#PeaceDay DMC: "A Mother's Advice" by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes

"Peace Dove" by Dylan Metrano

While the world and current events can feel vast and uncontrollable, on a much smaller scale, here is an offering to my teenagers toward a more peaceful future.


A MOTHER'S ADVICE

Along the way…

     Be yourself.

     Collect wonder.

     Do good deeds
     Every day.

     Find a reason to be
     Generous—

     Help when you are able.

In life…

     Joy, Kindness, and Love
     Matter most.

     Needing Others
     Pulls us together.

     Questions
     Require listening,

     Speaking requires
     Thought, and

     Understanding, not Violence,
     Weathers the storms.

eXplore your horizons—         
     Your time has come.

                        Zig,
            zag,
                                    and zoom….


© 2017 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.


The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by a unanimous United Nations resolution. Celebrated annually on September 21, it is devoted to “commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.”

Visit the International Day of Peace padlet for a collection of peaceful books, poems, images, activities for the classroom, and websites.

Click HERE to read this month's interview with Carole Boston Weatherford. She has challenged us to write an abecedarian poem.

Generally each line (or word) of an abecedarian poem begins with A and continues in alphabetical order until you reach Z. For this challenge, you may start and end with whichever letters you choose, as long as they are sequential.



Post your poem on our September 2017 padlet. While some contributions will be featured as daily ditties this month, all contributions will be included in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, September 29th. One lucky participant will win a copy of Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Eric Velasquez (Candlewick Press, 2017).