April; poetry and more…

Every year in April I share my love of poetry with students and I’ve usually shared favorite pieces here as well. We read poetry together, loudly at our tables and then out loud to the class. Poetry can be funny like a good joke and the last few years that laughter in April has been a godsend. This year it was for me also as it was the last thing I’ll remember about my students for the remainder of this year; students doubled over laughing while reading very silly poems.

I am on my way to Mayo in Rochester, MN to have open heart surgery for the third time. I wrote about my experience as a child back in February and at that time after an appointment at Mayo in January I knew surgery was coming but I didn’t know when. Even after it was scheduled it seemed far away. And now it’s here. My bags are packed and I’m ready to go physically but mentally still struggling. I know what lays ahead for me and it will be hard. Last time I had this surgery I was 16 and it was painful with a long recovery. And now I’m just around the corner from 60 and I’m worried. How will I bounce back?

I’ll have the summer to recover, to gain strength back and be ready for school. It was hard to leave Hansen this week especially with the outpouring of well wishes and love from students and staff. It will be great to return strong and ready in August. Emotionally it’s hard to prepare for surgery and second to that is writing lesson plans for two substitutes that will take over the library in my absence. It took me a lot of early mornings and late evenings to get my plans and the library in order. It was stressful but now that is done I’m about to change out of my pajamas, load my bags in the car and drive off with my daughter in tow. Ready, I’m ready.

So off I drive today for the first of many appointments before surgery on Wednesday. Wish me luck, send good vibes my way, keep me in your prayers…the next time you’ll hear from me I’ll have survived and be healing.

If I was in charge of the world rant

I’ve always loved this poem by celebrated author Judith Viorst and I recently found an old copy clipped from a magazine that I’d stuck away long ago.

If I were in charge of the world
by Judith Viorst

If I were in charge of the world
I’d cancel oatmeal,
Monday mornings,
Allergy shots, and also
Sarah Steinberg.

If I were in charge of the world
There’d be brighter night lights,
Healthier hamsters, and
Basketball baskets 48 inches lower.

If I were in charge of the world

You wouldn’t have lonely.

You wouldn’t have clean.

You wouldn’t have bedtimes,

Or “Don’t punch your sister.”

You wouldn’t even have sisters.

If I were in charge of the world

A chocolate sundae with whipped

cream and nuts

would be a vegetable.

All 007 movies would be G.

And a person who sometimes forgot to brush.

And sometimes forgot to flush,

Would still be allowed to be

In charge of the world.

I love the child’s perspective but as I read it over several times the day I discovered it in an old notebook of mine I couldn’t help but reflect on how I see it now because I’m taking in all the news of the world and struggling with it. I’m thankful to have a Democratic president in the WH and he makes mistakes but right now there is an overwhelming amount of terribleness happening even beyond Covid-19. Here’s my version; not as much fun yet it fits all my worries in just as Viorst’s young character has his list of annoyances.

If I were in charge of the world

If I were in charge of the world

we would have never gone to Afghanistan in the first place
But because we did invade I certainly would have pulled Afghan families
who helped us out of the country first, we owe them a safe place to live.

If I were in charge of the world

I would help Haiti, the tiny island country
That the French and Americans historically have ravaged
I would write a decree that these two wealthy nations would
build a workable infrastructure that will withstand the weather.
The Haitian people should build alongside us at living wages so they might prosper
And have a real chance to recover.

If I were in charge of the world
Marijuana charges would be dropped and factory farms would be shuttered forever.
Real farms would thrive and high fructose corn syrup would be a distant memory.
Higher education and health insurance would be affordable for all.

If I were in charge of the world

Donald Trump would be already in prison for tax evasion,

inciting the insurrection on January 6th, and

for mocking the pandemic and wearing a mask.

A health crisis that could have been a means to unite us

turned into a political shit storm.

Raging fires and massive storms

too many to count. Climate change

Maybe Greta Thunberg would be my #1

If I were in charge of the world

I wouldn’t be able to stop or fix all of these things

but I’d have empathy, I’d listen and try to help as much as possible

with new solutions and out-of-the-box thinking.

The end (but literally the list could go on and on)

As a highly empathetic person it is hard to bear everything in the world today. And I’m back in school which is wonderful on one side-great to see all the students but also worried for outbreaks with all of us together. Most students are not masked up and I didn’t want to go back to school with a mask on but I am wearing it as much as possible to stay safe and model that we do hard things to keep others safe. The world is a mess and it is also filled with beauty.

