Poetry Friday Roundup Here!

Kelly from Big A little a is busy working on the May issue of The Edge of the Forest. She asked for someone to help out with the Poetry Friday Roundup this week...and I volunteered! So leave a comment with your link and I'll add you to the Roundup! I'll be adding submissions to the Roundup throughout the day -- so do not despair! Just leave your link, hang out with me for awhile, and check out everyone's submissions! You'll be so glad you did.

If anyone wants to find out how Poetry Friday works, check out Chicken Spaghetti's most excellent explanation.

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Poetry Friday Roundup

A Sweet Mother's Day Celebration

Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader honors her mother with a touching post and lovely sonnet: Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome by Christina Rossetti.

For some more poems in celebration of all the mothers and mothers-to-be, Elaine shares some wonderful poem selections over at The Blue Rose Girls.

No Whey Mama loved Soule Mama's beautiful photo collage and poem called, Now That I Am Forever With Child, by Audre Lorde.

Nancy from Journey Woman shares Dinner with My Mother by Hugo Williams. Hmmm. I don't think I've ever had Steak Diane, but I'll have some of that wine...with dinner, that is.

Betsy from Fuse #8 shares a poem written by her mom for one of Betsy's friends, in The Collected Poems of Susan Ramsey.

Wahoo! Liz Scanlon from Liz in Ink just came back from a Mother's Day Makeover and Massage -- courtesy of her daughter in kindergarten class! Here's another sweet Mother's Day poem by Christina Rossetti -- reportedly her first poem ever: To My Mother.

Sylvia Vardell from Poetry for Children is in with a pair of poems for Mother's Day. One poem is written by a child, the other is written by New York Poet Laureate Sharon Olds.

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Cool Arts and Literature

Kelly from Big A little a shares a funny, witty poem today: "Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins. This poem describes exactly why I never liked poetry when I was in grade school. What fun! There's quite an interesting discussion over at Kelly's post...go check it out.

Sherry from Semicolon matches a poem -- To the Dead Favourite of Liu Ch’e by Djuna Barnes to a painting by Salvadore Dali, Alegorie de Soie. Sound intriguing? It is.

"Enough already!" implores Eisha from 7-Imp. Look past Sylvia Plath's angst and apparent position as "patron poet of semi-suicidal goth girls," and check out Sylvia Plath's poem, Balloons.

Liz B. from A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy is in with a book in verse: Heaven Looks Alot Like The Mall by Wendy Mass. Got to love the title.

Go on over to visit Mrs. K of Readathon for some Ekphrasis Fun. There'll be some Van Gogh and a poem by Anne Sexton, The Starry Night, if you do.

Oh, this is just too fun to ignore. Hey, this rhymes with Dumbledore! Monica of Educating Alice shares a cool contest sponsored by Abebooks. Write a poem about Harry Potter, submit it, and if you're a winner, you'll win a one of a kind bookshelf made up of Harry Potter books!

What does Doctor Who and T.S. Eliot have in common? Creative minds! Michele from Scholar's Blog shares T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men and how it relates to Doctor Who.

Adrienne from What Adrienne Thinks About That ponders Theodore Roethke's poem, The Waking. And finds a little peace.

Susan from Chicken Spaghetti writes a post about U.S. Poet Laureate (1995 - 1997) Robert Hass's recommendations on building a poetry collection for a young child. It includes a songbook!

This is fun, I'm discovering some new blogs...Adventures in Daily Living has an amusing short post on her frustration with haiku.

Oh, William Wordsworth. I like this guy. And Kelly Fineman fondly remembers how much Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood meant to her in high school. You can also see this same post on her blog.

A new blog for me, Jennie from Biblio File has some haiku about her life this past week.

Ooooo, another new blog for me. In celebration of readergirlz divas Lorie Ann Grover's book On Pointe and Dia Calhoun's book The Phoenix Dance, Katie from Pixiepalace dances with glee To Jesse's Dancing Feet by William de Lancey Ellwanger.

Miss Erin highlights one of Grace Lin's poems, Everything Changes. Goodness, Grace Lin writes these incredible heartfelt poems that just make me tear up. Just Beautiful.

Tabatha A. Yeats is in with a couple poems by creative Gregory K. of Gottabook!

Holly from The Mombrarian is teaching Webquests. Her current Webquest project focuses on writing Japanese tankas. Japanese tankas? Japanese tankas.

I'm in with my expectations of good book introductions. Think The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman and John Milton's Paradise Lost, Book II.

Kimberly from Lectitans is in with a fun silly poem, by Gelett Burgess, The Purple Cow. Blend some vanilla ice cream, milk and grape juice for a fun drink to sip while reading the poem.

How about some Carl Sandburg? I just discovered Inspiring Readers & Writers, a blog dedicated with ideas on how to help children love to read and write. You have to check out this incredible quote by Jack Kerouc. Oh, how I love the cowboys of the world.

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Of Courage, Hope and Inspiration

Welcome Sara Latta! Sara joins us with her first Poetry Friday submission for the survivors of the Greensburg, Kansas tornado -- a poem titled Yes! by the late William Stafford.

Mary Lee from A Year of Reading is in with a poem by Robert Frost dedicated to the Virginia Tech and Greensburg, Kansas families.

If you ever find yourself stalling in the revision process, Bruce from Wordswimmer offers up some encouraging words from poets from Seeing the Blue: Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets, compiled by Paul B. Janeczko (Candlewick Press, 2002). You'll definitely want to read this inspiring post.

NYC Teacher has a short post on how she skipped Poetry Friday in class since they misbehaved last week. And some of the kids missed it! How's that for hope for our future!

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Around the World

Tricia from The Miss Rumphius Effect celebrates her upcoming travels to China with Some Poems by Du Fu, one of the finest of classical Chinese poets.

Cloudscome from A Wrunge Sponge gives a wonderful review of Stories of Africa and America, edited by Jane Kurtz, Greenwillow Books, 2004. She shares a passionate poem, an african american, by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah.

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Respecting Mother Nature

Oh this is cool. A new blog to me. Dawn from By Sun and Candlelight reminds us that storms can be lovely with a Spring Storm by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev.

Little Willow from Bildungsroman left a cool, cryptic message: Tiger Lily. Of course, since the kids are on a major Peter Pan craze right now, I'm automatically thinking Tiger Lily from Peter Pan. Not so! Little Willow contributes a beautiful poem called Tiger Lily by Walter Adolphe Roberts.

Charlotte from Charlotte's Library is in with Cecily Mary Barker's The Flower Fairy Alphabet and writes an original poem, Song of the Crabgrass Fairy. Funny! Seems this Crabgrass Fairy dances around my lawn too.