Friday, April 27, 2012

Fictional Favorites, Divergent: Abnegation

Welcome, Poetry Friday celebrants!


Glad to have you here on this last Friday of National Poetry Month. What a month it has been! Today, we're wrapping up Fictional Favorites.


This series of posts considers What would fictional characters' favorite poets/poems be?

I've been offering poems for the five factions in Divergent by Veronica Roth. Insurgent, the second book in the trilogy, is coming out in a week and the excitement is building.

Today's poems are for ABNEGATION, the selfless faction. Abnegation may come off as drab, but there's more than meets the eye.

I've already shared ones for Dauntless, Erudite, Amity, and Candor. I have been trying hard to avoid spoilers!


For ABNEGATION:

On Quitting
by Edgar Albert Guest

How much grit do you think you’ve got?
Can you quit a thing that you like a lot?
You may talk of pluck; it’s an easy word,
And where’er you go it is often heard;
But can you tell to a jot or guess
Just how much courage you now possess?

You may stand to trouble and keep your grin,
But have you tackled self-discipline?
Have you ever issued commands to you
To quit the things that you like to do,
And then, when tempted and sorely swayed,
Those rigid orders have you obeyed?

Don’t boast of your grit till you’ve tried it out,
Nor prate to men of your courage stout,
For it’s easy enough to retain a grin
In the face of a fight there’s a chance to win,
But the sort of grit that is good to own
Is the stuff you need when you’re all alone.

How much grit do you think you’ve got?
Can you turn from joys that you like a lot?
Have you ever tested yourself to know
How far with yourself your will can go?
If you want to know if you have grit,
Just pick out a joy that you like, and quit.

It’s bully sport and it’s open fight;
It will keep you busy both day and night;
For the toughest kind of a game you’ll find
Is to make your body obey your mind.
And you never will know what is meant by grit
Unless there’s something you’ve tried to quit.

************

I Ask You
by Billy Collins

What scene would I want to be enveloped in
more than this one,
an ordinary night at the kitchen table,
floral wallpaper pressing in,
white cabinets full of glass,
the telephone silent,
a pen tilted back in my hand?

read the rest here

************

To play pianissimo
by Lola Haskins

To play pianissimo
Does not mean silence.
The absence of moon in the day sky,
for example.

read the rest here

************

Wanderer
by Antonio Machado

Wanderer, your footsteps are
the road, and nothing more;
wanderer, there is no road,
the way is made by walking.
­
************

Also:

Keeping Things Whole by Mark Strand
Famous by Naomi Shihab Nye (who also had a poem for Candor!)

Thanks for visiting. Please leave your link in the comments and I will round them up throughout the day!

************

Robyn Hood Black shares an interview with Carol-Ann Hoyte and Heidi Bee Roemer, the editors of AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!, a sports-themed poetry anthology which will debut with the Olympics this summer.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater has three things for us today! At The Poem Farm she has the third-to-last letter of this month's Dictionary Hike: X is for XENOPHOBIA.

At Sharing Our Notebooks, Amy has Suz Blackaby with her good humor and word tickets.

And Sharing Our Notebooks also has Allan Wolf with his wall writing and butt books. (Butt books?)

Linda at TeacherDance follows Amy L-V's advice to use verbs!

Today Steven Withrow gives us an original poem: Questions About Invertebrates.

Susan Taylor Brown is back with an original poem: 13 Ways of Looking at a Hummingbird.

Renee LaTulippe shares Julie Larios' No Strings Attached, Lee Wardlaw's WON TON: A Cat Tale Told In Haiku, and a giveaway of THE HOUSE by J. Patrick Lewis!

Julie Larios offers a heartfelt thank-you-with-links to Renee LaTulippe who has done such a wonderful job with readings and interviews of children's poets during the month of April.

Fats from Gathering Books contributes Woman to Man by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Greg has a catku by Lee Wardlaw. Since last Poetry Friday, he's also had poems by Ron Koertge, Susan Taylor Brown, Bruce Coville, Thanhha Lai, Robert L. Forbes, and JonArno Lawson!

Mary Lee sums up the problem with packing all of our ardor for poetry into one month when she says "The best I can do this last Friday of National Poetry Month is to share yesterday's poem. Today's poem won't be written until tonight. Maybe late tonight. (That's what the month's come to...but I haven't dropped a stitch yet!!!)" You're doing great, Mary Lee.

