# data[].attributes.body
My original poem with a few inspirations: my OLW, Joy's challenge, and my roses.
Rosa Rugosa: Crossing the Sands

# data[].attributes.body
An original poem: Baby Bird
http://lindakulptrout.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-mystery.html

# data[].attributes.body
https://moreart4all.wordpress.com/2017/08/03/poetry-friday-book-spine-and-found-poetry/

# data[].attributes.body
A Word Edgewise: Linda Mitchell
https://awordedgewiselindamitchell.blogspot.com/

# data[].attributes.headline
Keri Recommends: The Great Expanse by Hafiz

# data[].attributes.subject
Keri Recommends: The Great Expanse by Hafiz

# data[].attributes.body
https://wp.me/p4P49X-n5

# data[].attributes.body
http://tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-collection-of-words.html

# data[].attributes.headline
Karen Edmisten: Hope is the thing with feathers

# data[].attributes.subject
Karen Edmisten: Hope is the thing with feathers

# data[].attributes.body
https://karenedmisten.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetry-friday-hope-is-thing-with.html

# data[].attributes.headline
Random Noodling: Spark Postcard Exchange

# data[].attributes.subject
Random Noodling: Spark Postcard Exchange

# data[].attributes.body
https://randomnoodling.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetry-friday-spark-postcard-exchange.html

# data[].attributes.headline
Kurious Kitty: Happy Birthday Percy Bysshe Shelley

# data[].attributes.subject
Kurious Kitty: Happy Birthday Percy Bysshe Shelley

# data[].attributes.body
http://kuriouskitty.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetry-friday-its-percy-bysshe-shelleys.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Process

FEEL FREE TO SKIP DIRECTLY TO IMAGE POEM BELOW IF YOU LIKE!

This month, our Poetry Princess challenge (my choice) was a poem of any kind, mood, or topic to go with the title "Statues in the Park."

I was on a fabulous trip to the North Shore (Minnesota's shoreline on Lake Superior) last week, and I meant to maybe think about my poem while I was there. But I didn't.

So, last Saturday morning, before we went to see the movie Dunkirk, I did a bit of brainstorming and came up with several ideas and the thought that I wanted to try acrostics and free verse poems. [Note: I have played hide and seek, and I have taken pictures with the bronze family in downtown Minneapolis (evidence in the video, in fact!). But the settlers' cemetery one was not based on anything in particular. I have seen a couple of settlers'/pioneers' cemeteries over the years. But the idea was just an idea-nothing based on personal experience.] And then I just started writing quickly. In fact, I did a screen capture of the hour and 17 minutes I spent writing four rough drafts. Nobody wants to watch that, though! Here, however, is a time lapse video showing it at 6x the real speed. It's about 13 minutes long.

I had fun writing them and liked bits and pieces, but wasn't madly in love with any of them. However, the whole point of our monthly Poetry Princesses adventure is to produce SOME poem. The best poem you can depending on whatever your circumstances are. I try not to put too much pressure on myself!

Sunday morning at church (shh!) I brainstormed a few sensory details I might want to work in:

So, on Monday morning, I picked the free verse one I preferred. The other was just too chaotic and needed way too much work for the time I had! I spent about 20 minutes on two revisions. You can see a time lapse of that writing session below, if you're interested. (And in less than 4 minutes!)

And here's that revision, which still needs work, but...there ya go!

Don't forget to check on the magic that the other Poetry Sisters have made this month! A few of us got to read each others' versions ahead of time and offer feedback, and it's always a kick to go see what each one ended up with!

Click here to see all our previous Poetry Princesses collaborations.
The Poetry Friday Roundup

And make sure to get your poetry fix by visiting the Poetry Friday Roundup, hosted this week by the wonderful Donna at Mainely Write!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Statues in the Park [Poetry Friday] * Laura Purdie Salas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) The Process FEEL FREE TO SKIP DIRECTLY TO IMAGE POEM BELOW IF YOU LIKE! This month, our Poetry Princess challenge (my choice) was a poem of any kind, mood, or topic to go with the title "Statues in the Park."

