Poetry Friday Roundup and a Couple of Dog Poems

The Teaching Authors are so excited to host Poetry Friday today! What is Poetry Friday? A weekly celebration of poetry on the Web. Bloggers from all over share their favorite poems, review poetry books, and contribute their thoughts on poetic topics. One blog rounds up all the posts each week so poetry lovers can find and enjoy them all. Welcome to the roundup!

In honor of Poetry Friday, we have two poems today. By happy coincidence (or maybe ESP), April and I both wrote poems about our dogs. Here's mine. Enjoy!

What Is She?
by JoAnn Early Macken

With her black and white speckles
and her stubborn streak,
Bea leads the way,
jangling as she trots,
tail unflagging,
always on her toes.
She plows headfirst into each moment,
black patches covering both eyes and ears,
sniffing every splotch on the sidewalk.

When people ask, "What is she?",
we tell them what the shelter said, but nobody believes it.
They can’t resist a guess: "Maybe pointer?"

When she meets another dog,
she plops to the ground, tail a metronome,
waits for the signal it’s okay to play,
takes the first step in the introduction dance,
risks a quick pounce, feet splayed, head down,
woofs, and bounces.

What is she? We don’t know.
She’s a mutt.
     She’s Bea.
          She’s ours.

Here is April's dog Eli and her poem, which originally appeared on an NPR bulletin board.

HALLOWEEN AT THE DOG PARK
by April Halprin Wayland

The dog park
is dog dark.
It can haunt you
like the hooting of something you can’t see.

There is no moon.

You’re both loners.
No dogs, no other owners.
Mostly it’s ghostly.

No owl, mouse or moon
can chase this ghoulish feeling.
Your dog finds a bone.
At night it’s not stealing.
He knows: it’s his alone.

Then—the double clink
of the double dog park gate.
Must be fate.

Two forms
one four-legged,
one hard to discern, not howling, probably human
walking towards you
a fellow dark dog park devotee.
Probably not a parolee.
Still.

And then a kind of thrill:
An all-white dog,
convenient on a black night.

Though you hear two dogs
swirling in large circles in the damp dirt
you see only one blinking by.
The other, yours, is invisible
in the dog dark.

If you have a link to share for Poetry Friday, please leave it in the comments. I'll update this blog throughout the day. New to Poetry Friday? Here's what you do:

1. Leave the exact link to your Poetry Friday blog post (not your generic blog address).
2. Say a little something about your post.
3. Link back to this page within your post.

Happy reading!

JoAnn Early Macken

Morning Roundup

• Diane Mayr has three Poetry Friday posts today: a Poem a Day blog from a fellow NE librarian at Random Noodling, a look at the anthology Songs of Myself at Kurious Kitty, and a P.F. quote by Don Marquis, accompanied by an awesome travel poster of the Grand Canyon, at Kurious K's Kwotes.

• Andromeda Jazmon has original haiku and photos up at A Wrung Sponge.

• laurasalas is in for Poetry Friday with the cover of her next poetry picture book at http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/245774.html. (Congratulations, Laura!) And 15 Words or Less poems are at http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/245665.html.

• Amy LV has a post about how poems can heal us along with #23 in her series of poems about poems: http://bit.ly/avh9MJ.

• The Write Sisters are in this week with The Hay Rake by Kate Barnes at www.thewritesisters@blogspot.com.

• Author Amok has a lesson in concrete poetry that includes a fun craft and model poems by Betsy Franco. http://authoramok.blogspot.com/2010/11/concrete-poetry-friday.html.

• Tabatha has The Finest Hour.

• Sally Thomas is sharing a self-imposed animal-poem assignment at Castle in the Sea: Poetry Friday.

• Shelley's poems are about a young farm wife and her husband and son and the last Great Depression. http://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.com.

• Mary Lee is in with a October mosaic of photos she took last month and part of a Linda Pastan poem: http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2010/11/poetry-friday-change-of-seasons.html.

• Christine Marciniak is in at Simply Put with an original poem by her teenager.

• The Stenhouse Blog has a student poem titled "Comida."

