From poet Richard Blanco: “I say this might be the end we’ve always needed to begin again. I say this may be the end to let us hope to heal, to evolve, reach the stars. Again I’ll say: heal, evolve, reach, and become the stars that became us—whether or not this is or is not our end.” First stanza of SAY THIS ISN'T THE END: ... say we live on, say we’ll forget the masks that kept us from dying from the invisible, but say we won’t ever forget the invisible masks we realized we had been wearing most our lives, disguising ourselves from each other. Say we won’t veil ourselves again, that ou ..read more

  KARLA KUSKIN (July 17, 1932 – August 20, 2009) I love the children's poetry of Karla Kuskin. Most of it is exuberant and lively... and perfect for sharing with young children. Her works were seminal in my development as a children's poet. Karla Kuskin's ANY ME I WANT TO BE  is one of my favorite poetry books. After reading it, I fell in love with mask poems.  My elementary students loved the poetry in this book, too. In the poems, Kuskin speaks in the voices of a tree, snow,  night, a lion, a dragon, a snake, shoes,  and even a strawberry ..read more

Last Friday, I posted a poem that my older granddaughter wrote about three baby blue jays that had died on our property. Today, I'm posting a poem that she wrote while I was homeschooling her this spring and her second grade class was doing a unit on writing poetry. Today's poem is about the family cat Rudy who had to be put to sleep last year. He was the sweetest, friendliest, most loving cat. We all still miss him. MY CAT RUDY By JM My cat Rudy  Was sweet and lovey. He rubbed against my legs When I came home,  Curled up on my lap and purred, Snuggled with me in bed. My cat Rud ..read more

I haven't contributed to Poetry Friday in months. I had had plans for National Poetry Month--but COVID-19 dashed them. When schools closed here in early March, I became my older granddaughter's second grade teacher. I have enjoyed working with her--especially helping her to learn about writing poetry. Teaching, however, has been time consuming. My husband and I have also been providing fulltime daycare for both of our granddaughters as our daughter and son-in-law are considered to be essential workers. A few weeks ago, three baby blue jays fell out of a tree on our property. We not ..read more

For Valentine's Day, I'm posting a favorite poem by one of my favorite poets. VALENTINE FOR ERNEST MANN by Naomi Shihab Nye You can't order a poem like you order a taco. Walk up to the counter, say, "I'll take two" and expect it to be handed back to you on a shiny plate. Still, I love your spirit. Anyone who says, "Here's my address, write me a poem," deserves something in reply. So I'll tell a secret instead: poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes, they are sleeping. They are the shadows drifting across our ceilings the moment before we wake up. What we have to do is live in the way that ..read more

Winter is a time for hearty meals like thick soups and beef stew. This got me to thinking about one of my favorite poems: Pot Roast by Mark Strand. In his poem, a plate of pot roast brings back memories of the first time Strand tasted the meal...of his mother serving him a second helping. While everything around him seems bleak, the "power of food"...the "meat of memory" provides him with sustenance. From POT ROAST by Mark Strand So I bend to inhale the steam that rises from my plate, and I think of the first time I tasted a roast like this. It was years ago in Seabright, Nova Scotia ..read more

 THE THANKSGIVINGS Harriet Maxwell Converse (1836-1903) Translated from a traditional Iroquois prayer We who are here present thank the Great Spirit that we are here to praise Him. We thank Him that He has created men and women, and ordered that these beings shall always be living to multiply the earth. We thank Him for making the earth and giving these beings its products to live on. We thank Him for the water that comes out of the earth and runs for our lands. We thank Him for all the animals on the earth. We thank Him for certain timbers that grow and have fluids coming from them for u ..read more

Looking for an excellent Halloween book in verse to read aloud to young children? I've got a recommendation for you: PICK A PUMPKIN, which was written by Patricia Toht and illustrated by Jarvis. The book was published in July. I was eager to get a copy of  PICK A PUMPKIN to read to my granddaughters because we all loved Toht's PICK A PINE TREE, which was also illustrated by Jarvis.   In PICK A PUMPKIN, a family goes to a farm to select just the right pumpkin to carve for Halloween. While at the farm, they also Stop for mugs of spicy punch, toffee apples, sweet to crunch. The family takes ..read more

 Early autumn is my favorite time of year. I enjoy the cooler days and colored foliage. I like the way my daughter decorates her house for Halloween. I love reading spooky Halloween books and poems to my granddaughters.   I wrote the following poem more than a decade ago: AUTUMN CELEBRATION In October, colored leaves Fall from oak and maple tree-- Bright confetti shaken down From their boughs. All over town Trees are celebrating fall, Decorating every wall, Sidewalk, yard, and flowerbed With pumpkin-orange, gold, and red. We stand out in the falling leaves And catch confetti on our sleev ..read more

I have been thinking a lot lately about my dear friend Lee Bennett Hopkins who passed away earlier this month. I've also been thinking about all of Lee's poetry books that I have collected over the years. I have dozens and dozens of them! I used his books often when I was teaching elementary school. I treasure those books even more now that he is gone. One of my favorite anthologies compiled by Lee came to mind a few days ago. It's titled ON THE FARM. It's a thin volume of sixteen poems that is beautifully illustrated by Laurel Molk. It was published by Little, Brown in 1991. The book contai ..read more