pleasure of joining Renee La Tulippe's wonderful Lyrical Language Lab, an online writing workshop with Renee, and other poets from all over the world. Renee blogs at No Water River.  I still have one more week of that work to do because I also just returned home from the barn at Boyd's Mill, Pennsylvania, a Highlights Foundation Workshop, Poetry for the Delight of It with David L. Harrison.  It was another marvelous time and opportunity to write with a great group. It feels good to be with those who love writing as much as I do. One additional special thing was that I got to meet and write with JoAnn Early Macken of the Teaching Authors blog. After enjoying their blog posts for a long time, it was wonderful to be with JoAnn in person!