4.13.2015

Time Is the School in Which We Learn

An old story,
Not for nothing,
Older than
Time--
Heaven turning its face toward
Earth,
Refusing her.

Recalling
Earth’s
Sisterhood amongst the wise
Pines, coniferous forests bereft
Of envy,
Never knowing heaven’s sweet bounty
Should have been
Earlier than then.

#13 of 30 in April! For Susie’s challenge to the Real Toads--my title is a Joan Didion quote.

I had the day off from work today and wrote acrostic poems with my kids. Typically, they totally smoked me in this exercise. Here are some of theirs, the first two by my daughter and the last by my son:

OLIVE

On the couch sleeps a kitty
Lying, waiting, dreaming of tuna
Instead of squirrels
Very, very sleepy kitty
Every cat dreams of tuna


BUNNY

Bonk! A bunny hopped on your head.
Uhhhh, a bunny hopped on my head?
No bunny jumped on my head!!!
No no no, I know that a bunny did not--
You know there was a bunny!!!

THE HAUNTED WOODS

On a cold Autumn night
Lying in the moonlight is a black cat
Dancing in the shadows are the ghosts.

Witches flying high in the sky
Over the blood moon.
On a hill is the Pumpking
Dragging the dead away.
Spider hissing in the distance.
Posted by Marian at 5:05 PM
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12 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, Marian, forgive me as I blow past your poem to shriek with delight over your children's!!!!! I LOVE them! I especially love the Pumpking!!!!!!!! SO clever those children are!!!!!! Oh, I just noticed your poem is an acrostic too - okay, that is pretty brilliant, too. Smiles.

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    1. Haha, entirely expected! I had never written an acrostic before, but thought my kids would dig it, and of course they did. I am not a big fan of my own, but I'm all *whatever* because I love what the kids have written so much. !!!! They took to this really fast, and I bet they'll write some more, too. You should hear my girl explaining that bunny one. She's so funny, explaining exactly what "acrostic" means and then saying that her poem is a conversation and laughing about it. Hahaha! The best.

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  2. I love how you write with your kids! And using the quote as a title was a smart move.

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  3. What fun, poetry writing with your children! The Haunted Woods is my favorite of the three." Heaven turning its face toward Earth, Refusing her" Wow! That is powerful! Thanks so much for taking part in the challenge.

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  4. I love your children's poems. The bunny conversation was so cute - I could hear my grandchildren having that conversation. I hope Olive is pleased with her poem, she should be and I think The Haunted Wood with the pumpkin and spider hissing is so imaginative. There is a lot of talent in this family. Oh, sorry, your poem was really good, too ; )

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  6. How fun, Marian! You make me smile~ I miss the magic of my children's laughter.
    I will call them and tickle it out of them~

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  7. Nice poems today, Marian. Kids are doing great. I won't pass judgment on them, just a note on yours. What goes for Mother Nature, remember we are a part of it also. I believe that we have just finished some of the best times that could be.
    Last week when KP (age five) was over I taught her acrostics too (I like writing acrostic poems). When the light clicked, she wrote her full name on a paper and proceeded to finish each letter with a word. Next is to introduce her to poetry, she may want to combine the two.
    Do you have a reco for a book of poetry for the age five kids? She reads, sounds out the words she doesn't sight read, and goes down the page. Not all words she understand their meaning of but she doesn't want to stop for learning their meaning. She might already have imagined something to fit what she has read, her imagination is wild. Perhaps learning to spell the words she doesn't know might help. She loves to learn spelling.
    ..

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    1. Hi Jim, actually I think it was your post about doing acrostics with your granddaughter that gave me the idea to do this. I've never written acrostic poems before. They took to it so quickly!
      My kids love the Random House Poetry for Children, edited by Jack Prelutsky: http://www.amazon.com/Random-House-Book-Poetry-Children/dp/0394850106
      The poems in this volume are accessible, some perhaps beyond her reading level but I think she would enjoy it. I bought it because I had a similar volume as a child.

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  8. Love your poem and love your children's too. It's so cool that you write poems together and that you post theirs here.

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  9. pumpking is inspired. he's got - they've got - your blood ~

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