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Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday Roundup, and Some Terse Verse

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Welcome to Poetry Friday. I am really excited (and also slightly nervous) because, for the first time ever, I am hosting the Poetry Friday round up here on my blog.  What does that mean? It means that other poetry enthusiasts from around the blogosphere will drop in here over the course of today and leave their links  at the end of this post. You can then click through on each link and see ALL the poetry goodness on offer.

I mentioned being nervous about hosting (because I do like to do things right, and this is, as I said, my first time). I was also pretty nervous earlier this week, because I had to go to the dentist and get started on a root canal, something I had not been looking forward to, but which was necessary to get me out of the pain I was in.

The dentist was lovely, and tried hard to keep me calm and as comfortable as was possible while he was needling and drilling and prodding and whatever else he was doing. Me? I decided I would keep my mind busy with thoughts of anything other than what was happening in my mouth.

Maybe I could count backwards from a hundred?  Nope. I kept losing count.

Maybe I could recite a poem in my head?  Nope. My mind was blank.

Maybe I could make up a poem? Noooope. Actually, yes!    But it would have to be a short one.

Haiku? Limerick? Ooooh. I had it! Terse Verse. Seemed to match both my mood (definitely terse) and the length of my concentration. My mind got very busy very quickly and, before I knew it I had  ideas filling my mind (oooh, there’s a dental play on words), and had (almost) forgotten what the dentist was doing to me.

Almost, because unbeknownst to him, he was inspiring the verses. Afterwards, I couldn’t wait to get home and jot down what I’d come up with. So, here you have it, a series of Terse Verse in honour of my dentist:

To the Dentist Asking Me Questions While He Probes My Mouth

Mmmmfff grmmmmmf

 

To the Dentist Telling Me this is Going to Sting

No Joke, Poke

 

To the Dentist Making My Skull Vibrate With the Drill

Drilling’s Killing!

 

To the Dentist Telling Me I’m Doing Reaaaally Well

Why Cry?

 

To the Dentist Telling Me He’ll See Me Next Week for Another Round of Treatment

Great, mate!

(Insert sarcasm in the first word of that one!)

 

Goes to show you can write poetry about anything, anywhere.  There is a form for every occasion, too.

If you are new to Terse Verse, my efforts might give you the idea – but if not, it’s simple. A Terse Verse has a generally quite long title (sometimes posed as a question), and then uses as few as two rhyming words  to sum up the sentiment, or answer the question. Does it have to be as negative as mine? No And, just to prove that here’s a happier one

To the  Snail I Met on My Morning Walk:

Swell shell!

Have you ever tried to write terse verse? Would love to see what you come up with. In the meantime, if you have a poetry post please share it in the Mr Linky below, and, whether you do or not, click through to see what my Poetry Friday friends are up to.

To My Friends on Poetry Friday

Rhyme time!

 

(All verses copyright Sally Murphy, 2018)

 

Poetry Friday: Back to School

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Here in Australia the long summer holidays are coming to an end, and children and teachers are heading back to the classroom. So, I thought it might be nice to have a school themed post for Poetry Friday. A search through my poetry files found this one, written a few years ago (for the #postitnotepoetry challenge on Twitter), and written at a time when I still had school aged children:

Back to School

Six weeks ago                     Bug

I breathed a sigh

relieved

that school was over for the year.

Today

I sigh once more

relieved the holidays

have ended.

(Copyright Sally Murphy)

This year is the first year in 26 years that I do not have one or more children heading back to school, and so this year my feelings are a bit different. But the feeling  I had every summer when I had school age children was pretty consistent – relieved at the start that the end-of-year scurry was over, and that we would have a break from routine, and time at home, and maybe a holiday somewhere; then, at the end of the holidays, a feeling of relief that we  would all get back into a regular routine again.  Though, if I’m honest, there was another feeling, one that is also here this year: the feeling that time moves just too quickly, and my babies were (are) growing up so fast!

This second one was also written a while back and, I promise, is very tongue-in-cheek,and not autobiographical.

I Hate It!

I hate school!

The kids are mean.

The classroom smells funny.

The lessons are hard

and recess is too noisy

We have to do sport

and the kids laugh

when I drop the ball.

The lunch orders are always cold

or soggy

or both

and the toilets

are leaky

and stinky.

I hate school

and I wish I could stay home

but the principal says

teachers should show up for work.

(Copyright Sally Murphy)

This of course sent me looking to see if I had a more positive poem to share. Surely not all my poems about school are negative? After all, I loved school when I was a child, so much so that I became a teacher and still spend lots of my working life in schools. Luckily, I found this one:

Preschool

We come each dayGnomes

We sing.

We play.

 

We laugh.

We draw.

We laugh some more.

 

We take our turn.

We read.

We learn.

 

We listen.

We read.

We read read read.

 

We have such fun.

We jump.

We run.

 

We clap.

We dance.

And home we prance.

