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Friday, January 06, 2012

Instructions for Helping the World

Instructions for Helping the World
by
Greg Pincus

Write a poem.
Work with clay.
Draw or paint a day away.
Knit or dance.
Make a song.
Film a movie all night long.
Use your hands,
Brain and heart.
Live! Create!
Go make some art.


I had so many different titles for this one that I think they could make a "list" poem all by themselves.... To see how others are kicking off this year in poetry, head on over to Teaching Authors for the first Poetry Friday roundup of the year.

And if you want to get all my poems emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

25 comments:

  1. Love this, Greg--so joyful!

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  2. Anonymous6:19 AM

    We need more poems in the world like this. Thanks, Greg.

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  3. A lovely argument for the importance of art in all of our lives. Perhaps school boards all over should heed your words?

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  4. Super fun - had my kid read it themselves before school today and you got a BIG smile!

    Thanks, Greg!

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  5. I read your poem while my students were working on a Lewis and Clark project - your words captured their joy and the necessity for art perfectly.

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  6. Oh, I love this.
    This is a first-thing-today poem.

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  7. Thanks, y'all. I think here at GottaBook I'm preaching to the choir, so to speak, but it's still nice to hear the poem has some resonance (particularly with kids).

    Now... I'm off to create some art!

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  8. That's pretty similar to my New Year's Resolutions list.

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  9. Anonymous2:09 PM

    My fav poem of the year!

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  10. This is so fun!

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  11. Lovely, lovely, lovely!!

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  12. Lovely, lovely, lovely!!

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  13. would mind my suggesting that everyone should pass this poem along to every elected official? i think our politicians need to get back to some core values.

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  14. Such a great poem--and a great reminder. I'm off to go create!

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  15. Wow. Cosmic. I was looking back through Tabatha's posts (Opposite of Indifference) and I found the group Playing for Change. Fits perfectly with your poem's challenge.

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  16. This is your "Sunscreen Song" poem! Yay for creating art!!

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  17. Love it! I would love to try working with clay...Maybe I'll have to give it a try. :-)

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  18. Love the poem.

    Sadly, I was unable to subscribe to your group. When I tried to confirm my email addy, I got a message saying it was restricted. Bummer.

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  19. Thanks for brightening my day, Greg! - Laurisa White Reyes (The Rock of Ivanore) http://1000wrongs.blogspot.com

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  20. And thanks for the new batch of comments, too, y'all! (Oh, and Gerb - there are certain addresses the googlegroups won't accept as subscribers. if you email me (gottabook at hotmail dot com), I might be able to add you to the list by invite instead. Might not be able to, though.)

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  21. Greg--I read your poem at the beginning my writing group this morning. My group is made up of a poet and illustrator, two YA writers, and a MG writer; we all loved it--perfect start to our group.

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  22. This is wonderful, I love it!

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  23. Very nice Greg. A poem a day keeps the grey cells astray.

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  24. I love this poem! So beautiful. So true.

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