Celebrating Day of the Dead

I love Halloween! I love making costumes and trick or treaters and candy and skeletons and pumpkins! Living in Texas, I also enjoyed discovering the tradition of the Day of the Dead-- a time to remember those we love who are no longer with us (thinking of you, Dad, Oma, Opa, Julia, Izell, Monte, Lettie). So, I was happy that we featured a poem about the Day of the Dead by our very own Texas author, René Saldaña, Jr., in this year's Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books, 2015). On top of that, my talented collaborator, Janet Wong, tried her hand at making a poem video for this poem which you can view by clicking HERE.

Here is the poem in English AND Spanish along with the Take 5 activities to guide you in sharing this poem. Enjoy!

Now head on over to Check it Out where Jone is hosting our Poetry Friday gathering here.

Teen Read Week: Poem #7 "Dracula" by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

Here's the final poem in my series for Teen Read Week on the theme "Get Away @ the library" to spotlight all the great resources and activities available to help teens build literacy skills while reading for the fun to it. It's also a great poem for celebrating Halloween next week! It's "Dracula" by Carmen T. Bernier Grand from The Poetry Friday Anthology® for Middle School (Pomelo Books, 2013). You can also find it at Pinterest here. 

And here are the "Take 5" activities for sharing this poem also available at Pinterest here.

If you haven't gotten your copy of The Poetry Friday Anthology® for Middle School, it's not too late! It includes 110 poems by 71 poets along with "Take 5" mini-lessons for each and every poem tied to the Common Core skills (and/or TEKS in Texas) for each grade level, grades 6, 7, 8. 

Now head on over to Jama's place to celebrate Poetry Friday. She always has a yummy treat for us!

Teen Read Week: Poem #6 "Texas, Out Driving" by Naomi Shihab Nye

Teen Read Week continues with the theme "Get Away @ the library" to spotlight all the great resources and activities available to help teens build literacy skills while reading for the fun to it. Today, I'm sharing "Texas, Out Driving" by Naomi Shihab Nye. Yes, I live in Texas, so of course I love this poem, but I think you will too. Who doesn't love Naomi's lovely, lyrical, intelligent, compassionate poems? I'm so proud that this one is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology® for Middle School (Pomelo Books, 2013). You can also find this poem graphic at Pinterest here. 

If you'd like ideas about how to share this poem with teens and tweens, try these "Take 5" activities from The Poetry Friday Anthology® for Middle School. This graphic is also available at Pinterest here.

One more poem coming tomorrow (and perfect for Halloween)...

Teen Read Week: Poem #5 "Racing the Clouds" by Jacqueline Jules

Here's the fourth poem in my series for Teen Read Week on the theme "Get Away @ the library" to spotlight all the great resources and activities available to help teens build literacy skills while reading for the fun to it. It's "Racing the Clouds" by Jacqueline Jules from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School (Pomelo Books, 2013). You can also find it at Pinterest here.

And here are the Take 5 activities that accompany this poem. The Pinterest link is here.

More to come...

Teen Read Week: Poem #4 "Spiral Glide" by Mary Lee Hahn

Here's the fourth poem in celebration of Teen Read Week and the theme "Get Away @ the library" which is intended to spotlight all the great resources and activities available to help teens build literacy skills while reading for the fun to it. Share this thoughtful poem, "Spiral Glide" by Mary Lee Hahn from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School (Pomelo Books, 2013). You can also find it at Pinterest here. 

And here are the Take 5 activities that accompany the poem. The Pinterest link for the Take 5 activities is here.

Teen Read Week: Poem #3 "How Romantic Can You Get?" by George Ella Lyon

Here's the third poem in my series for Teen Read Week on the theme "Get Away @ the library" to spotlight all the great resources and activities available to help teens build literacy skills while reading for the fun to it. It's "How Romantic Can You Get?" by George Ella Lyon from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School (Pomelo Books, 2013). You can also find it at Pinterest here. 

