Straddle the Turtle

Learning to slow down, because life's too short ~ ~ ~

Art of Poetry

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This weekend I’m taking part in the Art of Poetry Soiree, a celebration and fundraiser for Milwaukee SCORES.* This is the fifth year I’ve accepted this invitation to choose a poem written by one of the soccer-player poets in this wonderful program. Area artists are asked to chose from a list of poems the children have created in hopes that it will inspire a work of art to donate to the auction.

I chose a poem by 8-year old Lily which touched me immediately. I’d recently finished reading two books about trees: a novel by Richard Powers called The Overstory and a non-fiction by arborist William Bryant Logan called Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees. Both are excellent! Presently, many trees in our neighborhood are needing to be cut down because they are diseased, which breaks my heart. I love trees… and I love what the America Scores program does to help kids get on the right path.

The title of Lily’s poem is “Trees”:

Trees are tall
Trees are short
Some are maple
Some are oak
Leaves are yellow
Leaves are green
These are the beautiful trees I have seen

Book of Trees
Book of Trees

*America SCORES is a transformational after-school program which educates and prepares 1st-5th grade students to lead healthy and confident lives. For more information: America Scores in Milwaukee

Color Me Poetry

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Blue Whale
Blue Whale*

Color Me Poetry (by Aldo, age 10)

There was a blue whale.
He was as hungry as the sky was for the water.
Soon he saw a red chili.
It was like fireworks (boom, boom) that went up into the sky.
Soon the blue whale got the chili and became purple like grapes and bumpy like a chameleon.

* Blue Whale 2018 watercolor painting by Barbara Grant was donated to today’s fundraiser for America Scores in Milwaukee 

What I do on Friday afternoons

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Those last few hours leading into the weekend are my favorite. That’s when I spend time facilitating a Memories in the Making* class. We may begin with a bit of anxiety, “But I’m not an artists!” is the most common lament. My job is to get my friends to relax and play with the paint. Our time together ends with satisfying accomplishments and, most importantly, shared memories.

This is one of my favorites, purchased at one of the exhibit fundraisers. The artist who painted this “Apple in the Sky” is famous for claiming she is not an artist and can’t do this…but then at the end of class announcing that her paintings should be hung in the Whitehouse!

*More can be learned about the Memories in the Making program by Googling it (delightful photos and videos will pop up) or by looking up the Alzheimers Association. Here’s a good site to explore: Memories in the Making program

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