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I get the Speaking of Faith email newsletter delivered to me, and I saw this and almost posted about him. I'm so glad you did. I think SOF is amazing in its range and respect and thoughtfulness about matters of faith.

I couldn't get the link to work to read the poem, and it's just as well. I listened to it, and oh, it was lovely and beautiful and (oddly) made me feel loved.

Love, sadness, blessing...so very Irish and so beautiful. Not only is his poem beautiful, but his reading of the poem is full of love. Thank you.

I couldn't get the link to work either, but I'm so intrigued. I'll have to go listen to it. Thanks for introducing us to O'Donohue!

Love the poem and his voice! As Tadmack said, it made me feel loved and safe to be wrapped in those warm words. Thanks so much.

OK now I fixed the link. Thanks for telling me! Isn't his voice just lovely and dear?And so may a slowwind work these wordsof love around you,an invisible cloakto mind your life."Indeed!

That is one lovely poem. All the references to color help me imagine the way it must have jumped out of the radio and grabbed you as a photographer, too. Your photos always make me want to rub my eyes and look a little more closely at the world around me.

Does anybody feel like there are just angels spreading uplift through Poetry Friday today?

I was going to say "How poetic" - but it is a poem after all. That kind of goes with the territory. Great post!

What a lovely poem. I felt the invisible cloak...And so may a slowwind work these wordsof love around you,an invisible cloakto mind your life.

I will pass this blessing along to my mother.

This is stunning. Thanks for sharing, Andi.

Thank you so much for this fascinating and inspiring post! Both sonnets were so far-reaching and magnificent. Like you said, the collection is a must-read.

You probably know I adored this book. It was so powerful, and such excellent use of language and form. I also highly recommend Nelson's earlier book, A Wreath for Emmett Till, which may be too intense for some 5th graders, but is a remarkable accomplishment (both historically and poetically).

I'd heard of this title, and wondered what it was really about. OH. WOW. Now, I MUST find a copy. Immediately. Thank you so much.

I want to get this for my 7th grader, too. Thanks for the review!

My favorite part: "An uneducated mind is a clenched fistthat can open, like a bud, into a flowerwhose being reaches, every waking hour,and who sleeps a fragrant dream of gratitude."Beautiful. This is a full and rich post... Thank you.

"As if the Ancestors aren't tickled to death to seea child they lived toward find her mind's infinity."I did what you told me to do -- this book is on my "must buy" list!

Mary Lee and writer2b you've pulled out my favorite sections. I wanted to bold those lines and resisted in order to let the reader find them. Thank you all for commenting!

I wish we were where you are today. William's been wishing for snow all winter. We have a two hour delay today for freezing rain, but no snow. Alas, I think he'll miss that experience this year.

Cloudscome,I think your snow may be heading my way. We're supposed to get a storm later this morning.That's quite a poem. I'm a cat lover. Fortunately, she doesn't breathe in my face--but she purrs so loudly she sometimes wakes my husband in the middle of the night.

Oh, that's a funny phrase, "eat fat and watch hockey." It could almost be a curse!!!Happy Snow Day, you lucky duck.

I forwarded this poem on to my sister, who gets woken by her cat every morning. It's superb Atwood, in my opinion--direct and brilliant and funny and leaves you thinking.

This cat is a lot like ours! The breath...so true!We've got a snow/ice day today, too! Huzzah for the small rewards of teaching!

What a fine poem! And the perfect photo to go along with it. Thanks.

We had a snow storm yesterday, too. Hope you had fun playing in the snow!

Yeah to snow days! I wanted to ask if it's okay to have your wrung sponge on my blogroll? It's there right now- I should have asked you first. Sorry!JoyP.S. What about your other blog, the Wordpress one, not your photo one? I didn't know if I could add that one too? Let me know here or on my blog, if possible. Thanks!! :-)

*Big Sigh*He gets me where I live. Thanks for spreading the love!

I think I'm going to use that title phrase as much as possible in my daily life. :)

I love e. e. cummings, but for love poems I prefer Pablo Neruda.

I'm noticing that the M&M's are half full... or are they half empty? I think this is an optimist's poem, thus they're half full.ps - We were enjoying our conversation on race and writing - you've engendered some really great comments. Pop back in sometime?

