Poetry and Tea Time

Poetry at Tea Time is one our favorite things around here and I wouldn't give it up for anything.
Julie Bogart has posted some excellent ideas for getting started with studying poetry over at her Brave Writer Blog. . April is National Poetry Month so there's no better time to get started!

30 Poets/ 30 days

Gregory K. Pincus, the inventor of the Fib, has a wonderful idea for National Poetry Month: he’ll be posting a previously unpublished poem by a well known writer every day in April. The poets include: Arnold Adoff, Jon Sciezka, Jane Yolen and many more! This is a great, easy way to get poetry study rolling at your house! We'll be exploring the poets at lunchtime each day. Jack Prelutsky is kicking off the month...hurry over and find out more about it.

H/T Melissa Wiley

Jack Frost At Our Kitchen Window

Frost

He went to the windows of those who slept,
And over each pane like a fairy crept:
Wherever he breathed, wherever he stept,
By the light of the moon was seen most beautiful things.
There were flowers and trees, there were bevvies of birds and swarms of bees,
There were cities, thrones, temples and towers, and these
All pictured in silver sheen.

Hannah Flagg Gould

Summer Studies Part 2- Poetry

We will without a doubt continue our Teatime Tuesday Poetry throughout the summer. It is just so well suited to lunches under the Old Oak, or on the screen porch. We have said goodbye to our last Poet, Emily Dickinson, and I have chosen some fun, summer, kid-spirited books for enjoying together. The first selection is Give Yourself to the Rain by Margaret Wise Brown, authoress of the classic Goodnight Moon. I had to include this one because I really enjoy Margaret Wise Brown and this seemed the perfect choice for including poetry at Charlie's level.

The other two books, The Great Frog Race and Toasting marshmallows have selections that Ben and Will can really relate to, although Charlie enjoys listening in just as well. Both are filled with wonderful illustrations, too, adding extra interest for us.

The Great Frog Race has poetry for all seasons, all focused on childhood outdoor adventures such as horseback riding, watching waterbugs, Sunday drives, water balloon fights and of course, frog races.

Toasting Marshmallows focuses on camping poems. I love the description on the book flap...

"Award winning poet Kristine O'Connell George turns a flashlight beam on the moments that make up a family camping trip and records them in a humorous, evocative, vividly imagined verse redolent of the scent of pine needles and the sound of bees...."

Yeah, baby! There is a lot of great stuff in this one and I can't wait to read through it with the boys. Not to mention actually being able to point back to a particular poem when we are ourselves enjoying classic camping moments together. For instance, here was our favorite from our first summer Teatime reading:

Toasting Marshmallows


I am a careful marshmallow toaster,
A patient marshmallow roaster,
turning my stick oh-so-slowly,
taking my time,
checking often.
This is art-
a time of serious reflection
as my pillowed confection
slowly reaches golden perfection.

My brother
grabs 'em with grubby hands
shoves 'em on the stick
burns 'em to a crisp
cools 'em off
flicks soot
eats quick.

I'm still turning my stick.
He's already eaten six.

And this is why it was their favorite....

The evening before this poetry reading, we had a campfire in our yard and Steve and I teased the boys about their wildly different marshmallow roasting techniques. Almost surprisingly, William was the patient one, roasting complete masterpieces in light toasty brown. Ben, on the other hand, was having to extinguish balls of flaming sugar every 30 seconds. He seemed to enjoy the carnage, though. How perfectly they matched the kids in the poem, how universal sticky campfire fun is! No wonder this was their favorite poem from our reading. They could relate. So, who are you? The Roast-to-Perfectionist, or the Soot Flicker?

Tea Time Tuesday

I have a hunch (and a hope!) that when my kids look back on their childhoods, an event they will recall with fondness is our weekly teatime. Each Tuesday afternoon we set aside time to sit down and enjoy a few poems together. Through the winter we are usually in our dining room with fresh linens, antique plates and crystal. I bake some goody or another for a snack, pour myself a cup of tea, and make cocoa for the boys. But as summer weather beckons us outdoors, we will make the move to a picnic blanket under the trees or a cafe table at the local coffee shop to enjoy a lemonade and fresh fruit. We "study" 2 or 3 poets a year reading through a series of books titled Poetry for Young People. So far Edward Lear and Lewis Carrol have been the boys' favorites. Right now we are reading Emily Dickinson. She is well received, but it would have helped her cause around here had she written a limerick or two. Teatime poetry is never an exercise in over-analyzing the poems. We just read aloud, share our favorites, and comment on anything that strikes us about the language. It is such an enjoyable time for us. Sometimes we set our featured poet aside to read from one of our anthologies of poetry. The 20th- Century Children's Poetry Treasury has been nice to use as each 2-page spread has a theme. Favorite Poems Old and New is also great because it has everything you could possibly want in classic children's poetry. Poetry Speaks to Children is another good one. It includes a CD of some of the poets reading their own work! A real treat. Sometimes I think we have too many poetry books on our shelves, but then again, can you ever really have too many books? Like Emily D. says...

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!

A Poem for You

Since it is Earth Day and since April is national poetry month and since we are getting our garden ready for planting potatoes and since Tuesday is our Teatime poetry day, I give you.......

Vegetables
by Eleanor Farjeon

The country vegetables scorn
To lie about in shops,
They stand upright as they were born
In neatly-patterned crops;

And when you want your dinner you
Don't buy it from a shelf,
You find a lettuce fresh with dew
And pull it for yourself;

You pick an apronful of peas
And shell them on the spot.
You cut a cabbage, if you please,
To pop into the pot.

The folk who their potatoes buy
From sacks before they sup,
Miss half of the potato's joy,
And that's to dig it up.