Monthly Archives: April 2020
“Shoebox World” by Mary Serenc
Leave a commentShoebox World
You need a shoebox nothing more,
Then cut out a little door.
Inside the box is just the space,
For you to make a special place.
Is it a tiny teddy’s home?
Or a world where dinosaurs like to roam?
Does it hide treasure or a golden key?
A pirate’s world for all to see?
Is it a space adventure with moon and stars?
With rockets racing off to Mars?
Or you could make it a minature zoo,
With monkeys, lions and tigers too.
Put the lid on and open the door
Let’s see the world that you adore.
“Forty Days in Italian” by Celia Berrell
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Venice, in the Middle Ages
feared infection from the boats
that visited its harboured stages,
ordering sailors to “stay afloat!”
For forty days they had to anchor.
NOT set foot on Venice land,
to make sure none were sick and rank
or had bubonic plague at hand.
Quaranta giorni (Kwa-rant-a jee-or-nee)
Quaranta giorni (Kwa-rant-a jee-or-nee)
is “Forty Days” in Italian.
That’s where the word for isolation
known as QUARANTINE began.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/quarantine-vs-isolation/
What does quarantine mean?
In general, a quarantine is “a strict isolation imposed to prevent the spread of disease.” We know what you might be thinking: so, a quarantine is … just an isolation? Not exactly.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains, the practice of a quarantine specifically involves:
… the separation of a person or group of people reasonably believed to have been exposed to a communicable disease but not yet symptomatic, from others who have not been so exposed, to prevent the possible spread of the communicable disease.
The takeaway: People are put in quarantine when they are not currently sick, but have been or may have been exposed to a communicable disease. This can help stop the spread of the disease.
Voluntary quarantine (when someone isn’t ordered to go into quarantine but chooses to do so just out of caution) is often called self-quarantine.
Entering English in the early 1600s, this “isolation” sense of quarantine comes from the Italian quarantina, a period of forty days, derived from quaranta, the Italian for “forty.” (The Italian quaranta, if you’re curious, comes from the Latin quadrāgintā, also meaning “forty.”)
What’s so special about 40? Historically, a quarantine referred to a period—originally of 40 days—imposed upon ships when suspected of carrying an infectious or contagious disease. This practice was done in Venice in the 1300s in an effort to stave off the plague.
Prompt #11 “Art”
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This weeks prompt is Art.
Send in poems this week to
poemoftheday.jaxton@gmail.com
Thankyou and Keep Safe
Jeanie
“Closed doors” by Julie Cahill
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“Anzac Day” by Toni Newell
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Anzac Day
In two thousand and twenty,
We will celebrate,
Anzac Day a different way,
And we can all participate.
We won’t be going to the shrineBut, in the morning at 5.55,
We’ll observe a minute’s silence,
At the very end of our drive.
We can all stand as a nation,
Honour those who fought the war,
Whilst fighting our own battle,
Against this virus so obscure.
“Wheels Song” by Katherine Gallagher
Leave a commentWheels Song
I don’t know why I’ve got feet
when I could have had wheels,
for wheels go so much faster.
Imagine me flying down our street
not in my trainers or boots
but on wheels, with my ghetto-blaster.
Imagine people turning to stare
and all telling me to slow down
before I caused a disaster.
Imagine me gliding off into space
with a quick little nod to the Moon,
then simply going straight past her. . .
©Katherine Gallagher