Andi Sibley is in with a great poem written by her son.

Wow, I go do school and vet drop-offs and the next thing I know my mailbox is full!

Liz Steinglass shares an original, silly poem this morning: "Poke that Pea!"

Jim Hill adds Imminent Growth Spurt, an original inspired by his omnivorous kid.

Laura Shovan is excited to have Jeannine Atkins guest-blogging about multi-tasking at Author Amok today.

Tara at A Teaching Life discovered a "new" poet.

Alice at Supratentorial reviewed A River of Words, a juvenile biography of Williams, and has some other Williams related links to share.

Laura Purdie Salas is in with her daily haiku plus two stunning haiku from October Mourning, a forthcoming collection by Leslea Newman.

This week's 15 Words or Less poems are underway.

Write Time has the Progressive Poem today.

Heidi added to her post from earlier this week featuring poems by kindergarteners...She thinks the collection should be called "Small and Juicy!"

Doraine Bennett has kitchen appliances for writers today.

At Random Noodling, Diane Mayr reviews last weekend's Massachusetts Poetry Festival.

The war is almost over at Kids of the Homefront Army, but not quite...

Kurious Kitty shares "Buttercups," and, Kurious K's Kwotes' quote is by Helen Ferris.

We're in the middle of lilac time at The Write Sisters, and we have a poem called The Beat.

Jama Rattigan is spotlighting Heidi Roemer with an original poem about skating.

Ruth is contributing Wendell Berry's How To Be A Poet.

Charles, a.k.a. Father Goose, shares his original A Poem is a Metaphor.

Debbie Diller gives us My Cat and I by Aileen Fisher.

The Stenhouse Blog has a book spine poem for us today.

Irene Latham points us to a poem of hers about a not-evil stepmother titled "Anne Moynet Audubon, Long Before Birds of America that appeared yesterday at Your Daily Poem.

Betsy has poems (and info about a chalk poetry celebration) at Teaching Young Writers.

Sara brings A Love Song by William Carlos Williams (and an update on her efforts to learn how to sing).

Amy at Hope is the Word is highlighting the delightful picture book A Sock Is a Pocket for Your Toes by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon.

Kate is celebrating haiku at Book Aunt, with a focus on Issa and on ocean haiku from the comments (for a giveaway of her book, Water Sings Blue). People can still write a haiku to enter in the next three days.

At Fomagrams, Dave Elzey shares week four of his daily twitter haiku, and a little bonus mention of the political tweets of Elinor Lipman.

Sylvia Vardell posted a 5Q interview with the wonderful Janet Wong.

Violet took on a very difficult challenge: to use coon, tour, lid, painted, price, query, cog, eve, jail, jab, why, be, hex, ha, x-rays, dare, zoo, looks, slime, fees, men, waste, date, leaner, nips, will, pin, worms, riot, tiger, jut, gait, and rang in a poem. Wow!

Lorie Ann is sharing An Awesome Book at ReaderTotz and an original haiku at On Point.

Esther at Teaching Authors brings us original poems by fourth graders.

Janet Squires is all about wild poetry today.

Joyce Ray reports on a fantastic Maine poetry festival she attended on poetry and revolution.

Jeannine wrote about a new collection of poems based on painting and history called This Caravaggio by Annie Boutelle.

Over at Wild Rose Reader, Elaine has an original poem titled Things to Do If You Are a Book. (So sorry about your car!)

Marjorie sounds a final clarion call for people to contribute to LitWorld's Global Poem for Change.

At Bildungsroman, we have the monologue from Labyrinth.

Karen Edmisten has finally made it to Poetry Friday.

April is in Chicago for the International Reading Association Convention, but she still managed to send her Poem-A-Day-Challenge poem, in which her dog, Eli, meets a handmade doll. All this month's poems can be viewed here.

************

47 comments:

Robyn Hood Black said...

Thanks for hosting, Tabatha! You've had such an intriguing series; I love today's offerings, and Naomi Shihab Nye's line, "famous as the one who smiled back." I've got an interview with Carol-Ann Hoyte and Heidi Bee Roemer with more "behind-the-scenes" from AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!, their sports-themed anthology which will debut with the Olympics this summer:
http://www.robynhoodblack.com/blog.htm?post=851771

Amy LV said...

Tabatha, What a giving post for this last Poetry Friday of April 2012! I love this:

"For the toughest kind of a game you’ll find
Is to make your body obey your mind.
And you never will know what is meant by grit
Unless there’s something you’ve tried to quit."

