Author: Jody Lee Collins

Author, poet, retired teacher, Nana. I help homeschool parents teach their children how to make friends with poetry with free resources and inspiration.
  • Conversation

    spent some time with the family recently. A lot of family….ever felt like this? ~~~~~~~~~~~ My train of thought often veers off track taking side journeys to sights unknown. I’ve jumped the rails, freight cars airborne, leaving passengers in  my wake, schedules in hand, confused, wondering– did they miss the whistle at the station— ’cause surely,…

  • A Pattern for Joy

    Emily stands tall at her desk, right hand pinching the corner of a zippered plastic bag.  Plunk, clack, plunk–colored wooden pattern blocks drop in a kaleidoscopic jumble in the bag. “This was so much fun, Mrs. C! It’s the most fun we’ve had all year!” The most fun they’ve had all year. I’m not sure…

  • Announcement

    Four thirty a.m. The “chree-chree-chree” sounds in the far off greeny bog. “Whis-tle” “whis-tle” “whis-tle” returns the call, floating notes through the open window. A chorus of chirps and cheeps overlap like leaves in a pile at the singing tree, all the feathered throats announcing– messaging, instantly– a new day never-been-done day, it’s-another-start-day. So I…

  • Goldfinches

    The feeder hangs swaying, no avian fellows alighting. (males are the brightest; why?) I wait and watch–they’ve flown I wonder where–for food? Will their shimmering yellow return, a harbinger of the lightening days ahead? Indeed, one by one, I know they’ll come hungry again (still) as they’ve done year after year finding food, flying beauty, feeding me with their…

  • Words 101

    Our Father               (my Father) which art in Heaven               (and everywhere on display) Hallowed be thy name                (kept holy and set apart is your name) Thy kingdom come              …