Thursday, September 27, 2012

Batty

“Twinkle, twinkle little bat, How I wonder what you're at! Up above the world you fly, Like a tea-tray in the sky”
~Lewis Carroll


Giant Bat, Mexico
by ROA

The Flying Fox
(aka The Stuffed Kalong aka The Bat)
by Vincent van Gogh

Bat-themed outfit for a fancy-dress ball
La mode illustrée, Journal de la famille, 1887
by "Moret"

A Vase of Bats
Veletrzni Palac Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, Prague
photo by Lauren Rauk

Bat
by Lee Carson, Scotland

Censer in the shape of the bat god
Monte Albán culture, Oaxaca

25 Marco Tobon Mejia, Murcielago (bat), bronze

Modern Heroes - closeup (La Casina Valadier, Rome)
by Mauro Perrucchetti

Microbat
by Walter Heubach

The Gilded Bat
by Edward Gorey

Links:

* Origami and the Art of Bat Appreciation by Sara McCabe
* BATS in South American Folklore and Ancient Art by Elizabeth P. Benson
* Bats in Chinese Art by Stephen J. Kern
* Bat lesson plans for teachers
* Bat poetry
* A Time for Kids interview about bats

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Friday, September 21, 2012

And With The Tape It Measures

I rounded up some of my own poetry earlier in the week.

Today we have a poem by Flora Brovina, an Albanian poet, pediatrician, politician, and activist.

Some info about Ms. Brovina from Wikipedia:
As the political situation in Kosovo deteriorated in the 1990s, and fighting broke out, Brovina ran a health clinic in Pristina in which she distributed health care information on matters as diverse as snake bites, dressing wounds and delivering babies. She also used the centre to shelter a number of orphaned children, many of whom had lost their parents during the fighting and expulsions. She and her fellow workers took care of as many as 25 children at a time.

On 20 April 1999 during the Kosovo War, Brovina was abducted by eight masked Serb paramilitaries from the home she was staying in and was driven off by car to an initially unknown destination. She was thus in captivity in Serbia when NATO forces took the capital and Serb troops withdrew from the country. The first news of her abduction broke on 24 April 1999 when her son managed to contact the international writers’ association, PEN, with an urgent appeal that the news of her abduction be made known as widely as possible. She was transferred to a Serb prison in Požarevac and, in her first month of detention, was subjected to over 200 hours of interrogation in 18 separate sessions lasting typically from 7 A.M. to 5 P.M. On 9 December 1999, in a show trial, she was accused of 'terrorist activities' under Article 136 of the Yugoslav Penal Code. She spent a year and a half in Serb prisons before being released as a result of international pressure.
In 2001, she ran for president of Kosovo. Brovina became a member of the Assembly of Kosovo (Parliament) that year and she has held that position ever since.

A poem from Dr. Robert Elsie's Albanian Literature in Translation site:

Dimension
by Flora Brovina

With the tape it measures,
And with the tape it measures
My waist and right arm,
With the tape it measures,
Crawling up my spine,
Rib for rib
As I stand erect,
And with the tape it measures
My long hair and bare shoulders,
Taking a furtive glance of toes
On naked feet,
With the tape it measures
Droplets slithering down my body,
Down my brow and down my cheeks,
I stay put
I don’t go out, I don’t go in,
I don’t go out, I don’t go in,
And with the tape it measures
My bare physique,
My stubby limbs,
No, please, not the head,
And with the tape it measures,
Overlooking nothing,
Missing not a hair,
It puts a noose around my neck
To fashion me a collar
And makes me clothes to its dimensions,
Soaking wet I shiver,
With the tape it measures,
And with the tape it measures,
Nothing can I conceal from it
Neither brow, nor curves, nor belly,
Neither fever, nor blood, nor sweat,
It sees it all,
My whole physique, oh,
But not the tears
Below the lashes, no,
For these there is no tape,
And so the clothes will not be fashioned
To its own dimensions.

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

Ms. Brovina's three books of poetry seem hard to come by, but there is a poem of hers in New European Poets, edited by Wayne Miller and Kevin Prufer.

Renee at No Water River is our Poetry Friday host today.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

“O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan's signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend.”
~Robert Louis Stevenson


This Art Thursday we have The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.






Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
by Jason Edmiston

From Books Should Be Free

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, poster from the 1880s

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Jesus Ortega

Links:

* Looney Tunes: Tweety and Sylvester in "Hyde and Go Tweet"
* The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde lesson plans
* Poem for Two Voices: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde lesson plan (wouldn't this be fun? creating poems for two voices using literature)
* Dr. Jekyll font
* Another interesting poster

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Some Originals

by TY

“An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them.”
~ Stephen Fry


Most of the time, I share other people's poems for Poetry Friday, but sometimes I share my own. I thought I'd gather a bunch of them together:

9-Step Routine for Writers

A Beanstalk for Eva
A Blessing for Riverbanks
A Blessing for Those Who Cultivate Words
A Miracle of Ink
A Quiet Walk
A Rainy Evening with Turn Signal, by Windshield Wiper
A Star Among Stars
A Tableau
Acceptance
Advice from a Mature Nail Polish
After the Feats of Wonder
Atlantis, a modified tritina
At the Division of Poetic Licensing
At Your Command

