You’re Invited to a Poetry Party!

I am not the kind who promotes herself. I am the kind who hides in the shadows, on the perimeter. I’ve been that way all my life. However, when I was little, I had this desire to entertain people and make them laugh. I would come out from behind the curtains onto my living room stage with my parents and older sister in the audience. They would laugh and clap. I liked performing but I was shy in front of strangers. In middle school, I was chosen to be in the school play, I knew all my lines, and when I got on stage, I had classic stage fright. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t repeat the lines my friend was whispering to me, I couldn’t even move off the stage. I was frozen. I was humiliated. I didn’t go into the limelight again. Well, that’s not quite true. In college, I could go into smoky coffee houses and give poetry readings. But it was dark, and noisy, and I had become a little rebellious. I was able to perform for poetry.

Race ahead several decades, and here I am creeping slowly towards the end of my teaching career. I’m creeping ever so slowly, still have not fathomed how there will surely be one day that I will be retired. This year, I will be published in three anthologies, so I thought, “It’s time to read in front of an audience.” I chose well. I chose our 2nd through 5th grade students. Deb, our school librarian, was encouraging, and we set a series of times in the library when I can be the guest poet.

I could not have kept writing poetry these last few years without the help of Ruth Ayres, Janet Wong, Sylvia Vardell, Carol Labuzzetta, Stacey Shubitz, Sarah J. Donovan, and a host of bloggers, poets, and teachers, at Two Writing Teachers and Ethical ELA. Now, as we head towards the end of April – Poetry Month – I thought I’d share the Poetry Celebration I shared with our students.

This is a photo of me taken by my husband a couple of years ago while on vacation in Naples, Florida. My poem, “Take Life” was inspired by Scott’s prompt, Poetry as Billboard, on the Ethical ELA VerseLove site. Scott’s writing prompt spurred me to play with words and come up with quick advice for young writers.

“This Poem…” was also inspired by an Ethical ELA VerseLove writer last year. I took the photo in Gloucester, Massachusetts last summer. The Monarch butterfly happened to be very cooperative and lazy that summer afternoon. “Snail Circles” is a poem I wrote many years ago thinking about the small beings that inhabit the woods I have hiked through.

“Frog Song” was written a few years ago, as I walked through a local park in June after several days of rain. The frogs surprised me with their chorus. I had never seen frogs singing! It was such a glorious sight! The “Sculptor’s Studio” was written a few days ago in response to another Ethical ELA prompt from Kevin Hodgson’s idea – Writing the Night Sky.

This year, I was published in the children’s poetry anthology, What is Hope? by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong . I had met Janet last year at a workshop and she invited me to participate in her poetry. I took up the invitation, wrote some poems,. Janet and Sylvia chose my poem, “Esperanza,” for the anthology. Janet and Sylvia have another poetry anthology in the works, and one of my poems has been accepted for that book also.

My blogging brought me to learning so many things and meeting so many teacher-writers. One of those was Carol Labuzzetta, who put out a call for poems and photographs for her anthology, Picture Perfect Poetry. Carol chose two of my photos and poems.

I tell my students, “Keep writing!” I tell them that I always liked to write poems, but I stopped for 20 years because I got so busy with work. Then I one day, I realized something was missing from my life. I had a missing piece and that was poetry. I’m not sure if my words have any effect on them, but since my library visits, children will stop me in the hallways and read or a recite a poem they wrote to me. They also crave an audience. It is always good to remember: WORDS MATTER.

Some of the teacher-writers who bring me joy and inspiration – Thank you!

• Fran Haley – https://litbitsandpieces.com/author/litbitsandpieces/
• Glenda Funk – https://glendafunk.wordpress.com/
• Kim Johnson – https://kimhaynesjohnson.com/
• Margaret Simon – https://reflectionsontheteche.com/
• Diane Anderson – https://newtreemom.wordpress.com/2024/04/26/one-line-less-npm-26/
• Trish – https://jumpofffindwings.wordpress.com/
• Deise Krebs – https://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org/
• Molly – https://nixthecomfortzone.com/