Friday, July 22, 2011

An Eldritch Day

"Poets work at the molecular level of language. Our fundamental physics is the interaction of sound clusters, phonemes, consonants, vowels, glides, particles, and syllables. Words and phrases certainly matter, but our truest tools are the purest sounds."
~ Steven Withrow


Welcome to Poetry Friday! Glad you're here.

The works I'm sharing today are by Rhode Island poet, storyteller, teacher, and author Steven Withrow. He's at home with serious themes, humor, puzzles, puns, tongue-twisters -- any means of telling a tale...

Noctilucent Clouds Over Sweden, Credit: P-M Hedén

NOMENCLATURE

By Steven Withrow

Night clouds hold no proper names.
Each and all, in their operatic crossings,
Altostratocirrocumulonimbus.
Also bear cubs, pearl beads, nesting dolls,
Arias of open vowels, steam engines,
Strange fish scaled with flashes of camphor,
Nacreous, anonymous, noctilucent
Under the yellow music of the moon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE WITCH’S ITCHES
By Steven Withrow

An itchy witch, she never scratches,
Never scratches, never scratches,
The gnashiest of witchy rashes,
Witchy rashes, witchy rashes...
She pitches, twitches on her broom,
Upon her broom, up on her broom,
And howls unhitched her yowls of gloom,
Growls of doom to eldritch moon...
She’d gladly ditch her earthly riches,
Earthly riches, earthly riches,
Or switch her fate with sniveling snitches,
Sniveling snitches in stitchy britches,
To still that itch she never scratches,
Never scratches, never scratches,
That itch which glitches witch’s niches,
And de-mo-LISH-es witch’s wishes!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also, take a look at Steven's Rhyming without a license, Letter from Fox, and his first e-poetry collection, Crackles of Speech. And here's an in-depth interview with Steven at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

* "Eldritch" (in Steven's second poem and in the post title) means "strange, unearthly, spooky."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's our Poetry Friday round-up:

The Write Sisters share a poem by Izumi Shikibu as they grieve the loss of Sally's daughter, Kathryn.

The Iris Chronicles brings us In The High Country by David St. John.

Mandy shares a post about her grandmother, the poet.

Amy LV has a poem about a lesser-noticed kind of recycling.

Father Goose's blog is featuring a tribute to Billie Holiday.

Gathering Books contributes Tita Lacambra Ayala’s Road Map Series.

Mary Lee has Emily Dickinson and daisies for us today.

Rasco from RIF offers Laughing Corn by Carl Sandburg.

Pentimento brings us W.S. Merwin's 227 Waverly Place.

Charlotte's Library shares The Space Child's Mother Goose.

Laura has two offerings for us today: Sylvia Vardell's video clips from ALA Poetry Blast and 15 Words or Less Poems. She invites everybody to come play.

Diane Mayr's contributions for the week: at Random Noodling she has some poetry prompts and an original poem.

Kurious Kitty looks at a poetry series for teens called "Poetry Rocks." The Kurious K's Kwotes' P.F. quote is by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Kids of the Homefront Army continues with "Scrap Metal."

Robyn Hood Black is celebrating unusual animals with a poem by Charlotte Anna Perkins Gilman.

Irene shares a hummingbird poem by Pablo Neruda.

At Wild Rose Reader, Elaine has a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye titled "What Is Supposed to Happen," a video of the song "Baby Face," and a pre-birth picture of the face of her first grandchild.

Mother Reader gives us Jottings of New York: A Descriptive Poem by Knight of the White Elephant of Burmah William McGonagall.

MsMac's PF entry is a Robert Louis Stevenson poem on summer.

Tara is making a joyful noise about fireflies.

Shelley brings us more poems about the old days with her Rain: A Dust Bowl Story

Write Time reminds us that it's never too late to live your dream.

Karen E is in with Richard Wilbur's "Mind."

There is No Such Thing as a God-Forsaken Town brings us Consolation by Billy Collins.

Paper Tigers offers Shel Silverstein's No Difference.

Susan Taylor Brown shares How To Listen.

On A Year of Literacy Coaching, there's Lee Bennett Hopkins' Bedtime.

Janet Squires looks at At the Sea Floor Cafe: odd ocean critter poems, written by Leslie Bulion and illustrated by Leslie Evans.

Thanks for coming!

26 comments:

Mandy said...

Thank you for hosting Poetry Friday. This is my first visit to your site and I think I have lots to explore now. Here is my posting to share.

http://enjoy-embracelearning.blogspot.com/2011/07/poetry-friday-my-grandmother-poet.html

Amy L V said...

Steven is so playful and mysterious and full of great words. I love,

"Also bear cubs, pearl beads, nesting dolls,
Arias of open vowels, steam engines..."

This poem made me think about night clouds for the first time.

