Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’ve missed you guys the past few weeks! I’m dropping in this week to share my poem from Tabatha Yeatts’ fabulous Imperfect II — poems about perspective: an anthology for middle schoolers. I have now had two poems centered on insecurity and picture day at school. Two poems in books, I mean. I’ve probably written more, as it seems to resonate with me. You can imagine how I loved picture day. Here I am in second grade. I didn’t move on to skin insecurities until later grades–haha!
I’ve really enjoyed seeing so many Poetry Friday friends in the pages of this anthology. Thank you, Tabatha, for your work for this tender age group!
And for lots of wonderful poetry, don’t miss the Poetry Friday Roundup with poet Buffy Silverman–I always love how she celebrates the world and science in her poetry.
18 Responses
I really like the perspective in this poem, Laura. I also wanted to thank you for suggestions about tagging poems. I’m going to start doing that moving forward, then back up to previous poems when I can. So smart!
Yippee! Hope you find it useful, Rose!
I will certainly share this with my older granddaughter, Laura, who searches for those “small red storms” (just in case). I wonder how she’ll like it? It feels just right for that age to me. Thanks!
Laura, it is so true that teenagers have issues with theirselves. Just today, I felt the sting of feeling badly about myself. I have not only had swollen eyes from cataract surgeries but I got a weird rash on my upper extremities and followed by it creeping to my face. Your poem was well- structured moving from a small dot to a large outer space. Thanks for sharing your poem.
We never really outgrow the vulnerability to those feelings, do we. I find they have become much more muted, but still…Speaking of, I love your avatar pic. Is that a new one? Lovely!
Oh, does this bring up some memories! Great poem for this book. Thanks for spotlighting and sharing this poem and book today.
Thank you for sharing your IMPERFECT II poem and that precious photo of second grade you! (I was looking for photos of my son for a graduation project and I think he managed to not have any school portraits taken of himself for several years, haha!)
The human map of me. Love that so much! And little pig-tailed you…adorable! Thank you, Laura. xo
Yes, your poem brings back memories. Love how you put that relatable anxiety into perspective. And that photo of you is adorable!
Loved the poem, and love the concept of perspective. So much changes as we do!
Thanks, Carol!
So relatable! Who doesn’t think the universe has temporarily blinded all of humanity to everything except the one zit that popped up over night on their forehead? Love everything about this poem.
Second grade Laura was a cutie! (I had the same braids and bangs.) Love the positive self-talk/perspective in your poem.
This is a great poem!! I love how each thing that has a spot or dot on it is just a spot or dot on something else
This is a great poem. I love how it gets bigger and bigger and the dots get smaller and smaller. Very creative, Laura! Thanks for sharing it. WordPress lets you tag your posts. I saw that Rose C. made a comment about that. I think tagging helps a lot. Always great to read your work!
My younger self completely identifies with this anxiety, and my adult self identifies with the way you created context and perspective for that anxiety by zooming out. This is a poem sure to resonate with readers of all ages. Thanks for sharing it with us!
My teen self really could have used this perspective!! Great poem!!
Both my teen self and my self right now can relate to this poem, Laura. Now has to do with age spots/sun damage — just as angst inducing unfortunately. Tabs’ anthology rocks! 🙂