Welcome to Poetry Friday! Poetry Tag Time and more!

Spread some Cybils love! Have you nominated your favorite book of children's or YA poetry for the 2011 Cybils yet? Nominations are still being accepted and there are many wonderful books of poetry that still need to be nominated. So check out the list of 2011 Cybils poetry nominations, and then use this form to nominate your favorite!

 I've been missing poetry in my life, lately. I adore the sense of wonder that poetry gives me, the space between the lines for my imagination to take flight, for feelings and emotions to connect to memories and senses, for images to blossom in my mind. One of my great joys this spring was buying the ebook Poetry Tag Time, an anthology compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. It's perfect for dipping into, but be warned - it will get you hooked, make you laugh, pull you from poem to poem! Take a quick look at it, and then share your own favorite poems and poetry books for children in the comments below for Poetry Friday.

Note: if you're having trouble leaving a comment, please just email me!

Poetry Tag Time
compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong
©2011 PoetryTagTime
available for the Kindle or the Nook
ages 7 - 12

Tag, you're it! It's a game we all loved to play as kids. This book makes poetry fun and interesting by inviting poets to play a game of tag. It all starts off with Jack Prelutsky writing about the moon and what would happen if it was a balloon or cheese or a sun. And then Joyce Sidman's tagged! As the Poetry Tag Time site describes, "Jack’s poem makes Joyce think of the sun as an egg yolk and she shares a shape poem, “Maybe.” Joyce then chooses Nikki Grimes: Tag--You’re IT!" As the Poetry Tag Time site describes,

"PoetryTagTime is the first electronic-only poetry anthology for kids! With 30 new poems by 30 well-known contemporary poets writing for children today, here is a poem-a-day for a month of poetry reading, sharing, and exploring."

Poetry Tag Time is the perfect invitation for kids (and adults) to see how one poem can lead to another, one image to the next, one poet to another. And what fun to have this ebook tucked away on your Kindle, Nook, iPad or other ereader for just that perfect time you want to take a break from your busy life and enjoy a bit of poetry. This book is only available as an ebook.

Do you work with older kids? You'll surely want to check out Sylvia and Janet's newest collection for teens: P*Tag. 31 amazing poets play poetry tag: one poem is connected to another by sharing three words, each inspired by an amazing photograph. 

Welcome to Poetry Friday!

Please share your favorite poetry for children in the comments. Then take a moment from your hectic day (why is it that we want to accomplish so much on Fridays?) and browse through the lovely links below.

Tabatha Yeatts shares "The Prescription" by Jacob Polley.

At a wrung sponge, Andi shares a poem "From the Trail". Just perfect for this autumn day. Thank you, Andi!

Elaine Magliaro shares Autumn poems over at Wild Rose Reader. Get into the spirit of the season by reading some of her lovely fall poems.

At The Poem Farm, Amy shares her original poem White Fields and also talks about how it comes from her own notebook. Read more about writer's notebooks at Amy's new blog Sharing Our Notebooks.

Jeannine Atkins writes today about writing poetry by starting at the surface, with a glimpse at how Mary Oliver does this.

Over at PinkMe, Paula shares the briefest of poems, written by her Milo when a certain someone was late picking him up :)

Anastasia Suen sends in Traffic Pups for her Picture Book of the Day: it's a post for Poetry Friday + STEM Friday.

Over at TeachingAuthors, you'll see a post by April Halprin Wayland. This Friday she is offering a poem written to a first draft: To My First Draft (you may know that this is called an apostrophe poem), and then she deconstructs the poem. April also encourages readers to write and share their own apostrophe poems. April is one of the featured poets on Poetry Tag Time, with the delightful "World Wide Wag".

Myra Garces-Bacsal writes that her Poetry Friday contribution for the week is a Q and A with Poet Extraordinaire Professor Gemino H Abad. A discussion on the agonies and joys of first love, muses, the moon, and poetry.

At A Year of Reading, Mary Lee shares "The Devil's NOT in the Details". I love her reflections - so true, so true. I do so love looking at all the details around us.

At Author Amok, Laura Shovan is looking at a form related to the acrostic, the mesostic. DC-base poet Melanie Henderson talks about the genesis of her poem, "A Post-Black Mesostic."

Ben at The Small Nouns is sharing a poem by Lou Lipsitz today: "Have a ____ Day," inspired by a recent TED conference he attended. Inspiring, indeed!

Today, over at my juicy little universe, Heidi Mordhorst shares her reflections on apple-picking and a poem by Robert Frost. 

Maria Horvath writes that we're still looking at the theme of romance, with a poem by Robert Graves that explains what those achy breaky songs are all about. Head over to A Poem a Day from the George Hail Library to check this out.

Carol shares a football poem, in honor of my two fellas, who are right in the middle of their favorite season: "Football Season".

Robin Hood Black writes "I’m delighted to feature Steven Withrow as our special guest today. This poet, storyteller, and author is a passionate advocate for young people’s literature and serves as an advisor to the Keene State Children’s Literature Festival."

Diane Mayr checks in - she's sharing some great links this week! She writes, "I have Poetry Tag Time on my computer since I have a Kobo. It works great and it looks great on a larger screen!" At Random Noodling, Diane has Amy Lowell's "The Matrix." Kids of the Homefront Army continues with "Heaven." Kurious Kitty looks at A Little Bitty Man and Kurious K's Kwotes' has a quote by Julie Larios.

Barbara at The Write Sisters is having a technical problem today, but managed to get "Problems with Hurricanes" posted before things went south!

Steven Withrow has an original poem in a Welsh verse form called a Rhupunt, which he's titled "Jurrasic Fish".

Ruth is sharing the poem "Lost" by David Wagoner.

At Picture Books and Pirouettes, Kerry Aradhya is sharing "an original today, too...except I wrote it when I was in elementary school :)" What fun!

At A Teaching Life, Tara is sharing a poem from a new collection of poetry by poet/teacher Svea Barrett.

Jama's serving up Diane Wakoski's "Breakfast" over at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Breakfast is a lovely, wonderful meal - especially on a special day.

Head to Pentimento to read "At a Window" by Carl Sandburg.

At Read Write Believe, Sara writes, "I was lucky enough to hear Robert Pinsky read at the Folger Shakespeare Library this week, and I'm sharing a poem from his "Things to Hand" series: Jar of Pens." 

At TeacherDance, you can read "Poets Always on the Lookout" and get inspired for finding ideas.

Laura Salas shares wonderful tidbits from P*Tag. I especially loves these lines: "even if we don't / speak the same language, / I'll sip your dream, / and then, and then, say /" -- from Blue Bucket, by Naomi Shihab Nye. Can't wait to get this great anthology from the amazing Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong! Thanks, Laura!

Also remember to head over to 15 Words Or Less, and read/write about Precision.

Father Goose, AKA Charles Ghinga, has a wonderful poem "The Silky Sax" that I've just emailed to our 4th/5th grade teachers! Great imagery!

Janet Squires shares the collection Tap Dancing on the Roof by Linda Sue Park. I adore this wonderful book of Sijo poems - well worth checking out!

review ©2011 Mary Ann Scheuer