• Susan Thomsen is in with a found poem based on a passage from Spilling Ink (Roaring Brook, 2010) about finding your voice: http://bit.ly/cILiLZ.

• Debbie Diller has a poem by Valerie Worth called "Acorn."

• jama is sharing "Eating Together" by Kim Addonizio and some thoughts about saying goodbye at http://jamarattigan.livejournal.com/480809.html.

• Ruth has a Longfellow poem about building a ship and a link to her found poem using words from tap-taps in Port-au-Prince: http://thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com/2010/11/poetry-friday-longfellow.html.

• Toby Speed is in with some tea and T and poetry at The Writer's Armchair.

• Sally at PaperTigers is in with a post on the poetic origins of Diwali: http://www.papertigers.org/wordpress/about-diwali/

• maclibrary has a poem for Veteran's Day: http://maclibrary.wordpress.com/2010/11/05/poetry-friday-in-flanders-fields/.

• At Wild Rose Reader, Elaine Magliaro has a poem titled "The Anthologist" for Lee Bennett Hopkins and links to all of Tricia Stohr-Hunt's and Sylvia Vardell's NCTE Poetry Posts: http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/2010/11/anthologist-poem-for-lee-bennett.html.

• Melissa Wiley is in with a new poem and some sound advice from Sara Teasdale: http://melissawiley.com/blog/2010/11/05/spend-all-you-have-for-loveliness/.

More at Midday

• Gregory K. (Woof!!!!) is up with a seasonal original at Too Much, Too Soon.

• Maria has Poetry Friday is Delicious! at http://teachingin21.blogspot.com/2010/11/poetry-friday-is-delicious.html.

• Elaine Magliaro is a guest blogger at the blog of law professor and legal scholar Jonathan Turley this week. Her post is titled Poetry, Politics, and War and includes three poetry videos produced by the Favorite Poem Project: http://jonathanturley.org/2010/11/05/poetry-politics-and-war/.

• Charles Ghigna (Father Goose) has Echoes from a whippoorwill at The FATHER GOOSE Blog and a Peek inside The Art Gallery at The BALD EGO Blog.

• Sylvia Vardell posted a third installment in her look at poet Pat Mora and her work as part of a project to make her NCTE conference presentation (Nov. 19) accessible to all: http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/2010/11/pat-mora-on-web-and-in-print.html.

• Liz in Ink posted about swimming and writing and sticking with it: http://liz-scanlon.livejournal.com/161602.html.

• Blythe Woolston shares two translations of one poem by Shuntaro Tanikawa on the Squat All Blog: http://blythewoolston.blogspot.com/2010/11/one-poem-two-translations.html.

• Karen E. is in this week with "In the Middle" by Barbara Crooker, here.

• Anastasia Suen is sharing the picture book poem I’m a Truck Driver by Jonathan London (Author) and David Parkins (Illustrator).

• Jeni has written an original poem, "When Pigs Fly," inspired by a photo Laura Salas posted on her blog yesterday: http://jeniwrites.livejournal.com/34727.html.

• david elzey's poem is a bit of an update on "for he's a jolly good fellow" at http://fomagrams.wordpress.com/2010/11/05/poetryfriday-three-cheers/. He's also got a "when pigs fly" poem up over at laura salas's place.

Evening Additions

• Anticipating Veteran's Day, Julie Larios posted a love poem written by Edward Thomas, a Welsh poet killed in WWI, at The Drift Record.

• Heidi Mordhorst is in with a fine example of "soscientry" and some Little Red Hen.

• Caryl couldn't resist posting some Shel Silverstein:
  http://leaningtowerofbooks.blogspot.com/2010/11/poetry-friday-runny-babbit.html.

Bedtime Bonus

• Janet Squires has 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving, written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey.

• AnneShirley is in at Everyday Readers/Writers Workshop with a poem (appropriately) about a teacher by New Zealander Janet Charman: http://readerswritersworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/11/poetry-friday.html.

Thanks for all the woofs, comments, and dog pictures! Next week's Poetry Friday roundup (Friday, November 12) is at Liz in Ink.

JoAnn