 |
| Mrs. Frizzle! |
I am away from my desk yet again this week -- helping my mom through a surgery. O, October, how you weary me! So I thought I would share with you as I always do pictures from our local elementary school's scarecrow show. (Here's a link to 2015 and 2014.) And I thought I'd also share a scarecrow poem by Valerie Worth. Sounds good, right?
Scarecrow's Wish
By summer's end
I'm crook-necked,
hunch-backed,
twig-thin.
I've lost an eye,
and an arm,
and my hat dangles
below my brow.
I saved the grain
from so many beaks and teeth,
and still my work
goes on –
I'll guard this field
until winter comes,
and then, Wind,
won't you please
oh so gently
lay me down?
- Irene Latham
 |
| Waldo! |
This poem started out with the title "Scarecrow," and then I changed it to "Scarecrow's Lament," then "Scarecrow's Request," and finally "Scarecrow's Wish."
Titling is a funny thing. I think of it's an important tool for the poet -- great for creating suspense, intrigue, or simply placing a poem so you don't have to use the first lines to do that.
I like the idea of Scarecrow having a wish, and I like the way those words sound and look together (better than "request"!). I really love "lament," but the poem really turned into something different at the end, so it didn't seem to fit anymore. Plain ol' "Scarecrow" is what Valerie Worth would do... and one can certainly argue for the simple title! What decisions we poets are faced with... Poets, how do you approach titles? Do share in comments!
 |
| The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly! |
 |
| Pete! |
 |
| Max! |
Thanks for hosting, Irene - and best wishes to your mom. I agree titling can be every important, which is why I tend to try to come up with a title that lends a little bit of extra understanding to the poem, whether it's humor, intrigue, or perspective. I'm celebrating Halloween today, as well - although the post won't go live til just after midnight EDST. Have a good weekend!
ReplyDeleteHi Matt, thanks for your well wishes. And yes, I like the idea of a title lending "a little bit extra" to a poem!
DeleteOh how I LOVE your Scarecrow poem, Irene! Though I also love Valerie Worth's poetry beyond words, I'm glad she didn't pen a scarecrow one, because then we wouldn't have yours. Thank you for hosting, and warmest thoughts & WISHes for your mom's recovery. XO
ReplyDeleteThank you, Robyn! Yes, Valerie Worth gave much to the world, didn't she? As do YOU. xo
DeleteHi Irene, Thanks for hosting! Best wishes to your mom and to you getting back to your desk. So many things interfere, but they enrich, too. As for titles, I try to find a note to strike that plays the music of the piece for me. To try to bring out its harmony. If that makes sense. I love the literature-inspired scarecrows. They are really more like Share-crows. :-)
ReplyDeleteHa Share-crows! I love it! :) thanks for your well wishess.. yes to things that interfere and enrich. I know I am exactly where I am meant to be. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteWonderful poem and scarecrows!! Sending good healing vibes and best wishes to your Mom. My Bob Dylan post will go live Friday at 6 a.m. EST. Thanks so much for hosting this week!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jama! I am looking forward to your Dylan post. xo
DeleteOh, so gently lay me down. You are tired, aren't you? Such a lovely soft ending to Scarecrow's wish. Good thoughts to you and your mum on recovery and a safe journey home to your writing desk! Thanks for hosting the roundup. I always feel settled when I can post on Thursday evening and start enjoying the links on Friday.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda, from, yes, one weary scarecrow! Appreciate you stopping by and joining Poetry Friday! xo
DeleteIt sounds like you can relate a little too well to your scarecrow, Irene. I hope a breeze wafts by to bring both you and your scarecrow some rest. Such a lovely poem. I agree with Robyn - it would have been a real shame not to have this poem. (I cannot help but think of it as 'Scarecrow's Last Straw'. :) ) Love all the scarecrow, but most especially Pete. Nothing like a funky cat!
ReplyDeleteThank-you for hosting our PoetryFriday link-up, and hoping your mum is well soon. My post for this week got put on hold, after my niece snuck in late last night and surprised me with a giggle of a cat's meow poem.
Oh, I LOVE "Scarecrow's Last Straw!" :) :) Thank you. Yay for time with your niece. And yes, wishing a breeze for both of us. xo
DeleteBest wishes for your mother's speedy recovery. I love titling poems and I rarely end up using my working title. I especially like ones that allow me to add a bit of humor!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Diane! I appreciate you sharing that you rarely stick with your working title. Funny how as poems change their titles to as well. Like trying on new hats to make the outfit work. :) xo
DeleteBless you, sweet friend. Thank you for hosting. Titles are so difficult for me. I always struggle to find the best one. I've often defaulted to using the first line as the title and then beginning with line two.
