A New Poem

For those of you who have read my work here, you know that I also struggle with writing poetry as well. This summer an acquaintance died by her own hand, and I wrote this poem to help me figure out my thoughts about it all.

As always,I welcome feedback. It is very much a work in progress. Unfortunately, I can find no way to keep the spacing and formatting, no matter how much I tweak it. But at least you can read the words.

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The Inchworm and the Heron

On my son’s shoulder sat the inchworm,
Having hitched a ride into the sanctuary.
The eulogy progressed.
I gently coaxed it
Onto a Torah cover,
To bide its time
Until I could help it
Return to its world.

It measured the cover’s perimeter—
Up down, up down—
At the corner it stretched out
Sightlessly reaching
seeking
striving
A life carefully measured,
Centered on words of wisdom
Trying to find connection
purpose
community

When we went to leave
It had vanished, lost to view.

At the cemetery we mourners
unmoored
unconnected
unsure,
Struggled to strengthen our earthly ties,
Reaching out, looking helplessly,
For what had been lost

Over our heads a heron
Crossed the sky
Effortlessly floating
gliding
drifting

Might rootlessness be desirable?
Might the ceasing of striving be purposeful?

Above the confines of earth
the heron soared.


(c) Lydia A. Schultz 2009

Which Jane Austen Character Are You?

Ok, I am not usually a quiz person, but I loved the idea of this one. Here are my results:

Take the Quiz here!

I must confess to being pleased. Especially given that my name is Lydia, it could have been unpleasant!

Take the quiz at the link above.

CampPBWorks

I have been working away at Camp PB Works, developing and expanding a wiki for my school. I have decided to try to focus on making the wiki a cross between the media (read "computer") part of the program and the library part of the program.

It seemed really clear at first, as I narrowed in on making the site helpful for the various research projects that students do over the course of the year. But as I keep thinking about it, and as I sit in on curriculum meetings with classroom teachers, I remember other things that I should probably include, like current events, map and geography sites, and so on.

So if anyone out there is willing to give me some feedback on the wiki, you can find it at TTSP Media Wiki for Students. You probably will need to leave me comments here, because I don't want anyone else changing or adding to the wiki quite yet.

This plea is especially for my "Things on a Stick" colleagues--I would value your input.