Sally Murphy, just back to school Way Down Under, is graciously hosting the Roundup today. Take a trip to Sally's for your poem feast!
Last week, I learned about the Golden Shovel poetic form when I discovered Nikki Grimes' book One Last Word. Grimes plays tribute to Harlem Renaissance poets by creating original poems around the words of first lines in their poems. She works with a "striking line" and incorporates the words of this line as the last words in the lines of her new poem.
Last week, I learned about the Golden Shovel poetic form when I discovered Nikki Grimes' book One Last Word. Grimes plays tribute to Harlem Renaissance poets by creating original poems around the words of first lines in their poems. She works with a "striking line" and incorporates the words of this line as the last words in the lines of her new poem.
Nikki Grimes uses a poem in the public domain by Jean Toomer as one of her source poems.
Storm Ending
Thunder blossoms gorgeously above our heads,
Great, hollow, bell-like flowers,
Rumbling in the wind,
Stretching clappers to strike our ears…
Full-lipped flowers
Bitten by the sun
Bleeding rain
Dripping rain like golden honey —
And the sweet earth flying from the thunder.The first line inspires new verse in which Grimes reminds us that
The truth is, every
day we rise is like thunder—
a clap of surprise. Could be echoes of
trouble, or blossoms
of blessing.
The poem continues, though I was perusing this volume in my local bookstore, so I don't have more of the poem to share. The book has vivid illustrations by many contemporary African American artists, including my friend Jan Spivey Gilchrist!
I found that Terrance Hayes wrote the first golden shovel sourcing the Gwendolyn Brooks poem, "We Real Cool." So I was ready for something new this week. I wonder if any Poetry Friday friends have tried this form. If anyone has shared golden shovel poems here and I've missed them, I'd love to read them.
I found that Terrance Hayes wrote the first golden shovel sourcing the Gwendolyn Brooks poem, "We Real Cool." So I was ready for something new this week. I wonder if any Poetry Friday friends have tried this form. If anyone has shared golden shovel poems here and I've missed them, I'd love to read them.
Maine summer poems have been on my mind lately - too much winter up here already, and I'm down south in New Hampshire! I googled "Maine poems" and found this one by Kate Barnes, Maine's first poet laureate, which I used as my source poem.
Neighborliness
In Maine we're used to it, it's still
the custom to look out for the neighbors, a habit
handed down from the start
of the earliest fishing villages, of the first
long strings of hundred-acre farms
stretched along ridges, each one usually
just called, "The Road."
In Maine we're used to it, it's still
the custom to look out for the neighbors, a habit
handed down from the start
of the earliest fishing villages, of the first
long strings of hundred-acre farms
stretched along ridges, each one usually
just called, "The Road."
The entire poem can be read here, a beautiful tribute to communities watching over one another.
I took the first line as my striking line. The word neighborliness just wanted to creep in there, but I'm not so satisfied with the last line of this draft. It sounds too adult for a kid's poem. I'm open to suggestions!
All in all, I enjoyed the process and will certainly dig up another poem with a golden shovel provided by a poem I like.
All in all, I enjoyed the process and will certainly dig up another poem with a golden shovel provided by a poem I like.
In Maine we're used to it, it's still
after Kate Barnes
When rain, snow and sleet hang on in
March, up here in Maine
we’re
holding fast to what we used
to love last year - canoes to paddle, waves to jump, clams to
dig, marshmallows to roast, fish to catch, and all it
means to be summer in a land with it’s
fill of frontier wonder and neighborliness still.
~Joyce Ray © all rights reserved
A Golden Shovel Poem
borrowing words from the first line of “Neighborliness,” by Kate Barnes, Maine Poet Laureate Emerita.
Lovely golden shovel poem, Joyce. Enjoyed the original poem too. Neighborliness is something to be cherished and believe in. Must look for that Nikki Grimes book too. Thanks for this post :)!
ReplyDeleteI agree about neighborliness! Thanks for visiting, Jama. I loved your post today.
DeleteGood job on the golden shovel. Many PF'ers have written golden shovels. It's fun, but it always seems like the last line is the sticking point. Here's one of mine:
ReplyDeletehttps://friendlyfairytales.com/2017/08/14/for-the-first-words-spoken-after-a-long-silence/
Thanks for dropping by and for sharing your golden shovel, Brenda. I’ll be on the lookout for more of them.
