Still and Steady for Poetry Friday

Hello, dear Poetry Friday friends! Welcome to this week's Poetry Friday Roundup! I've just a couple of things to share before we get to the links.

1. NCTE is less than two weeks away! I look forward to seeing many of you there! Don't forget to rsvp Laura Shovan about the Thursday (yes, this has been changed from the earlier Wednesday plans. Now THURSDAY!) night Poets of Kidlit Dinner at Nick's Fish House, 7 pm. Here's a graphic with some of my events:



2. I've been thinking about how often our first impulse when upset or fearful or mad or whatever is to do something, when maybe what we really need to do first is pause and reflect... and then I was reading IN BEAUTY MAY I WALK... Words of Peace and Wisdom by Native Americans, edited by Helen Exley. This sweet, rich little book was published by Exley Publications back in 1997 and has been warming my bookshelf ever since. Here's a passage that resonates with me today:

I WILL BE STILL AND STEADY...
If, like a Cherokee warrior, I can look at the new year as an opportunity to stand on new ground, then strength and courage are on my side. I will remember that things do work out, bodies do heal, relationships mend -- not because I said it, but because I believe it.

But it is time to make things right, to stay on the path. As water runs fresh and free from the woodland spring, so new life and meaning will bubble up from my own inner source. I will be still and steady, because there is nothing to be gained by showing fear in a chaotic world.   - Joyce Sequichie Hifler

... and here is a poem that seems to come from that same place inside me:

Thanks so much for reading!

ROUNDUP
Be sure to visit all these wonderful posts to get your Friday (and any day!) poetry fix:

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