Ain't it the truth.We had "i carry your heart" read in our wedding. Makes me all gushy just thinking about it...

tadmack - I am heading over there right now. Sorry I have been out to lunch. The m&ms were half full when I snapped the picture. Of course they disappeared too quickly!

Though we have far too much chocolate in the house, your photo identifies that elusive something missing... How have we made it without the Valentine m&m's?Thanks for this bit of e.e. cummings extravagance.

e.e. cummings is the "bomb" (as my 6th graders would say). He is the ultimate love poet.

Cloudscome,That's a great love poem. I wonder if anyone has ever written a poem about loving someone as much as chocolate! Now that would be a poem I could bite into!

Thanks for the link to the poem. I have a meme at my blog and I tagged you. :)

Ohhh, me too, me too. Batter My Heart was the title of some romantic tripe I read in high school, and I actually looked up the sonnet -- and was much more taken with that. This is lovely.

I have never, ever read that before, and it has left me with tears in my eyes.

Wow. Those opening four lines--whew!

Sorry this didn't show up in my original links. I'm not sure what happened. I know it's late, but I've remedied it now.

Wanted to thank you for the mentioning of the book "Three Cups of Tea" I went out to finish Christmas shopping and bought it for myself to read. Couldn't put it down. Thank you for mentioning it, reading it changed a lot of the misconceptions that I had and made me feel as if something positive could happen. Sarah

This is one of those poems you have to read over and over again, aloud, etc., to get the full impact. Lots to fit into my head. Thanks for sharing it.

i am really enjoying your blog.. and your pairings of poetry with images. clear and beautiful

Brrr! The best I could manage this week was a six foot scarf... six pairs of socks, with those puddles, looks like quite a good idea.This really does evoke the same feelings of the Frost poem. Well done!

Lovely!And now I'm reminded of that single sock I've started 5 times now.

My daughter proudly finished knitting her first sock yesterday. She made me put it on my foot to try it out. I like the way you used Frost's words, but you made them your own. There is a pleasing spareness about it, and a touch of humor too. Well done, knitting this poem together!

Very nice! Love the "woods cuddled up along the lake."Perfect photo, too!

Cloudscome,Love the photograph! Ditto what Jama said. I also like the part about knitting "furiously for six pairs of familiar feet."Happy Holidays to you and your family!!!

Very nice poem. The silence of a solitary farmhouse must be wonderful to someone with 6 pairs of feet to knit for! Thanks for sharing this.

I'll echo Jama's thoughts about "woods cuddled up" being a great line.

What lingers with me is the intimacy you create in the last couplet. The shift from solitary to familiar unit feels good.

This is lovely.

A lovely poem, and your picture is just plain gorgeous.

I love this poem. And the picture is great too! It's what we have around here right now.

Such a sweet, sweet poem, paired with a gorgeous photo. Thanks so much!

That is indeed a very sweet poem, and I'd never read it before, so thanks! But I found myself doing some hard thinking to convince myself that this was a live Christmas tree, that would be sweetly planted afterwards. Otherwise think of the horror and despair when little tree finds herself out on the curb !:)

LOVE that poem. Always have. And what a perfect picture. Thanks!Jules, 7-Imp

Emily, oh, Emily. :-) Lovely.

I've never read this one before...huh. I thought I knew Emily fairly well. It's lovely--thanks!

I have a copy of Final Harvest, which according to my favorite professor, is one of the best compliations of her work. It took taking a course with him to fully appreciate her work. Thanks for sharing this.

I thought I knew my Dickinson pretty well, too, and have never run across this. No dashes, even! Huh!The sun begins to set here at 3:30, and honestly -- some of the most gorgeous afternoon-y sunsets ever. Enjoy!

a lovely sunset with the tree

Again, such a lovely pairing of a photo with a poem. Next time I see a sunset, I'm going to be thinking of leopards...

Yes, isn't that a wonderful image of leopards in the sunset? I have a collected works of Emily Dickinson and this is in the "Nature" section. My favorite of hers are mostly about weather and the seasons. There is one dash, at the end of the second to last line... it seems a bit odd to have it with a comma but that's the way it's printed.

Gosh, this is exquisite. I've never read this!! Thank you, thank you...

Very nice indeed.