(Copyright Sally Murphy)

Ahhh preschool (or kinder, kindy, or prep, depending where you live!). But what about older kids?  I had to wrack my brains for this, but then I remembered my verse novels and, my friend John (from Toppling) came through with his thoughts:

It’s not great having to head back to school    

after two weeks of holidays

but it’s cool being back with the gang.

Being in a group like ours

is great.

At recess

and lunch

and in class

you always have someone to sit with

or talk to

or just to hang out with.

You always get chosen for a team

during sport

and you have people

who remind you about homework

and notes

and even training after school.

Miss Timms calls us “the gigglers”

because on her first day

we couldn’t stop laughing.

It’s not a cool name

for a group of Year Six boys

but it sounds okay when Miss Timms says it.

(Copyright Sally Murphy)

Here’s to the Miss Timmses of the world, who are going to make kids giggle, and help them learn this year. And here’s to the Johns who can find the good things about school – and here’s too, to the kids, who maybe aren’t looking forward to school. I hope this is the year it gets easier for you! As for me, I’m glad school is going back because soon I will be out visiting schools and spreading a joy of reading and writing. My favourite part of my job!

 

Have a great Friday. The Poetry Friday roundup is being hosted by  Carol at Beyond Literacy Link.

Poetry Bootcamp- and PD By Stealth

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Yesterday, I ran my first two writing workshops for 2018, presenting poetry writing boot camps as part of the City of Bunbury libraries school holidays program.

Characters come alive on the streets of Bunbury

I had a lot of fun using photos of some of Bunbury’s amazing street art as picture prompts to create poems.

Apart from the wonderful chance to meet and share with enthusiastic young writers, another thing that delighted me was that two teachers – one at each session –  told me that they would be trying similar activities with their own classes when school goes back.

Hooray! Teacher PD by stealth! And on their holidays.

Which of course made me think of how much I love visiting schools (which I posted about last week), and how, having an author visit your classroom might not just motivate students to read and write, but can also act as a form of professional development for the teacher, demonstrating new ways of teaching writing, which is an area lots of teachers say they find challenging – something, as a teacher myself, I completely understand.

So, if you are wanting and extra reason to justify having an author visit your school or classroom, think of it as meeting PD requirements. And, if you’d like, you can add an after-school PD session to the program!

If you’d like me to visit in 2018, you can contact me here.

Poetry Friday: Three Poems from the Beach

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It’s summer in my part of the world but most of my Poetry Friday friends are in the northern hemisphere,and so in the midst of winter. Last Friday there was a plethora of posts filled with snow and ice so, when I sat down to prepare my post for today, I thought it might be nice to warm my northern friends with some summer pictures and some poems from the beach.

This first one was written in January last year, and posted on the Poetry Tag blog I share with my friend Rebecca. In Poetry Tag we take turns challenging each other to write a poem incorporating whichever words we choose.Rebecca gave me: lazy, myself, print,  thousand and smell. At the time I was in the midst of a lazy summer, so that first word took me straight to the beach.

Summertime

On the beach   

I’m feeling lazy

Smell of sunscreen

Fills the air.

 

A thousand bushflies

Drive me crazy

As I make  my way

Down there.

 

I plunge myself

In cooling ocean

Feel inertia

Wash away.

 

Flies have vanished

No devotion

To watery fun

They’d rather stay

 

Beachside where they’ll

Leave their print

On backs of sunsoaked

Sandbound teens

 

Who’ve left the water

For a stint

Of games, or food,

Or magazines.

(Copyright Sally Murphy)

This next poem is new. I liked playing with short lines for the Flourish poem I shared last Friday,  so wanted to experiment with it again for this week’s topic. It seemed to fit with the playfulness  of a day at the beach.

At the Beach

 

There’s sand

and shells

and salty

smells

 

There’s water

too

so much

to do

 

Like splish

and splosh

swim

and wash

 

Build castles

moats

frolic

float

 

Throw balls

and play

stay

all day

 

Then say

goodbye

with happy

sigh.

(Copyright Sally Murphy)

This third poem is one I’ve shared before. I like it because it captures one of my favourite things to do at the beach- simply walk, with my toes in the water. I’m hoping to make some more poem videos this year,since it’s been a while since I made one.

I hope, Northern hemisphere friends, that all this beachyness  makes you warm rather than envious. I’m sending you as much virtual warmth as I can muster.

 

Today’s Poetry Friday roundup is hosted by  Jan at Bookseed Studio.

Poetry Friday: Things to Do in 2018

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Things to Do in 2018

Flourish

Nourish

 

Thrive

Strive

 

Know

Grow

 

See

Be.

 

(Copyright Sally Murphy 2018)

As I mentioned earlier in the week, my focus word (or is it a guidance word?) for 2018, is Flourish. I want to flourish this year, and I want to help others flourish, and I want to do things with a flourish. So, what better way to start my Poetry Friday posts, than with a poem and a post about flourishing.