# data[].attributes.body
(line from Linda M's challenge last week) Linda B.

# data[].attributes.body
A little something in honor of my daughter and the summer season: http://wp.me/p2DEY3-1GC

# data[].attributes.headline
Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales with Summer Poetry Swap with Jone

# data[].attributes.subject
Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales with Summer Poetry Swap with Jone

# data[].attributes.body
Summer Postcard Swap

# data[].attributes.headline
Jane @ Raincity Librarian is reviewing Flashlight Night!

# data[].attributes.subject
Jane @ Raincity Librarian is reviewing Flashlight Night!

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.raincitylibrarian.ca/?p=18457

# data[].attributes.headline
Kiesha @ Whispers from the Ridge with Writers at Heart

# data[].attributes.subject
Kiesha @ Whispers from the Ridge with Writers at Heart

# data[].attributes.body
http://whispersfromtheridge.weebly.com/blog

# data[].attributes.body
https://rebeccaherzog.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetry-friday-zine-swap.html

# data[].attributes.headline
Poetry Waiting for Me from Christie @ Wondering and Wandering

# data[].attributes.subject
Poetry Waiting for Me from Christie @ Wondering and Wandering

# data[].attributes.body
https://wonderingandwondering.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/poetry-waiting-for-me-poetryfriday/

# data[].attributes.body
Here's my Poetry Friday offering:
https://ateachinglifedotcom.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/poetry-friday-be-kind-by-michael-blumenthal/

# data[].attributes.headline
Molly/mbhmaine @ Nix the Comfort Zone sharing Amy Lowell and an inspired prose poem

# data[].attributes.subject
Molly/mbhmaine @ Nix the Comfort Zone sharing Amy Lowell and an inspired prose poem

# data[].attributes.body
https://mbhmaine.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/amy-lowell/

# data[].attributes.headline
Cut Yourself Some Slack (Gerard Manley Hopkins style) @ A Year of Reading

# data[].attributes.subject
Cut Yourself Some Slack (Gerard Manley Hopkins style) @ A Year of Reading

# data[].attributes.body
https://readingyear.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetry-friday-cutting-yourself-some.html

# data[].attributes.body
http://irenelatham.blogspot.com/2017/08/what-earth-says.html

# data[].attributes.headline
Sara Lewis Holmes (Statues in the Park) 

# data[].attributes.subject
Sara Lewis Holmes (Statues in the Park) 

# data[].attributes.body
http://saralewisholmes.blogspot.com/2017/08/poetry-friday-statues-in-park.html

# data[].attributes.body
My Poetry Friday offering this week...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
So many people shared Emma Lazarus's iconic poem this week, The New Colossus. It was a reminder of the power of poetry, of words put together on a page with intention and passion. I was reminded of a favorite anthology of mine, This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems From Around The World, by Naomi Shihab Nye.

If you are looking for inspiration today, check out this podcast with Nye from On Being with Krista Tippett, Your Life is a Poem.

The poem I want to share this week comes from the anthology by poet Zia Hyder, and is a reminder of our likenesses and differences in this great, big world:

UNDER THIS SKY
There's an enormous comfort knowing

we all live under this same sky,

whether in New York or Dhaka,

we see the same sun and same moon.

When it is night in New York,

the sun shines in Dhaka,

but that doesn't matter.

Flowers that blossom here in spring

are unknown in meadows of distant Bengal -

that too doesn't matter.

There's no rainy season here -

the peasant in Bengal welcomes the new crop

with homemade sweets

while here, winter brings mountains of snow.

No one here knows Grandmother's hand-sewn quilt -

even that doesn't matter.

There's an enormous comfort knowing

we all live under this same sky..... (read the rest of the poem in the anthology)

Have a poetic weekend!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
So many people shared Emma Lazarus's iconic poem this week, The New Colossus. It was a reminder of the power of poetry, of words put together on a page with intention and passion. I was reminded of a favorite anthology of mine, This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems From Around The World, by Naomi Shihab Nye.

# data[].attributes.headline
An Avian Tanka from Catherine @ Reading to the Core:

# data[].attributes.subject
An Avian Tanka from Catherine @ Reading to the Core:

# data[].attributes.body
https://readingtothecore.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/poetry-friday-an-avian-tanka/

# data[].attributes.body
http://myjuicylittleuniverse.blogspot.com/2017/08/grab-your-summer-poem-swap.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How on earth is it already August!? This year has seemed to be the longest parade of awful, ever but somehow this summer is flying by like greased lightning. I guess it's just that the pace of the chaos has sped up...? Who can tell. This week, I'm writing poetry from a new garret, in a house still filled with the odd unpacked box or stack of somethings.

Our August Poetry Project is another Salas Special, wherein Laura gave us the title and let us go hog wild. Well, that's never a good idea for me. I was stumped for ideas for a hot minute until I narrowed down my Flickr selections of statues to the actual park, and not entryways, old buildings, cemeteries... These bronze statues are in a graveled park, a short cut between a strip mall and a street of shops. The pair of them are gathering pears. The girl is gathering windfalls, while the man takes care of the official harvest. The light and the wet day perfectly captured the ineffable quality of an autumn afternoon:

Statues in the Park, Vacaville

Gather ye orchard's gleaning
As sun decants to starlight.
The summer leaves no greening
Untouched by autumn's appetite.
Soft, the season turns, governed by winter's oversight.

