#PoemsforMaryLee

Today, the Poetry Friday community is celebrating Mary Lee Hahn's retirement from teaching!Many years ago, I was lucky enough to visit and spend a little time with Mary Lee's class. I loved watching her interact with her students. From that visit--and Mary Lee's beautiful, vulnerable posts about striving to learn and grow as an educator--I know her students and her school will miss working with such a committed professional.If you'd like to check out Mary Lee's blog, head over to A Year of Reading!To draft today's poem, I borrowed several of Mary Lee's original poems from her recent Poetry Friday posts. Then, I played "10 Little Words," choosing ten words from Mary Lee's poem to form the backbone of my draft.My ten words (12 if you count the title!) are:

1. choose
2. Cicada
3. crowd
4. days
5. decades
6. desk
7. emerge
8. flow
9. memory/remember
10. momentum
11. retiring
12. students

Retiring in Cicada SeasonFor Mary LeeMemories of studentsflow by her desk, emergefrom days, years, decadesof the work she chose.They crowd—a brood of minds     who were                    under her care,     who shared                poetry, books,     and fifth grade’s       momentum.They grew out of their shellsunder their teacher’s wing,and flew, as they must do, into their bright futures.by Laura ShovanCongratulations, Mary Lee! We can't wait to hear about your bright future and all of your new adventures.