And here are the Take 5 activities from the book also available at Pinterest here. 

More to come!

Teen Read Week: Poem #2 "Future Hoopsters" by Avis Harley

It's time for our second installment in our poems for Teen Read Week and the theme "Get Away @ the library" to spotlight all the great resources and activities available to help teens build literacy skills while reading for the fun of it. Here's "Future Hoopsters" by Avis Harley from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School.  It is also available at Pinterest here.

And here are the "Take 5" activities that accompany the poem, also at Pinterest here.

More to come...

Teen Read Week: Poem #1 "Restless" by Joyce Sidman

Teen Read Week starts today and in honor of this year's theme, "Get Away @ your library," I'm posting a poem a day from The PFA for Middle School. Here's the first installment by the lovely Joyce Sidman:

It can also be found at Pinterest here.

And here are the Take 5 activities that accompany this poem in the book, also found at Pinterest here. 

And here's some background info about Teen Read Week (#TRW15) from the ning:

Teen Read Week™ is a national adolescent literacy initiative created by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). It began in 1998 and is held annually in October the same week as Columbus Day. Its purpose is to encourage teens to be regular readers and library users.  

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) encourages libraries to use the Get Away theme during Teen Read Week™, October 18 - 24, 2015, to spotlight all the great resources and activities available to help teens build literacy skills while reading for the fun of it. An annual celebration, this year’s theme encourages libraries to help teens escape from the day to day grind of school, homework, family responsibilities, part time jobs and so on by picking up something to read. 

Audio Poetry

I'll be at the biennial IBBY regional conference hosted by USBBY this weekend-- in New York! I'm presenting along with the lovely Rose Brock on "Through the Looking and Listening Glass: How Audiobooks Channel Culture and Impact Literacy." My focus? Poetry, of course! So, here's the scoop for those of you who can't be there!

Poetry always remembers that it was an oral art before it was a written art. It remembers that it was first song.

Jorge Luis Borges

There are several places to find audio adaptations of poetry for young people. Many are available as CDs (formerly cassettes) accompanying print books or as downloadable audio files. If you want to hear how poetry should sound, there is no better resource than hearing the poets themselves read their poems aloud or professional narrators bring poetry to life. And we’re fortunate to have more and more access to recorded poetry through iTunes, audioclips, CDs and tapes, downloadable audio from web sites, audio stores, and more. 

Audio Poetry Activities

1. Children can tape record themselves reading a favorite poem aloud, copy the poem in their best handwriting, illustrate it, and present their poem performance as a gift to a loved one. 

2. Children can collect examples of favorite poems on audio- or videotape and explore neighborhood, cultural, and linguistic variations. They can translate their English favorites into other languages represented in their community. 

3. If audio or public address announcements are made on a regular basis, include the oral reading of a poem (by a child or other volunteer) on a daily or weekly basis. Challenge children to work with a partner to incorporate multiple voices, sound effects, or musical instruments.

4. Books and poems in the public domain can be read and recorded by anyone at Librivox.org and then made available world-wide. Tools like SoundCloud enable children to create their own audio anthologies or podcast recordings of favorite poems.

Audio/Video Poetry Online

*Poets and Writers, Inc. (PW.org)

Multimedia area includes audio, video, podcasts, slideshows

*PoetryMagazine.com

Audio and video clips of individual poems and poets

*Favorite Poem Project (FavoritePoem.org)

Videos of average citizens reading favorite poems

*PoetryArchive.org

Archive of audio recordings of poets reading their work, including a children’s poetry area

*Academy of American Poets (Poets.org)

Poet biographies, sample poems, audio archives, National Poetry Month celebrations

*The Library of Congress Poetry & Literature Center (LOC.gov/poetry/)

Info  about the Poet Laureates of the U.S., national prizes in poetry, special poetry events, and audio archives

*PoetryFoundation.org/children

The Poetry Foundation offers a dedicated area for “Children’s Poetry” featuring several hundred poems for children searchable and organized by topic, some with audio links

