Friday, May 28, 2010

Poetry Friday Is Here!

Memorial Day (my mother still calls it Decoration Day) is this Monday. Decoration Day was first celebrated to honor Union soldiers killed during the Civil War. It was later expanded after World War I to honor all those men and women killed in service to their country.

I've been thinking quite a bit about our troops who are still deployed, those who've returned home, and those who have not made it back. I spent some time looking for a poem to honor them, but when I remembered this poem by Stephen Crane, I decided it was the piece I wanted to share.
from War is Kind ["Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind"]
by Stephen Crane

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

        Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
        Little souls who thirst for fight,
        These men were born to drill and die.
        The unexplained glory flies above them,
        Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom—
        A field where a thousand corpses lie.

Read the poem in its entirety.
We're kickin' it old-school this week. Leave me a note about your post and I'll add it to the list.

On Writing Poetry
Jeannine Atkins shares some thoughts on Poetry and Computers.

Kelly Fineman of Writing and Ruminating shares some thoughts about process.

Sylvia Vardell of Poetry for Children shares a wealth of poetry news.
Original Poetry
Charles Ghigna (Father Goose) shares a poem entitled Baseball Dreams.

Tiel Aisha Ansari of Knocking From Inside shares a poem entitled Epithalmium.

Julie Larios of The Drift Record shares a villanelle entitled At Play.

Toby Speed of The Writer's Armchair shares a poem entitled Gardening Tips.

Jim Danielson of Haunts of a Children's Writer shares a poem entitled Life.

Diane Mayr of Random Noodling shares some news and an award winning poem in the form of a haiga.

Kurious Kitty of Kurious Kitty's Kurio Kabinet shares a newspaper blackout poem entitled Our Destiny.

Heidi Mordhorst of my juicy little universe shares a poem entitled Indians.

Sara Lewis Holmes of Read*Write*Believe shares a poem entitled Dedication and directs us to RN Clara Hart's post at The Sandbox.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater of The Poem Farm shares a poem entitled Science is Like Writing.

Elaine of Wild Rose Reader shares a number of book spine poems.

But wait! Elaine also blogs at Blue Rose Girls where she shares another book spine poem.

Kate Coombs of Book Aunt shares some original poems of war in honor of the upcoming holiday.
Poetry of Others
Mary Lee of A Year of Reading shares some thoughts and poetic excerpts on the race to the finish line that is the winding down of the school year. Her post is entitled Hurdles and Sprinting and the Finish Line.

Ruth of There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town shares The Way Through the Woods by Rudyard Kipling.

Jama Rattigan of jama rattigan's alphabet soup shares The Love-Hat Relationship by Aaron Belz.

Carol of Carol's Corner shares Encouraged by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The folks at The Stenhouse Blog share the poem Your World by Georgia Douglas Johnson. Taken from Debbie Miller’s recent book, Teaching with Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, Taking Action, K-5, you have an opportunity to win the book if you leave a comment describing what the poem means to you.

Tabatha Yeatts of The Opposite of Indifference introduces us to Doug Savage's Poet-Bot.

Laura Evans of Teach Poetry K-12 shares Antiphon for the Holy Spirit by Hildegard of Bingen.

Laura Purdie Salas shares an excerpt from the poem Cages by Jane Kenyon.

Sally of The Write Sisters shares some poems by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Little Willow of Bildungsroman shares The Town of Hay by Sam Walter Foss.

Karen Edmisten shares Waving Goodbye by Wesley McNair.

Fiddler of Rockhound Place shares The Best Thing in the World by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Book Reviews
Linda Kulp of Write Time shares a review of Conversations with a Poet: Inviting Poetry in K-12 Classrooms by Betsy Franco.

Sally of Paper Tigers shares a review of Jack Pine by Christopher Patton.

Anastasia Suen of Picture Book of the Day shares a review of An Egret's Day by Jane Yolen.

Janet of All About Books with Janet Squires shares a review of Mr. Ferlinghetti's Poem by David Frampton.
Happy poetry Friday all!

28 comments:

  1. Hi Tricia! Thank you for hosting. I'm in with a Memorial Day poem about a soldier/athlete from World War II titled "Baseball Dreams."

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  2. My post today features monster trucks, hurdlers, and Rudyard Kipling. It's the race to the finish line in Elementary School Land.

    My memory of "Decoration Day": cutting every last iris and peony from the garden and laying them on newspapers in the trunk of the 1960 Ford Falcon along with the hangers that Dad had cut and bent; going to the cemetery (the heavenly smell that came from the trunk when we opened it) and laying out the flowers; pinning them down with the coat hanger anchors so they didn't blow away.

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  3. Wow, I'd never heard of Decoration Day.

    We read so much Stephen Crane in high school, I can still hear Dr. Hardcastle, my English teacher, reading in his sonorous tones.

    This poem wrenches my heart.

