Friday, January 10, 2014

Poetry Friday: Ramona and Billy Collins


Ramona started a new poetry program for herself this semester. She came to me on Sunday, with a homemade dry-erase board* (which is so pretty that I want her to make one for me!) and this is what it said:


She gave me the instructions for her assignment (or is it my assignment?): 

I am to choose one poem per day, and write the title on the board. I can tell her, generally, where in the house she might find the book, but then she has to hunt it down, read the poem, and then we will discuss it. 

Okay. So. It started off well. I chose a poem for her for Monday. Billy Collins. Nice start, eh? But then she was hit with her Cold-n-Cough 2.0, and the rest of the week went a little downhill from there. (Technically, we were "starting school" this week, but you know how that can go during cold/flu season....) 

Anyway, I promise to do better next week, once Ramona is better, and I'm better (I seem to have picked up her sore throat, which is not the best timing, given that I have a two-hour, live radio interview tomorrow.) But in the meantime, here is the first pick for Ramona's new poetry program. This is from Billy Collins's  Sailing Alone Around the Room

Snow
by Billy Collins 

I cannot help noticing how this slow Monk solo 
seems to go somehow
with the snow
that is coming down this morning, 

how the notes and the spaces accompany 
its easy falling 

(I can't find the poem in its entirety online, so just click through to the link, click "Look Inside" and enter "snow" in the search box. It's on page 105.) 

The Poetry Friday round up today is at Mainely Write

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*Ramona is cursed to have me for a mom. She is so crafty and artistic, so busy creating something new all the time, that it's hard to believe she is my flesh and blood. But I remember those nine months of carrying her, so I'm quite sure she's mine, and that makes her the living proof (one of three incredible living proofs) that I, too, can create something extraordinary.

8 comments:

jama said...

What a wonderful project! And yes, a great first choice. One can never have too many Collins poems.

Hope both of you feel better soon so you can have many wild, stirring poetry discussions. Happy New Year to all!

tanita✿davis said...

"... and that makes her the living proof (one of three incredible living proofs) that I, too, can create something extraordinary."

Best. Compliment. Ever.

Also, I love how she comes up with her own assignments. Hello, self-directed learning. The best kind.

Tricia said...

What a fabulous idea for sharing poetry! I'm imagining now what this might look like in the classroom ... perhaps a regular poetry scavenger hunt would be fun.

Thanks for sharing!

Cathy said...

How sweet! I love Billy Collins and was thrilled to find a piece of one of his poems here when I stopped by.

Cathy

Melanie Bettinelli said...

I approve of Ramona's project. Sounds like she and I are on the same page at the beginning of the year. :)

Also , I just read the Wallace Stevens chapter in your book and it's haunting me-- in a good way.

Mary Lee said...

I agree with Tricia!

I'm also wondering if she gets to track down the music that's referenced and listen to it while reading the poem?!?!

Donna Smith said...

I love the idea of a poetry scavenger hunt. Such a creative daughter! I'm hopefully nearing the end of the dreadful cough-dizzy-outofit-headachy-nauseous-stupid sickness. Hope you both get rid of it pronto so you can get back to the hunt!

Karen Edmisten said...

Thanks, everyone -- I need to post a follow-up about the scavenger hunt, and Mary Lee, yes, we listened to the music! :)