*No Water River.com (by Renée M. LaTulippe)

Video of children’s poets reading from their work along with extensive teaching connections, plus features on each of the NCTE Poetry Award winners

*PomeloBooks.com  &
PoetryCelebrations.com

My own sites (with Janet Wong) featuring the Poetry Friday teaching anthologies with downloadables and audio and video poetry

*Poet Websites

Some poets feature video and audio on their personal websites. Michael Rosen, for example, has 49 videos of himself reciting poems from an out of print book. Others with audio links include Kristine O’Connell George, Janet Wong, Nikki Grimes, Joyce Sidman.

Audio Awards 

*Odyssey Audiobook Award

*ALSC Notable Children’s Recordings 

*YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults 

*Grammy Awards for Spoken Word 

*Audio Publishers Association’s Audie Awards 

Poetry Apps 

iF Poems (Clickworks Ltd., 2011) Read, listen to, record and share your favorite poems from a collection of more than 200 classic (largely British) poems narrated by actors Helena Bonham Carter and Bill Nighy.

The Grim Granary: Poems for Kids Big and Small (Tusitala Pte. Ltd., 2011), a collection of darkly humorous illustrated poems with audio renditions of each poem available in three languages” 

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star: The Experience (FlyingWord, 2011), the classic poem features the illustrations of Michael Hague, accessible in 9 languages.

Audio Poetry for Young People: A Select Bibliography

Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover (Recorded Books, 2014)

Andrews, Julie and Hamilton, Emma Walton. Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies (Hachette Audio, 2009)

Brown, Calef. Flamingos on the Roof (Recorded Books, 2009)

Creech, Sharon. Hate that Cat (Harper Children’s Audio, 2008)

Creech, Sharon. Heartbeat (Recorded Books, 2004)

Creech, Sharon. Love that Dog (Harper Children’s Audio, 2002)

Dakos, Kalli. If You’re Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand (Recorded Books, 2009)

Engle, Margarita. The Poet Slave of Cuba (Listening Library, 2009)

Engle, Margarita. The Surrender Tree (Listening Library, 2009)

Engle, Margarita. Tropical Secrets (Listening Library, 2009)

Fleischman, Paul. Joyful Noise/I Am Phoenix (Audio Bookshelf, 2001)

Franco, Betsy. Metamorphosis: Junior Year (Brilliance, 2010)

Frost, Helen. Crossing Stones (Recorded Books, 2010)

Frost, Helen. Keesha’s House (Recorded Books, 2004)

Frost, Helen. Diamond Willow (Recorded Books, 2009)

Giovanni, Nikki. Hip Hop Speaks to Children (Sourcebooks, 2008)

Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade (Recorded Books, 2006)

Grimes, Nikki. Dark Sons (Zondervan, 2010)

Grimes, Nikki. Jazmin’s Notebook (Penguin, 2008)

Hemphill, Stephanie. Your Own, Sylvia (Listening Library, 2009)

Hesse, Karen. Aleutian Sparrow (Listening Library, 2003)

Hesse, Karen. Out of the Dust (Listening Library, 2006)

Hesse, Karen. Witness (Listening Library, 2006)

Hoberman, Mary Ann and Wilson, Linda. The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination (Sourcebooks, 2009)

Lewis, J. Patrick. The Brothers’ War: Civil War Voices in Verse (Recorded Books, 2007)

Lithgow, John. The Poets' Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family (Hachette, 2007)

Milne, A.A. When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six (Harper Children’s Audio, 2004)

Myers, Walter Dean. Blues Journey (Live Oak Media, 2003)

Myers, Walter Dean. Harlem: A Poem (Spoken Arts, 1998)

Myers, Walter Dean. Here in Harlem (Live Oak Media, 2010)

Myers, Walter Dean. Jazz (Live Oak Media, 2007)

Myers, Walter Dean. Looking Like Me (Live Oak Media, 2010)