I like that, but still find five-line poems a struggle (if I actually follow the rules for syllables, which I patently did NOT in the final line). Five lines are just not enough time for wordy-old-me to invest a poem with emotion - which is why I deeply respect people who can really make tanaka really work. (I keep trying, though.)

I gave up on the quintet form and just went with rhymed couplets - and a statue that stopped traffic for me. Ever been to Treasure Island?

Statues in the Park: Bliss

Like no one's watching, dance, they said
Away your fears, take joy instead!
Such glib advice! So hard to take.
(Perfectionists can't risk mistakes.)

Who wouldn't choose a bird to be -
All blithe-winged swooping, flying free -
...But, what goes UP must come to grief.
DOWN follows up. Joy's flight is brief.

Light, soaring thistledown I'd fly
Wind's fickle dance exemplify,
But plodding, scaredy-self the rope
That leashes whimsy's gyroscope.

Is fearing, living? NO, say I
If convention we satisfy
And let "tradition" turn our feet!
Take back your drum! Dance to your beat.

They're watching, but dance anyway
Sing loud. Love hard, life's cabaret
Plays rarely past four score and five -
You have RIGHT NOW to be alive.

This is "Bliss Dance," by Marco Cochrane, on the great lawn at Treasure Island. She is forty feet tall, and she literally, the first time we saw her, caused us to hit the brakes and gawk. She. Is. Huge.

Some art you can encounter once and simply remember it. Bliss, I could visit repeatedly. She's just... there larger than life, and ...brings to mind the William Carlos Williams poem, "The Kermess," another poem I memorized in college. I love the joyous defiance of Breughel's-great-picture-The Kermess; the poem's thick shanks and big butts and bellies all swinging round made me so happy. Bliss' body is traditionally symmetrical, but her nudity puts her on the same level - she's unashamed and getting her slightly awkward, spinning groove on. She's probably going to trip over her own feet, in a minute. Do you think she cares?

She does not.

The poetry sisters are in the house! Some of Laura's statues are just waiting for you to leave. Sara's diving into the complicated story behind Lincoln's memorial. Tricia's managing to write surrounded by family. Kelly's playing freeze tag. Liz is traveling. And don't forget to wave hello to Andi, who is cheering us on from the bench this week.

There's more Poetry Friday this lovely early August day! Our hostess kicking off the month in style is Donna@Mainely Write. Put on your dancing shoes, dearhearts, and shimmy through your weekend. They're all watching. Who cares?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How on earth is it already August!? This year has seemed to be the longest parade of awful, ever but somehow this summer is flying by like greased lightning. I guess it's just that the pace of the chaos has sped up...? Who can tell.

# data[].attributes.body
https://vnesdolypoems.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/where-i-stand

# data[].attributes.body
http://wp.me/piUJM-2Aw

# data[].attributes.headline
I posted an old "Statue in the Park" poem about the George Washington statue in Boston's Public Garden that I wrote many years ago..

# data[].attributes.subject
I posted an old "Statue in the Park" poem about the George Washington statue in Boston's Public Garden that I wrote many years ago..

# data[].attributes.body
http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/2017/08/statue-in-park-poem.html

# data[].attributes.body
http://kellyrfineman.livejournal.com/899797.html

# data[].attributes.headline
7 Ideas from My Messy Desk by April Halprin Wayland (Teaching Authors) 

# data[].attributes.subject
7 Ideas from My Messy Desk by April Halprin Wayland (Teaching Authors) 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
.
Howdy, Campers~ Happy Poetry Friday! My poem and the link to PF are below.

We at TeachingAuthors are easing our way back into blogging after a lovely summer s-t-r-e-t-c-h. Ahhhhh.

Our round-robin topic is The View From Our Desks.
Bobbi started us out from her new home, which she and her cat, Comma, are just moving into. She posted a poem aptly titled, The View From the Window by R.S. Thomas; Carmela's view is itinerant, beginning with her Creativity Camp, followed up with conference presentations (Carmela deserves a vacation!); Esther gave us stunning out-the-window views from her Chicago office; JoAnn is spending the summer writing poetry in her outside office, and Carla shares the long view: both the view from her office window...and also what she's thinking as she edits her upcoming book.

