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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tuesday Poetry Stretch - A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Yup, I'm late. Chalk it up to the last week of 8 weeks of madness and a heavy teaching schedule. I'm going home to visit my mom soon and started thinking about all the sayings she tosses around, hence the title of this post. I thought it might be fun to write around a saying or two. Some of my mom's gems include:
  • "If wishes were horses then beggars would ride. If horse turds were biscuits you'd eat til you died."
  • "Why don't you freeze your teeth and give your tongue a sleigh ride?"
I'm thinking about raining cats and dogs at the moment. They might make a great poem. How about you? What will you write about? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

10 comments:

  1. Hello you!

    My grandmother always said the first half of the "wishes were horses" rhyme. Kate DiCamillo wrote a poem called "Horses" that refers to it. Here it is.

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  2. Your neighbor's apples are the sweetest.
 Yiddish Proverb

    “Your neighbor’s apples are the sweetest,”-- especially if they’re Gala,
    I’m thinking of picking quite a few and eating them with challah.
    Or maybe Braeburns slathered with brie, maybe Golden Pippin,
    Maybe Red Delicious with a cabernet I’m sippin’.
    There are only apple dreams, apple reveries, supposes.
    My neighbor has no apple trees, just acres of red roses.


    ©2010 Jane Yolen, all rights reserved

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  3. :sniggering:

    TURDS!? You got your Mom to say turds!?

    Man, I hope someday we get to congregate at HER house.

    I'm going to have to borrow some of my grandmother's sayings for this - Mom doesn't have any cool sounding aphorisms. But, my grandmother is known to call dust bunnies slut's wool, so you know she's got at least one or two...

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  4. Once in a Blue Moon

    Once in a blue moon
    a goose wed a balloon.

    Once in a spring rain
    flowers burst into flame.

    Once on a summer's day
    a pocket watch made hay.

    Once in a fall breeze
    people's hats sprouted trees.

    Once in the winter's cold
    snow turned to gold.

    Once in a whispered poem
    I rode a firefly home.

    --Kate Coombs, 2010, all rights reserved

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  5. Just an Expression

    We were in our barn
    when she said it –
    You can’t make a silk purse
    out of a sow’s ear.
    She was talking about
    her own troubles
    not our family of pigs
    but I couldn’t help
    looking at Martha
    with her long pink ears
    covered with fine hair.
    I couldn’t help thinking
    how she hurries
    to her squealing piglets
    how she cocks her head
    as I bang a bowl of scraps
    how she listens
    when I tell her about my day.
    It’s true -
    You can’t make a silk purse
    of out a sow’s ear.
    But even if I had a choice
    between a silk purse
    and an ear for Martha
    I would take the ear
    every time.

    © Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

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  6. My great aunt,
    aka Nanny,
    would burp
    and then say,
    "Excuse me.
    I usually puke."

    As a child, I always thought this was hilarious. Now? Well, it's still a little funny.

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  7. My grandmother always said: The hurrier you go, the behinder you get. Here is mine: http://deowriter.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/poetry-stretch-sayings/

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  8. My grandmother has some great ones too that I need to write down. Many of hers give us a giggle. My poem won't give you a laugh, but it includes a couple expressions I have use from time to time.
    http://lookingforthewritewords29.blogspot.com/2010/07/poetry-friday-if-you-are-friend.html
    ~Theresa

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  9. The poems that everyone has shared are amazing. I couldn't seem to pull it off this week, as I explain in my post today. I did, however, find a way to respond to another site's prompt. Sort of.

    http://thesmallnouns.blogspot.com

    Maybe next week I'll do better!

    Ben

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  10. I enjoyed everyone's poems, whether with a smile, a laugh, or a tear--the tear was for choosing the sow's ear.

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