April 2021 – SALT CITY VERSE

Clerihews for Kamala and Joe

It’s Poetry Friday, today, hosted by poet Matt Ersenwine HERE. Be sure to stop by and see what he has for us today. Thank you, Matt, for hosting.

A Clerihew is poetry for everyone. It’s a short comic or nonsensical verse, typically in two rhyming couplets with lines of unequal length and referring to a famous person. The form was begun by Edmund Clerihew Bentley in 1875 as a schoolboy:

Edmund Clerihew Bentley
Said “I like my name immensely
But sometimes when I’ve had a few
I call myself Edmund Bentley Clerihew”

As you can tell, a clerihew is a short comic or nonsensical verse, typically in two rhyming couplets with lines of unequal length and referring to a famous person. I’ll add this as guidance:

A clerihew’s humorous,
examples? They’re numerous;
Chose a name, get started,
be clever, lighthearted. 

© Janice Scully 2021

I have written a Clerihews before about two First Ladies, Michelle Obama and Dolley Madison Here.

I’ve added two more this week to my small collection to thank the President and Vice President, on the night of his first State of the Union address and at the end their first 100 days I office.

I don’t think I have never felt such gratitude towards a president and Vice President, for their calming voices, how they include everyone, and the way they’ve helped us fight the pandemic. I can’t believe how pleasant and human they are! For that, they both deserve clerihews and even more, maybe a sonnet, sestina or a villenelle. But I’ll stick to the clerihew.

THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT

A slog through the mud, it’s seemed that way, Joe,

in your goulashes you walk careful and slow,

a tortoise in a perpetual race,

at a kind, measured, unstoppable pace.

AMERICA’S FIRST

Kamala, women belong in high places,

alongside those whiskered and masculine faces.

You’re the Vice President, second in line,

courageous, brilliant, and doing just fine.

Perhaps there is someone you would like to celebrate with a clerihew. If you do sometime, please share them. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying a little more freedom the vaccines are making possible. Last night we had our son over for dinner. Today I had coffee out with a friend, sat at tables, socially distanced, but we took our masks off. I hadn’t done this in a year!

KIDLIT Progressive Poem 2021

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Catherine at Reading to the Core. Thank you, Catherine for hosting! Be sure to stop by to see what she has in store for us this week.

It’s hard to believe it’s day 23 already as we celebrate National Poetry Month. Time flies, our Progressive Poem grows and finally it’s my turn to contribute. Ruth at Thereisnosuchthingasaforsakentown, has left me two lines to choose from and then I will offer two options for the next line. This is the poem so far, the last line left to us by Leigh Anne Eck:

I’m a case of kindness – come and catch me if you can!
Easily contagious – sharing smiles is my plan.
I'll spread my joy both far and wide
As a force of nature, I’ll be undenied. 


Words like, "how can I help?" will bloom in the street.
A new girl alone on the playground – let’s meet, let’s meet!
We can jump-skip together in a double-dutch round.
Over, under, jump and wonder, touch the ground.


Friends can be found when you open a door.
Side by side, let’s walk through, there’s a world to explore.
We’ll hike through a forest of towering trees.
Find a stream we can follow while we bask in the breeze.


Pull off our shoes and socks, dip our toes in the icy spring water
When you’re with friends, there’s no have to or oughter.
What could we make with leaves and litter?
Let's find pine needles, turn into vine knitters.


We'll lie on our backs and find shapes in the sky.
We giggle together: See the bird! Now we fly?
Inspired by nature, our imaginations soar.
Follow that humpback! Here, take an oar.
 
Ahh! Here comes a wave -- let's hold on tight!

Ruth at Thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown has left me two lines to choose from:

To the boat, to kindness, to friendship’s delight

Splashing and laughing, let’s play until night!

I chose the second.

So, here is what we have:

I’m a case of kindness – come and catch me if you can!
Easily contagious – sharing smiles is my plan.
I'll spread my joy both far and wide
As a force of nature, I’ll be undenied. 