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  4. Thanks for hosting, Tricia! This week I have an original villanelle titled AT PLAY over at The Drift Record

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  5. I have an original verse titled LIFE at http://jdwrites4kids.blogspot.com/2010/05/poetry-friday-life.html

    Jim Damielson

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  6. I'm in with a Kipling poem. Here it is. Thank you for hosting.

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  7. This morning at Random Noodling I share a little news and a haiga.

    Kurious Kitty looks at Newspaper Blackout by Austin Kleon (and has a little fun with a black marker, too).

    The quote at Kurious K's Kwotes is by Austin Kleon.

    I think I prefer the title "Decoration Day" because of its implication that families would go to decorate the graves of loved ones. It made it more of a personal holiday for everyone.

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  8. Hi, Tricia--

    Nice to be here again! This week I find myself ruminating on memory with an original poem, Indians.

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  9. What a powerful and moving poem. I didn't know about "Decoration Day" either.

    Today I'm all about hats with the help of James Tate and Aaron Belz:
    http://jamarattigan.livejournal.com/428910.html.

    Thanks for hosting, and have a good holiday weekend. :)

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  10. Hi, Tricia! I'm in with a re-post of my Memorial Day poem from two years ago, and a link to a nurse's struggle with the "remembering" part of this weekend.

    Also, a heads-up that Rosanne Parry, Suzanne Morgan Williams and I will be posting Memorial Day thoughts over at TeensReadToo for the next three days.

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  11. Hi Tricia,
    Thanks for reminding us of the significance of this very important holiday. I'm in with a poem from Paul Laurence Dunbar.
    Carol

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  12. Hi Tricia, thanks for hosting. I'm in today with a review of Conversations with a Poet at http://lindakulp.blogspot.com/

    (Same blog- new address.)

    Have a great long weekend!

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  13. Hello!
    Today on The Stenhouse Blog we have a poem from Debbie Miller's recent book, Teaching with Intention. Tell us what this poem by Georgia Douglas Johnson means to you and you can win Debbie's book!

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  14. Nice pick, Tricia. I was reading Rupert Brooke's WWI poems the other day (If I should die, think only this of me:
    That there's some corner of a foreign field
    That is for ever England.)

    But I have something less moving and more whimsical for Poetry Friday: Poet-Bot http://www.tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/

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  15. Hi Tricia,

    Thanks for hosting PF. Stephen Crane's poetry has an amazing spirit.

    I have a poem by Hildegard of Bingen.

    Laura Evans

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  16. Hi Tricia! Thanks for hosting...I'm in today with an excerpt from a Jane Kenyon poem, Cages. And a discovery that in all the hours I spent at a childhood haunt, The Langford Hotel, I was apparently following in her footsteps! Though I bet she doesn't have an embarrassing underwear story connected with it like I do.

    http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/219988.html

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  17. PaperTigers is in today with a post on poetry book, Jack Pine.

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  18. Tricia,

    I haven't had much time for blogging lately--but I wanted to post on Poetry Friday...so I "wrote" some book spine poems this morning.

    http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/2010/05/poetry-friday-book-spine-poems.html

    Have a great weekend--and thanks for doing the roundup!

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  19. Tricia,

    I have another book spine poem at Blue Rose Girls.

    http://bluerosegirls.blogspot.com/2010/05/poetry-friday-book-spine-poem.html

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  20. Tricia, Here are three original poems about war in honor of Memorial Day: http://bookaunt.blogspot.com/2010/05/poetry-friday-going-off-to-war.html

    Thanks for hosting! --Kate

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  21. Tricia, thank you for hosting and for the Stephen Crane poem. He was amazing. The Open Boat is one of my favorite stories ever.

    I wrote about composing poetry on computers at http://jeannineatkins.livejournal.com/125941.html

    Thanks!

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  22. Hi Tricia! I posted The Town of Hay by Sam Walter Foss at Bildungsroman today. Thanks for doing the round-up!

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  23. Thanks for hosting Tricia! And boy, do I love Stephen Crane.

    I'm in today with a post about process, featuring quotes from Billy Collins and more. Here's the code: http://kellyrfineman.livejournal.com/565521.html

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  24. Thanks so much for hosting, Tricia. What a powerful and apt poem for this weekend.

    I'm in today with Wesley McNair's "Waving Goodbye." It's here.

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  25. In search of a bit of summer poetry, I came across this gem: Mr. Ferlinghetti's Poem. David Frampton illustrates and provides a narrative introduction to Ferlinghetti's poem "Fortune," in which the poet remembers a summer day in the Brooklyn of his youth when the firefighters turned on their hoses for the children.

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  26. Tricia, I love how you've divided up today's PF entries. Thanks very much for hosting in such an organized manner. : )

    I have a late entry today with a poem by EBB I came across in last night's pleasure-reading-read-before-bed. It's here.

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  27. Sorry for a late entry, but I'm in between teaching classes and just got home from a job subbing as an aide for a third grader who for the first time this week participated in a (sort of!) basketball game at recess rather than standing alone.

    My poems about family are at:
    http://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.com

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