OUR BIG DIVERSE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY . . . AND THREE GOATS.

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet and teacher Margaret Simon Here. Thank you, Margaret for hosting. I look forward to what you will be sharing this week.

It’s been important for me to try to maintain optimism with the news the way it is. I’m trying to keep my sense of humor.

So I keep practicing drawing and painting. Can you tell these are goats? It’s rough, and drawing goats was challenging. 

GOATS IN SEVERAL TONES

Three in the barnyard
looking for something-perhaps
a new patch of grass.

© Janice Scully

What if we saw only goats as we walked through the woods? Can you imagine if there was no diversity allowed in the Animal kingdom? No lions or Gazelles? Spiders or snakes?

ALL THE SAME

With no diversity,
everything will be the same,
no strange languages or hairdos. 

With no diversity,
no one will surprise you with
Korean tofu soup or Kung Pao shrimp.
 
With no diversity
there will be no need to ask
"Where are you from?"

With no diversity, or fun,
the only music will be YMCA
performed on Saturdays in bars and ballrooms.

With no diversity, be careful
who you love
outside your door. 

Americans will be forever safe in America.
Everywhere, men wearing masks and 
driving unmarked cars, are ready to protect
you against foreigners and pedophiles--


©Janice Scully 2026

America of course is steeped in hundreds of cultures, to its benefit and longevity. There is no going back, only forward.

To end, below is a drawing and a strange very old poem I found in an old book by Robert Louis Stevenson I copied into my sketch book.

Thank you, Margaret for hosting!

Bird Message

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet and educator Robyn Hood Black HERE . I look forward to see what she will share with us this week.

If you want to know more about Poetry Friday, find info HERE.

First< I want to share the postcards I received this week from Joan MacCulloch’s New Year’s exchange. Getting these cards this winter has been one of this year’s highlights, truly up lifting. Thank you Linda Mitchell, Gail Aldous, Carol LaBuzzetta,and Patricia Franz. Thank you again Joan for organizing the project.

Does everyone know about the 50 Precious Word contest Here? Basically writers are to submit a 50 word story, for 12 and under, with a beginning, middle and end. I spent hours cutting words from a story and finding out yet again how many words a writer thinks is necessary are not. I actually found it fun to tackle a prose story again, and not at all sure what I’ll end up with. It was a good distraction from reality.:)

Here’s a black pen and wash drawing from the coast at Pacifica California. I’ve become very familiar with the sand, the rocks, the waves, the ground squirrels and the ubiquitous ravens sitting on fence posts.

Intelligent Raven--
what messages do you carry
for a beach walker?

© Janice Scully 2026

I find these black and iridescent creatures fascinating and apparently they have always fascinated humans. They are thought to act as powerful “messengers, tricksters, and keepers of secrets across cultures, according to Google. . It would seem they are connected to things very deep in the human psyche. But I can attest to the fact that they don’t sit there giving secrets or advice away. One could stand there for a long time and not find out a thing.

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope some warmer weather. Upstate New York is emerging from the ice age slowly.

Thank you, Robin, for hosting.

THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this first week of February hosted by Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone. Thank you Molly. The name of your blog seems perfect.

I have been thinking, and mourning, the loss of our beloved Kennedy Center. In the late Seventies, I lived in D.C. I saw Andres Segovia, the great master of classical guitar, play there and Julian Bream, another master of classical guitar, both no longer living. I saw the opera Faust by Gounod, and several plays. I lived three blocks away.

I was young, single and working in Washington and since I’d grown up in a small town in a middle class family, the Kennedy Center opened my eyes to the arts. I have wonderful memories of D.C. and to me it seemed in many ways magical. It brings tears thinking of what has happened and I just wanted to remember it here.

One night this week I was transported back to the Kennedy Center by YOUTube watching the Tribute to Paul McCartney at the Kennedy Center. You can find it easily on YouTube if you want to watch it. Below is the link. (I couldn’t embed it.) It was absolutely wonderful to watch. Sir Paul sat next to Opra. Obama was President and the audience was as diverse as America is.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=kennedy+center+honors+paul+mccartney+tribute&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:be94c1db,vid:RL76v3qoEeI,st:0

Free images of the Kennedy Center from iStock.

So why does it matter that the Kennedy Center is closed, besides the fact that it’s a memorial to JFK? It matters because Great art heals people. It just does. Life is hard and music and visual art helps us process our experiences and emotions. In times of national crises, we often share it together through art. When the space shuttle burned up on re-entry, President Reagan recited a line of poetry by John Gillespie Magee Jr. and how the astronauts “slipped the surly bonds of Earth.”

I saw an example of how art heals this week at the movie HAMNET. The movie is about the Shakespeare family’s grief over a loss of a child, and healing from that grief through Will’s art. I won’t spoil it, but the ending was magnificent.

