A huge work project (due Monday) has left me scrambling--at work and at home. Do you think I can just hand my students a copy of Bruce Lansky's wonderfully true and funny "Confession" instead of their graded essays?
Here are the last three stanzas of "Confession" as this Poetry Friday's entry. Then I'm off to keep writing bureaucratic prose. I'll be back throughout the day to update the old school roundup.
"Confession"
...
... (read the first two stanzas here)
I didn’t wash the dishes.
I didn’t clean the mess.
Now there are roaches eating crumbs—
a million, more or less.
I didn’t turn the TV off.
I didn’t shut the light.
Just think of all the energy
I wasted through the night.
I feel so very guilty.
I did a lousy job.
I hope my students don’t find out
that I am such a slob.
========================
Poetry Friday roundup:
First up via e-mail is Shelf Elf with a review of Andrew Clements' Dogku.
Jama Rattigan is in with a tasty version of "Humpty Dumpty."
Elaine Magliaro is doubling up this poetry friday with a Thanksgiving poetry roundup at Wildrose Reader and two Thanksgiving poems at Blue Rose Girls.
Wow! Sara Lewis Holmes has outdone herself this week. She has an original poem, "Inked" (on memorizing Gerard Manley Hopkins) as well as a recording, notes and a rough draft here.
John Mutford shares some classics this week at The Book Mine Set--one by Samuel Daniel and another by William Shakespeare.
Laura Purdie Salas challenges us to write 15 words or less poems. Leave yours in her comments. Laura also shares Mary Logue's "Crysalis" as a Poetry Friday entry.
Michele Fry shares Matthew Arnold's lovely "Dover Beach" over at Scholar's Blog.
Tricia thinks of fireside chats and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Fire of Drift-Wood" at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
Gina Ruiz combines Shakespeare and snowflakes over at AmoXicalli. Don't miss this poetic Robert's Snow feature on Elizabeth Sayles.
Tadmack discusses William Carlos Williams's "The Dance" (and Breughel's The Kermesse) at Finding Wonderland.
Adrienne shares the (scientifically-proven) best stanza from Poe's "The Raven" at What Adrienne Thinks About That.
Okay, now I'm blushing. Karen Edmisten links to my review of Steve Martin and Roz Chast's new picture book at Book Buds as her Poetry Friday entry. Thanks, Karen!
Cloudscome talks Native American Poems and Songs of Thanksgiving, told by Joseph Bruchac and pictures by Murv Jacob, at A Wrung Sponge.
Chris M. is preparing for Thanksgiving travel with a classic song at The Simple and the Ordinary.
Sandhya shares the wonderful thought-provoking "After Challenging Jennifer Lee to a Fight," by Aimee Nezhukaumatathil at Literary Safari.
Dawn enters in Hattie Knapp's "Chrysanthemum" (the flower of the month) and some wonderful ideas for nature study at By Sun and Candlelight.
Shannon shares up a Prelutsky Thanksgiving treat at The Cole Mine.
HipWriterMama shares rare footage of Anne Sexton reading "Her Kind." Go! Go and watch!
Susan Taylor Brown shares Hillaire Belloc's "The Microbe" in honor of a special person in her life. A good boss is hard to find, Susan. No wonder it's a sad occasion.
Becky is in with Mary Ann Hoberman's "Relatives" (it's that time again) at Becky's Book Reviews.
Liz Garton Scanlon shares her own sonnet--the seventh in a crown of sonnets (go read all about it!)--at Liz in Ink.
Kelly Fineman talks tropes and The Collected Poems of Louis MacNeice this Friday.
Susan helps out searchers who want Chicken Poetry with a link to Prelutsky's "Last Night I Dreamed of Chickens." Where else? At Chicken Spaghetti!
Alkelda the Gleeful shares Lewis Carroll's "The Lobster Quadrille" at Saints and Spinners.
MsMac shares charming children's Thanksgiving poems at Check It Out. Thanks, kids!
Anne reviews Good Masters! Good Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz and illustrated by Robert Byrd at Book Buds. (It earned a rare 4 buds.)
Becky enters in Barbara Howes's "Early Supper" at Farm School.
Stephany shares plum nursery rhymes and a funny kid story at Crooked House. Oh, plums!
Sheila posts Robert Louis Stevenson's "Autumn Fires" in honor of the season at Greenridge Chronicles.
Check out Sarah's S+7 constraint form (an OULIPO poem) of Shel Silverstein’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends” at The Reading Zone.
Crispus Attucks shares a Sweet 16 poem in honor of his stepdaughter's birthday. Happy Birthday! Hope you survived the party, Crispus.
Fall is almost over and Literacy Teacher shares Lilian Moore's "The Tree on the Corner" at Mentor Texts & More.
Stacey contributes two "I am" student poems at Two Writing Teachers.
Kimberly shares an original Thanksgiving haiku at lectitans.
ProTeacher is in with "Sick" by Shel Silverstein. Feel better soon!
Little Willow enters "Girl," as written by Miriam, the protagonist of the novel Freak, by Marcella Pixley, at Bildungsroman.
Eisha celebrates Robert Hass's NBA for Poetry with "Interrupted Meditation" at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
Suzanne shares Robert Burns's "To a Mouse" with her own modern American translation at Adventures in Daily Living.
Linda shares a Thanksgiving poem by an unknown author over at Just Like the Nut.
What a party this week! If I've missed you, please drop me a comment.
