Perpetual Trophy
It stood there in the cabinet:
The cup we all desired,
Engraved with names of winners past:
The stars we all admired.
Now watch us train with fierce intent
To match, then beat their best
For striving for that lofty goal
Will help us top the rest.
But if our team should fail the tests
On which success depends,
There will remain a greater prize:
A lasting group of friends
Space Duster SiO2 by Celia Berrell
A man-made material
Silica aerogel
recently travelled in outer space
collecting the particles
shed by a comet’s tail
bringing them back to a NASA base.
A frothy glass matrix
of mostly air – sandy mix
lighter than feathers and stronger than steel
is brittle-snap crazy
and seems smoky-hazy.
When rubbed on a surface it gives out a squeal!
This stiff-sponge sensation
has great insulation
preventing the passage of heat through its layer.
Like a piece of blue sky
that is crisp, light and dry
its edges look fuzzy, like snap-frozen air.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfUIc6efV3w
Lawrence Livermore Quest Lab video
Poem with Teacher Notes
POETRY BLAST
Some words fly like arrows
to their target.
Some veer, tell it slant.
Spin-bowled,
some ricochet unpredictably.
But we know it is poetry
when we see how they all
© Kate O’Neil
Notes by Jeanie Axton
Students could cut out arrows, airplanes, rockets and balls. On each they could attach describing words and phrases. They could then write poems based on the object and words. Encourage lots of ways to mix up the words and editing. The aim being at the end of the exercise to hit home with the words in the poem.
For example use picture prompts with describing words to get the students thinking
But just for a laugh, just for something different to do
I thought I’d write a poem which would get the kind of review
That you wouldn’t wipe your bum with, for fear of being contaminated
Write one for which the reviewers had only vitriolic hatred
So this is my offering to put in the bad poem section
I hope it gets added to many bad poem collections
But I’d like it to be known, I make this statement bold
That all my other poems are sheer solid gold!
Revolution
Many moons ago
Copernicus, you know
Unearthed that planets dance around the sun
The earth, it seemed, was not
The central turning spot
Around which universal bodies spun
Then came Galileo
Another spacey fellow
Who thought Copernicus was quite correct
But the church became afraid
Of the viewpoints being made
So they locked him up to mute his intellect
But before these confrontations
As he peered at constellations
Through his telescope, he soon discovered more
While the earth had only one,
A greater distance from the sun
Was Jupiter with moons that totaled four
Now centuries down the track
As we marvel, looking back
Just how very brave these innovators were
Giving birth to modern science
With their obstinate defiance
Means that trips to outer space can now occur
Thankyou for the Space poems. I will try and get as many in as possible as we continue the theme. This Thursday we have both World Poetry Day and Harmony Day. Thankyou to those who sent the poems about writing poems in. Keep any more coming and any Harmony Day themed poems. The focus this year being “ Everyone Belongs”.
Please send poems to
poemoftheday.jaxton@gmail.com
Cheers
Jeanie
And this weeks quote
I was out in the garden
Just digging away
And planting some seeds
On this beautiful day,
When I dug up a lamp
Quite out of the blue,
It must have been magic,
I knew what to do.
I rubbed on the lamp
And a Genie appeared,
Not a beautiful girl
But a fellow I feared!
‘You’re disturbing my sleep!’
The Genie said.
‘This had better be good,
Or I’ll pummel your head.’
A gruesome beard
A devilish grin
I wished like hell
I could put him back in.
‘Well what do you want?’
The bully pursued.
‘Thank you for asking,’
I sheepishly mewed.
‘Now, get on with your wish,
I was having a dream
of a beautiful maiden.
We were sharing ice-cream.’
‘Really?’ I said,
And I laughed till I cried.
The Genie was miffed,
I had injured his pride.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said,
And he calmed down a tad.
‘So what is your wish?’
That made me feel glad.
‘I can’t wait all day’,
With his hands on his hips
I considered my choices,
This came to my lips:
‘I know what I want
for us both in the end.
Stay here in Carnegie
and just be my friend.’
