Poetry Re-Issue: Hello, Summer!

It's that end of the school year time yet again, give or take a week or two, so I figured it was worth dusting off a poetic tribute of mine....

Hello, Summer!
by
Greg Pincus

Goodbye, classroom!
Goodbye, Teach!
You can find me at the beach...
Or in the park or at the pool
Or any place that isn’t school.

Goodbye, quizzes!
Bye, reports!
Hello days packed full of sports
And days when I’m just lazybones
While eating melty ice cream cones.

Goodbye, homework --
Lunchroom, too.
There’s so, so much I wanna do.
I know the school year flew on past…
But please, please summer -- last and last.


It's Poetry Friday, and you can see the roundup of this week's posts over at Teaching Young Writers.

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

Banana Stickers

So, today I voted here in the LA mayoral election... and I got one of those "I Voted" stickers. And I flashed back to childhood.

One day in either late elementary or early middle school, a friend and I had collected enough Chiquita banana stickers to give to everyone in the class and planned that at the top of the hour (I think it was), we'd all put said stickers on our noses and continue class as if nothing had happened.

My memory from here is even hazier, though I seem to recall the teacher continuing to lead the class without really acknowledging anything was amiss, though clearly aware.

What I don't recall was how I felt afterwards or whether the weeks of collecting stickers had paid off for me. I do know I never organized another banana-in. But to this day I have the urge to put stickers from bananas on my nose.

Nothing profound here, but it was a happy flashback for me and something I hadn't thought of in decades. And if you were there (or arranged a similar event!)... well... feel free to add your memories here. (You know... letting me know I'm not alone in my silliness!)

Good - a baby sitter poem/a perspective poem

Good
by
Greg Pincus

Last night we had a sitter
Just like Mom had said we would,
And since I am a real nice kid, I'd promised to be good.

I kept my word. Indeed I did.
I think it's plain to see.
In fact, I'd say that I was just as good as good can be.

I was good at whining
And at scaring our pet cat.
And throwing food against the wall? Yes, I was good at that.

I was good at tantrums
And was good at staying up.
I was extra good at pouring too much soda in my cup.

I was good at playing -
I played lots of "I can't hear!"
And my sitter said that I was good at changing her career.

So Mom and Dad, I'm asking you,
I'm shouting through this door:
If I was so, so good last night, what'd I get grounded for?


Let me just go on record as saying there is nothing autobiographical about this poem (well, except for me being a good kid, of course!!!). I'm just sayin'.....

You can check out this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Ed DeCaria's Think Kid, Think!, and read some Poetry Friday history as well as see a slew of other great poetry posts. You should go. It's the "good" thing to do.

And... if you want to get all the new poems hereabouts (and only the poems) emailed to you for freeee as they hit the blog, enter your email address in the box below then click subscribe!

Reading News that Shocks No One

Well, perhaps it surprises some, but certainly not me - It turns out that the ability to choose what one reads is critical to promoting reading, or so says this Canadian study. This echoes an earlier Scholastic report I mentioned here (and no surprise: the Canadian study looked at prior data and studies to reach conclusions).

I think this plays out a lot with poetry, too, kinda along Lee Bennett Hopkins' idea that you should read kids poetry and get out of the way. Poetry and reading shouldn't be treated as chores - they're pleasures. How this plays out in a classroom is challenging, I know, but take away freedom all over and... well.... Choice, I say!

And you?

30 Poets/One Day - 2013 Edition

Logo by Carter Higgins

I miss April already! Thanks so much to the 30 poets who shared their work here this month - 30 Poets/30 Days couldn't happen without you. Big thanks, too, to Carter Higgins for her logo. And to all of you who read along... I can tell you that all the poets and I appreciate you hanging out with us.

In case you missed anything (or even if you didn't), here's a review of the 2013 edition of 30 Poets/30 Days:

Mary Lee Hahn - The Green Door
Kelly Fineman - Where Are Your Shoes
Andrew Fusek Peters - Blackbird
Heidi Bee Roemer - 3-D Geometry Geek
Sonya Sones - Hayfever 
Doug Cushman - Olympic Sprouts
Tamera Will Wissinger - The Judge of Fudge
Jill Corcoran - Sing it Loud
Robert Schechter - Mistaken Identity
Nancy Bo Flood - Immigrant's Song: Coal Dust, Peppers, and Tomatoes
Debbie Levy - The Garden Secret
Jon Agee - High Jump
Thalia Chaltas - Today's Topic
Stephen W. Cahill - Scatterpillars
Emily Jiang - Painting with Sound
Laurel Snyder - Bluster
Robert Paul Weston - Freddy and the Yeti
Kristin Elizabeth Clark - Pronoun
Jenny Whitehead - The Litterbug
Maria Testa - First Game Ever, Perfect
Steven Herrick - Climate Change
Renée LaTulippe - A Council of Cats
Guadalupe Garcia McCall - Under the Awning/Debajo del Toldo
Joyce Lee Wong - Wedding Photo
G. Neri - June Bug Bash
John Foster - Add a Letter, Find Another Word
Lesléa Newman - Teen Angels
Dave Crawley - Eye of the Hawk
Naomi Shihab Nye - Driving Back

For even more poetry, you can check out prior years' editions of 30 Poets/30 Days:

Logo by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Logo by Mary Peterson

Logo by Bonnie Adamson

Again... thanks for being part of the fun. I hope you stay in touch!

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Here's to poetry!