Nesbitt, Kenn. My Hippo Has the Hiccups and Other Poems I Totally Made Up (Sourcebooks, 2009)

Paschen, Elise and Raccah, Dominque. Poetry Speaks to Children (Sourcebooks, 2005)

Paschen, Elise and Raccah, Dominque. Poetry Speaks; Who I Am (Sourcebooks, 2010)

Prelutsky, Jac. A Pizza the Size of the Sun (Harper Audio, 2007)

Prelutsky, Jack. Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face: And Other Poems: Some of the Best of Jack Prelutsky (Greenwillow, 2008)

Prelutsky, Jack. Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant (Harper Audio, 2006)

Prelutsky, Jack. In Aunt Giraffe’s Green Garden (Harper Audio, 2007)

Prelutsky, Jack. It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles (Harper Audio, 2008)

Prelutsky, Jack. Monday’s Troll (Listening Library, 1996)

Prelutsky, Jack. My Dog May Be a Genius (Harper Audio, 2008)

Prelutsky, Jack. Scranimals (Harper Audio, 2007)

Prelutsky, Jack. Something Big Has Been Here (Harper Audio, 2007)

Prelutsky, Jack. The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders (Harper Audio, 2005)

Prelutsky, Jack. The Jack Prelutsky Holiday CD Audio Collection (Greenwillow, 2005)

Prelutsky, Jack. The New Kid on the Block (Harper Audio, 2007)

Raschka, Chris. Charlie Parker Played Be Bop (Live Oak Media, 2003)

Sidman, Joyce. Dark Emperor. (Recorded Books, 2010)

Silverstein, Shel. A Light in the Attic (20th Anniversary Edition) (HarperCollins, 2001)

Silverstein, Shel. Where the Sidewalk Ends (25th Anniversary Edition) (HarperCollins, 2000)

Singer, Marilyn. Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse (Live Oak Media, 2011)

Singer, Marilyn. A Full Moon Is Rising (Live Oak Media, 2013)
Singer, Marilyn. Follow Follow (Live Oak Media, 2014)
Sones, Sonya. What My Mother Doesn’t Know (Brilliance, 2008)

Steptoe, Javaka. In Daddy’s Arms I am Tall (Live Oak Media, 2003)

The Caedmon Poetry Collection: A Century of Poets Reading their Work (Caedmon, 2000)

Thomas, Joyce Carol. Brown Honey in Broomwheat Tea (Spoken Arts, 1998)

Weatherford, Carole Boston. Birmingham 1963 (Recorded Books, 2007)

Williams, Vera B. Amber was Brave, Essie was Smart (Live Oak Media, 2003)

Wolf, Allan. The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic (Candlewick, 2011)

Woodson, Jacqueline. Locomotion (Recorded Books, 2012)

Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming (Listening Library, 2014)

Yolen, Jane. How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night (Weston Woods, 2005)

From: Vardell, S. The Poetry Teacher’s Book of Lists (2012)

Join us for more Poetry Friday sharing over at Amy's Poem Farm. See you online there!

Celebrate Star Wars Reads Day with POETRY

I may have mentioned before that I'm a big Star Wars nerd! I have loved the movies, characters, and lore since 1977 and even attend the conventions or Star Wars "Celebrations" with my family. So I was tickled that there is now a "Star Wars Reads" Day to promote reading being held for the 4th year-- on October 10. You'll find activities and reproducibles here and they have a Facebook page, too, of course. For kids and families who already enjoy the world of Star Wars, it's a chance for them to shine and to promote reading too (and there are lots of Star Wars-themed reading materials). And with the launch of a 7th Star Wars movie in December, it's a fun time to welcome new fans and celebrate science (and sci fi and mythology too). 

And of course I want to make a POETRY connection, in particular. There are heaps of science-themed poems to share and I've written about that before. In fact, I have an article about this topic coming out in BOOK LINKS in November with science poetry recommendations from 15 poets themselves. And Janet (Wong) and I will be announcing a new science poetry project ourselves very soon too! More on all that later.

