sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Poetry
  • Hire Me
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Poetry Friday: Winter is Here

June 3, 2022 by Sally

It’s Poetry Friday and it’s also, here in Australia, the first Friday of Winter. And boy have I been complaining about winter. I really do not like being cold. Or wet. (Unless it’s the kind of wet that comes from swimming and visiting my fishy friends, or standing under a hot shower).

I have been trying to practice gratitude and remember the good things about winter:

  1. It does not last for the whole year.
  2. It brings rain, and we need rain for life.
  3. It is part of the great cycle of life.
  4. Coats and boots. I do like wearing warm coats and nice boots.

In the midst of shivering and whinging, I had an email from the convenor of a  poetry workshop I gave last week which was a wonderful, warm opportunity to share my love of poetry with passionate literacy educators on the other side of Australia. In her email, she shared  of her favourite childhood poems. And suddenly I was warm right though – because it was an old favourite I had completely forgotten.

And, since it’s a winter poem, it’s an apt one to share today.

The Elf and The Dormouse 

by Oliver Herford

Under a toadstool crept a wee Elf,
Out of the rain to shelter himself.

Under the toadstool, sound asleep,
Sat a big Dormouse all in a heap.

Trembled the wee Elf, frightened and yet
Fearing to fly away lest he get wet.

To the next shelter—maybe a mile!
Sudden the wee Elf smiled a wee smile.

Tugged till the toadstool toppled in two.
Holding it over him, gaily he flew.

Soon he was safe home, dry as could be.
Soon woke the Dormouse—”Good gracious me!

“Where is my toadstool?” loud he lamented.
—And that’s how umbrellas first were invented.

Written in  1894, this is still such a lovely poem.  I’m glad my new friend reminded me of its existence.

Now I’m off to warm my heart a little more, by dropping in my Poetry Friday friends. Today’s round up is hosted by Karen , who, funnily enough, is excited about summer!

Poetry Friday: Stairs

May 20, 2022 by Sally

This week on a car trip I listened to the audiobook of Winnie the Pooh and laughed anew at the stories I loved as a child. I especially always love that Pooh is a poet, and makes up poems when he’s feeling sad, or glad, or just because. They are often nonsensical but always fun to repeat.

This lead me, in turn, to pick up my copies of A.A. Milne’s poetry books and revisit them. I was home alone and found myself reading them aloud, because that is what I felt like doing (As an aside, being home alone can be just fabulous for thing like reading!).

And I came back to how much I love many of those poems, but always always this one:

Halfway Down

Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where I sit.
there isn’t any
other stair
quite like
it.

(you can read the rest of the poem, which is copyright,  here)

Why this poem? I think because, growing up, we had a big staircase and those stairs were the scene of a lot of games. I grew up in a country hotel and we lived upstairs while my parents ran their business downstairs. the stairs were not grand, but to a child they were exciting, and adventurous, and I spent many hours trying to master jumping to skip more than the bottom three, or to slide down the bannister (sorry Mum). But also, just sitting on the stairs, reading, or waiting for Mum, or dreaming.

So, it seemed this poem was written just for little me. And when I read it now I still get the tingle of rightness of this being for me, about me. Do you have a poem from your own childhood that does this – or, like me, more than one such poem?

I am pretty sure I have shared this clip before, but what’s not love about Robin the Frog sharing my favourite poem?

 

These days I don’t love stairs so much, but on my beach walks, I do need to climb down (and then, of course, back up)these amazing stairs.Photobombing dragonfly

And now I’m off to find more poetry that makes me smile, because it’s Poetry Friday, hosted today by Carmela at Teaching Authors.

 

Poetry Friday: The Science of Poetry

May 6, 2022 by Sally

Last week’s post was a bit of a passionate rant about how important it is to share poetry, and to do so in ways that are pleasurable.

All week I have been wondering why I didn’t mention a little piece of research that I came across during my doctoral studies and which I often cite. So, here it is: reading poetry does magic stuff to your brain that reading prose doesn’t.   In short, a study using fMri (a brain scan technology) found that when participants read their favourite poetry the parts of their brain related to memory and physical reaction (like shivers down the spine) were activated. For a better explanation, you can see this news report here or, if you want the more detailed scientific paper, you can search an academic library  for the full article by Zeman, Milton, Smith and Rylance (abstract here) .

