Poetry, Canoeing, and Countdown Clocks!

Hi guys,

Since I've been studying poetry in my Language Arts class, I've been coming across some poems that I really like and I'd just thought I'd share some with you!


My Nostril Smells Awesome
My nostril smells awesome inside of my nose,
a bit like the bloom of a newly-picked rose.
It started this morning--I couldn't say why--
and all day it's smelled like banana cream pie.
It has the aroma of freshly-baked bread
with hot melted butter and blackberry spread,
and maybe the breeze of a warm afternoon,
that follows a thunderstorm early in June.
It smells like a pine forest, right by a lake,
and chocolate chip cookies my mom likes to bake,
like kettle corn pop-popping over a fire,
and laundry, the moment it's out of the dryer.
My nostril smells awesome, so I have a plan
to sit and enjoy it as long as I can.
Don't ask how it happened; I really can't say.
Perhaps it's my finger that's smelling this way.

-- Kenn Nesbitt





The Sad Story of Tommy McTivver


Sit back and I'll tell you of Tommy McTivver,
whose parents uncaringly made him eat liver.
I'll try to explain, in a sensitive way,
why Tommy McTivver is not here today.
You see, when you serve up that rubbery meat
it smells like the sweatsocks of stinky old feet.
The room becomes filled with the hideous odor
of all the manure in the state of Dakota.
Poor Tommy was given a plateful of liver
which frightened the dog and which made the cat shiver.
But nevertheless Tommy did what was right;
he cut a big piece and he chewed up a bite.
Then what happened next is too horrid to tell;
his body went stiff and he shrieked as he fell.
The ambulance came and they drove him away
and promised to have him returned in a day.
The driver, however, drove right off the street
when he heard what Tommy had happened to eat.
The man accidentally drove into the river,
and all because Tommy McTivver ate liver.
So everyone died and I'm sorry to say,
this story could happen again here today.
So please, mom and dad, think of Tommy McTivver
and don't make me eat one more bite of this liver.
--Kenn Nesbitt

Possum Crossing

by Nikki Giovanni
Backing out the driveway
the car lights cast an eerie glow
in the morning fog centering
on movement in the rain slick street
Hitting brakes I anticipate a squirrel or a cat or sometimes
a little raccoon
I once braked for a blind little mole who try though he did
could not escape the cat toying with his life
Mother-to-be possum occasionally lopes home . . . being
naturally . . . slow her condition makes her even more ginger
We need a sign POSSUM CROSSING to warn coffee-gurgling neighbors:
we share the streets with more than trucks and vans and
railroad crossings
All birds being the living kin of dinosaurs
think themselves invincible and pay no heed
to the rolling wheels while they dine
on an unlucky rabbit
I hit brakes for the flutter of the lights hoping it's not a deer
or a skunk or a groundhog
coffee splashes over the cup which I quickly put away from me
and into the empty passenger seat
I look . . .
relieved and exasperated ...
to discover I have just missed a big wet leaf
struggling . . . to lift itself into the wind
and live

I just love those poems. :)

Anyways, not too much is going on since I last posted. Fay hit us, but we're all ok, thankfully. And Aly, Lucy and I went canoeing in the backyard! It was so much fun! :D If you go to my Mom's blog (http://www.mimi-dirtroad.blogspot.com/) you can view a picture of us.

A lion and a tiger got out loose a couple of days ago near us, but they are caught now

And we got published in the paper! It's so exciting... It's my dream to be a journalist, so it's especially exciting for me.

But that's about it! ;)

I can't wait until Martial Arts starts up again! Neither can my friend HumbleServant (I hope you know who you are - and yes, I changed the name), so I offered to make a countdown to put on my blog! Well, HumbleServant absolutely loved the idea and told me I should it. So, I did! Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to actually go on my blog, but I did get a link for it!

Countdown Clock!

HumbleServant also told me to write more often, so I hope this makes you happy!
XoXo,

Nina