Beautiful. Make me wanna get up to greet the sun.

I love this! Thanks for introducing me to a new poet.

Love it! Thanks for the link to Taylor Mali. Reading his mission statement gave me goosebumps and made my heart race. Definitely will be back to read more at his site. Peace,z

That is wonderful! Thanks.

Who can teach when there are such lessons to be learned...

Ooh, this is just devastatingly beautiful. It is true -- so true -- that the best teaching comes through the air, from things outside, and I share his wish to teach like the first snow. That was really beautiful, thank you so much for sharing a new poet!

I second the "devastatingly beautiful!" Thanks so much for introducing me to this wonderful poet!

I had no idea where he was going with this poem at first---I was too busy ogling that dangling piano, just like his class! This was great, and I love it that you shared someone new.

That is wonderful. "Chopin-shiny." Wish I'd thought of that.Cool.Susan T.Chicken Spaghetti

Such a great poem! Thank you!

This is too funny. I have Taylor Mali for my Poetry Friday post, too! He's awesome.

Oh my. I am so happy for the introduction. I particularly loved "like classical music'sbirthday gift to the insane". So wonderful.

The best part of "Poetry Friday" is meeting new poets. Thank you for this one!Lisa

Heh. I never lived where there was snow, but my library books had similar fates in banks of pine needles and in sandboxes... you just set them down for that one crucial second you need to kick someone... *sigh* Good times.

Tadmack: "that one crucial second you need to kick someone . . . " Boy, does that take me back. Not that I'm proud of it, but, well, yeah.Cloudscome: Your poem would totally fit within Sidman's latest book. Whether it makes it as a finalist yet or not (we've not started discussing any of the CYBILS nominees yet), I hope you get a chance to read it if you haven't!

Love the story behind this apology!

I like that poem. I need to pay more attention to Tricia's poetry stretches and try some myself.Now off to read Elaine's interview, too. Thanks for the link!

Oh wait, I see. That's an older interview. Thanks for the link anyway. It's worth a re-read!

Thanks friends. I am really enjoying digging back into childhood memories for poetry fuel. Trisha's stretches are really a lot of fun. Kelly, I am looking forward to reading Sidman's book when we get it in our library!

love it!

What a cool idea for a book...I'll have to look for this one. What we give thanks for also shapes who we are, don't you think?

Thanks for the recommendation. (And thanks for commenting on my blog.) I like your perspective. Exposing our children to different perspectives often takes extra effort, and it's good to find allies to share resources.

That's a lovely poem. You're right about the need for a balanced perspective. Thanks for recommending this book.

Cloudscome,I must own more than twenty books written by Joseph Bruchac--but not the first one mentioned in this post. Joe was the featured speaker at the winter meeting of our reading council in early March. He also came to speak to the students in the children's literature course that I teach. He's such an impressive man. I enjoy his adult books as well as his children's books. Have you read

Love the poem - so simple and pure. We should be giving thanks for these things every day. Thanks too for the great book recommendation - I plan to check it out.

Thank you, Cloudscome. You inspired me to work on my own Thanksgiving post for later this week.

I left this in the Metro Station on Hollywood and Vine.And Death Shall Have No DominionAnd death shall have no dominion.Dead men naked they shall be oneWith the man in the wind and the west moon;When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,They shall have stars at elbow and foot;Though they go mad they shall be sane,Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;Though

Wow Gina that ought to knock everyone's socks off!

Poetry in Place is brilliant...I'll report back! For today, I blogged about the poem I'm trying to memorize, Gerard Manley Hopkins' God's Grandeur. And I podcast for the first time!

Good morning, Andi! Today I wrote a cento using excerpts from Thoreau. I am going to post it today in the gazebo that sits in the middle of the campus lake.

Thanks for sharing this great idea. It sounds fun!I'm in with some Naomi Shihab Nye and some mouth-watering results of a food experiment.

What a great idea! Will figure something out...I'm in today with 15 Words or Less poems (http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/17978.html) and also a mini-review of an un-nominated-for-Cybils poetry collection about guinea pigs (http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/18413.html).Thanks for hosting!

Meet me at the diner! I'm serving up a poem by Richard Jones. Thanks for hosting!!

