Elizabeth Joy Levinson

Poems up at Burnt Bridge!

I didn’t know when my poems would appear here, so I was excited to see this when I visited their page.  Good news on the first day of National Poetry Month!

On Monday, I’m chaperoning a field trip to Brookfield Zoo.  I’m really looking forward to this trip because I think that our students need more interactions with wildlife, though I’m sad that this is the best we can do. The science teacher coordinating the trip let me help plan a poetry component for the assignment the students will be working on.  Today I wrote a few poems about polar bears as models for the kids.  I love when I get to write poetry models for students; it helps me stretch myself as a poet, though it can be challenging because my intent (to provide easy-to-follow examples) is not the same as my usual intent when I sit down to write (I don’t usually have much of an intent).

I haven’t been to Brookfield since the opening of the Language of Conservation Exhibit, created by my thesis advisor, Sandra Alcosser.  The exhibit features lines of poetry embedded in the Great Bear Wilderness habitat. Painted on the curbs, etched into brick, written above viewing windows; they sneak up on readers, but hopefully, will stay with readers as long as the memory of the beasts the words surround.

And here’s a great deal from Powell’s, 15% off all poetry titles!