Literary Safari

BOO!! Halloween is less than a week away. Just in time, we have a healthy helping of spooky and spritely things, candy scenes, and of course, a little bit of Edgar Allan Poe.

The Simple and the Ordinary served up “The Raven.” Sylvia, an original poem “Chocolate Covered Ants” by J. Pat Lewis in honor of National Chocolate Day, autumn, and Halloween!

“By the pricking of the thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” Kelly Fineman has a great scene from Shakespeare’s Macbeth with the witches.

You must check out the awesome ghost tree at The Cole Mine, and the original cinquain inspired by it. There’s more Shakespeare here too (“The Three Witches”).

I loved Aileen Fisher’s “The Witch in the Wintry Wood,” courtesy of Becky at Farm School. It’s from a 1936 anthology of Halloween writings.

Crooked House has Michael Rosen’s spooky poem “The Hidebehind.” Rosen is currently the Children’s Laureate in the U.K. She also shares his great ideas for advancing the state of children’s poetry.

Alyssa at The Shady Glade has Halloween song lyrics “Grim, Grinning Ghosts.” She invites us to guess which group they’re from. Anyone, anyone?

Rebecca of Ipsa Dixit offers up “The Utter Zoo Alphabet” by Edward Gorey. Read it side-by-side with “Jabberwocky” at Rosepixie.

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast has Kenn Nesbitt monster poetry that I guarantee you’ll want to read out loud. (and that made me want to look at my copy of Maurice Sendak’s Mommy!)

Mary Lee (Two Teachers Who Read. A Lot.) has a review of Eve Merriam’s Halloween ABC.

At Susan Writes, read a delightful William Allingham poem about fairies who “live on crispy pancakes of yellow tide-foam. It’ll make you want to flit about!

Calendar Connections

It’s Rudyard Kipling’s 343^rd birthday this weekend (Oct. 28). RM1(SS) (ret) gives us one of Kipling’s poems “Soldier and Sailor Too.” And, Charlotte has “Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo,” from Just So Stories.

Michele has some Shakespeare (Henry V), in honor of St Crispin’s Day, yesterday. So does Miss Erin.

Fall is on our minds.

Tricia (Miss Rumphius) was inspired by the leaves that are falling around her, and shared “Gathering Leaves,” as well as a reading list of books about fall.

Suzanne is feeling sad as the leaves are flying. She shared “Leaves” by Elise Brady.

Laura Salas (15 Words or Less) gives us a bunch of poems inspired by a mid-metamorphosis maple tree! Add your own in her comments section.

Lisa at Passionately Curious shares “Something Told the Wild Geese,” by Rachel Field in honor of the amazing animals who migrate at this time of year.

This month is almost over. Read “An Evening Sky in October” by Rev. Lawrence Keister from Kim from Hiraeth before it passes you by.

Did you know Oct. 21^st was Apple Day in England? Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup has a great apple poem by James Crowden.

Meanwhile, here at Literary Safari, I was trying very hard to hold on to the last days of summer with “Blueberries” by Robert Frost while msmac has Nikki Giovanni’s “Winter Snow” to go along with with Robert’s Snow..

Original Poems

Gotta Book has a short and right on golf poem.

Stacey from Two Writing Teachers whips up a list poem. New Yawkers like me enjoyed it!

Literacy Teacher has “Crisp, Autumn Leaves.” I can just hear them.

Tiel Aisha Ansari “Destruction Palms,” a meditation on storms.

Reviews

cloudscome has a review of Nikki Grimes’s book When Gorilla Goes Walking, and an urging for this to be nominated for a Cybil.

Blog from the Windowsill has a review of “Oh Theodore: Guinea Pig Poems.”

Liz B at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy with Good Master, Sweet Ladies, by Laura Amy Schiltz, which she calls one of her personal favorites of 2007.

John Mutford: Susan McMaster’s book of poetry “Uncommon Praye,” as well as one the poems from that book “The Old Man’s Chair.”

Marcie Atkins (World of Words) has an annotated list of her favorite haiku books.

My Non-Halloween Favorites this Week:

Wild Rose Reader shares three moving peace poems, and Jackson Browne’s anti-war protest song “Life in the Balance. And, at Blue Rose Girls, she has Marge Piercy’s lighthearted poem “One Reason I Like Opera.”

At Liz in Ink, Marilyn Nelson’s moving and masterful crown sonnet “A Wreath for Emmett Till.”

“Breadcrumbs” is a lovely reflection on writing poetry from Sara Lewis Holmes. It’s taken from her novel Letters From Rapunzel, in which the main character describes how she feels when a poem arrives.

Becky has an original poem “Mama,” part of a neat poetry contest sponsored by Taylor the Teacher. Check it out. And, vote!

Laura Salas has an original “Personals” poem. It begins, “Looking for a writing partner…” (Aren’t we all? A good writing partner, as I have learned, is hard to find.)

Chicken Spaghetti reminds us to the memorable poetic voice of Pulitzer Prize-winner Natasha Trethewey’s “Pilgrimage,” from her award-winning collection, Native Ground. One of my favorite lines which is a propos, given the spooky theme of this week’s Poetry Friday – she describes Vicksburg, Mississippi as “a graveyard for skeletons of sunken riverboats.”

TadMack has a little A.E. Housman, “Terrence, this is stupid stuff,” and — arsenic. Read it.

Kelly has a fascinating teaching post about Philip Pullman, Billy Collins, and Milton’s Paradise Lost.

Little Willow has a stanza from “The Conqueror Worm,” by Edgar Allen Poe

slatts has a “self-imposed class assignment” from Kelly Fineman! A rumination on art.

Inspire yourself with Sarah Miller who shares Marianne Moore’s “I May, I Might, I Must.”

And, get a kick at Your neighborhood librarian: a “mesmerizingly awful” song – “Bungalode”

Poetry is alive and well and kicking this last week of October. It took me all day to pull this round up together because I got immersed in reading all the amazing posts and the poems. If you haven’t hosted Poetry Friday before, I highly recommend it. It’s a wonderful feeling to float in verse! To volunteer, visit Big A Little A and contact Kelly Herold.