Day at the beach
Spending time on the beach and poetry for kids in issue #140 of your weekly dose of fresh poetry
We went to the beach
and played in the sun
then swam for a while
it was so much fun.We rode our bikes home
at the end of the day
feeling sand on our toes,
and a kiss of the last sun ray.
Our kids have quite a bit of reading homework. They get to pick some books from the school library, bring them home and read them to us. Our youngest often brings home at least one poetry book. This time it was one with water poems. The school is good with poetry. They use it a lot. In class, for homework. There even is a poetry reciting competition for the eldest kids, with the finals coming up soon, in which the winners of a school compete with the winners of other international schools in the region. The other day, I was invited to do a poetry workshop with the year 5/6 group (9 - 11 years old). That was a lot of fun.
As a little ode to all these wonderful people who bring poetry to children, I wrote the poem you can read above. It is for all those teachers, parents and poets who take our children seriously and delight them with words.
Do you have a favourite poem or poet for kids? Share in the comments!
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Poetics in life
Somehow, when you see the race cars of Formula 1 go at it, and see the drivers go head-to-head, sometimes crashing badly, you don’t associate that with beautiful classical music. However, there is more than one very talented pianist among the 20 drivers. Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver, has recently put out this self-composed song. There’s more to most people than meets the eye. It’s always good to look a bit further and dig a little deeper. But first, listen to this:
Poetry elsewhere
The small human stories that can bring us together find wonderful homes in poetry. This one is an exceptional story of sadness, beauty and love. Enjoy the read:
One of my favourite poets, especially for children’s poems, is Alex Price. He is a teacher and a poet, and when I was preparing for that workshop I mentioned above, I asked him for some advice, which he generously gave. He has written several funny poems, some of which were published in The Dirigible Balloon, a magazine with poetry for children. Like this one, The Sea of Freedom.
In the world of digital poetry, we see new ways of enjoying poetry emerging. A great example of this are the poetry playing cards by Justin Tagg. He has used the playing card example to challenge the reader to experience the poems in a different light. This poem, 006 - The Kiss That Broke The World, is just one example.
The children were very lucky to have you visit.
I love this poem! It feel like something you could read to your child as you put them to bed.