Monday, June 06, 2011

Monday Poetry Stretch - Beat the Heat!

I work on the third floor of an old, brick building, very quaint and usually quite beautiful. However, it is anything but comfortable by most standards. It is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and that's even when we have our individual heat/AC units running.

We have had no AC since the weekend, and it is officially an oven here. You know what they say about heat rising? My ability to work is melting with every degree the temperature rises. However, I have two classes this evening and must press on. I'm listening to Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas and trying to think "cool" thoughts. How do you beat the heat? That's what I think we should write about. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

8 comments:

  1. Good luck with that AC problem. I fear I'm awful at dealing with the heat.

    You might enjoy this AC-related limerick I wrote last year:
    Hot Limerick.

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  2. My five-year-old daughter and I wrote this poem together based on one of her drawings.

    ELEPHANT’S OASIS
    By Steven and Marin Withrow


    One morning on his way to school
    The elephant stopped for a shower.
    He dipped his trunk into a pool
    And siphoned up with sucking power
    Liquid through the tubelike tool

    His nose became that scorching hour
    Sun shone slant—a cruel jewel—
    Then held aloft his water tower
    And drenched his bulk in drops of cool
    Refreshment, like a nourished flower.


    ©2011 Steven Withrow, all rights reserved

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  3. a tanka

    wrists thrust under
    a cold running faucet
    sweat drips
    into eyes always looking
    forward to the next season

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  4. Recipe for Cool

    Here's a recipe for cool.
    1. Dip body into pool

    Haven't got a pool, you say?
    Move to Scotland, no delay.

    2. Ice cream can be a treat

    Lactose you are loathe to eat?
    Scotland then, don't miss a beat.

    3. Air conditioner on the fritz?
    Bits of water now it spits?

    Come to Scotland, no delay.
    We had summer yesterday.

    Jane

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  5. Hahahah! Um, yes. I second Our Lady Jane's comments. We had exactly ONE DAY of summer so far, on Friday. It's forty-eight degrees, as I speak. Ugh, Tricia, I surely hope they fix your AC promptly!

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  6. Ice Cream Cone

    Chocolate,
    vanilla,
    chocolate chip,
    run through the sun
    with a drip, drip, drip!

    Strawberry,
    bubble gum,
    peppermint stick,
    run through the sun
    with a lick, lick, lick!

    Neapolitan,
    butterscotch,
    caramel gold,
    run through the sun
    with a mouthful of cold!

    --Kate Coombs, 2011, all rights reserved

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  7. How to Beat the Heat?

    Tube it -
    tied together
    floating down the river.

    Cube it -
    lemonade
    with ice and shivers.

    Popsicle it -
    guaranteed
    to keep you cool.

    Cannonball it -
    off the high board
    at the City Pool.

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  8. Sorry I'm late, but wrote a memoir-type poem. You can find it at http://teacherdance.blogspot.com/2011/06/keeping-cool-at-grandmas.html

    ReplyDelete