My poem needs to be posted on the doors leading into every shopping mall and WalMart in America.Yours Truly,The Grinch

I'm in with more kid poetry, this time by me, found in an old scrapbook.

Cloudscome,Thanks for doing the roundup this week. I'm only doing a Poetry Friday post at Blue Rose Girls this week. I've posted three haiku from the book ROBERT'S SNOWFLAKES: ARTISTS' SNOWFLAKES FOR CANCER'S CURE along with some of the 2004 snowflakes that served as inspiration for the poems.

Thanks for doing the round-up this week. I'm in with a little song about writing - by Snoopy - lots of fun all all around.

Thanks for hosting. I'm featuring "book" poems in honor of Children's Book Week coming up next week.

AmoXcalli is in with Dylan Thomas. Thanks for much for hosting and for this great idea.

Good morning! Cuentecitos is in with Pita Amor and some poetry in Spanish. Thanks for hosting.

I'm thinking of the elevator in our building... but the Martha Collins poem I'm using today is so melancholy, I'm not sure it has a place. It's wintry... cold... and perfect for today.This is an interesting idea!

Thanks for hosting!I went looking for one kind of poem and ended up with one from a poet I had never heard of, Guy Wetmore Carryl. Love the idea of poetry in place. I will post mine outside my cubicle at work.

Thanks for rounding up today!I posted on health, happiness and Jane Kenyon...

I'm always on the lookout for great children's poetry! Thanks for the recommendation! I have another fun kids poem at my site today. Enjoy!

Love the Poetry in Place idea. Luke and I will do it sometime this week. We posted a riddle poem this week.

Oh, great idea! I'm thinking of our librarians ....

I'm sitting in a Starbucks and I'm sorely tempted to write a little poem on the wall for Poetry in Place... is it really vandalism if it follows strict poetic structure rules?I'm in with something sad and dark from Denis Johnson. I needed something to balance all those snowflakes!

Hey, Cloudscome. Poetry in Place is an awesome idea. Will test it out tomorrow at the nature center.I'm in with a story and Kristine O'Connell George's poem "Tree Traffic."

Thanks for doing the roundup! My poem is a little song translated from the German that is sung during the lantern walk that takes place around the feast of St. Martin (November 11).

I have "In the Days When the World Was Wide," by Australian poet Henry Lawson.

We're doing a Children's Book Week display, and I love the idea of including some poems as a part of that. Thanks for the idea!I posted about Calef Brown's poetry/art books for kids.

Hi Cloudscome! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I love your beautiful blog and will be back to enjoy it some more!:)

I'm in this week with Guy Fawkes. And a link to something totally silly.

Thanks for doing the round-up!I've got some Emily Dickinson over at PixiePalace: http://www.pixiepalace.com/2007/11/09/poetry-friday-because-i-could-not-stop-for-death/

It's Jane Yolen day!I'll report back on Poetry in Place as well.

I love the idea of Poetry in Place -- it is certainly I'd idea I'm going to keep in my head for use with my students later this year. Our school could use some poetry scattered about. ;)I'm in this week with a poem by Walt Whitman.

While in London recently, I was reading the poems on the Tube thinking there should be more of this - you could have set something going here!I smiled to see your quotation too - it's a frequent refrain in our house...

PS I should add that I've posted on PaperTigers about two poetry picture books - "Tarde de invierno/Winter Afternoon" and "The Outback"

Great photo on your post!I am in with a poem by Longfellow.

Better late than never, I hope, with a poem for Remembrance Day on Sunday.

In such a rush I forgot to say,a) thanks for hostingand b) I have a poster from one of the first years of Poetry in Motion (with the original banner of subway tiles), but I can't for the life of me remember which poem it is, so I'll have to dig it out and check. And perhaps even get it framed and on a wall -- thanks for the reminder!

Ooops, I linked but forgot to comment earlier. Anyway, thanks for hosting. I'm in with an original coffee poem.

Thanks for hosting! I have "The Highwayman" this week. :)

I put a poem about growing carrots in the elevator at our grocery store. I enjoyed my shopping trip much more afterward! Thanks for making my day.