Today at The Poem Farm I have the third-to-last letter of this month's Dictionary Hike. X is for XENOPHOBIA. - http://www.poemfarm.amylv.com/2012/04/x-is-for-xenophobia.html

At Sharing Our Notebooks I have Suz Blackaby with her good humor and word tickets - http://www.sharingournotebooks.amylv.com/2012/04/suz-blackaby-please-pass-napkins.html

And I also have Allan Wolf with his wall writing and butt books - http://www.sharingournotebooks.amylv.com/2012/04/allan-wolf-i-wrote-obsessively-on-my.html

Thank you so much for hosting!

a.

Linda B said...

Tabatha, you surely have made me want to start reading this series more than any straight review might. It's amazing what you've done here. What kind of book reminds of "If you want to know if you have grit,
Just pick out a joy that you like, and quit."? And that beautiful one by Billy Collins? I will need to revisit your posts after reading. My post today follows Amy L-V's advice in a recent post of hers to use verbs! And I did! Thank you for hosting! http://teacherdance.blogspot.com/2012/04/poetry-friday-rocks.html

Steven Withrow said...

Thanks for hosting, Tabatha -- great, great post!

Today I have an original poem "Questions About Invertebrates":
http://cracklesofspeech.blogspot.com/2012/04/poem-questions-about-invertebrates.html

Steven Withrow

Susan Taylor Brown said...

Hi Tabatha,
I'm wading back into Poetry Friday at last with an original poem,
13 Ways of Looking at a Hummingbird
http://www.susantaylorbrown.com/blog/kick-the-poetry-cants-27/

Thank you so much for hosting.

Renee LaTulippe said...

Thanks for hosting, Tabatha - love the poems you offered! I've got TWO poetry videos and a giveaway for you today:

Julie Larios gives us the gift of "No Strings Attached" in her lovely reading of her kite poem.
http://www.nowaterriver.com/poetry-month-2012-julie-larios/

Lee Wardlaw shares selections from her delightful picture book WON TON: A CAT TALE TOLD IN HAIKU, which just won the 2012 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award.
http://www.nowaterriver.com/poetry-month-2012-lee-wardlaw/

Oh, and I also have a giveaway of THE HOUSE by J. Patrick Lewis, who will be on the blog on Monday!
http://www.nowaterriver.com/poetry-month-2012-giveaway-the-house-by-j-patrick-lewis/

Have a great day!
Renee LaTulippe

Julie said...

Hi, Tabatha. I have a small thank-you-with-links to Renee LaTulippe who has done such a wonderful job with readings and interviews of children's poets during the month of April. A Herculean effort, done with good grace and humor! The post is up on The Drift Record today.

GatheringBooks said...

Hi there Tabatha, thank you so much for hosting this week. Fats' contribution for Poetry Friday is Woman to Man by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. :) Still in keeping with our bimonthly theme on Girl Power and Women's Wiles :)

I love your poem by Guest "On Quitting" - I should print that out and place it somewhere visible around the house to remind me to keep doing my running regimen on a more regular basis - and might push me to runrunrun on days when I feel like 'quitting.' Love the grit and gumption in this post.

Greg Pincus said...

Hi, Tabatha - I'm also up with Lee Wardlaw today, sharing a previously unseen cat haiku.

Since last Poetry Friday, I've also had poems by Ron Koertge, Susan Taylor Brown, Bruce Coville, Thanhha Lai (with a poem that was edited out of her National Book Award winner!), Robert L. Forbes, and JonArno Lawson! I hope folks will check http://gottabook.blogspot.com and see 'em all....

Thanks for hosting!

Mary Lee said...

The best I can do this last Friday of National Poetry Month is to share yesterday's poem. Today's poem won't be written until tonight. Maybe late tonight. (That's what the month's come to...but I haven't dropped a stitch yet!!!)

http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2012/04/poetry-reading.html

Andromeda Jazmon said...

This is such a wonderful post! I will be back several times today and will enjoy it a little more each time. Today I am posting a poem written by my son at http://awrungsponge.blogspot.com/2012/04/pucks-poem.html. Thanks so much!

Liz Steinglass said...

Tabatha,

Thanks so much for hosting and for sharing so much this morning.

I have an original and silly poem this morning "Poke that Pea!" at http://www.lizsteinglass.com/

Have a great day!