 

I love it when science proves what we poetry lovers already know – that poetry is a whole body, whole self activity. Because while we don’t need scientific proof, that evidence is great for sharing with poetry doubters.

And, while I must confess that I have not written a poem of my own this week, I figure this is a good time to share a poem which definitely gives me all the feelings.

A Quoi Bon Dire

Beautiful Sa Pa.

by Charlotte Mew

Seventeen years ago you said
Something that sounded like Good-bye;
And everybody thinks that you are dead,
But I.

So I, as I grow stiff and cold
To this and that say Good-bye too;
And everybody sees that I am old
But you.

And one fine morning in a sunny lane
Some boy and girl will meet and kiss and swear
That nobody can love their way again
While over there
You will have smiled, I shall have tossed your hair.

 

Why this poem? It is  a little sad, but, for me, it warms my heart with its observations (even celebration)  of love, and how we can hold that love long after someone has left our lives. It may be a romantic love, but in my case, this week marks anniversaries of two losses – my sister and my father – and it doesn’t matter that are gone six years and one year respectively – I love them just as much now as I did when I could see them.

I’m off to read more poetry and more thoughts about poetry because today is Poetry Friday. The roundup is being hosted Jama  So if you want to activate your  brain, head over there and do some reading of your own:)

 

Poetry Friday: Some thoughts on poetry

April 29, 2022 by Sally

In my dayjob as a lecturer in literacy and education,  the two key messages I constantly try to impart to these future teachers is that if you are going to teach reading, you need to be a reader yourself and if you are going to teach writing, you need to be a writer. Sometimes I think my students get sick of me repeating these messages, but I also try to model what that looks like in every class, by reading to and with my students, and writing with them too.

The unit I am teaching this Semester is an elective called Creative Literacies, and it is all about teaching literacy, and the subject English, in creative ways and to develop creativity in students.  Each week we look at different aspects of the curriculum – reading, writing, nonfiction, visual arts and more. But this week’s topic is my favourite one: Poetry.

I love teaching this class – although one two hour block seems to go past sooooo quickly. It’s less of a lecture and more of impassioned call to action, beginning with an explanation to my students of my own love of poetry and how that love was almost quashed by high school English and the dreaded exercises in Practical Criticism (or Prac. Crit. as they were always called).

If you are not familiar with a prac. crit, don’t worry. What this involved was being given an unseen poem, and then having to write an essay about it. That was pretty much the guidance I remember receiving. And I had no idea how to do it. I was, apparently, required to read the poem, see past the words to all the hidden layers and then write eloquently about what it meant and how the poem imparted that meaning.

I remember feeling dumb.

Every

single

time.

It seemed my classmates could see those layers. But I just felt dread. Was I getting the ‘right’ meaning? And was this meaning imparted through iambic pentameter? Trochaic something-or-other?

Amazingly, I managed to pass English Literature in my final year 12 exams, but it was my worst subject. Luckily I also took regular English, and that was my best. And somehow, in spite of that experience, I still loved poetry – just not in the classroom. And ended up studying literature at university and, eventually, completed a PhdD focussing on children’s poetry – though there was not a prac. crit. in sight. [Side note: On my very first teaching practice as a student teacher, an English teacher called Ron taught his students how to write a prac. crit. It was the first time I had heard it explained in a way I understood. And I have never forgotten that lesson – and I used his method to teach my own students for many years In fact, if I do say so myself, I could write a pretty mean prac. crit these days, if I wanted to. Which I don’t.]

Anyway, back to this week’s class. As well as telling my own poetry journey as an introduction, we spent our class looking at brilliant examples of poetry, including verse novels, some simple writing exercises and lots of talk about poetry. By the end of the class I could see that my students were enthused about poetry – partly because of the class, and partly because they are bright individuals who already have deep interests in reading and writing which will make them fine teachers.