ReplyDeleteHi Doraine, I've done this before too: stealing the first line for a title. Sometimes it's the best answer to the puzzle of a poem. Thank you for sharing, and for being you! xo
DeleteValerie Worth is my favorite children's poet. Thanks for sharing this, Irene.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know you were a Valerie Worth fan, Steven! Yay! Thank you for stopping by, and happy poetry Friday!
DeleteIrene, thank you for hosting and filling your post with so many interesting pieces. I was fascinated by the many clicks that afforded me additional reading and wonderful sites like the local school's scarecrow show (that's a wonderful yearly project and a new one for me). I do believe that titles are attractors and important pieces. Thank you for sharing your insights and the handout that you sent me. I have some new ideas for the workshop on writing I will be presenting this month. As for you poem, it is delightful so I am going to ask if you will offer that one and any others that you would like to send. This one is an autumnventure for sure since you captured the joy of creating seasonal decorations for all to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Carol, for clicking through! Glad you found something on the handout useful -- I know your presentation will be awesome! Also, love this word: autumnventure. Beautiful! You are welcome to the poem for your gallery. Thank you for stopping by and for all you give to the poetryverse! xo
DeleteThese scarecrows are awesome! But I have no doubt your hat must be dangling a bit by now, too, Irene. Warmest wishes and rest to you and mom. xo
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michelle. Yes, dangling for sure. Appreciate your warm wishes and will pass them along to Mama, who is right beside me! xo
DeleteIrene, best wishes for your mother. I imagine you are a little weary, perhaps like that scarecrow in your poem, and hope you find some small times in your days to rest. The poem amazes considering you dashed these words and they are wonderful. I imagine these wonderful scarecrows might have inspired you. Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda! The poem kind of shows how even persona poems are often somehow autobiographical... thank you for your kind words and for stopping by. xo
DeleteLove your scarecrow poem and series of pictures. I'm sure he/she has earned that rest! May your mom recover quickly. Your plate has certainly been full lately. Thanks so much for hosting!
ReplyDeleteAs for titles, I they're a really important part of a poem. When I choose one, I try to make it do some of the poem's work so that it isn't just an accessory.
Dear Violet, thank you for your recovery wishes. I agree about making the poem more than an accessory. It's an important tool, isn't it? xo
DeleteLove the photos and the poem - which is very worthy of being inspired by Valerie Worth, one of my favourite children's poets.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sally! Nice to know you're a Valerie Worth fan as well! Happy Poetry Friday! xo
DeleteOh, your gentle-voiced, world-weary, generous scarecrow. It is real. Thank you, Irene. For the words and these delightful photos. Much love to you and your mom. Thank you for hosting. xx
ReplyDeleteThank you, Amy, whom I adore! Our scarecrow has done a fine job and deserves a rest, doesn't he? Come visit, Wind! xo
DeleteI love your weary scarecrow voice. Hope your mom is doing well and that you get some rest!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Laura! Mama is recovering well and hopefully we'll get her home today! xo
DeleteHi Irene! I love the pictures and your poem. I think I have a new appreciation for scarecrows now. I hope your mom is doing well.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Liz! My mom is a champ. She'd be a year-round scarecrow, I'm thinking. :) Thanks for stopping by. xo
DeleteThanks for hosting, Irene. I posted about Bob Dylan over at Books Around the Table today, rather than the Drift Record. Loved your question about poem titles - it always seems satisfying to me after writing a poem to look back and question what I've ended up saying compared to what I thought I was going to say, then shaping a title to that. And if you've written something very compressed (like Valerie Worth always did) then the title gives you just a little room to loosen up or turn a reader a certain direction.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts, Julie! I do think titles are often directional, a sign post for things to come. Great for setting mood and expectation... like you I enjoy looking back and seeing my own leaps. I think many of my poems in progress could be titled "Falling Rocks Ahead!" Ha! xo
DeleteThanks for hosting, Irene. I said a prayer for your mom and for you as you're with her. I hope all goes well.
ReplyDeleteI just LOVE your scarecrow poem. I think it's important to acknowledge a scarecrow's wish ;-)
I spend a lot of time with titles for my poems. Much like you, I consider them as informative in some way. Sometimes an opening, sometimes for mood...something I can put upfront that's important to my poem. And I like — "placing my poem." That's a great way to explain it.