Interestingly, my first every Poetry Friday Post, three years ago was  a New Year post. Since I wrote that , I have been a regular part of Poetry Friday but not always consistent. Like many members, I have come and gone. Life has got in the way sometimes – so some of those periods of absence, I was busy flourishing, busy with career stuff. Other times, life was hard, and finding time for blogging took a back seat. But every time I got back to Friday posts, there were people there welcoming me back – commenting on my posts, or sharing wonderful things on their own blogs. And each time I’ve realised that I’m part of something big, a flourishing community of poets from around the world.

One special thing that the Poetry Friday community does is to organise poetry swaps. In these, participants are given a name (or two) and asked to send a poem to that person, via snail mail. My comings and goings have meant that I’ve never participated – I always seem to have missed the call outs.

Until the most recent two. At last, at the end of last year, I took part in the Winter Poem Swap. Of course, it isn’t winter in my part of the world, but that didn’t worry me. I duly sent a Christmas themed package off to my recipient, Keri, with a poem about the very fact that she was in cold and snow and I wasn’t, and some other goodies.  And then – hooray! – I received a package of my own, from the wonderful Irene Latham.

Here’s a picture of what was in the package:

The thought Irene had put into the package made me teary. She used my new profile picture as an inspiration for the poem:

Kaleidoscope Poem

(for Sally)

with a simple twist

of syllables

 

a new world

twirls into focus,

 

sets hearts a-whirl

in a blur

 

of ever-changing

light.

 

(Copyright Irene Latham)

 

Isn’t that awesome? The significance of the pouch is also special. Irene had read my posts about ‘old’ poems and poem-hoarding (which so many in the poetry Friday community related to), so she sent me a pocket in which to hoard my poems. I plan to fill it with tiny poems, starting with the poem-stone. I also plan to fill the notebook with poems, of course!

Thanks so much Irene. This is why I am part of the Poetry Friday community – not for the gifts, but for the friendships which flourish!  I have the gift on my desk and every time I see it, I am reminded of the magic way that poetry brings us together.

The second exchange which I’m participating in is the New Year Postcard exchange. This time, it’s a poetry postcard. I wrote my ten cards on New Year’s Day, and they’ve been sent off across the seas (or the skies, really, since that’s how they’ll travel), connecting me with ten other Poetry Friday members again through poetry.  And, as cards start to arrive in my mail box (I’m watching it eagerly!), I’ll be reminded again that friendships flourish through poetry.

So, I look forward to being a more regular contributor to Poetry Friday this year (I’ll even be hosting the round up for the first time in February). It’s become an important part of my identity as a children’s poet – and, though I’ve only ever met two of the other members in person (yes, there are two other Aussies!) – it’s the friendships that make it so special.

I hope you’ll flourish with me in 2018. Happy New Year!  For more Poetry goodness, check out the other Poetry Friday posts. This week’s round-up is at Reading to the Core, where, coincidentally, Irene’s new book is also featured.

 

 

 

 

Poetry Friday: The Jetty Three Ways

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Taking a break from my Christmassy poetry to  revisit as place which seems to be growing ever more a part of my life: the Busselton Jetty, a mile long jetty about half an hour from  where I live.

Anyway, I have lost count of the number of times I have walked on the jetty – either part way or the whole way, and last year I did it several times, and wrote this poem, which I’ve shared here before:

Earlier this year I met a long-term goal and, rather than walking along the jetty, I swam the whole way around it, in the annual Jetty Swim. And, yes, I posted about the experience here, too, with this poem:

The weather was grey

The ocean was choppy

It rolled and it swayed

But I’d planned for so long

For this one special day

When the starter said ‘go’

I was off and away.

AND
I did it I did it

I swam all the way

I did it I did it

So hip hip hooray!

I’m currently in training to do the swim again in February – though I am hoping it will be a slightly flatter sea.

Speaking of training, there is a third way to traverse the jetty: a little train which runs the length of the jetty. It’s slow, and although it looks fun, I’ve never done it before. But yesterday, I righted that wrong and finally travelled on the little red train, taking my mother with me As well as the train ride I had another new experience: under the jetty, at the end, is an observatory. It’s one of only a few underwater observatories in the world and is unique because it there are no captive or introduced fish. All the sea life you can see is there because it lives there.

SO, the thing is, although I’d walked along the jetty and I’d swum around the jetty, not only had I never ridden the train along the jetty, but I’d also never visited the observatory. I’d always intended to, but hadn’t got there – in part because I am a bit claustrophobic and wasn’t sure how I would feel. But my mum, who lives nearby , and had  visited once before when it was new, really wanted to go again. So we had a mother-daughter date, and we went and it was amazing. See – mums really do know best!

And, of course, there’s a poem:

Under the Sea

I’m under the sea

And I can see

Schools of fishes swimming by me.

 

I’m under the sea

And I can see

A lone diver waving at me!

 

I’m under the sea

And I can see

Both fish and diver are wetter than me!

(Poem Copyright Sally Murphy)

The diver was a bit of a surprise. And, when he realised we could see him, he put on a bit of a show for us.

I couldn’t figure out how to work the lovely coral and algae growing on the jetty pylons into the poem, but here’s a little peek. 

Have a great poetry Friday. The round up today is being hosted over at Random Noodling. Head over there for more poetry goodies.