Poetry Wednesday, Vol. 65

Thank you to all the different ladies who have posted for Poetry Wednesday! We had quite a few last week. I look forward to seeing what people choose each week. I love all the different voices.

I have been making an attempt to guide my children's reading. If left to her own devices, Elia would read nothing but bad fairy books and graphic novels. The graphic novels I can get behind, but insipid fairies? It's not as if she's reading the Violet Fairy Book or the Red Fairy Book, or even Grimm's Fairy Tales; she's reading Trixie the Halloween Fairy and Iridessa Gets Caught! and all those really bad books that all little girls love right now. I believe Claire already wrote about this, but, Vidia? Iridessa? what kind of names are those? So Elia is reading two books of my choice a month - a medal winner and a biography. And whatever we are reading together and for school. Please tell me, though, how a little girl who can keep straight all the names and stupid plot lines for rotten writing in the fairy books (am I coming on too strong? because those books ARE bad writing), cannot remember what happened in Skylark?

I'm also choosing some reading for the Josie girl. She needs to read aloud a bit more than her sister does right now, so we are practicing with poems. I found a book of poems for two voices and it has been fun. There are two columns, one person reads the right and one person the left. When both readers have lines on the same horizontal level, they read them simultaneously. (This post is being amended to add that I could not figure out how to make two columns on Blogger ARGH! So one person reads the bold and one person reads the normal, when they do not share a line, the readers will read alone rather than together. How's that for ruining something which could have been fun and a lot more simple? Frustrating.) Once we got the hang of it, it was a lot of fun! We read a poem about mayflies and their 24 our life span which prompted all kinds of questions I was unprepared to answer. Why do they only live one day? Why can't they live two days? Why would God make them that way? Why do some things glorify God? Why can't they glorify God by living longer? Why do mosquitoes live longer when they are so bad? Why......? So many answers I did not have! I thought I was good with pointing out that God made them for his glory, but that answer only opened a whole bunch of other questions. Never one for easy answers, my Josie.

I will spare you the mayfly poem and go for something more fun. So find yourself a fellow reader and try it out.

Water Striders
from Joyful Noise
by Paul Fleischman

Whenever we're asked Whenever we're asked

if we walk upon water if we walk upon water
we answer we answer
Of course.
To be sure.
It's quite true.
Whenever we're asked Whenever we're asked
if we walk on it often if we walk on it often
we answer we answer
Quite often.
Each day.
All day through.
Should we be questioned Should we be questioned
on whether it's easy on whether it's easy
we answer we answer
Quite easy.
A snap.
It's a cinch.
Should we be told Should we be told
that it's surely a miracle that it's surely a miracle
we reply we reply
Balderdash!
Rubbish!
Nonsense!
Whenever we're asked Whenever we're asked
for instructions for instructions
we always say we always say
Come to the pond's edge
and do as we do.
Put down one foot
and then put down another,
resting upon the thin film
on the surface
Believe me, there's no call
at all to be nervous
as long as you're reasonably
mindful that you -
But by that time our student But by that time our student
no matter how prudent
has usually has usually
don't ask me why
sunk from view. sunk from view.