Welcome to Poetry Friday!

Looking for Poetry Friday? You've come to the right place! Welcome, friends.

Please leave a few lines about your post and a link in the comments. I'll be putting the links up throughout the day.

I've been thinking about friendship this week. As of Tuesday, the resident teens are both back in school. I rely on friends to help me through the transition from our wild and crazy, full-house summertime to the quiet of fall, when I'm working at home with only the dog for company.

Sam, the security guard, says you pass the sniff test.

It's also Rosh Hashana this week, a time for spending time with family and sending Happy New Year greetings to friends. (Did you eat your apples and honey today? Here's a recipe.)

Within our Poetry Friday community, there have been many hellos to celebrate and goodbyes to comfort one another through in the past several months. I wanted to take the time to say -- whether we have met in person or not -- thank you, PF bloggers, for being such good friends to me and to each other.

The Arrow and the Song

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.

And since Longfellow mentioned song, my favorite version of this poem is sung on folk musician Ted Jacob's wonderful CD, "The Days Gone By."

This was one of our favorite CDs
when the children were small.

But I also enjoyed this rendition, among the many I found on YouTube.



And a great American Sign Language version, also on Youtube, is at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hesf862wL0

Thanks again to all of you for being part of this wonderful circle of friends. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's posts today. If you're on Twitter, use the hashtag #PoetryFriday.

Charles Ghinga has an original poem about the creative muse at Father Goose today. And check out the photo of his artist son, Chip, at work in the studio.

Michelle H. Barnes at Today's Little Ditty is transporting us to Ireland for an ekphrastic poetry project. 

At Teaching Authors, April is celebrating Rosh Hashanah with an original poem about a Jewish New Year tradition. Plus, there's "Cotton Candy" (a poem by Deborah Chandra). And we're all invited to a new children's poetry blog hop!

Tara remembers Seamus Heaney at A Teaching Life. His poem "Blackberry-Picking" contains the magic of childhood, but also speaks of its passing.

Liana Mahoney celebrates the end of summer with an original poem, "Frost Warning," at Commas Have Wings. (I'm in the autumn camp, too, Liana. Give me crisp days over heat and humidity any day.)

"Pencils" is Matt Forrest Esenwine's metaphorical back-to-school poem. You'll find it at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme. Matt's poem would make a great classroom writing prompt, teachers!

Diane Mayr tells us about International Dot Day, for which she written an original haiga. That's at Random Noodling. Diane also reminds us that it's the start of hurricane season. At Kurious Kitty, she has Hart Crane's "The Hurricane," and at KK's Kwotes, an illuminating morsel of poetry knowledge from Crane.

Myra is thinking about the "friend in need" aspect of friendship at Gathering Books, with Poet Tita Lacambra Ayala's collaboration with singer-songwriter Cynthia Alexander on a coming of age piece, "Flowers of Youth." 

Robyn Hood Black's family welcomed a new baby this week. She has the short poem "Amazing Face" and an autumn poem, "September 1918" by Amy Lowell. With today's news, these lines struck me: Some day there will be no war, 
Then I shall take out this afternoon
And turn it in my fingers,
And remark the sweet taste of it upon my palate

Violet Nesdoly is speaking to the Pisces in me with her fishy "Ocean Neighbourhood."

Another member of the Father Goose family has a poetry post up today. Debra Ghigna's poem "Sleepover" is featured at the blog Sweet Sweet Baby. 

Tabatha earns her blog title "The Opposite of Indifference" today with a post about MARD, Men Against Rape and Discrimination. Poetry  has been part of the organization, based in India, since its inception, and Tabatha shares some examples.

Gregory K is bemoaning summer reading (I hear you, buddy) with an original poem at GottaBook. Honestly, shouldn't cereal boxes count?

The ghost of Robert Frost visits The Drift Record today. Julie Larios has the Robert Francis poem "To the Ghost of Robert Frost." I love this poem's subtle reminders to enjoy some stillness during the (back to school) rush.

There's a lot of chatter on Facebook and Twitter about Renee LaTulippe's new series, "Spotlight on NCTE Poets." Today, Lee Bennett Hopkins presents David McCord at Renee's blog, No Water River. Stay tuned for the whole series. Renee plans to cover all the recipients (over 35 years' worth!) of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. 

I have to agree with Mary Lee Hahn that children's author Lemony Snicket's collaboration with the venerable Poetry Foundation is spectacular. She explains why at A Year of Reading. You'll find a link to Snicket's (Daniel Handler's) list of "adult" poems that children might like at Mary Lee's blog.