I've titled this post, " 7 Ideas From My Messy Desk" because I've read that including numbers in a blog title attracts attention. (For you, dear readers, there really are seven ideas at the end.)

You and I know we can prove anything with sources from the internet, (which is why I use Snopes.com to check who actually said a quote, among other things)...and (surprise!) I've found a post which cites several studies indicating that a messy desk actually spurs creativity. Just the kind of study I love!

And...my desk is messy--or at least the side table is. I was going to clean up my office up for you...but why pretend?

I try to keep my desk itself clear, but on my side table you'll see:

the aftermath of our annual block party (I want to print up new signs for next year before I put them away);

books I'm going through for my revised Writing Picture Books for Children class this fall;

two books my father loved by Tagore, which he discovered in India during WWII that I've been meaning to read for decades;

my handout, "Social Change Through Every Day Actions" from my presentation at the International Literacy Association's conference in Orlando two weeks ago;

a pile of 50-year-old letters from my father;

books and notes from my trips to New Zealand and Japan this spring;

a bunch of nearly unreadable ideas jotted down in the middle of the night.

Not neat. But an office I would have died for when I was a teenager.
.

Here are two poems on today's topic:

poems (c) April Halprin Wayland 2017. all rights reserved.
Do you ever write notes to yourself at night...brilliant ideas that are sure to rock the literary world...and when you wake up, they're either utterly incomprehensible, absurd or worse, ho-hum? Here's seven from the last few weeks:

1. Never say no to a rubber band;

2. "I'm not shouting!" she shouts;

3. a friend wrote to me: "so glad the conf was good and...that you had fun at the Penguin dinner. (which sounds like the start of a poem)";

4. per Nancy Bo Flood: Some languages have no tenses; so they can't talk about the past or future;

5. Two kids: one named Smoke, one named Mirrors;

6. from A.Word.A.Day: "Natalie came home from school excited and worried, announcing, "Laura was hit by the school bus and had a conclusion!";

7. Mr. Tongue Goes to the Unemployment Office (I have no idea what I was thinking, but I'm still laughing!)

I'd love to read ideas you've jotted down late at night!

Thank you, Donna, at Mainely Write for hosting Poetry Friday today!

posted with the help of Monkey (can you find him in the picture of my office, above?) and Eli, who is pictured in his uncluttered corner office:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Howdy, Campers~ Happy Poetry Friday! My poem and the link to PF are below. We at TeachingAuthors are easing our way back into blogging after a lovely summer s-t-r-e-t-c-h. Ahhhhh. Our round-robin topic is The View From Our Desks. Bobbi started us out from her new home, which she and her cat, Comma, are just moving into.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Sonnets from the Portuguese 44

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers

Plucked in the garden, all the summer through

And winter, and it seemed as if they grew

In this close room, nor missed the sun and showers,

So, in the like name of that love of ours,

Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too,

And which on warm and cold days I withdrew

From my heart's ground. Indeed, those beds and bowers

Be overgrown with bitter weeds and rue,

And wait thy weeding; yet here's eglantine,

Here's ivy!- take them, as I used to do

Thy flowers, and keep them where they shall not pine.

Instruct thine eyes to keep their colours true,

And tell thy soul, their roots are left in mine.

February: Thinking of Flowers

Now wind torments the field,
turning the white surface back
on itself, back and back on itself,
like an animal licking a wound.

Nothing but white--the air, the light;
only one brown milkweed pod
bobbing in the gully, smallest
brown boat on the immense tide.

A single green sprouting thing
would restore me. . . .

Then think of the tall delphinium,
swaying, or the bee when it comes
to the tongue of the burgundy lily.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sonnets from the Portuguese 44 Elizabeth Barrett Browning Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers Plucked in the garden, all the summer through And winter, and it seemed as if they grew In this close room, nor missed the sun and showers, So, in the like name of that love of ours, Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too, And which on warm and cold days I withdrew From my heart's ground.

# data[].attributes.body
http://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2017/08/10foundwords-nature.html

# data[].attributes.body
https://enjoy-embracewriting.blogspot.com/2017/08/haiku-11-poetry-friday.html

# data[].attributes.headline
GatheringBooks Features: Dean Raber's "Self-Portrait as Wikipedia Entry"

# data[].attributes.subject
GatheringBooks Features: Dean Raber's "Self-Portrait as Wikipedia Entry"

# data[].attributes.body
https://gatheringbooks.org/2017/08/04/poetry-friday-the-poetic-genius-that-is-dean-rader-poems-from-self-portrait-as-wikipedia-entry/