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.
Hello you!
ReplyDeleteMy 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.
Your neighbor's apples are the sweetest. Yiddish Proverb
ReplyDelete“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
:sniggering:
ReplyDeleteTURDS!? 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...
Once in a Blue Moon
ReplyDeleteOnce 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
Just an Expression
ReplyDeleteWe 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
My great aunt,
ReplyDeleteaka 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.
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/
ReplyDeleteMy 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.
ReplyDeletehttp://lookingforthewritewords29.blogspot.com/2010/07/poetry-friday-if-you-are-friend.html
~Theresa
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.
ReplyDeletehttp://thesmallnouns.blogspot.com
Maybe next week I'll do better!
Ben
I enjoyed everyone's poems, whether with a smile, a laugh, or a tear--the tear was for choosing the sow's ear.
ReplyDelete