POETRY MONTH

This month at school my students have been reading, writing, and memorizing poetry! As part of their September book report each student was required to memorize a poem of their choice. The only requirement was that it needed to be at least 8 lines long.Today they got to stand up and share them with our class. Most students chose poems by Jack Prelutsky or Shel Silverstein. They were funny, silly, and crazy. Some students even SANG their poems. But my ALL TIME FAVORITE POEM that was shared today...was recited by a beautiful, shy, and sweet little girl. I am not sure where she found the poem, what motivated her to memorize it, or if it had any meaning to her...but it touched my heart at a time when I needed it most. Thanks little T:)

Good Timber
by Douglas Malloch
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.