Audubon Poetic Resources

I know posted a goodbye to Frere Flamingo, but it's hard to let go. In December and January, we travelled to six classrooms together! He's one popular bird.

Matthew Smith, one of the other poets working on "Totally Ekphrastic: Picturing America through Poetry," recommended some grown-up poetry related to John James Audubon's work.

Claudia Emerson's book Late Wife includes an Audubon poem. Robert Penn Warren has a book entitled "Audubon: A Vision." I'm sure there are more Audubon related books and poems out there (please comment with any you know.) What a fascinating person.

I'll be reading poetry related to Audubon, because it's hard to let go.

Here is a selection from the Warren book:

Love and Knowledge

Their footless dance

Is of the beautiful liability of their nature.

Their eyes are round, boldly convex, bright as a jewel,

And merciless. They do not know

Compassion, and if they did,

We should not be worthy of it. They fly

In air that glitters like fluent crystal

Read the rest of the poem here.

Trust me, it's worth following the link. Kids are fascinated that Audubon killed his subjects in order to study, then pose them. You'll be amazed at what Warren does with this fact in his poem.

A Tasty Treat for Poetry Friday

Last week, I led my final ekphrastic poetry workshop for the Maryland Humanities Council program, "Totally Ekphrastic: Picturing America through Poetry." The poetry sessions were an off-shoot of the NEH's Picturing America art curriculum.

It's sad to say goodbye to my good friend, the American Flamingo. We laughed together. (One student said, "It reminds me of cotton candy." Another: "It looks like it's doing yoga.") We cried together. (Kids asked me, "Can flamingos fly?" Since they are no longer wild in the U.S., I'd never seen one in flight. We had to look up the answer -- they can.)

As I worked with the image, John James Audubon's biography, and kids, I found myself discussing American history with students -- Audubon recording birds when much of our country was wilderness, his role as a naturalist, the fact that flamingos now live only in captivity.

A discussion about art that leads naturally into learning about American history -- that's what this program was supposed to be all about. There's a great George F. Will article about "Picturing America." He praises the program as the type of low-cost, high benefit initiative our government should do more often.

In my workshops, I heard a lot of elementary schoolers' poems about flamingos, wolves, elephants -- whatever animals struck their imagination.

One thing that definitely caught their attention: I shared Laura Purdie Salas' book, "A Fuzzy Fast Blur: Poems about Pets" as a model of poems about animals.

The hands-down favorite poem was, "Come in, Come in!" which Laura gave me permission to share today. (The snake below isn't the snake from her book, BTW. You have to check that one out -- it's grinning as it eats its dinner.)

Come in, Come in!

by Laura Purdie Salas

I'll make it easy

I'll open wide

I'll hope that you

will slide inside

Snakes eat mice

Some find that sad

But here's the truth:

They don't taste bad!

Had to include this photo. At least this mouse gets the last laugh!

You can read Laura's post about "A Fuzzy Fast Blur" here. She happens to be hosting Poetry Friday today, so stop by for more poetry.

Writing Exercise: Science & Symbolism

Recommended Ages: Middle School and Up Start by reading our model poem, Mary Oliver's "Bats." I've got part of the poem in this post, or you can find it in an anthology called "Nightwalks." For your poem, follow Oliver's structure. First, explore or list the facts about your object/theme. You might chose an animal, like Oliver did, or something less tangible like "dreams." The turn of the poem is that word, "Yet." You've talked science. Now it's time for the symbolize. Forget the facts for the rest of the poem. Here's your chance to mull over the deeper, unexplainable things your object suggests. Since I've been working with Audubon's "American Flamingo" in my Maryland Humanities Council poetry workshops, I'll have to go with that bird as my object. Here's my brainstorming for a science and symbolism poem. Flamingo Science: Marsh wader, yogini balanced on one leg, like an apple tree in bloom, webbed foot clinging to the rock. Marble eyes blue as the water your boomerang beak scoops for shrimp. You are the color of your dinner. Symbolism: Yet, your feathers might be pale as the inside of a shell or pink as a vacation sunburn. Cotton candy, bubble gum, hotel towel washed too many times. Children ask me if you fly like a parasail over the beach. Not that I've seen. What did John James Audubon think when he first saw a flock -- a shock to the corner of his eye -- of pink in summer sky? One thing I've learned working with this image from Picturing America -- flamingos only exist in captivity in today's U.S.

Guest Blogging at Maryland Humanties Council

I've added a lot of miles to my odometer this month. My poetry workshops for the Maryland Humanities Council have taken me to schools almost into Delaware and all the way out to Gaithersburg, MD.

You can read one of my previous posts about MDHC's art/poetry program. Hundreds of schools around the state already have the Picturing America curriculum -- 40 images from American art (sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities). I'm among six poets working with school children to respond to these images in poetry.

My first workshop featured a very pink flamingo. I was surprised that the 4th graders felt a sense of freedom in looking at this image.

