Poetry Friday: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
A Year of Reading
by maryleehahn
4d ago
Yesterday, Maggie Smith (the poet) wrote a column entitled “Cross-Pollination.” In it she said, “It often feels magical to me, the way our work is constantly in conversation — with the work of others, and with the work we’ve done before, with the world we live in. Everything touches.” Maggie Smith I read this quote after everything else happened. It gave me goosebumps. Here’s what happened. First thing yesterday morning, I read this poem by Jane Hirschfield in THE ASKING. Next, I wrote this cherita in response: After I added the cherita to my IG stories and the Stafford Challenge 2024 colle ..read more
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Slice of Life: Election Day
A Year of Reading
by maryleehahn
1w ago
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share. It’s Election Day in Ohio. My third election serving as a roster judge. I woke up before my 4:00am alarm, dreaming strange dreams about my first apartment. I have to be on site at 5:30am. My tea is brewing as I write. I will spend the day greeting folks from my neighborhood/area — the ones who didn’t vote early and who will bother to come and voice their preference for presidential candidate (even though that’s already been settled) and for judges and other o ..read more
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Poetry Friday: Seen and Unseen
A Year of Reading
by maryleehahn
2w ago
Christmas Hellebore in December Christmas Hellebore in January (and she’s STILL blooming in March!) Under the oak. Such a beauty! A daily cherita… Before I planted helleboresI never noticed them.NowI see them everywhere.What else have I been missing?(c) Mary Lee Hahn, 2024 I’m going to feast my eyes on all the early bloomers in the next couple of days: forsythia, dogwood, magnolias, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, and of course, all the hellebores. Because Sunday through Thursday next week the nighttime temperatures will be in the twenties. Before we get there, though, we’ve got to live thro ..read more
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Slice of Life: Salamanders
A Year of Reading
by maryleehahn
2w ago
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share. Ten days ago, I moved an item from my bucket list to my treasured memory list. In a cold rain in the pitch-dark of nearly-bedtime on a boardwalk over a tiny patch of bald cypress swamp with a red light flashlight I met my very first in-the-wild spotted salamanders. These were salamanders returning, as all salamanders do, to the vernal pool where they were born. As adults, they live in burrows in the nearby woods. Salamanders respond to soil temperature to let them know ..read more
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Slice of Life: Bystander
A Year of Reading
by maryleehahn
3w ago
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share. It’s like riding your bike up the street past the high school towards the swimming pool and seeing the parking lot full of cars. Which is odd, because there’s usually like three cars — just the high school lifeguards who get there early to check the chemicals and maybe vacuum some of the gravel out of the bottom of the pool after last night’s thunderstorm. Rescue a few critters and skim a bunch of crickets before the summer swim team practices. It’s like walking up to ..read more
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Poetry Friday: Persona Poems
A Year of Reading
by maryleehahn
3w ago
Good morning, Clouds!Surprised to see you all offshore this spin.Headed east towards that other continent?Good luck and safe travels – I wish brisk winds for you!What’s that you say?You left this continent clear from coast to coast?What a treat! Thanks!Spin away, Earth! Let’s do this!First up, the marsh.I hope Camera Lady is ready for me.I’ll give her some misty raysthrough the dead trees and reeds.Next, I’ll light some south-facing windows as if on fireto give Breakfast Woman a show.After that, I’ll lure Woman in Bathrobehalfway down the block to take pictures of my art.Keep that spin going ..read more
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Slice of Life: Surprises
A Year of Reading
by maryleehahn
1M ago
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share. I surprised myself yesterday. There was no way I could write to the prompt of “slumber party games” by going through memory’s front door. The “slumber party memories” door is kept shut with a chair lodged under the knob. So I had to find another way in. I looked for the farthest thing from my own reality, and came up with a mouse living in a (mostly) fictional woodpile. Or at least I thought my character was far from my own reality. Instead, I found an very familiar i ..read more
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Poetry Friday: Poem Observation
A Year of Reading
by maryleehahn
1M ago
I’m reading a poem or two a day from Jane Hirschfield’s new (2023) collection. I was initially thrilled, but then stumped by yesterday’s poem, so I thought I’d dig into it and see if I could make it make more sense. I found a faint and blurry but printable copy on Google Books and went at it with colored pencils. Red is for questions, green is for words and phrases that seemed to resonate or repeat, and black is research notes. If we’re going to do this the way Pádraig Ó Tuama does on Poetry Unbound, you should go to Google Books and read the poem for yourself before I start nattering on abou ..read more
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Slice of Life: Research
A Year of Reading
by maryleehahn
1M ago
YOU BROKE IT! by Liana Finck Rise x Penguin Workshop, 2024 review copy from the public library This is a very funny book and it made for an interesting research question, but you don’t need to buy it for your classroom or school library. It was written/drawn by a cartoonist, so it should come as no surprise that the whole story consists of a series of sight gags — adult animals scolding their young for doing what they naturally do: a turtle moving slowly, a tornado making a mess, an earthwork squirming. Finally, the young octopus stands up for itself, the adult has an AH-HA moment, and all is ..read more
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Poetry Friday: Sky
A Year of Reading
by maryleehahn
1M ago
I’m writing a cherita a day for the Stafford challenge. They can be found in my Instagram stories or in the collection on my profile. Carol has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Beyond LiteracyLink. Happy early Valentine’s Day ..read more
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