Morana

By Dušan Božić - https://www.deviantart.com/duszanb, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Morana

She is a long and cold winter.

She is death and rebirth and dreams.

She is a wolf, a sorcerer.

They burn her at stake every spring.

They drown her in every river on their way home.

They know this will not help.

They know she will return.

Be careful on your way home, little ones.

Whatever you do, don’t look back.

If you stumble and fall, you will die.

Close your doors and windows, for she will find you.

You know she wants revenge.

She will come to you as your worst fear.

She is the mother of nightmares.

She lives in the dark shadows of your bedroom.

Sooner or later, you will fall asleep.

She can wait.

GloPoWriMo Day 13 - a poem about something mysterious and spooky

The poem is about an old Slavic godess called Morana or Marzanna. You can find out more about her here.

My Grandmother's Paper Clips

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

My Grandmother's Paper Clips

They belonged to my grandmother,

and to her grandmother before her.

The craftsmanship is beautiful.

These are Gem clips,

made of steel wire,

bent into a perfect double loop.

None of my friends have anything similar.

They are a link to my female ancestors.

I have worn them all my life.

The clasp is strong,

 they can’t be removed.

GloPoWriMo Day 12 - a poem about a dull thing that you own.

The poem was based on the following anecdote of something that happened to me in 2011:

My Grandmother's Earrings

These earrings belonged to my grandmother. She got them from her grandmother when she was a little girl. In a way, they are a link to my female ancestors. 

The craftsmanship is beautiful. The earrings are flower-shaped and the blue petals are made of turquoise, which is my favourite stone.

A long time ago I decided I was going to wear them. They were different from anything my friends had. I wore them constantly for 20 years. The clasp is very strong and it was hard to remove them even when I wanted to. Until about a week ago when I lost one of them. I was really unhappy, but two days later I found it lying on the carpet, hiding in plain sight.

I was under the impression that my female ancestors were trying to tell me something. 

What could that be?

The White City

By Vlada Marinković - Vlada Marinković, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3881485

The White City

People have lived here for 6000 years.

At the beginning, women ruled.

The Argonauts sailed through,

or so I’ve heard.

There are passages and dungeons under your feet,

your way out, should you need it.

You will have to face your fear of the dark first,

for there are monsters underneath and labyrinths.

Or so they say.

From time to time, the city burns itself to the ground.

A new city grows, completely changed.

No one quite understands why.

Only the wind is always the same

and the two rivers.

The climate is harsh and the people are meat eaters.

The land is constantly eroded.

Nothing is ever solid and there will be cracks everywhere.

You'll need to learn how to live with that

should you decide to stay.




GloPoWriMo Day 11 - a poem of origin

What I Know about the Weather

Image by O12 from Pixabay

What I Know about the Weather

My grandmother said if you saw a lot of sparrows on the ground, there would soon be snow. She always hid a chilly pepper inside her wallet. Sparrows are losing the battle to magpies and crows.  If you hear an owl during the day, that means a storm is coming. The sparrow has lived with the man since the Stone Age.  Cows will stop grazing and will smell the wind before a change of weather. Ice is melting worldwide.  If a rooster is rolling in the dust, hot weather is coming. Some butterflies have migrated north. My grandmother was not allowed to eat chilly peppers because of her gallbladers. Global sea levels are rising. The weather forecast written inside a pig’s spleen is better and more accurate than the  official one, the butcher said. Some regions are experiencing severe drought. If a spider is hiding in shadows, there will be rain. Mosquitoes and ticks are thriving.  If the wind doesn’t stop after 3 days, it will blow for a week. If a bear sees his shadow on Candlemass day, the winter is not over.  If, after a week, the wind doesn’t stop, it will blow for two weeks more. My grandmother said her soul would yearn for chilly peppers forever.

GloPoWriMo Day 10 - a poem about the weather

Based on Serbian folk meteorology and on this article.

Things That Have Been Mislaid

Image by Mabel Amber, still incognito... from Pixabay

Things That Have Been Mislaid

A set of keys for a place where no one lives.

An audio cassette, recorded for someone special.

A child, left to grow up with her grandparents until the day she goes to school.

A glove, forgotten on purpose in the car of a married man.

A ring that fell into a crack in the floor.
A one-eyed doll that once could speak.

A hand-woven rug given as dowry, now eaten by moths.

A squishy toy that a dog used to play with.

A box full of tickets, postcards and maps.

Ten notebooks with hand-written poetry.

GloPoWriMo Day 9 - a list of things

How to teach outside the box

Image by David Schwarzenberg from Pixabay

How to teach outside the box 

Know this: that I believe in our learning focused lesson plans and our emerging communities.

Your child exhibits exceptional focus and diligence.

Be professional in dress, manner, and attitude.

 I want this concept map to be flexible.  It's important to apply it across the curriculum.

I love that your child does her best every single day.

Act professionally in public.

Think about synergy. It's highly relevant in the context of deep learning.

Your child’s persistence is exemplary.

Speak clearly and loudly enough to be heard.

 Together, we will visualize technology-enhanced opinions with synergistic effects.

With a little more effort, your child could move up to the advanced group.

Know where the fire exits are located.

It's time that we became uber-efficient with our constructivist common core.

Let’s work on motivating your child.

Be familiar with disaster procedures.

We need a more blue-sky approach to inquiry-centered action plans.

Your child may need additional assistance.

Keep manuals in one place.

 This approach will prioritize intuitive proficiencies within the new paradigm.

We will continue to work on your child's behavior at school.

Have daily lesson plans well prepared.

 It will unleash student-centered niches in authentic, real-world scenarios.

Let’s meet to discuss strategies to keep your child on track.

Encourage students to dream.

We will orchestrate emerging instruction within professional learning communities.

GloPoWriMo Day 8 - exploring the argot of a particular profession

This is a found poem. I used this EduBabble Jargon Generator, this instruction on how to write report card comments and these tips for the beginning teachers . 

A New Necklace

A New Necklace

GloPoWriMo Day 7 - a perfect gift