Meanwhile, I thought it might be fun to take a few poems and "Star Wars-ify" them! To reinterpret them through the lens of Star Wars. So, if you're familiar with Darth Vader (the dark villain of the series), Yoda (the wise guru), and C3PO (a robot dedicated to languages and etiquette), you might enjoy the three following poems filtered from THEIR perspectives! 

For example, I have featured "Poem for a Bully" by Eileen Spinelli from The Poetry Friday Anthology previously over at Pinterest here. But what if we put that "Poem for a Bully" against an image of Darth Vader, a bully with a secret himself?

Or consider the wise Yoda character who teaches young Luke Skywalker to control his emotions and fears in order to face his enemy (and himself).  What if Yoda is the backdrop for the poem "Fear Factor" by Sara Holbrook from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School? You'll find a more traditional interpretation of the poem at Pinterest here and the Yoda interpretation below. 

Or finally, if you're familiar with the droid (or robot) character, C3PO, you know he is a prissy individual proud of his ability to speak multiple languages and know the rules of etiquette and behavior in many cultures. What if he is sharing a poem about making friends using greetings in several languages? Here's a more traditional interpretation of the poem, "How to Make a Friend" by Jane Heitman Healy from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations and below is the same poem shared by C3PO.

If you're working with children and families who love Star Wars like I do, challenge them to find a poem from a book on the shelves that fits a Star Wars character and then read it from the point of view of that character. It's a fun way to approach poetry and celebrate our Star Wars knowledge too! 

Now, join the rest of the crew over at Laura's site, Writing the World for Kids, where we're celebrating Poetry Friday. 

The Poetry of Place: Celebrating Geography in Poetry

I just got a copy of the new anthology, Amazing Places, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and I was tickled pink to see that the State Fair of Texas was included in the 14 landmarks across the U.S. highlighted in poetry. So.... of course I had to take the book with me on my annual visit to the state fair this year and get my photo taken with Big Tex himself! 

The arrow points to the image of Big Tex that is included in the illustration!

Big Tex as featured in the book illustration

The accompanying poem is "Midway Magic" by Rebecca Kai Dotlich-- a wonderful poem to read aloud-- nice and LOUD! 

Lee is having a great year with three books of poetry out in 2015 and each one is a treat:

• Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2015. Amazing Places. New York: Lee & Low.
• Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Sel. 2015. Jumping Off Library Shelves: A Book of Poems. Ill. by Jane Manning. 
• Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Sel. 2015. Lullaby & Kisses Sweet: Poems to Love with Your Baby. Ill. by Alyssa Nassner. New York: Abrams.

And because I love to travel, it was fun to browse through each of the sites featured in Amazing Places and savor each of the poet perspectives, too. That got me thinking-- are there other works of poetry that particularly showcase the importance of place? Of course there are! So, I pulled a list together to share with you here-- and I welcome additional suggestions, of course. 