Liz

Jim Hill said...

Not even 6:00 am and already a rollicking list has grown. Love it.

Let me add Imminent Growth Spurt, an original inspired by my omnivorous kid.

Thanks for hosting. Really enjoyed "On Quitting."

Author Amok said...

Hey, my friend! I'm excited to have Jeannine Atkins guest-blogging at Author Amok today. Her contribution to the "30 Habits of Highly Effective Poets" is multi-tasking.

Have a great day! http://authoramok.blogspot.com/2012/04/30-habits-of-highly-effective-poets_27.html

Tara said...

Thanbks for hosting today, Tabatha...I'll have to come back and read your juicy post later today, but here's my offering (discovering a "new" poet):
http://tmsteach.blogspot.com/2012/04/poetry-friday-is-hosted-by-tabatha-at.html

Alice@Supratentorial said...

Thanks for hosting!

We've been reading William Carlos Williams this month. I reviewed A River of Words, a juvenile biography of Williams and have some other Williams related links to share.
http://supratentorial.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/poetry-friday-a-river-of-words/

laurasalas said...

Thanks for hosting, Tabatha! I'm in with my daily haiku plus two stunning haiku from October Mourning, a forthcoming collection by Leslea Newman: http://laurasalas.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/dinner/

And this week's 15 Words or Less poems are at http://laurasalas.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/north-shore/

Thanks!

Linda said...

Good morning! The Progressive Poem is on Write Time today! Have a great weekend!http://lindakulp.blogspot.com/

Heidi Mordhorst said...

Good morning, Tabatha! I had hoped to get some middle school work to post today, but none has appeared yet, so I've added to my post from earlier this week featuring poems by kindergarteners...I think the collection should be called "Small and Juicy!"

http://myjuicylittleuniverse.blogspot.com/2012/04/oik-tuesday-what-do-kindergarten-poets.html

Doraine said...

Thanks, Tabatha. I'm in with some kitchen tis for writers. And a. A. Milne. Www.dorireads.blogspot.com

Diane Mayr said...

At Random Noodling I have a review of last weekend's Massachusetts Poetry Festival.

The war is almost over at Kids of the Homefront Army, but not quite...

Kurious Kitty shares "Buttercups," and, Kurious K's Kwotes' quote is by Helen Ferris.

We're in the middle of lilac time at The Write Sisters, and we have a poem called, "The Beat."

jama said...

Hi Tabatha,

Heidi Roemer is my Potluck guest today with an original poem about skating:

http://jamarattigan.com/2012/04/27/friday-feast-heidi-roemer-in-good-form/

Thanks for hosting today! Have enjoyed all the Fictional Favorites :).

Ruth said...

Here's my contribution for today. Thanks for hosting!

http://thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com/2012/04/poetry-friday-how-to-be-poet.html

Charles Ghigna said...

Thanks, Tabatha!
Here is my new poem "A Poem is a Metaphor" for this last Friday of National Poetry Month


The FATHER GOOSE Blog

Debbie Diller said...

I have a poem by Aileen Fisher today on my blog. Enjoy!

The Stenhouse Blog said...

On The Stenhouse Blog today we have the last in our series of book spine poems using professional books. Happy Poetry Friday!

Irene Latham said...

Hi Tabatha - how much do I love that little Wanderer poem?? SO MUCH. Thank you especially for that one! I am on the road with no time for a proper blog post, but I do want to share a poem of mine about a not-evil stepmother titled "Anne Moynet Audubon, Long Before Birds of America" that appeared yesterday at Your Daily Poem: http://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=1080

Thanks so much for hosting!

Betsy Hubbard said...

What a week and a great lineup already today! Glad that Friday has finally arrived with some poems of my content and discontent! Life's favorite feelings.

http://teachingyoungwriters.blogspot.com/2012/04/wavy-week.html

Sara said...

Wow, it's a feast of poems today!

I'm in with William Carlos Williams's glorious "Love Song"
---and an update on my efforts to learn how to sing. It's scary, as all new things are.

Amy @ Hope Is the Word said...

I am highlighting the delightful picture book A Sock Is a Pocket for Your Toes today. Thanks for hosting!
http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2012/04/27/a-sock-is-a-pocket-for-your-toes-a-pocket-book-by-elizabeth-garton-scanlon/

KateCoombs said...