Catherine at Reading to the Core finds inspiration in a journal entry, Scrabble and other word games today. She has an original poem up and would love some feedback on it.

There's another original poem at Betsy H's I Think in Poems, and it's also about language -- spoken, rather than written. Stop by to read "Words Flow."

Mrs. Bennett (no relation to Lizzie, right?) remembers the September 11 anniversary. She's thinking about her high school students of 2001, and sharing Billy Collins' "The Names" with her current AP English class at Used Books in Class.

Despite so many of us looking to autumn, Liz Steinglass reminds us that there are some late-in-the-season flowers to enjoy. Her original poem "Morning Glory" is at Elizabeth Steinglass.

One of Margaret Simon's favorite poets, Jane Hirshfield has an article, "5 Poetic Essentials for the Home Cook." Margaret has crafted a beautiful found poem from Hirshfield's words. Read it at Reflections on the Teche.

Irene Latham shares a Seamus Heaney tribute at Live Your Poem. Heaney's poem "Scaffolding," like many of today's offerings, reminds me that part of friendship is providing support when our friends are struggling.

Jama is already planning what she's going to make for her Halloween feast at Jama's Alphabet Soup. She gives us a preview of "Trick or Treat: A Happy Haunter's Halloween."

Speaking of tricky rhymes, Elizabeth at Fuse#8 has some Ogden Nash for us. I love the pre-Lemony Snicket, winking-at-the-kids satire of "Don't Cry, Darling, It's Blood Alright." What a treat!

More Seamus Heaney memories at Ruth's There Is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town. 

Another favorite theme this week is magic pencils. It must be all the back-to-school chalk dust in the air. Anastasia Suen has an original poem "Magic Pencil" at Poet! Poet!

Morzant the Alien interviews children's poet Kenn Nesbitt at Bigfoot Reads. (For an alien, Morzant is quite a talented interviewer.)

Amy at The Poem Farm has a mask poem about a hermit crab. Her original poem "Hermit Crab" combines scientific facts with a charming, non-crabby voice.

"The Reading Boy" is a poem by a ten-year-old poet, shared with us by Little Willow at Bildungsroman. You'll find a link to a New York Times article by the poet's mother about her son.

Mother Reader has a song as  poem for us, a portion of the Ylvis song and video "The Fox." The lyrics are beautifully poetic. 

Becky Shillington's also in friendship poem, Shel Silverstein's "How Many, How Much. " You'll find that at Tapestry of Words.

"Each kindness done and not done affects the world," says Jone at Check It Out. This is the central message of the book she's reading, Each Kindess by Jacqueline Woodson. Jone recommends pairing the book with a poem by Janet Wong.

At All About Books, Janet S reviews a book of concrete poetry, Come to My Party and Other Shape Poems by Heidi B. Roemer.

Joy at Poetry for Kids is also looking forward to Halloween. Her original ghost poem, spoken in the voice of Little Monster, made me giggle.

Lorie Ann Grover took me back with a photo of and haiku about an egg chair. We had the same chair (from Ikea) when our children were little and they'd spin in it until they were sick! Lorie Ann's original poem, "Retreat" is at On Point.

Samuel Kent is building a robot out of challenge words from his readers. I like his use of the word "twerk" better than the one we've been seeing in the news lately. Find "Lemonbot" at I Droo It.

Karen Edmisten is sharing the beautiful Anne Porter poem "Music." This one is about relationships, too -- here, between a mother and child.

As the day winds down, Keri's offering of Ted Kooser's "Porch Swing in September" describes exactly how I'd like to spend the evening. That's at Keri Recommends (miss you, Keri!)

And Dori closes us out with social justice poems at Dori Reads. Indivisible: Poems for Social Justice is for high school students. Looks like a great book to use for engaged classroom discussions, Dori.

Sherry at Semicolon has John Keats' beautiful ode "To Autumn." If you haven't read Stanley Plumly's biography, Posthumous Keats--highly recommended.

More song lyrics as poetry at Jen's Teach Mentor Texts blog. Sing along to Katy Perry with her new song, "Roar." (Note: Jen's  hosting next week's Poetry Friday round up.)

Dia Calhoun has a beautiful, original poem, "Leaving Where Behind" at her blog.

Thanks for being patient, everyone, while I visited your blogs and posted the links. Have a restful weekend!

Be sure to stop by Author Amok next week. Holly Thompson is visiting to answer five questions about her new YA novel-in-verse, The Language Inside.