Words like, "how can I help?" will bloom in the street.
A new girl alone on the playground – let’s meet, let’s meet!
We can jump-skip together in a double-dutch round.
Over, under, jump and wonder, touch the ground.


Friends can be found when you open a door.
Side by side, let’s walk through, there’s a world to explore.
We’ll hike through a forest of towering trees.
Find a stream we can follow while we bask in the breeze.


Pull off our shoes and socks, dip our toes in the icy spring water
When you’re with friends, there’s no have to or oughter.
What could we make with leaves and litter?
Let's find pine needles, turn into vine knitters.


We'll lie on our backs and find shapes in the sky.
We giggle together: See the bird! Now we fly?
Inspired by nature, our imaginations soar.
Follow that humpback! Here, take an oar.
 
Ahh! Here comes a wave -- let's hold on tight, 
splashing and laughing, let's play until night!

Thank you, Ruth. for the interesting and lovely choices! With the first line, Kat Apel sent us on journey that could have gone in many directions. I struggled a little this week, on which direction I could take the poem. I thought I’d reflect back to the beginning or alternatively, simply continue the adventure. I offer these two options for the next two lines to Tabatha:

Catching ever more kindness, friendship, and fun,

When the Milky Way sparkles, and the moon’s overhead,

I can’t wait to see how this poem will resolve. Here is a list of the contributors to this years Kidlit Progressive Poem 2021:

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers 
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman 
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch 
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method at https://timgels.com
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

Thank you, Catherine for hosting Poetry Friday today. Be sure to stop by to see what she has for us!

Spring Haiku and a Touch of History

Welcome to Poetry Friday, hosted today at Jama’s Alphabet Soup. Thank you, Jama for hosting! Stop by and see what she has in store for us!

Spring is coming to Central New York and below are two haiku inspired by this amazing season. I love the magic of early spring, who doesn’t? I love when trees come to life, before they are even full enough to cast shade. I think we can use all the beauty we can find, and these images are small bits.

And Another:

I rarely have enough flowers outside to cut and bring indoors, but this spring the daffodils seemed to explode. So I picked some. I love how they arrange themselves as they lean together in a glass.

Now for some history in the midst of National Poetry Month. As you might know, I live just outside of Syracuse, New York and have always been fascinated by “Salt City” history. During the 19th Century, Syracuse was the main suppler of salt for much of the United States. It supplied the Union Army during the Civil War. Commerce was aided, of course by the Erie Canal, which was funded, to a large extent by Syracuse Salt.

Though parts of the canal still exists outside the city, the canal seen here has been filled in to become Erie Boulevard. Many think it would have been amazing if that part of the canal still existed.

SALT CITY ON THE ERIE CANAL 
 
 A boat bumps up to a dock
 with the thud of ropes 
 

 and gritty canal water
 slaps the wooden sides and shakes
 

 sleeping passengers.
 They’ve arrived in Syracuse,
 

 at the bustling era 
 of Syracuse Salt,
 

 before the railroads took over,
 before midwest mines
 

 stole all their business,
 before the canal was filled in with dirt
 

 and Model T Fords replaced 
 canal boats. 

© Janice Scully 2021

Be sure to check out what Jama has for us and may spring bring at least a few peaceful moments to us all. Thank you, Jama.

NO BUDDY LIKE A BOOK, by Allan Wolf

It’s Poetry Friday, today hosted at Tabatha Yeatts: The Opposite of Indifference, here. Thank you, Tabatha, for hosting. Be sure to check out what she has for us this Poetry Friday.

I have had several things on my mind this week. First, this has become a picture book week for me as I dusted off a draft of a picture book and revised it. I wanted some fresh ideas. I wanted to make it more poetic, and more illustratable.