When I feel all of this I have to seek out my community of friends and I find my way to the mat with Adriene. My yoga quest continues and that all helps. So does cooking up a storm. I also imagined I left for Haiti one day…

August is ending. Maybe the softer temperatures of September will bring relief.

Let’s touch base…

It’s the end of April! We’ve had a fantastic month of poetry for most of my students at school. I mean of course there are a few hold-outs who just can’t get into it but that’s okay. We did some borrowed poetry with Kwame Alexander and my littles did a few acrostic and concrete poems about trees, the weather and Earth Day. We read a lot of poetry together and kids of all ages love the You Read to me; I’ll read to you series of poetry books by Mary Ann Hoberman. Reading a poem out loud to a group of your peers is a brave thing to do and reading it with a friend just makes it easier. 5th and 6th graders are doing a mash-up with The Hill We Climb by the amazing Amanda Gorman, poet laureate. We listened to her recite this poem and through Google Classroom each student has their own copy to edit how they choose. Ms. Gorman has many beautiful and meaningful phrases and some students were really able to conceptualize what Amanda’s intention was in this piece. The poem they compose with me will then be illustrated with our beautiful art teacher.

Last week I made a really delicious sweet potato dish from the NYT with wild rice that gave me lots of great lunches for school. I made some yummy m & m bars last night for a student party today at school and at the beginning of the week I made a chocolate vegan birthday cake for our son’s birthday. He took all the cake with him (or we gave him all the cake?) but I’m still thinking about the rich dark chocolate flavor. I am ready for the weekend, ready to relax and prepare mentally for the last month of school. Groovy Girl is almost finished with her freshman year of college and I’m ready for her to be home and in a summer routine.

And tomorrow is May Day! Ya’ll have your May Day baskets prepared yet? We don’t either but will do them tomorrow for maybe an early evening delivery time. Let’s head into May with a positive mindset and good weather for spending time outside.

Hello Fresh and other news

Out of curiosity I used a coupon card and signed up for meals from Hello Fresh; one of the many subscription food services out in the world. And I found that like many things it is filled with false promises and inaccurate advertising. It was a lot of fun to look through the week’s menus and pick and choose what to look forward to for the week. The meals look delicious online and honestly when you cook them up out of their handy brown paper bag they tasted good. So the flavor and ease were a hit but there was so much waste with tiny packaging for sauces and herbs that as an eco-conscience person it was not a good fit. Also the advertising on their page is like “ten free meals…” which is just not true. You get a big discount on your first week’s order but the price goes up significantly after that. I was happy to give it a fun try at a time when it was just the two of us to cook for and we needed a mental health boost as we were trying to desperately leave winter behind. I will use the recipe cards again and again because the flavors were good – I’ll just plan to use my own pantry items here on out.

It’s National Poetry Month and I’ve worked this in to my lesson plans for some spring fun. I read a few excerpts from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I loved that many students knew many of the poems in this book and even had specific requests for me to read aloud. I had this book as a child and love Shel’s first poem inside. It’s still a great message for today.

Invitation

If you are a dreamer, come in.

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer,

If you’re a magic bean buyer, come sit by the fire

For we have some flax-golden tales to spin,

Come in!

I discovered a series of videos with Kwame Alexander sharing his experiences with writing that are engaging and short so perfect for students. He has kids chanting after him when he repeats his “blue black, blue black, black black” and they are amazed at how his words flow. Enjoy the week and embrace the Spring weather that is hopefully here to stay. I know I need the sunshine on my face.

Charlson Meadows and writing

[Labyrinth at CM]

I’m working on consistently writing by trying to make a habit of it. Mentally I made a scheduled plan last Spring to create a new post every weekend and I’ve carried through pretty well. In the midst of Covid and school I’m happy with this amount. I have a million writing projects that stay incomplete that are separate from this blog space. I have several picture books I’ve started, several fiction pieces, a play, and a few nonfiction essays-mostly all not finished. My sister-in-law Steph invited me a few years ago to a writer’s retreat at Charlson Meadows and I went on a whim. In my mind I’m a librarian and a bibliophile but writer generally does not flash into my mind. But I do write and I fell in love with the location of the retreat. It’s not possible to be there in the beautiful surroundings inside and out and not feel productive or at best inspired.