Poetry in Place...what a great idea! Will you email me a reminder to join you on Friday? I can post one on our bulletin board at work!Hey, I wanted to let you know that I've got some free books up for grabs as part of my November Pay It Forward Book Exchange. Stop by if you're interested in a chance to win. :)

Love the public posting idea. We do that now in our library and boards around the agency. Happy to post a poem or two in a public space.Peace,LaTonya

This is a great idea and one I'll think about. I like to put some poetry postcards in books I leave out with Bookcrossing (I see its in your sidebar links so I don't need to explain the concept?)

I am so glad you all are getting into this idea. CGP, I do BookCrossing too so I know what you mean. I love the idea of putting poem postcards in the book. What a special surprise!

I love the public posting idea. I've got to find a good poem now...

I sure hope SOMEONE nominates it. And a few others worthy of mention haven't been mentioned yet, either. Sigh.

I haven't used up my picture book or my poetry nomination -- which would this be???? I haven't read this book yet, but I shall look for it.

I think it would be a poetry nomination. Anyone disagree? I have used my poetry and my picture book slots, but I haven't chosen a fiction book or some of the other categories. It would be great if everyone started more discussion about what HASN'T been mentioned yet, don't you all think? Give us some suggestions of what you wish you could throw in if you've used your votes!

Thanks for the tip on this book. Will have to look for it.

GREAT idea!I don't feel like I know enough about poetry to nominate any book, but I really love Nikki Grimes, and the idea of a cat named Gorilla tickles me. (I want to name a cat Gosling.)

A cat named Gorilla? Who can resist? I've seen a few that really are that big!

Oh, and your poem over at Laura Salas today: I love it. Are you going to post it here, too?I'll be watching to see what the single men I know do with envelopes...

Nikki Grimes is great. I haven't seen this book yet. Thanks for the recommendation.

This book sounds adorable. Is it that the Cecilia with brothers is the narrator Cecilia's imaginary friend? The Cecilia she wants to be? Or is it another real little girl?

Love the kitty rocket!Just put this on reserve at the library. Thanks for the recommendation. I didn't realize this was a poetry collection/cycle. I thought it was prose. Looking forward to reading it.

I just bought this yesterday...so glad someone else loves it as much as I do. Can't wait to share it with my first graders!

Dewey that is a great question. I should have explained it better because it is an underlying theme in the book. There are two Cecilias; one is white and one is Black. They are best friends and shown together in the beginning of the book. The white Cecilia is the one with the brothers. The Black Cecilia is the one who gets the cat named Gorilla, and the center of the story is about her getting to

And Sara, thanks for the praise of that poem I put in the comments at Laura Salas for Friday Poetry. I actually don't like it much myself; I dashed it off in 5 minutes and it is not genuine.

Loved it!Beautiful picture, too!

Oh, LOVELY. I think it is also a Gunilla Norris poem on the picture you gave as a prize for the 48 Hour Challenge -- I really cherish her way of putting peace and reflection into her poetry, and it matches so well with your beautiful garden. Thank you.

What a great way to start my morning. Thanks!

I loved the first stanza and can totally feel the meditative mood. The second stanza, I'm sorry to say, I find a little too sentimental. But that's just me and I'm certainly glad you enjoyed it!

Hey John, we all have our thing, right? I find it refreshing to think about the fruits of the harvest instead of the dying of the leaves this autumn.tadmack, I think that's my own words on the iris picture that was a prize in MoReader's 48 hour book challenge. But boy am I proud to be confused with Gunilla Norris!! :)

Lovely post. You take the most gorgeous photos, by the way!

Cloudscome,That sounds like my kind of book. Thanks for writing about it. I like the photograph you paired with the excerpt from the book.

"the joy of fruiting hums..." mmmmm. I like that so much.

Working with Soil, Attending to Soul. Love that title. Yesterday for me it was Cleaning Up Acorns, Attending to Soul.

Sounds like my kind of book -- I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

How funny!

Thanks for mentioning this. :) My daughter and I just came across Basho (a Magic Tree House book, and then I had Basho and the River Stones) and I was looking for some good haiku for her.

Love the mosquito one. Thanks for sharing this book! It looks great.

This looks great. Is it new or did I just miss it somehow?

It's a 2006 book. We just got it in to our library so I am new to it also.

Jess - Which MTH book is that? I haven't read it but I want to now! :) I like that Basho and the River Stones.