Billy's Birthday
Branch Line

Celia Greets Us at the Island
Civilization (a golden shovel)

Dog Walking
donuts

Exhortation to a bee

Fibonacci poems
Five things about the rainbow

GEOGRAPHY

Hunger Incantation

If I Could Write Like Poe
In the Great Book of Winter
Imaginary Billy and I Discuss the Founding Documents

Louis Pasteur

Mozart Sends Concertos to the Horn Player Joseph Leutgeb

No Time for Poetry
Nurse

On the Island of the Fay
O.O.U.
Open-Hearted

Pets in the Kitchen haiku series
Poems with Obsolete Words
Poetry City
President-Poet
Pups at Play

Sloths
Swoonicorns

Ten Things Found in a Mermaid's Pocket
The chill says "morning" (a tanka)
The Comfort Zone of a Snail
The Dog Says
The Fortitude of Eyelashes
The Frog Prince Tries to Catch Her Eye
The Mirror Maker
The Old Ship
The Sea of Frozen Words
The Slobbering Eek Meets the Globbering Zeek
Trust
Things To Do If You're a Violet
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Emma
To Flute From Violin

Visitors from Other Worlds

What Do Icicles Know?
What Vincent Couldn't See
When I Grow Up, I Want To Be A Cat
Why Use a Wheelchair When You Can Walk?
Writing Through Winter

Monday, September 17, 2012

The Constitution's 225th Anniversary

From the Hall of Signers,
National Constitution Center, Philadelphia.
Photo by Natalie

Constitution Day is held each year on Sept. 17, the date the document was signed in 1787. There are links below the videos!




* Information about the U.S. Constitution from archives.gov
* U.S. Constitution Fun Zone for kids
* National Constitution Center
* Learning about Law coloring books

Friday, September 14, 2012

ASL Poetry

Last week, I shared a video, and I'm back with more videos this week. American Sign Language Poetry is visual, so you have to see it:





The trailer for the film Deaf Jam



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

Remember the Summer Poem Swap? I am having a one-time Winter Holiday Swap in December. Participants will send their designated swappee a poem, plus a little gift (tea, coffee, something handmade, something pretty, something whimsical...up to you). If you'd like to join in and haven't told me so already, email me: tabatha(at)tabathayeatts(dot)com.

Diane is our Poetry Friday host today.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Purple

I won't eat any cereal that doesn't turn the milk purple.
~Bill Watterson's Calvin


Purple Mountains, Vence
by Marsden Hartley

Purple Rain
by Luis Argerich

Farmer's Market Fall Colors
by Susie Wyshak
Samadhi 119 by John Metcalf
Purple Window
by Michelle Boule Smith

Purple Passionflower
by Jim Pater

Purple Urchins
by Steve Jurvetson
Walk of the Flower Mantis
by Karri Jamison

Monday, September 10, 2012

Believe in ...


Having a visual Music Monday today!

A quote from August Rush:

Photo and graphic courtesy the Yeatts-Lonske crew, esp. Elena

Tone Deaf's Music Venn Diagram
(It's a shirt! I also love Tone Deaf's Music Blue Screen of Death)


Phantom Street Artist says:


From NAMM:


Poster by Bohdan Heblík


A Pinterest board about music journals (what a great idea!)

Friday, September 7, 2012

The Range of the Human Voice

Simon Armitage today with "The Shout":


Katya is our Poetry Friday host.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Aesop's Fables

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
~Aesop


Looking at illustrations of Aesop's Fables today, starting with one from 1479 and working our way forward. If you click on the title of an illustration, you'll go to the text of its story.

De quadrupedibus et avibus
by Heinrich Steinhowel, 1479 (Note the unicorn!)

The Serpent and the Farmer
by Heinrich Steinhowel, 1521

The Young Man and the Swallow
by Bernard Salomon, 1547

De Leporibus et Ranis
by Francis Barlow, 1687

The Dog in the Manger
Illustrations by Ernest Henry Griset, John Tenniel, and Harrison Weir, 1884

Brother and Sister
by Walter Crane, 1887

The Frogs Asking for a King
by Arthur Rackham, 1912

The North Wind and the Sun
by Milo Winter, 1919

The Mouse and the Lion
by Milo Winter, 1919

The Wolf and the Crane
by Milo Winter, 1919

The Camel
by Takeo Takei, 1925
(Takeo Takei is awesome! Click to see more).

* Aesop's Fables lesson plans from Web English Teacher
* The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming

Monday, September 3, 2012

Rock Music, Literally

I really enjoyed a visit to the Luray Caverns in Virginia this weekend. During our tour, I heard the Stalacpipe Organ play. Leland Sprinkle, the organ's inventor, discovered that tapping a stalactite produced a note with an organ-like sound. It took 36 years to finish the organ. To me, it sounds a bit like bells. Take a listen:


One of my favorite spots in the Caverns was Dream Lake. The lake is so shallow and still that it perfectly reflects the stalactites above:

photo of Dream Lake by Owen Byrne

Luray Caverns' kids' activities