When Erica over at Verselove offered an invitation to write about flowers, I knew immediately that I would write about the California state flower: the golden poppy. Poppy’s feel like my alter ego–they open up in the warmth of the sun and close and duck their heads when the weather cools and the sky is cloudy.
On my first day back in the classroom after a week away for spring break, I knew I wasn’t up for the technicalities of crafting a villanelle. Instead I opted for the simplicity and constraint of an etheree: a ten line poem that begins with one syllable and builds to ten in that tenth line.
What do you need right now? That was the question Amber over at #verselove asked today. While she suggested some fanciful supplies, I couldn’t get my current favorite pen out of my head. So today is a sort of ode to my pen.
Today my students were introduced to odes. We began with the picture book, Ode to an Onion: Pablo Neruda and His Muse by Alexandria Giardino. The book shows Neruda finding inspiration in an ordinary onion from his garden.
After reading and discussing the book and thinking about the ways ordinary things are often overlooked and under appreciated, my students and I headed out to the school garden in search of the ordinary, knowing we would return to the classroom to write after snapping a few photos.
While Neruda’s original Ode to an Onion was a bit intimidating–it is a LONG poem for 8 and 9 year olds–they were excited to elevate the ordinary subjects they identified. We had poems about a roly poly, a stump, ice plant, a bucket, pea pods, a pine cone, and so much more. My own featured dandelions.
I’m definitely feeling the poetic struggle as I reach mid-month. My mind is on my students and figuring out how to support them in this distance learning emergency. I’m housebound with little outside inspiration. My neighborhood is nice–but it really isn’t evoking poetic thoughts right now.
So instead…I turn to thoughts of the coffee I drink every morning. The coffee I crave…want…need… And I know it’s not about a caffeine addiction, I switched to decaf more than a decade ago. So today’s poem is an ode…to decaf.
Some days are made for giving into temptation–this was one of them. Dessert before dinner, yes please. Where do you find the perfect banana split? The places from our childhood memories no longer exist. The local Dairy Queen went out of business over a year ago. As we drove toward the beach for a walk, we caught a glimpse of the Handel’s ice cream place on the corner. A quick internet search as we drove by confirmed, that yes, they do make banana splits! So we added a walk to our walk. After the beach walk, we walked to the ice cream place for a decadent dessert–before dinner. The perfect topic for an ode! (And yes, this is a quick draft…one that requires some more work!)
Thinking Through My Lens 