My only point here is America needs art and public art and we have to watch treasured venues like the Kennedy Center disrespected and assaulted. Here is a Paul McCartney- inspired haiku.

HONORED BY THE GHOSTS OF THE KENNEDY CENTER

Paul McCartney mouthed
the lyrics to Let It Be--
in his front row seat.

© Janice Scully

The Beatles from an exhibit of McCartney’s photos the De Young Museum in San Francisco.

I hope that after our current national nightmare is over–and I am certain that someday it will be–that The Kennedy Center will be returned to the people of America where it was meant to be. And we will have a lot of loss to process.

I bought a watercolor book with a few exercises. This is an attempt to paint like Turner. I ended up liking this version.

Have a great weekend!

HAZY TONES

Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is hosting at The Poetry Farm Here. Thank you for hosting, Amy! I look forward to her post, as they are always fun and inspire creativity.

This week I have been thinking about mistakes, and our hypocritical government. Not a topic for a blog for kids. Still kids eventually come to learn that others, even those we are supposed to admire, don’t always practice what they preach. I came up with this poem.

FARSIGHTED

Shading our own mistakes
in hazy tones,

we see mistakes others make
but not our own 

and who can see clearly
perched on a throne? 

©Janice Scully

In the U.S., a lawless government is demanding citizens obey the law. It’s nothing new to the world. It’s part of a playbook. Our government is becoming like a high-rise built with weak cement.

Fortunately, to keep hopeful, I get updates about my grandson learning how to walk. What’s better than a baby? To walk, of course, a baby needs a floor that doesn’t move.

I have also been practicing “Urban Sketching” which is black ink drawing with a wash of loose watercolor. On YouTube you can see some great sketching on Toby’s Urban Sketching. It’s a forgiving art form, thankfully. Below is a small shed I discovered in my neighborhood. It looks a lot more interesting in watercolor than in real life.

On the right border is a haiku that I wrote that day thinking about the news. 

Fighting everywhere
Minneapolis suffers
more than frigid cold

© Janice Scully

Have a good weekend in spite of the cold. Stay safe. Here in New York we expect another week of very cold weather. Thank you, Amy for hosting!

AWESOME EARTH by Joan Bransfield Graham, Illustrated by Tania Garcia and GREENLAND

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet Tabatha Yeatts. Here. Thank you Tabatha for hosting. I look forward to what you will be sharing this week.

I received some good news this week I’d like to share. A poem I wrote about the esophagus was just accepted by Little Thoughts Press for the upcoming March issue entitled “Head, Shoulders, Spleen, & Nose.” Poems about body parts don’t easily find a home, so I’m pleased and I’ll share it when it is published.

Now about . . . landforms.

Recently I discovered gorgeous picture book published in 2025 by Clarion Books that has been praised by poets and educators HERE, including Poetry Friday friends. AWESOME EARTH by Joan Bransfield Graham, illustrated by Tania Garcia, is a book full of engaging concrete poems about awe inspiring landforms found on Planet Earth.

I think this book is particularly important because children should be familiar with and might be delighted by landforms. After all, the Earth is full of mind boggling things, like continents, peninsulas, plateaus. The poems and pictures are engaging and so clearly written for 3-4th graders. .

The need to appreciate such wonders is especially so now, as our government is minimizing an unusual and beautiful place called Greenland, calling it just a “piece of ice.” Some say it should– believe it or not– be invaded!

Greenland is of course a glacier that is a home to thousands of human beings. Greenland is also an island. It’s certainly a place worth learning more about and respecting. Respect seems to me to be a critical part of achieving world peace. So I’m writing about this book to help promote respect and world peace. below are two poems and illustrations.

GLACIER

A

mountain,

a river of ice,

I do not race. I

move at a glacial pace,

inching, grinding, picking up

pebbles, rocks along the way.

I do not stay still, I chisel forward,

sometimes leaving in my wake . . .

A GLACIAL LAKE

——————————

Greenland is also an Island:

ISLAND

Water, water, everywhere–

waves lap, leap, encircle me in a river,

lake, ocean, or sea. I might be a continental island,

if you get my drift, or an oceanic island due to lava’s lift, If I’m

small, I can be an islet, moth, or key–that’s a mini-me. Come visit

by plane, bridge, or set sail, discovering dolphins and, maybe –a whale.

—————————————-

I love this book, the poems and illustrations and I think kids will, too. The earth is a fascinating place.

This month I was part of Jone MacCullough’s New Year’s Postcard exchange and sent out this poem. Thank you Jone. I was hoping for good things in 2026 and this resulted.

IF I WERE A MONTH

I would be January.

I would cocoon in my quilt
or even a burlap sack
if that's all I had,

and think for thirty one days,
     wrack my brain,

musing over the possibllities,

and the wonders revealed
      
      perhaps

in February. 