Penny, thank you for your prayer! Titles are FUN, aren't they? And important, as they are the first thing to draw the reader in and onward... no pressure. :)
DeleteHi Irene! Thanks for hosting. All best to your mom. I love that you wrote a scarecrow poem because you couldn't find one.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tabatha. I will share your well wishes with my mom. There are many reasons to write a poem, aren't there? Thanks for stopping by. xo
DeleteThanks for hosting, Irene...and here's to a speedy recovery for your mom. Loved the scarecrow poem...and the photographs just made me smile. Fall can be such fun!
ReplyDeleteDear Tara, you are right about fall! Some years they move the scarecrows from the school to the zoo, so even more people can enjoy them. ") Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteOh, those scarecrows are adorable - I just read Pete the Cat with a daycare group yesterday, so that Pete scarecrow just made me smile! :)
ReplyDeleteYay for Pete! He is definitely one cool cat. Each year I am reminded of how you can pretty much make a scarecrow version of anything! Fun! Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteIf you had written Valerie Worth at the end of Scarecrow, I would have believed it. Poor overworked fellow, saving the grain from all those beaks. Yes, he deserves a rest! Best to your mom for a speedy recovery.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Buffy! Rest is coming for that poor overworked fellow, I am sure of it. :) Thank you for stopping by. xo
DeleteThanks for hosting, Irene, and for this wonderful scarecrow festival! Hope your mom is doing better and better sooner and sooner!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sylvia! Scarecrows and poetry... now THAT is fall. xo
DeleteTitles are the bane of my existence. I value them but struggle so much with them! I love your scarecrow poem and for some reason, that poor, weary scarecrow reminds me of teachers at the end of the year, tattered and tired, ready to rest before rising again in the autumn. Best wishes to your mother for a speedy recovery! Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteYes, Molly, what an apt comparison! I won't look at this poem again without thinking about those tattered and tired teachers at the end of the year, needing a break after a job well done. Thank you!
DeleteJumping in for Poetry Friday on Saturday. Loved the link to the Autumn Poems. "Delicious delight," what a wonderful phrase. How does Valerie Worth say so much in so few words? And scarecrows? I love 'em. Thanks for the pics from the scarecrow show. Do you know Cynthia Rylant's book, Scarecrow? I hope the teachers at that elementary share it with their students. We're hoping for gentle winds as our latest storm arrives this pm.
ReplyDeleteOh, and please give your mom a hug along with wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery. Hope you'll have some time for long, slow scarecrow thoughts while you're visiting and helping.
DeleteRamona, I do not know that Cynthia Rylant book, so I will remedy that very soon! Thank you! And I appreciate your words for my mom, who his healing well. I wish you two could meet! xo
DeleteIrene,
ReplyDeleteI was not coming to this party, but when I opened an email this morning, I felt compelled to post the poems my friend had added to his monthly Full Moon Alert. So, I'm late, but here.
Love your scarecrow pictures and poem. Have you read Kate DiCamillo's "The Miraculous Adventures of Edward Tulane" ? This poem reminds me of how Edward is a scarecrow for a little while. Until he was saved. One of my all time favorite books!
Margaret, EDWARD TULANE is my very favorite Kate book! It's no wonder you love it too. :) And I had forgotten that scene.. I will go back to it now and re-read. Thank you! xo
DeleteI too am late but I get the benefit of the title discussion. Quite often my poems begin with a title, a phrase that seems to beg explication or representation. An example is "Stop for Horses on Bridge," which appeared on a sign I saw, or "Birdseed," which is a proposition in one compound word. But if I am going back to title a poem, it happens often for me as for Julie, where I can use the title to comment on where the poem has taken me that I didn't expect when I began writing. I LOVE the art of titling and naming, and I detest when art is "untitled." Such a wasted opportunity, I always think. It's my one critique of Emily D!
ReplyDeleteYour poem is so lovely, so heartfelt and stalwart, but I do think you go to a place that would be rare for Valerie Worth by speaking in the Scarecrow's voice. She was such a cool observer, and you can't help but let your passionate empathy in. : ) Here's another scarecrow book you would enjoy, illustrated by my aunt's friend Mary Whyte: Waltz of the Scarecrows by Constance McGeorge.
Thank you for hosting so thoroughly while leaking a few straws!
Heidi! So glad you stopped by! Thank you for sharing for your title thoughts. I share your feelings about untitled poems... it IS a wasted opportunity. AND I especially appreciate your "cool observer" description of Valerie Worth's style. One thing I admire so much about her work is how she so often brings forth a really unexpected analogy. (my scarecrow poem doesn't) And yes, I am most comfortable writing persona, and I appreciate your words about empathy. It's definitely a big part of the experience for me. Thanks also for the book recommendation. Yay for scarecrows! xo
Delete