It is the…
Get inspired by nature! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Archive for the ‘Poetry’ Category
**Photo by Mandy Disher; text added by Natalie
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Write a Limerick!
Write a limerick?
Why not! I thought it would be fun to share a limerick this week and invite you to write one too. Mine is about me and a spider.
When teaching (grades 4-8), I found that starting a new school year by writing poems and sharing them was an exciting way get students hooked on writing. I must admit it—limericks are so much fun! In the classroom we learn about using some of the tools in our writer’s tool box—tools like assonance (repeating vowel sounds) and consonance (repeating consonant sounds) to create a musical message. And of course, we had Scholastic rhyming dictionaries and thesauruses close at hand. It’s always exciting to discover alternative words (synonyms) that have just the right sounds and syllables to perfect our poems.
Whether you’re a teacher, a parent or simply want to share the love of reading and writing, get the kids together and give it a try. Read on to discover what inspired me to write my spider limerick and have lots of fun writing and reading with the kids!
Click the link to find out all about it How to Write a Limerick http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/lessons/how-to-write-a-limerick/
More about Bette’s Spider Limerick
Before I wrote this limerick, I had been watching several spiders weave their webs on the outside screens of our back porch all during the spring and summer. Spiders are fascinating creatures to watch from a safe distance. But, up close and personal they frighten me. The photo for the limerick was taken by me (safely inside the screen). Nature and my own human nature inspired me to write this one:
There once was a tall timid writer
Who spotted an intrepid spider
She jumped up and screamed
Then she suddenly beamed
“Why, I’ll write a fine book about spiders!”
~ Bette A. Stevens
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SENSATIONAL SUMMER: A Monarch Butterfly Poem by Bette A. Stevens
Illustrations for the poem “Sensational Summer” are from Bette’s award-winning children’s picture book, AMAZING MATILDA.
Much like a Monarch butterfly, the summer is quickly flying past us here at The Farmstead in Central Maine. In fact, it won’t be long before these amazing butterflies begin their great southern migration to Mexico, where they’ll aggregate (cluster in dense tree cover) to keep warm, enabling this generation of monarchs to winter over before they mate and begin the next generation’s migration north for the 2017 season. Matilda (a Monarch butterfly and the main character in my picture book AMAZING MATILDA) and I wish you and yours a sensational summer! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
We invite you to take a look inside AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarch’s Tale and check out other books by Bette A. Stevens
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1183. A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives. ~Jackie Robinson
Kindness counts and compassion is a beautiful thing… ~ Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com
The purpose of life is not to be happy.
It is to be useful, to be honorable,
to be compassionate,
to have it make some difference
that
you have lived and lived well.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10 ✝
**Image found on Pinterest; text added by Natalie
A child is…
“Protect them, encourage them, love them… Children are like butterflies!” ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com
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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! Mama I Miss You… (poem by Bette A. Stevens)
Wishing everyone a “Happy Mother’s Day” and sharing a poem written in 2014 to celebrate my beautiful mother on her birthday. ~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
It will be nine years ago on August 8, 2007, when I called Mama to wish her a Happy Birthday and, as usual, we talked for hours. It was the last birthday we got to ‘celebrate’ together. Mama left us for her heavenly home the following April and there hasn’t been a day since that I haven’t thought about her and missed her. Mama’s strength of character, her poise, wit and unconditional love live on within all those whose lives she touched. The photograph (circa 1951) of Mama and me was taken in California.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mama. I miss you.
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1131. The rose is without an explanation; she blooms because she blooms. ~Angelus Silesius
Picture perfect images. Oh, the wonder of it all! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Roses of the field whisper divine poetry,
but you must listen carefully to hear it
because noise from the wheels of progress
drowns out everything that sings.
~Edited poem by Judith Cody
You love the roses – so do I. I wish
The sky would rain down roses!
Why will it not?
Then all the valley would be pink and red
And soft to tread on. They would fall as light
As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be
Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!
~Edited poem by George Elliot
He(the Lord) will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. ~Psalm 91:4 ✝
**Image of my Night Owl roses
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“Winter’s Last Hurrah” a poem by Bette A. Stevens
Winter’s Last Hurrah
A poem of seasonal transition by Bette A. Stevens
First day of spring at the farmstead in Central Maine and more than migrating birds flutter about to entertain us. Snowflakes join the celebration. The flurry of Slate-colored Juncos and White-breasted Nuthatches (I managed to capture a snapshot of one at the feeder) don’t seem to mind at all.
Wonders of the seasons—they never cease to amaze us!
~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
Find out more about birds mentioned in “Winter’s Last Hurrah”
- Juncos
http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/juncos.html - Nuthatches
http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/nuthatches.html
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1091. Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. ~Desmond Tutu
“Hope is a thing with feathers that perches on the soul…” one of my favorite lines from Emily Dickinson ~ Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com
We must accept finite disappointment,
but never lose infinite hope.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
~Emily Dickinson
It has been my privilege to meet some incredible people through my blog. They are people I never knew to ask God for, but He has given them to me anyway. When I asked Him why He blessed me with their presence in my life, He let me know that it’s because they can fill my life in ways that no one else can. And it’s true…
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living in a jar
Simply had to share…
Take a taste and get inspired. I did! ~ Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Bette A. Stevens, Maine Author 
Written
on 08/13/2016