So, I attended a picture book class through the UCLA Extension, and although I had attended picture book talks before, I wanted to think about the topic again and it was a wonderful review. I’ve always been fascinated by how pictures and text together create story. The class was taught by writers April Halprin Wayland and Alexis O’Neill, and illustrator Barney Salzberg. I found some books to place on my “to read” list, such as April’s TO RABBITTOWN, and Alexis’ LOUD MARY.

Also, as I was thinking about picture books, through Jone Rush Macculloch and her fabulous interview on 1/4/21, I discovered poet, Allan Wolf, who has a new 2021 delightful rhyming picture book, entitled NO BUDDY LIKE A BOOK. It is illustrated by the talented Brianne Farley.

It a wonderful book and all about why all of us read: It takes us places. And where does this story take us? Everywhere.

Allan Wolf begins with this quatrain:

We learn important stuff from books.
We learn to speak and think.
We learn why icebergs stay afloat . . . 
and why Titanics sink

And so we visit space:

and other countries, represented by their fabulous birds. The names of these feathered creatures and the countries they are from are written under the image. The illustrations are colorful and playful. The children charming.

Wolf’s rhyming is spot on and reads without a hitch. We understand as we read and he reminds us, in case we might have forgotten:

But although these wondrous places hold
a certain fascination,
the greatest nation in the world
is my own imagination!

These are some of my thoughts during my picture book week. The Progressive Poem took an interesting twist on Rose Capelli’s blog on 1/7 and I can’t wait to see where it goes. And thanks to Margaret Simon who has organized the Progressive Poem to celebrate this year’s National Poetry Month.

WEATHER CHECK AND NAOMI SHIHAB NYE

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Mary Lee at A YEAR OF READING, here. Thank you, Mary Lee, for hosting! Be sure to stop by to discover what poetry she has for us today.

This week, it seemed unreal that I was going to a friend’s house for a small gathering. It was lovely to sit around a table without masks, as we all had been completely vaccinated. It was warm outside and it seemed winter was over. Perhaps we were like owls having survived a forest fire, coming forth from the haze. Besides an owl, I thought of another creature to compare us to.

Later, I wrote this:

CHECKING ON SPRING
 

 Today at someone else's
 kitchen table, mask-less,
 nibbling on bagels:
 post vaccination party.
 
 After a year of solitude,
 we seemed more groundhog 
 than human, 
 fresh from our dens, 
 
 eyes round and searching
 for signs that winter
 will not return, 
 but in the chatter,

 I saw or heard
 nothing definitive. 
 
 © Janice Scully 2021

This came in the mail today: Naomi Shihab Nye’s EVERYTHING COMES NEXT. As I read, I was struck by how powerful the beginnings of her poems are.

Whether it be prose, a poem or a play, the beginning has to convince the reader to read on. As Billy Collins says in his MasterClass, the beginning of a poem has to welcome you in and make you feel safe in the hands of the poet. And it has to do more, of course. It has to give a reader the impression that what comes next is well worth the reader’s time.

Nye’s beginnings in this book surprised me, which is something else I love in a great poem. I’ll share two fabulous beginnings from this amazing book. Even with such short excerpts by Nye below, what surprised you? When you read them, do you want to read more?

WEDDING CAKE

Once on a plane

a woman asked me to hold her baby

and disappeared.

I figured it was safe,

our being on a plane and all.

How far could she go?

She returned one hour later . . . .

___________________

CAT PLATE

That’s what we used to do in our house,

says Lydia, when we were mad at our dad–

we served him on the cat plate.. . . .

There are many more poems in this book and they all draw you in right away, surprise you and teach about craft as well: how to welcome a reader and hook them so they keep reading.

Here’s another beginning by Nye:

THE ART OF DISAPPEARING

When they say, Don’t I know you?

say no.

____________________

I hope you all have a great weekend, and may we gradually enjoy more time with friends and family, mask-less, not socially distanced, when we’re vaccinated and it’s safe.

What is Poetry Friday? Learn more about it here.