The last time I attended I actually wrote several pieces, took a bunch of hikes, and managed to get lost in the woods, literally. Thank you for the rescue Jason! I can say this year I’ve been published twice; one, letter to the editor about BLM and second, a poem I wrote after my first walk on Friday late afternoon on the grounds of Charlson Meadows. It’s easy to be creative there if you give it some breathing space. It was also the most beautiful weather weekend we’ve had all fall. The last few days I’ve worked on an old piece, added to it, had my friend Angelle edit it and I just finished submitting it to Wow! Women on Writing. We’ll see, she says, with a shrug…

I feeling something emerging inside myself and maybe it took this lockdown of sorts to push forward. I found a batch of college writing of mine and my goal for the next few weeks is to read through and retype them and see if anything is worthwhile. The last two books I’ve read have also inspired me in different ways. Laurie Frankel’s book This is how it always is, is smart, funny, and timely. And Richard Power’s The Overstory is such an intricate work of details and stories weaved together in a tangled mess like roots to the trees he keeps explaining. I can truly see why this book won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for literature. I’m half way and even as I write this the book is calling out to me.

One of the reasons the last retreat I went to worked so well was because they had a writer/poet in residence, Ronda Redmond, who conferenced with us, gave a reading of her poetry, and in general was there to chat with as the weekend progressed. I very much enjoyed meeting her and listening to her as we talked about writing. Her book, Said the old widow to the new, is available on her website and is filled with excellent writing. During our conference together she suggested getting out my dusty old copy of The Artist’s Way and I’ve been working on the daily practice set forth in the book. I guess in writing and thinking about this as with much in my life I’m learning to be intentional about what I’m doing.

Poetry Thursday, it is Thursday, right?

{Langston}

The weather is all over the place. Today it is sunny and then snowing, and also windy. While we are learning at home I would like it to be Spring warm weather not this all-over-the-radar coldness. It is great to be outside as you work on school work and I’ve video taped reading books outside. It’s lovely. Today not so much but I’m getting into a groovy with school work. Are we in it for the long haul-all the way through May? I don’t know but I am mentally preparing myself. Browsing through a poetry book this morning I found one of my favorite Springtime poems from Langston Hughes.

April Rain Song

Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head
with silent liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep-song
on our roof at night-

And I love the rain.

Langston Hughes

I love it because it’s positive and simple. I wish I could hear Langston read it and I did look and I found this clip of him reading his famous “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “I, too” : his voice reverberates with strength.

I’m reading Love among the ruins by Robert Clark
I’m watching Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist on Hulu and we watched Pixar/Disney’s new movie, Onward, with Groovy Girl last night. We had popcorn and everything and the movie was very good. She and her dad built a Rube Goldberg machine for one of her Learning @Home assignments. She is assembling the video they took when they finally got it to work. It was super cool involving one of our dogs, many cardboard pipes, a candle, two rooms of our house, a marble, and a glass of water. There is learning happening here.

Happy April!

April is National Poetry Month and National School Library Month, two important events in the life of a school library. A little strange that all libraries are closed right now. I love sharing poetry with kids especially silly ones like Kenn Nesbitt’s Poetry4kids website. He has several poetry books out and his website offers up many poetry categories for you to click on. Share some this month with your kids while you are at home. Start the day or end the day with a funny poem and then have them create their own. I have magnetic words at school that kids love to rearrange into unique poems. Bring poetry to life and let it be silly and serious.

Today We Had Some Weather

we had some weather

like I’ve never seen before,
so I pulled on my galoshes
and I headed out the door.

It sprinkled, first so lightly,
it could easily be mist.
A tornado then came dancing by,
it swung and did the twist.

The fogbanks opened up their vaults
and let out all their fogs,
and the dog pound took a pounding;
it was raining cats and dogs.

It started raining buckets,
then the rain came down in sheets.
I had never seen so many
sheets and buckets in the streets.

I’d planned to watch the weather
and, though gallantly I tried,
when it started hailing taxis
I gave up and went inside.

— Kenn Nesbitt

This poem reminded me of our weather the other night when we had a tornado touch down. We are still all staying at home. I am finding a good balance of school work, deep cleaning the most cluttered pockets of my house, reading, and meeting friends on Zoom for happy hour. Every day is different, which is a lot like school for me, and yesterday I read for too long on the sofa. I’m almost done with the 800 page The way the crow flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald-I get to a certain point in a book where I am just pulled in and literally can’t stop. Normally during school hours it would take me many afternoons after school to finish this book but as our quarantine life holds I will finish it within a week. Today I woke and new I need to do some yoga (thank you Down Dog app) because my body ached from sitting curled up reading. Also I’m not going to lie; I love, love, love sleeping in. It is glorious. It’s good to find the positive.