If you are reading this and are a teacher, or future teacher, this is the takeaway I want to offer:

  1. Don’t be scared of poetry. If the layers are too obscure, it’s the wrong poem.
  2. There is no right answer for any poem – and, in writing, no right answer in form either.
  3. Use more poetry in your classroom! It doesn’t have to be siloed into a two week unit at the end of term 2. It can be a daily offering – present in your class library, adorning the walls of your room, written and read alongside any other form. And if you are stuck for ideas, hit me up!

I’m going to finish with a poem (of course), not freshly written, but which seems apt to share today.

Now I’m off to enjoy more poetry because it’s Poetry Friday! The round up is over at Jone’s blog. There is always plenty of poetry goodness on offer – and no one expects a prac. crit. to be written afterwards 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Poetry Friday: 500 Perfect Words

April 22, 2022 by Sally

I’ve been head down working on a verse novel, having set myself  a goal of finishing the current draft by the end of the month.  I love the feeling of knowing it’s almost there after a lot of struggle to bring together three different voices to highlight a little piece of history I feel is important.

This week, though, I found time to browse in my local bookshop and felt compelled to pick up a little red book called 500 Beautiful Words You Should Know.

I guess it’s no surprise that I was attracted to a book about words, but it surprised me how much I straight away wanted to read the book, cover to cover. It’s clever. each word is accompanied by a paragraph or two with a definition, discussion of its origins and examples of usage. this could be quite dry and dull, but it’s done in a way I  find entertaining. And the words themselves are delightful, thought provoking and/or amusing ranging from quite common words to ones less known.

At home I was inspired to see if I could work some of these words into my poetry but, when my notebook came out, I found myself instead challenged to use the words as titles. Could I write poems each using one of these words as the title, and the poem itself inspired by its meaning? I’m trying not to simply define the words, but to think a little outside the box.  I’m not sure I’ll write 500 of these little poetic snippets, but I’m having fun with the prompt and the challenge, dipping in to the book until I find a word that inspires me and then writing a short response. Here’s my first  three.

 

Accost

How could you? I ask

How dare you?

But the person

in the mirror

does not reply.

How can I?

(Sally Murphy, 2022)

 

Imprimatur

Mwah!

Sloppy toddler kiss

gives approval

for Granny’s baking.

(Sally Murphy, 2022)

 

And lastly, this one, inspired by  my recent desire to write about  jellyfish. The video that follows (which I have shared here before) might help explain the poem.

Bagatelle

Drifting

above sandy floors

and rocky shallows

at first you seem

just a  blob of jelly

but then you twist

and tiny party lights

show your hidden talents.

(Sally Murphy, 2022)

 

I’m off to get that novel draft finished, but there’ll be some more writing inspired by 500 Beautiful Words in my near future. I’m also ready to check out the Poetry Friday Roundup. You’ll find it here.

Poetry Friday: A Definition

April 1, 2022 by Sally

It’s Poetry Friday and it’s also April 1, which means it’s the start of National Poetry Month (NPM) in the United States. Here in Australia, our Poetry Month is in August – but I choose to think that EVERY month should be poetry month, so I am going to celebrate in April AND August, as many other months as I can – even Octember!

I thought I might start the month by considering what poetry is. Having completed a Doctorate in children’s poetry, it is probably surprising that I find it hard to give a simple answer tot his question. But, if youlvoe poetry, you’ll understand: poetry is different things to different people.

So, for me, I find it easiest to define by using a poem. I have given this definition in workshops and classrooms for quite some time – and was delighted to then be able to include it in my book Teaching Poetry for Pleasure and Purpose last year. And now, here I am sharing it with you to celebrate  NPM.

 

A Poem

(by Sally Murphy)

A poem

is a whole lot of words

a plethora of words

a smattering, a scattering

a shattering of words

thrown on a page

in carefully created

chaos

to make you wonder.

 

It’s not a definite answer – but the best poems aren’t – they leave you with something to ponder – maybe a depth of feeling, maybe a sense of joy, or maybe even just a giggle.

I’m off to wonder at the other offerings for Poetry Friday. The roundup is being hosted by Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 29
  • Next Page »

Copyright Sally Murphy © 2022