MDHC asked me to guest blog about the workshop. If you'd like to read more, go to http://www.mdhc.org/blog/?p=27

For everyone following my adventures as a wrestler's mom, I'm still recovering from my early morning (5 AM) trip to southern NJ this Sunday. (Talk about adding to the odometer!)

Our guy took third -- one fall, a loss at 6-1 in the semi-finals, and a fall for the trophy that he nearly left behind.

This is what happens between matches. My guy is to the right with the sweaty head. Yes, they're all looking at a DS.

Poetry Friday: Wrestling The Beast

Two things on my mind these days.

The poet in me is all about teaching ekphrastic poetry for the Maryland Humanities Council. (I did my first -- and the program's first -- workshop yesterday. A photo from my class is up on the MHC home page. So cool!)

As a mom, I’m coping with wrestling season. Holiday shopping will have to wait. Unless you’d like a Vipers Wrestling t-shirt.

Our eleven-year-old son began wrestling in second grade. We signed him up because he needed to do something and it was only $50 for a season of clinic! He fell in love with the sport. You’ll get a sense of why if you check out my article on kids’ contact sports in SI Focus Magazine.

I love using Arnold Adoff’s book “Sports Pages” with 5th grade and older students. The book has a poem for just about every sport kids do. Adoff’s style is sensory and playful.

Here’s the beginning of his wrestling poem:

Wrestling The Beast

This guy is an animal. A pig? Squealing sinus breathing. A bear? Hair on his fat arms. A dog? No, not biting, but his chin digging into my collar Bone. A dragon. Easy. Dragon breath. An anaconda snake. His mistake: Choke hold around my neck.

The poem turns (along with the match) in the last stanza. Check out "Sports Pages" to find out what happens. I'm sure the kid's mom is biting her nails.

DJRobMan is wrestling for a travel team this year. Last weekend was his first competitive tournament. He lost in a single elimination round. It was a major achievement to make it to the end of the match without getting pinned.

As for me, I’ll be recommending “Sports Pages” as an extension for my “Totally Ekphrastic! Picturing America Through Poetry” workshop on Thomas Eakins’ image of an athlete: “John Biglin in a Single Scull.”

Kids love writing about the activities they do, whether it’s riding horses, gymnastics, art classes, or practicing trombone. Eakins’ watercolor is sensory in its own way – I hope it will be a great jumping off point for some active poetry.

I’ll let you know how the lesson goes. Today, I’m off to a much-needed writing retreat with our SCBWI Asst. Regional Adviser, Edie Hemingway & hope to write some poetry of my own.

Speaking of favorite books, this week’s Poetry Friday Round Up is at Mommy’s Favorite Children’s Books.

It's Ekphrastic Poetry Friday!

William Carlos Williams has been one of my source (as in source of water for the well) poets since I was a teenager.

He’s a fellow northern New Jerseyan who, as a working doctor, was on the outskirts of the artistic clique that included Gertrude Stein and Henri Matisse.

At an NYU freshman comp class, we were required to bring in a poem & write an essay explaining why we liked it. I shared WCW’s wonderful found poem, “This is Just to Say.” The boy who brought Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” was furious. “That’s not poetry!” he told me (and the rest of the class, loudly.) “Papa Don’t Preach” vs. “This is Just to Say?” No contest!

I love Williams’ fascination with imagery. You can almost feel the grass growing in his poetic response to Brueghel’s painting, “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” (see below). His poem, “The Great Figure Five” is a multi-media work of art in words.

There’s a long tradition of poetry written in response to art. The fancy word for it is ekphrastic poetry. If you’ve never encountered the concept before, take a look at Brueghel’s painting, then read the poem and let WCW lead the way.

Ekphrastic poetry is on my mind lately.

The Maryland Humanities Council has invited me and five other MD poets to create a series of school workshops called “Totally Ekphrastic.” You can read about the program here.

We’re each choosing several images from the National Endowment for the Humanities “Picturing America” program. The images are works of American Art -- Hopper, O’Keefe, the Brooklyn Bridge, a series of Native American baskets, a portrait of Paul Revere. You can check out the gallery website.

531 schools in Maryland have requested the images and related curriculum. We’ll see how many of them are interested in the free poetry workshops. I’m excited!

One of my choices is an Audubon painting of a big, pink flamingo. Perfect for elementary schoolers! I’m thinking about having kids pose like a flamingo to get into the spirit.

Here's your ekphrastic poem...

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus

William Carlos Williams

According to Brueghel

when Icarus fell

it was spring

a farmer was ploughing

his field

the whole pageantry

of the year was

awake tingling

with itself

sweating in the sun

that melted

the wings' wax

unsignificantly

off the coast

there was

a splash quite unnoticed

this was

Icarus drowning

Our host for this week’s Poetry Friday is Check It Out -- that's a command, not a request, so go check out all of this week's poetry!