Poetry Friday: Far Away on Grandparents Day

This little poem of mine is from The Poetry Friday Anthology of Celebrations edited by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell. What a treat to have it posted now on Sound Cloud (along with many other poems from the anthology) and to hear it read so beautifully in both English and Spanish! I won't copy the text here; instead, just have a listen - click the title below to hear it. It goes out with lots of love to Jackson. ❤

Far Away on Grandparents Day

 Jackson with His Bebo on the Zoo Train - 2009

 Jackson and His Gram -  2011... 

Jackson in Hawaii - 2012...

Jackson on Whidbey Island - 2014

Jackson's First Day of Fifth Grade 2017

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The Poetry Friday round-up is being hosted today by Laura Purdie Salas. Head over to her blog, Writing the World for Kids, to see what other people have posted. 

Poetry Friday: September???? September!!!!!

It's September. Quick, kids, forget about somersaulting off the dock into the icy lake water. Quick, teachers, forget about sitting in the sunshine doing absolutely nothing. Get up, get dressed, all of you, put on your First Day clothes, go to school.

Here is a school-ish poem - at least, it's about getting an education - from the wonderful poet Mary Ruefle. You can find it in her book, Post Meridian. Happy Poetry Friday!

Sentimental Education

Ann Galbraith

loves Barry Soyers.

Please pray for Lucius Fenn

who suffers greatly whilst shaking hands.

Bonny Polton

loves a pug named Cowl.

Please pray for Olina Korsk

who holds the record for missing fingers.

Leon Bendrix loves Odelia Jonson

who loves Kurt who loves Carlos who loves Paul.

Please pray for Cortland Filby

who handles a dead wasp, a conceit for his mother.

Harold loves looking at Londa’s hair under the microscope.

Londa loves plaiting the mane of her pony.

Please pray for Fancy Dancer

who is troubled by the vibrissa in his nostrils.

Nadine St. Clair loves Ogden Smythe

who loves blowing his nose on postage stamps.

Please pray for William Shakespeare

who does not know how much we love him, miss him and think of him.

Yukiko Pearl loves the little bits of toffee

that fall to the floor when Jeffrey is done with his snack.

Please pray for the florist Marieko

who wraps roses in a paper cone then punches the wrong code.

Muriel Frame loves retelling the incident

that happened on the afternoon of November third.

  

Please pray for our teacher Ursula Twombly

who does not know the half of it.

By the radiator in a wooden chair

wearing woolen stockings sits a little girl

in a dunce’s cap, a paper cone rolled to a point

and inverted on her hair; she’s got her hands

in her lap and her head bowed down, her chin

is trembling with having been singled out like this

and she is sincere in her fervent wish to die.

Take it away and give it to the Tartars

who roll gloriously into battle.

                                             Mary Ruefle

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I've also posted my thoughts about the tick-tock of the school clock over at Books Around the Table.

And Poetry Friday is being hosted by Kathryn Apel, Aussie Children's Writer. Head over to her blog to see what other people have posted.