© Janice Scully

Thank you, Tabatha. Thank you for hosting Poetry Friday. Have a great weekend.

Here’s a couple of free photos of Greenland I found on Pixabay.

Jone MacCulloch’s New Years Postcard Project

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Jan here at Birdseed Studio. Thank you, Jan, for hosting.

I’ve taken some time off during my visit to my grandson in California and have missed posting and keeping up with Poetry Friday friends. I was going to title this post HAPPY NEW YEAR, but I know it isn’t happy for many in America and is simply tragic for so many others. There seems to be no end to the shock and awe on tv. But somehow I know we can get through this.

Having had a one-year-old to play with has been a delightful gift to my family. He was born two months early, but has completely caught up. Baby Tommy is working hard to try to stand and take his first wobbling steps. He’s trying to talk and communicate in his way. He seems to know “up.” He’s enjoying board books. WHERE’S SPOT by Eric Hill has been a favorite with those little doors to open and rip off.

Since I returned last week, I’ve been thrilled to receive postcards from Poetry Friday friends. It’s so wonderful to get the mail. I’ve received four with poems and artwork and I want to share them.

From Tabatha:

The Year as a Horse

This horse is sure footed, even on pebbles,
and scrambles up dark, craggy days. 

She sways as she rests, still standing,
willing to carry us the whole way

with no saddle, a light sheen from' ceaseless service making her
slick beneath our grip.

We cling to her back
and listen to her breathe,

The horse of the year
nuzzles today
prying apart,
searching
for morsels of sugar.

Tabatha Yeatts

From Tracy Kiff-Judson:

Cherry Trees celebrate
Spring's arrival--
tossing petal confetti

Tracy Kiff-Judson

From Mary Lee Hahn:

Mountain, sky, water
between them a line is drawn
still, they connect

Mary Lee Hahn

From Molly Hogan:

         2026
A new year of mysteries to unfold
         will it be . . . 
     what tea leaves foretold? 

Molly Hogan

referring to the above poems, may we all search for find nuggets of sugar this year, celebrate cherry blossoms, enjoy mountains, sky and water and discover the unexpected and, I hope, uplifting mysteries that will unfold in 2026.

Have a great weekend and thank you, Jone MacCulloch, for the postcard project. You do so many things that I admire.

One of the mysteries yet to unfold is a subscribe button for my blog. I have yet to find a way for my friends to subscribe but am working on it.

Janice

Urban Sketching and a Snow Poem

Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week we are hosted by poet and artist Irene Latham Here. I’m so excited about the anthology she and Charles Waters are creating, and grateful like so many poets for this opportunity to submit this weekend..

This week I’ve been busy revising old work and didn’t do much new writing but I did take a walk today and came home with a poem. A sudden snow squall, sent me rushing home a little early:

ON MY WALK

Snow Squall.
    White out.

footprints
coming at me- 
my only guide back home. 

© Janice Scully

For a few weeks I have also been practicing what is called Urban Sketching. It involves a loose drawing in black ink with a loose wash of watercolor. I discovered this on YouTube, and have been following Toby Urban Sketcher. I am a novice to drawing and painting, but I find that the “loose” inaccurate drawings I produce are so much fun. It’s a stress reducer for sure. There is no pressure to reproduce something true to real life. It’s just and idea of an event or anything that you want to remember.

Here is a sketch from the recent No Kings demonstration in Syracuse.

neighbors, colored signs,
casting shadows on the street
in afternoon sun. 

© Janice Scully

Enjoy December, everyone. Thanks Irene for hosting!

Poetry Friday Roundup is Here: YOUR ONE AND ONLY HEART

Welcome to Poetry Friday!

What is Poetry Friday?

Find out HERE. Basically, every week a host is assigned who rounds up all the bloggers ,who want to share their poems, book recommendations, and much more. Most are posting about the world of literature for young people.

I hope everyone is enjoying the seasonal change from fall to winter. Yeah. Cold weather, I know it’s not for everyone. But I enjoyed the snow fall we had this week in Syracuse, enough to make me feel and to anticipate the holidays’ arrival. I even did some baking and holiday planning.

I have a Christmas deadline for this Christmas Stocking for my Grandson. I have a long way to go so I have an excuse to watch too much television.

So today I want to recommend a non-fiction picture book,

While I attended the Highlight’s Poetry Palooza two weeks ago, I discovered a mentor text that informs the non-fiction poetry picture book I am revising about digestion. The mentor text Georgia Heard recommended is YOUR ONE AND ONLY HEART, by Dr. Rajani LaRocca and colorfully illustrated by Lauren Paige Conrad.