The Poetry of Place: Poems and Geography

1. _______. 2012. A Poem as Big as New York City: Little Kids Write About the Big Apple. Ill. by Masha D’yans. New York: Teachers Writers Collaborative.
2. Asch, Frank. 1996. Sawgrass Poems:  A View of the Everglades. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.
3. Asch, Frank. 1998. Cactus Poems. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.
4. Asch, Frank. 1999. Song of the North. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.
5. Begay, Shonto. 1995. Navajo: Visions and Voices Across the Mesa. New York:  Scholastic.
6. Brown, Skila. 2014. Caminar. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
7. Bruchac, Joseph. 1995. The Earth under Sky Bear's Feet: Native American Poems of the Land. New York: Philomel Books.
8. Bruchac, Joseph. 1996. Between Earth and Sky:  Legends of Native American Sacred Places. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.
9. Coombs, Kate. 2012. Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems. Ill. by Meilo So. San Francisco: Chronicle.
10. Dotlich, Rebecca Kai and Lewis, J. Patrick. 2006. Castles: Old Stone Poems. Ill. by Dan Burr. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press. 
11. Engle, Margarita. 2008. The Surrender Tree. New York: Holt.
12. Engle, Margarita. 2011. Hurricane Dancers; The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck. New York: Henry Holt. 
13. Engle, Margarita. 2014. Silver People: Voices from the Panama Canal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
14. Engle, Margarita. 2015. Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir. New York: Atheneum.
15. Greenfield, Eloise. 2011. The Great Migration: Journey to the North. Ill. by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. New York: Amistad/HarperCollins. 
16. Grimes, Nikki. 2000. Is It Far to Zanzibar: Poems about Tanzania. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard. 
17. Grimes, Nikki. 2004. Tai Chi morning: Snapshots of China. Chicago: Cricket Books.
18. Gunning, Monica. 1998. Under The Breadfruit Tree: Island Poems. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press.
19. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2000. My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States. New York: Simon & Schuster.
20. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2009. City I Love. Ill. by Marcellus Hall. New York: Abrams. 
21. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2002. Home to Me: Poems Across America. New York: Orchard.
22. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2006. Got Geography! Poems. New York: Greenwillow.
23. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2015. Amazing Places. New York: Lee & Low.
24. Johnston, Tony. 1996. My Mexico-Mexico Mio. New York: Putnam.
25. Katz, Bobbi. 2007. Trailblazers; Poems of Exploration. New York: Greenwillow. 
26. Kurtz, Jane. 2000. River Friendly, River Wild. New York: Simon & Schuster.
27. Lai, Thanhha. 2011. Inside Out and Back Again. New York: HarperCollins.
28. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2002. A World of Wonders: Geographic Travels in Verse and Rhyme. New York: Dial.
29. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2005. Good Mornin’, Miss America: The U.S.A. in Verse. School Specialty Publishing. 
30. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2005. Monumental Verses. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic.
31. Lewis, J. Patrick. Ed. 2015. The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry. Washington DC: National Geographic.
32. Littlechild, George. 1993. This Land Is My Land. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book Press.
33. Locker, Thomas. 1998. Home: A Journey through America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
34. Mora, Pat. 1994. The Desert is My Mother/El Desierto es Mi Madre. Houston, TX: Pinata Books.
35. Myers, Walter Dean. 1997. Harlem: A Poem. New York: Scholastic.
36. Myers, Walter Dean. 2011. We are America; A Tribute from the Heart. Ill. by Christopher Myers. New York: HarperCollins.
37. Prelutsky, Jack. 2002. The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders. New York: Greenwillow.
38. Salas, Laura Purdie. 2008. Tiny Dreams, Sprouting Tall: Poems About the United States. Minneapolis, MN: Capstone.
39. Siebert, Diane. 1988. Mojave. New York: Crowell.
40. Siebert, Diane. 1989. Heartland. New York: Crowell.
41. Siebert, Diane. 1991. Sierra. New York: HarperCollins.
42. Siebert, Diane. 2000. Cave. New York: HarperCollins.
43. Siebert, Diane. 2001. Mississippi. Ill. by Greg Harlin. New York: HarperCollins.
44. Siebert, Diane. 2006. Tour America: A Journey through Poems and Art. San Francisco: Chronicle.
45. Singer, Marilyn. 2005. Monday on the Mississippi. New York: Henry Holt.
46. Thompson, Holly. 2011. Orchards. New York: Random House.
47. Wassenhove, Sue Van. 2008. The Seldom-Ever-Shady Glades. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills/Wordsong.
48. Wolf, Allan. 2004. New Found Land; Lewis and Clark’s Voyage of Discovery. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
49. Yolen, Jane. 1996. Sacred Places. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.

Meanwhile, head on over to Heidi's place, My Juicy Little Universe, for the Poetry Friday gathering. See you there!