Poetry Friday & Language(s)

Words

by Amy LV

Students - I hold great respect for children and adults who speak two languages.  Having grown up with only English, I love knowing that some families cross the borders of word and sound, have double the words and expressions for the same experiences.  When I was a teenager, I lived for a year in Denmark, and during that year I learned Danish.  It was very difficult, and I was afraid to speak for some time, afraid to sound stupid.  But my host family encouraged me, and I finally realized that speaking was the only way that I would make friends.  In time, I learned to speak Danish well and even thought and dreamed in it.  And when I came home to America, I would sometimes search for a perfect word...and find that it did not exist in English.

This is a free verse poem, a poem that expresses a longing for something, a poem of admiration and a touch of jealousy.  Do you speak two languages?  For what do you long?  In such heart-echoes, we find poems.

This book written by Helen Recorvits and illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska is one of my favorite books about learning a new language.

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And a favorite bilingual children's poet?  Why, Pat Mora!  I have been reading Pat's wise book ZING: SEVEN CREATIVITY PRACTICES FOR EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS, and here is just one of her beautiful bilingual children's books, GRACIS/THANKS illustrated by John Parra.

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Oh!  Today is the day after Groundhog Day.  If you're wondering what Phil is thinking right now, check out last year's poem, February 3.

Karissa is hosting today's Poetry Friday over at The Iris Chronicles. Head on over to taste this week's poetry delights!

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Groundhog Day Poem - The Day After

Phil Alone

by Amy LV

 

Yesterday morning, I was toodling around the Internet, and I visited The Writer's Armchair with Toby Speed.  I read her adorable and quirky post about Groundhog Day and mused, "How could I forget that it's Groundhog Day?"  Wrapped in our storm excitement, Phil and his shadow had slipped right by me.

Lamenting the fact that I had not written a poem in honor of the occasion, I searched for a way to still write a meaningful poem for all of the groundhogs of the world.  Aha!  "What about the REST of the days, the days that are NOT February 2?" I asked myself, wondering if ol' Phil feels lonely in August.  Hence, poem #309.

Students -has anyone ever told you that if you are drawing and make an error, you can fix the error to look like something else?  Often, we can change our mistakes and find something salvageable in them.  So you might start a poem, not love it all, but just use one word or one image to build a fresh poem.  Yesterday, I did this.  I wished I had written a Groundhog Day poem for the day itself, but I found a way to still write one from this new perspective.  Had I written a groundhog poem in the first place, today's idea may have never come forth.

Today I am thankful for mistakes and working with them.

Teachers - the Amber Brown grant application deadline has been extended to March 1, 2011.  This grant "brings a guest author or illustrator to a school that cannot normally afford to do so."  If your school, or the school of someone you know might qualify, visit here for the application.

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