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:

laurasalas said...

Love this, Greg--so joyful!

Anonymous said...

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

Linda B said...

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

Lee Wind, M.Ed. said...

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

Thanks, Greg!

Tara said...

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.

tanita✿davis said...

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

JoAnn Early Macken said...

Fun and true!

Greg Pincus said...

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!

Katya said...

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

Anonymous said...

My fav poem of the year!

Ruth said...

This is so fun!

KarolinaS said...

Lovely, lovely, lovely!!

KarolinaS said...

Lovely, lovely, lovely!!

david elzey said...

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.

Annie said...

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

Mary Lee said...

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.

Irene Latham said...

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

Debbie LaCroix said...

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

Gerb said...

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.

Laurisa White Reyes said...

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

Greg Pincus said...

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.)

Annie said...

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.

Rachel Schieffelbein said...

This is wonderful, I love it!

Avi de Turenne said...

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

Pat Zietlow Miller said...

I love this poem! So beautiful. So true.