DeleteGreat job. I was struck by how close your poem aligns to the original line - almost like you're the body in the essay, fleshing out the arguments. I especially like your fourth and fifth lines; that clever little twist, so it's not longer what you're used to, but what you used to know.
ReplyDeleteI too have written a couple of golden shovels, and find they stretch me in new ways. Always a good thing!
Good point about the twist, which I wish I could say I planted there! Funny how the poem writes itself in some ways. If you’ve posted your golden shovels on PF, I’d Love to read them.
DeleteLovely poem. I've tried one golden shovel poem, and would like to try more. I find it a challenging form. Writing one definitely stretches me. Here's the one I wrote from a Langston Hughes poem:
ReplyDeletehttp://kaymcgriff.edublogs.org/?s=golden+shovel
Kay, your poem is superb. I am awed that your poem echoes the original in so many ways. Thanks for sharing and for commenting here.
DeleteI don't believe I've tried one with any success, although I did mention my introduction to the form here: http://randomnoodling.blogspot.com/2015/05/poetry-friday-mass-poetry-festival.html I do like your poem very much, and unless you're working on a book specifically for kids, what's wrong with an adult poem?
ReplyDeleteDiane,I am happy to read your post about the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. i'd love to look into this some year. I was aiming toward including my poem in a MG collection, so that's the reason for trying to craft it just right. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI love One Last Word, and now your neighborliness original poem, what a wonderful kind of biography of Maine. And now yours too, claiming Maine summer. It's lovely, Joyce. I'm not sure how the very young would connect to it, but even primary students study 'helpers' & this can touch them in recalling memories. I know my middle school students would have love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda. Middle school s what I'm aiming for.
DeleteThanks for sharing, Joyce - I keep saying I'm going to try one of these, but I need to "dig in" long enough to concentrate and do it! ;0) My hat's off to all of you who have produced these poems, and, of course, to Nikki's superb examples. (Sending warm breezes from lower down the coast, by the way!)
ReplyDeleteI think the warm breezes are arriving here on Wednesday! Thank you for stopping here, Robyn.
DeleteI think maybe Margaret has written some golden shovels, if I am remembering correctly. They are marvelous, aren't they? I'm glad you gave it a go -- you picked a wonderful source poem, and "holding fast to what we used to love" is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks,Tabatha. I think many of us are holding fast nowadays in many different ways.
DeleteFor me, Golden Shovels are right up there among the most daunting and difficult forms. I wrote one that I was happy with in 2014 (https://michellehbarnes.blogspot.com/2014/12/reflections-of-flight.html — at the bottom of the post) but have not been very successful since then. No idea how Nikki Grimes managed a whole collection of them!
ReplyDeleteI love your Golden Shovel! Thanks for sharing it. I'm learning a lot about what to consider when writing a Golden Shovel by reading the wonderful poems previously shared on PF. Thanks for visiting!
DeleteThere have been a few posts recently about Golden Shovels, but I haven't been brave enough to try one. Yours is so clever! Bravo you.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Sally, and for hosting. too.
DeleteAh, Joyce. You're always up to newness (or should I say re-newness?)as well as neighborliness; thanks for sharing it among your wide-ranging poetic neighbors and inspiring us to try our hand at golden shoveling. --Barbara
ReplyDeleteThank you. These poetic neighbors are my inspiration!
DeleteI love your Golden Shovel! It made me miss living in Maine.
ReplyDeleteFun poems! I like how yours turned out. :)
ReplyDeleteNikki Grimes's book is wonderful. The poems, the illustrations, the feel of the paper, everything about that book is magical. I like the freshness of Golden Shovel poems and wrote one last week. This is my first foray into the Poem a Day challenge, and I've spent a lot of time studying new forms and looking for inspiration. I used a line from "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock" for my GS and plan to write another GS before the month is over.
ReplyDeleteI like your inspiration line and the imagery you create in your poem, especially "rain, snow, and sleet" suspended in the air.
Glenda,I agree that One Last Word is magical. Thank you for pointing out that the feel of the paper contributes to the way we receive a book. I found your Golden Shovel with the Prufrock line and love it. It truly adds a personal element to the poem's reflection of the worth of a life-has it been worthwhile? I remember loving this line of the poem: "I have measured out my life in coffee spoons." A GS idea for me! Thanks for stopping by.
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