What’s keeping you fueled this week?

October is…

changing colors

swirling leaves

a chill in the air

sweaters;

holding back on the coats

pumpkins and skeletons

apples and ghosts

summer’s last days of warmth

give way to crackling fires

s’mores

hot cider in cups

crisp and crackling

life turns

Where is Spring?

{Source}

It’s been cold, rainy, super windy here. For awhile. I need some sunshine and heat. I want to get out and walk outside around a big pond while the birds are chirping. I want to poke my fingers into dirt and plant a few seeds.

Every morning I wear my winter coat still to work. Today I actually didn’t need it when I walked out the door after school. Halleluja. But then I had things I had to get done and I’m left just gazing outside. I can hear a bird chirping loudly every few minutes. His chatter seems to say “Where is Spring?”

Now that I’m done with my inside meetings and appointments I’m headed outside for a quick run around the block, some stretches in the cemetary park across the street, and maybe, just maybe I’ll have some time to get some seeds started in my starter pots. For now I leave you with this springtime poem.

Spring

By William Shakespeare

When daisies pied and violets blue

And lady-smocks all silver-white

And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue

Do paint the meadows with delight,

The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men; for thus sings he,

Cuckoo;

Cuckoo, cuckoo: Oh word of fear,

Unpleasing to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,

And merry larks are plowmen’s clocks,

When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,

And maidens bleach their summer smocks,

The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men; for thus sings he,

Cuckoo;

Cuckoo, cuckoo: Oh word of fear,

Unpleasing to a married ear!

It’s Shakespeare…

Does he mean married men are mocked because it is Spring?

I don’t know. I like the rhythm of the poem though. Enjoy!

Elementary Non-fiction love

One of my goals for this school year is to up-date our nonfiction selections. This will be a challenge for me as I prefer fiction. I need to get over this though as I read great reviews and found lots of cool nonfiction on the shelves of the public library, where I go for all my hands-on research. Nonfiction has so much more pizazz than it used to; my general feeling of NF is droll pages of way too much information with not enough pictures. Not so with nonfiction of today; it is bright, lively, and perfect for a read aloud.

No monkeys, no chocolate by Melissa Stewart, Allen Young and Nicole Wong (2013); Told in a backwards format I learned how the rainforest eco-system helps cocoa beans thrive and grow. Students will love knowing that maggots, lizards, and aphids all help the cocoa bean tree grow. Luckily we have a special store downtown that sells truly good rainforest fair trade chocolate because this book made me hungry for good quality chocolate not that waxy stuff that will fill Halloween buckets next week. This wonderful nonfiction is a must order for my new library and if you have curious ones at home this would make a perfect purchase. Excellent Melissa Stewart website.

S is for Sea Glass; a beach alphabet by Richard Michelson and Doris Ettlinger (2014); This is an alphabet book filled with wonderful poetry and lovely illustrations. A wide variety of poetry styles are featured and this book will be loved by both students and teachers. My favorite poem:

Q is for Quiet

The sun as it’s rising

The drift of a cloud

Spiders spinning webs

Crabs scuttling

Across the ocean floor

The swimming of fishes

The wishing of wishes

The opening of a door

The thoughts in my head

These are things I can hear

When it’s quiet

As I lie here in bed.

My second favorite is from a dog’s point of view as he runs along the beach. What joy! This book pulls me back to our family beach vacations and makes me feel happy. We definitely need this one for our poetry collection; it holds a mini vacation between the cover.

Animal Teachers by Janet Halfmann and Katy Hudson (2014); This book is exactly why I take my research seriously. This is an amazingly fresh look on animal behavior. The illustrations are gorgeous! Who knew I could find such joy over a nonfiction title. Groovy Girl loved the cover and came near to read this one with me. Each animal has something unique it learns from its parent and then Ms. Halfmann asks the reader to put it in their terms. For example the chicken teaches the chick to peck for seeds specifically and then the question is posed “who taught you what’s good to eat?” “Did you ever try to bite your toes?” Other animals included are otters, dolphins, kangaroos, beavers, elephants, and cheetahs; just to name a few! A huge list in the back of the book provides even more unusual facts for us to marvel over. We were astounded that “beavers have a set of see-through eyelids that work like goggles underwater.” Yes, yes I will order this one as well and can’t wait to hand it off to a teacher when animal books are requested. After years of doing animal research with students this one motivated me!