I'm celebrating haiku at Book Aunt today, with a focus on Issa and on ocean haiku from the comments (for a giveaway of my book, Water Sings Blue). People can still write a haiku to enter in the next three days.

http://bookaunt.blogspot.com/2012/04/celebrating-haiku.html

Thank you, Tabatha!

david elzey said...

in with the week four roundup of my daily twitter haiku, and a little bonus mention of the political tweets of elinor lipman

http://fomagrams.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/poetry-friday-twitku-roundup-week-four/

thanks for hosting and posting!

Sylvia Vardell said...

Thanks for hosting-- love your poem selections today. My Friday posting is a 5Q interview with the wonderful Janet Wong.

http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/

violet said...

Thanks so much for hosting. Your poem choices are fascinating!

I have an original nonsense poem for you: "Coon Zoo Lullaby" It's here: http://vnesdolypoems.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/coon-zoo-lullaby/

Lorie Ann Grover said...

Thank you for so generously hosting! At readertotz we have An Awesome Book.

Esther Hershenhorn said...

Hi, Tabatha.

And, thanks for hosting Poetry Friday!

I don't know if I'm submitting our entry correctly; I'm subbing for April Halprin Wayland who's at this very moment winging her way to IRA in Chicago.

Check out http://www.teachingauthors.com/2012/04/my-out-and-about-school-visit-follow-up.html

My school visit follow-up includes original poems by Aurora, IL fourth graders, written for their Illinois ABC Book.

Thanks again.

Esther Hershenhorn

Lorie Ann Grover said...

And at On Point I have an original haiku, The Unfaithful. Thanks again!

Janet S. said...

Thanks for hosting.
My selection is "Absolutely Wild: Poems" written by Dennis Webster and illustrated by Kim Webster Cunningham.

Joyce Ray said...

Tabatha, thanks for hosting and the thoughtful selection of poems you posted. I love the line "and to lay them across her lap like a shawl" in "To Play Pianissimo."

The Billy Collins poem is terrific and I love Guest's lines

But the sort of grit that is good to own
Is the stuff you need when you’re all alone.

Over at Musings I report on a fantastic Maine poetry festival I attended on poetry and revolution. www.joyceray.blogspot.com

Jeannine Atkins said...

Tabatha, thank you for all the brilliance you are juggling so gracefully today!

I wrote about a new collection of poems based on painting and history called This Caravaggio by Annie Boutelle at http://jeannineatkinsonwritingandstuff.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/annie-boutelle-reads-this-caravaggio-at-smith-college/

Elaine Magliaro said...

Thanks so much for doing the roundup this week. Over at Wild Rose Reader, I have an original poem titled "Things to Do If You Are a Book." I also have a very short car crash story. That's the reason I'm a little late posting today.

http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/2012/04/things-to-do-if-you-are-book-original.html

Marjorie said...

Thank you for hosting, Tabitha, and I can see that my week-end is now accounted for with all the welcome distractions on offer this Poetry Friday!

I'm ion with a final clarion call for people to contribute to LitWorld's Global Poem for Change:

http://www.papertigers.org/wordpress/poetry-friday-still-three-days-left-to-contribute-to-litworlds-global-poem-for-change/

Mary Lee said...

Found this in my comments. I think it belongs here!

Good morning! I posted the monologue from Labyrinth at Bildungsroman.

http://slayground.livejournal.com/699257.html

Karen Edmisten said...

Thanks for hosting! I'm late to the party but I'm sort of in this week -- it's here.

Heidi Mordhorst said...

I'm back to say that, having read a summary of Divergent, I don't know that I want to actually read it--it sounds quite savage and depressing--but that I like the way the poems you chose give some depth to the plot line. My favorite is "Famous". Thanks as always for the breadth and depth.

Tabatha said...

Heidi, did you read The Hunger Games? I don't think Divergent is actually any more savage or depressing than THG.

April Halprin Wayland said...

Dear Tabatha!

Thank you for sharing much richness--I can't wait to dig in! I've just landed in Chicago for the International Reading Assn. Convention (and yes, my arms are tired...) and forgot to send my Poem-A-Day-Challenge poem for today, in which my dog, Eli, meets a handmade doll:

http://www.aprilwayland.com/poetry/2012-poetry-month/?id=3979

All this month's poems can be viewed here:
http://www.aprilwayland.com/poetry/2012-poetry-month/

(I can't believe it's almost over!)