Thank you for hosting today. Over at The Poem Farm, I have a poem about, um, garbage picking.

http://poemfarm.blogspot.com/2011/07/song-for-garbage-day-embarrassed.html

A.

Charles Ghigna said...

Thanks, Tabatha. We're featuring a tribute to Billie Holiday at The FATHER GOOSE Blog

GatheringBooks said...

Hi Tabatha! Thanks for hosting this week's Poetry Friday - and for introducing us to Steven Withrow. Beautiful selections. I smiled reading "The Witch's Itches" - nice!

Here is our contribution to Poetry Friday over at GatheringBooks:

http://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/poetry-friday-tita-lacambra-ayalas-road-map-series/

Mary Lee said...

That itchy witch is a hoot!

I've got Emily Dickinson and daisies today:

http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2011/07/poetry-friday-daisies.html

Thanks for rounding us up!

Carol H Rasco said...

Thank you for hosting us today, I am delighted to discover your sight!

I am thinking about Sandburg and corn today! http://bit.ly/otSHZL

Pentimento said...

Thank you for hosting. I have W.S. Merwin up at http://pentiment.blogspot.com/2011/07/poetry-friday-227-waverly-place.html

Charlotte said...

Thanks for the round-up! I'm in with The Space Child's Mother Goose.

laurasalas said...

Thanks for hosting, Tabatha. I love these poems, especially The Witch's Itches. Such great language!

I'm in with Sylvia Vardell's video clips from ALA Poetry Blast at http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/284798.html

And also with 15 Words or Less Poems (everybody come play!) at http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/284493.html

Diane Mayr said...

Hi Tabatha! Great choice of poems by Steven!

Here's my contribution for this week: at Random Noodling I have some poetry prompts and an original poem.

Kurious Kitty looks at a poetry series for teens called "Poetry Rocks." The Kurious K's Kwotes' P.F. quote is by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Kids of the Homefront Army continues with "Scrap Metal."

Robyn Hood Black said...

Thank for hosting, Tabatha! Enjoyed those poems - especially the "yellow music of the moon" in the first and the "unhitched" line in the second.

I'm celebrating unusual animals today with a poem from Charlotte Anna Perkins Gilman:
http://www.robynhoodblack.com/blog.htm?post=801937

Irene Latham said...

Oh I love the witchy rashes! :) Thanks for sharing. And for hosting!

I'm in with some poems about hummingbirds. http://irenelatham.blogspot.com/2011/07/oh-tiny-living-lightning.html

Elaine Magliaro said...

Tabatha,

Thanks so much for doing the roundup this week.

At Wild Rose Reader, I have a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye titled "What Is Supposed to Happen," a video of the song "Baby Face," and a pre-birth picture of the face of my first grandchild.

http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/2011/07/baby-face-poem-by-naomi-shihab-nye.html

I'm Jet . . . said...

Can't wait to read more of Withrow's fun work.

Thanks for hosting, Tabatha!

Janet

MotherReader said...

In honor of my upcoming trip, I have "Jottings of New York" at MotherReader:

http://www.motherreader.com/2011/07/poetry-friday-jottings-of-new-york.html

Thanks for hosting!

Anonymous said...

Tabatha,
Thank you for hosting. I am sharing a Robert Louis Stevenson poem on summer.
http://maclibrary.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/poetry-friday-bed-in-summer/

Tara said...

Thanks for hosting today Tabatha! Your selections are fun to read out loud, especially these:
"That itch which glitches witch’s niches,
And de-mo-LISH-es witch’s wishes!"
:)

I'm in with a poem about fireflies...

Shelley said...

Thanks for teaching me the word noctilucent! Beautiful picture.

Poems about the old days:

Rain: A Dust Bowl Story
http://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.com

Linda said...

Good morning, thanks for hosting today. I'm in with an inspirational story that proves it's never too late to start writing!
http://lindakulp.blogspot.com/

Karen Edmisten said...

Thanks for hosting -- I'm in with Richard Wilbur's "Mind" and it's here.

Jeannine Atkins said...

Tabatha and Steven, Thanks for the "music of the yellow moon," and other music, and the "itchy witch!"

Ruth said...

I have a Billy Collins poem today, here. Thanks for hosting.

corinne@papertigers.org said...

Thanks for hosting and what a great site you have! We have posted a Shel Silverstein poem for Poetry Friday.

Susan Taylor Brown said...

Thanks for hosting! I'm in with an original poem called "How to Listen"

http://susanwrites.livejournal.com/351754.html
Susan Taylor Brown

Libby Frankel said...

Thanks for hosting Tabatha!
My poem this week is a favorite from Lee Bennett Hopkins. Enjoy!

A Year of Literacy Coaching!

Janet Squires said...

Thanks for hosting.
Summer is beach time so here is "At the Sea Floor Cafe: odd ocean critter poems" written by Leslie Bulion and illustrated by Leslie Evans.