Twenty Poems to go...Minus one-Lunchtime Poetry

Twenty Poems Minus One

Maureen Ucles

I've got twenty poems to go-

minus this one

Can fit the contents

in my pocket

pull of lent

dimes and quarters

left overs

I've got twenty poems or less to do

taking my lunch time

'til I am through 

to get the words down

onto this blog

I've got twenty poems to go-

Maybe tomorrow

I don't know

if I will have time to 

wipe away ten

from my list of 30

I've got twenty poems

'til the end

of April

press send

publish them all on this blog!

Just twenty or less

to do!

No Title

In honor of National Poetry Month, here is one of my newest poems published using Notegraphy.

Pest-Published with Notegraphy

As I was dreaming this morning, I remembered the website Notegraphy. My students have a lot of poetry that they have published in the classroom. I was thinking that the could use the website to publish their poetry and then add it to their blogs. We could even have all their poetry printed and made into a class anthology. Not only that, but you can download the images as a png file. There is so much you can do with this. I could take my poem and upload it to Camtasia or Stupeflix and create a voice narration with it. I could add music too. I really like this website. I will be using it in January with my students. (They could be using it to write their expository pieces as well.)

Poetry Recital

Today I was so inspired by my students. It is not that I am not normally inspired, but today was a tad different. Today was different because my students volunteered to recite my poem called Tip. We studied the structure of poetry and then had some time to recite it aloud in groups. The previous day I showed them some YouTube videos of some rather fascinating young poets at poetry slams. We were amazed. These students in the videos recited their own poetry. Today my students had the opportunity to recite my poetry. This is a precursor to their own poetry slam. They will be crafting their own poetry and then we will have a poetry slam to celebrate. I was so excited to see such enthuisasm for poetry. I was able to share my love of reading and writing poetry. I recorded them and in the next few days, I will be uploading more student recital. It was extra special because they were reciting MY poetry! Wow!

Pennies and Poems

Penny and Poems

by Maureen Ucles

Penny 

for your thoughts

Penny 

for a poem?

Not!

I'd expect 

 more

lots more

Poems take time

to think

simmer

compose

lots of thought

writing down the bones

considering

you

the reader

my audience

More and more

thought

What have I wrought?

Words on a line

taking up space

my spare time

for whom?

The bell tolls 

for me

you

and 

others

Penny for my thoughts?

Inflation

Cost of living

insurance

set the score

broke

poor

need a little 

more

Poems for a penny?

priceless entities

hearing

rhythm

message

words and more words

 just write

bring together

very tight

revision decisions

decisions for revisions

for you

Pennies for my thoughts?

Sounds better

Rings true

Working on it

Moving

Deleting

Repeating

Making it 

right

 exposing thoughts

ideas

feelings

not pennies

just for...

 you

Poema del dia-Dolor de mi cabeza

Poema del dia-Dolor de mi cabeza

Dolor de mi cabeza
por Maureen Ucles

Ayer yo me senti
bien, bien, bien
en la mananita

Trabaje con un grupito
de ninos astutos
Hablemos de poesia
Poesia narrativa

Todo andaba bien
bien bien
super bien
excepto, excepto
medio dia
PUM! PUM!

Ya llego
una a persona
bien conocida
una persona
que a mi no me gusta

Mi enorme enemigo vino
Toco el timbre
mil veces, posible mas
--Ya voy!  Ya voy!
le dije gritando

Abri la puerta
despacito
Vi su cara de enojo
-Que tienes?-me pregunto.
--Nada, nada.-

De repente entro
un dolor a mi cabeza
-Por que me molestas?
pense.
-Por que vinistes otra vez?

Este dolor de mi cabeza
no me dejo
en paz
por toda la tarde
 y la noche entera

Tome mi  aspirina
No me quito nada, nada
Cerre mis ojos
Quise llorar
Mi pobre cabecita
dolia aun mas


Pues en la manana
me levante
escuche  las canciones
de los pajaritos
y pense
-No tengo un dolor,
dolor de mi cabeza
Se fue mi enemigo
pero por cuanto
tiempo?

Borrador-Dolor de mi cabeza

Down Draft en espanol

Dolor de mi cabeza-down draft-por Maureen Ucles-borrador

Impromptu Poetry

Impromptu Poetry

I took a couple snapshots of the poetry I was working on with students today.  I call it our impromptu poetry. I was using it so that students may realize that they can't write about anything.  That poetry can be about anything.  I also purposely wrote it to contain some of the features that poetry may or may not contain. It is what it is and may turn into something better.  Just sayin'!

Impromptu Braiding too!

I

Get On The Train

Student Poetry and Reading Responses

Get On The Train

By Maureen Ucles

Come one!

Come all!

Join us

The few

The proud

Heart attack expressions
written on the canvas

Peeling through the onion
Layers upon layers
exposed

No tears allowed

maybe a few
maybe some
possibly none

On 

The Writing Train

It's leavin' the station

Rev up those pistons

Moving through your city
pueblo or town

Take a look

Stay for some time

See the sights

Cross the Nile

Into some thoughts

Left on some pulp

of an old, old, tree

Imprinted forever

on some pixels

Thoughts left unread

'til now
Enter in
Join the frey
Pull up a chair
Crack a smile
Stay for a minute or to
if you like
for long, long  while

Shout it from the roof tops

kids thinking

kids writing

kids reading

Havin' some fun!

Get on the train

Let your imagination

Go wild

Firm warning

tho'

Not for the faint of heart

but for those

who know

It's in the message

It's the meaning

Not perfect

Just words

Trying them out

Playing around

Moving

on a page

waiting to launch

into the unknown

Check it out!

New Post-Nothin'

New Post Nothin'

New Post Nothin'

By Maureen Ucles

I've to got a new post

With nothin' to say

A new post

coming my way

still the problem persists

with nothin'

in the slightest

nothin' at all

nothin' to say

I've got a new post

without the slightest

or even brightest

not even lightest

thing on this Earth

to say

I've got a new post

words scrambling

before the deadline

all scattered

like cockroaches

at midnight

with lights flashing

in their disgusting 

devious eyes

I've got nothin' to say

no place to go

It's way too hot outside

Tim Heller

Just sounded the alarm

Ozone colors are

off the chart

with nothin

absolutely

nothin' to say

I've got nothin' to say

The trees are all flowing

Leaves are all blowing

in the hot oven-like inferno

we call Houston

Just nothin at all

I've got nothin' to say

Not many breaths

left to inhale

my lungs are trippin'

on some phlegm

airways obstructed

gotta do something fast

searching

climbing

blowing out air

with nothin' to say

in the least

nothin' at all