traveling poetry classes in june 2017 @ hive cafe in kutztown & the schuylkill river in mont claire.

for june, we'll be venturing up north to kutztown to visit the newly opened HIVE (cafe), which is supplied with healthy eats of all kinds, including plenty of ingredients from local farms. and we'll be returning to the schuylkill river but in the *mont clare section in montgomery county very close to phoenixville, chester county.

next classes–

when: sunday, june 11 @ 1 p.m. & sunday, june 25 @ 1 p.m.

where: 236 west sacony alley, kutztown, pa 19530 for june 11; *recently relocated to ganshahawny park in douglassville due to mont clare celebrating a likely very busy and canal day when we scheduled our class there; the closest address is 334 old philadelphia pike, douglassville, pa 19518, on the opposite side of the road (see this post for more info and pictures of nearby scenery to find the parking lot easily)

optional themes of focus:

• sunday, june 11–  cafe & local farm food poems
• sunday, june 25– river poems

since HIVE has limited seating, the owners are asking for definite RSVPs so they can be sure to have a dedicated area for us. so definitely let me know if you can attend.

if we have oddly inconvenient weather before or during set classes, i will update those who RSVPed to classes in advance to let them know if we are canceling or rescheduling.  

cost: $20 per student, per class (we usually meet for 2 hours or more)

if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at poetrywithjenniferhetrick at yahoo dot com. 

and if you know anyone who may be interested in our class, feel free to share this blog content onward.

also, if there is anyone who may want to join our class but lives in another area across berks, chester, and montgomery counties, we sometimes travel to a good variety of different places, so let us know, and we can see about planning classes closer to you.

eye-scene above: courtesy of robyn jasko of HIVE

candy shop poems in my traveling poetry class in early may 2017.

in early may, we had a smaller traveling poetry class than usual but still enjoyed our afternoon plenty because, well, it involved a candy shop. we sat in the red-painted chairs at the front of the peppermint stick candy store in boyertown. my niece, lillee grace hetrick, joined us and tested out reading some poems which we had with us. she also tested out salted black licorice from holland. you can see her squirming-faced reaction to it below. it is not necessarily palatable to everyone, many of us know. but there are people out there who love it, i'm sure, or at least like it a bit, including one of my students who purchased some to take home.

lillee grace also assisted with a good amount of the photography, as i am one to use savoring-heart moments to encourage my youngest nieces to see their own abilities with what a good camera can do when a slyly curious mind is behind its lens.

and we did read a non-candy shop poem, one by marilyn klimcho of berks bards, for my community poetry feature. it just seemed very worth sharing, and thankfully, she gave us permission to let everyone have a copy to read in the summer talk of flower-thinking.

celebrating national poetry month at brookeside montessori in bechtelsville, berks county.

in april, i visited several classrooms at brookeside montessori in bechtelsville, berks county, to teach animal poems for national poetry month. 

working from my animal poems to help students remember their own stories worth shaping into original poems, some creatures in the kids' writings were foxes, birds, dogs, butterflies, and even water-loving whales.

you can eye-peruse photography of me with the students on the school's website here.

below is a collaborative preschool poem about worms. all of the preschoolers signed it. i wish the colored pencil pressings had scanned a bit better. but this multi-author poem became one of the most fun pieces of of writing of the morning. 

and then there are some more scenes of other freshly crafted poems by students. their enthusiasm to share stories from their minds kept plenty of zeal moving in celebrating what we know and combining it with poetry and matching drawings, too.

hair haiku.

( hair haiku in early may, mid-earthing )

pennies in strand-form

sprawl across cut-edged green blades,

take in sun and sky

*

horse haiku.

this morning, i interviewed a woman named betty seifrit about her job at boyertown auto body works for my poetry project on manufacturing history of berks county. her eventual poem will be a in my third and final book in my volumes which are funded in part by grants from the pennsylvania council on the arts and berks arts council. betty built left-hand side doors of army trucks and later did electrical work with wires and bulbs for trolleys, mail trucks, and other kinds of vehicles.

while interviewing betty, i noticed she had horses in the backyard. she said we could go visit them, and of course, i brought my camera along for that. she has a newly born colt. its momma is eight-years-old. i wrote a haiku for them, grateful for their beautiful contribution in my day. you might smile and let out a light laugh when you find out the baby horse's name.

*

john wayne the colt stands

with his momma, his bones new

to red corner road

children's poetry day at studio b during national poetry month in 2017.

we celebrated national poetry month at studio b in boyertown this past sunday with good laughs and plenty of smiles during children's poetry day featuring local elementary school-aged kids.

''ode to cream-dried beef" took shape as an early poem, and others involved amusement parks, foxes, shoes, fish, snowballs, squirrels, barking at the stars, and more.

below are video clips of poems read in the moments of the afternoon, and then some stills.

*

this free event was kindly sponsored in part by—
marian wolbers editorial in leesport
firefly bookstore in kutztown
pure wild tea in bernville

and these boyertown businesses—
taylor backes, a hand-blown fine art gallery
the peppermint stick candy store
zuber realty 

*

and then here is a video of talks during children's poetry day about community poetry one picture at a time, with submissions welcome for may 2017. children's poetry as submissions is very welcome, as is people of any age.

neighbor's tulip haiku.

i recently glimpsed some eye-hugging tulips which my neighbor planted outside of her family's house in a wooden box situated on the sidewalk near their porch. their blossoms were so captivating and easily mood-perking that i figured it made sense to whip together a haiku for them. and all to the good in knowing these are the last remaining days of national poetry month.

painted by science

and sun, tulips cup color

in softest petals