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!