This picture book, about our very important heart, is able to teach us about the hard working part of us, without technical, cold, and frankly boring terms. Somewhere in my past I learned that scientific terms don’t elicit emotion. Think pericardium, aorta, systolic and diastolic. These words are difficult to relate to. especially for very young people.

LaRocca doesn’t use cold scientific terms but instead writes poems about the function of the heart in vocabulary a child might more easily relate to, words for example like ENERGETIC, MUSCULAR, COOPERATIVE, CHANGABLE, SELFLESS, AND SELFISH. The heart is all these things.

The poem below writes about how the heart is HIDDEN and protected because it’s so important.

Your heart is HIDDEN

Tucked in your chest
between pillowy lungs
in a protective cage of ribs.
Your heart is hidden because
it's so very
vital.

That the heart is hidden reminded me of the pancreas, the part of the digestive system that is protected by the stomach because it houses powerful enzymes. Kids can understand why something important might need to be hidden and maybe protected.

Your heart is CHANGEABLE

In response to 
moving
sitting
thinking
playing
feeling
sleeping,
your heart speeds up
or slows down,
squeezes more 
or less,
working like a hidden engine
or calm beating
while you rest.

All the poems tell us a lot without weighing the reader down with scientific jargon that they are too young to understand.

So why is it important for kids and adults to learn about their bodies, whether it’s about their heart, their digestion, or about other organs like the brain? I think it teaches us to empathize with our bodies, to respect the parts unseen, and to take care of them. Kids might understand why healthy food is important, get off the couch and move, and understand why taking certain drugs might hurt them.

Speaking of Mentor Texts, Irene Latham thought I might like to check out SCIENCE COMICS: The digestive System.

It is written by Jason Viola with art by Andy Ristaino. It’s very informative and well done, dealing with the complicated issues of digestion often at the molecular level. Written by a gastroenterologist, it is for a YA audience, not for the younger audience I’m writing for, fourth grade.

To all those at NCTE, have a fabulous time! Everyone else have a great weekend, too and best wishes for a joyful Thanksgiving.

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A Thank You

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by the talented and prolific Laura Purdie Salas HERE. Thank you for hosting. Laura. Your books and your work was frequently mentioned this weekend at Highlights Poetry Palooza.

I just returned from the Poetry Palooza led by poets Irene Latham, Charles Waters, Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Georgia Heard. It was a thrill to be in the presence of these inspiring, accomplished, and generous artists, but also to meet so many new poets, some who I already know from previous Highlights conferences. Thanks to the all for a wonderful weekend. It was also so great to finally meet Rose Capelli, who I knew only from her posts here on Poetry Friday.

I’ll share a few photos.

This is the Delaware River I crossed on the way from New York to PA at Hancock, NY. I grew up just down river from here. It was wonderful to see the river.

Our poetry mentors, Georgia Heard, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, editor Rebecca Davis, Charles Waters, and Irene Latham.

A full moon over the Highlights Barn. It was much clearer and more lovely in real time.

I spent my time revising my non-fiction poetry collection and thinking about my writing life which needed a boost. I rewrote the beginning of my picture book manuscript, a series of poems about “Team Digestion.” I am so grateful for Georgia’s critique and guidance. 

THE MOUTH 

Munch
Crunch

I always have to go first. 

chomp
slurp
Gri i i i nd

I am the only one 
on Team Digestion who can taste!
How lucky am I? 
 
Bite 
Chew, 

Yum!
I am the team eater. 

© Janice Scully (draft)

RAIN ALL DAY

Welcome to Poetry Friday!, this week hosted by the amazingly creative artist and teacher, Jone McCullough Here. Thank you Jone for hosting and Happy Halloween!

I am excited to be leaving tomorrow for the Poetry Palooza and Highlights and a little preoccupied with what I will take on my journey. Weather: fifties with the chance of rain. I hope to see and get to know better several of my Poetry Friday friends. My plan is to sit back and listen. I’ll enjoy the company and hope to revisit a collection of poems I haven’t thought of for a while.

It’s been a lovely rainy day, perfect for the eve of halloween. 

RAIN ALL DAY

A day to wear your plastic raincoat
and listen to the thump of
heavy drops on your arms and head.
A day when it might be
nice instead,
if you could,
to curl up in a warm bed
and read.
 
But it is a school day,
a perfect morning to think 
how the world might
be changed by the gray
pools and puddles,
as you watch them
cold and wet, 
gathering, gathering
outside the lunchroom window. 
 
© Janice Scully 2025

You can’t see the rain but you can see the inflated pumpkin in my neighbor’s yard, making up for my quieter Halloween celebration, mostly colored leaves this year.

I have had difficulty putting a subscription widget on my blog. I called WordPress, and am exploring inexpensive ways to install a subscriber button. Maybe someone at Poetry Palooza will have some advice.

Thank you Jone for hosting!