GCP was out and about today and in our travels we passed the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Looking up at the huge tree with its sparkling lights we couldn't help but feel a touch of the Christmas spirit. And so here are a couple of Christmas poems from Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes to help you do the [...]
On this Thoughtful Thursday our thoughts could be on nothing else but the incredible failure of another grand jury to indict a police officer for killing an unarmed Black man. And using an illegal chokehold to take him down as a cellphone camera recorded the entire thing, so there is no question as to what transpired. As this is [...]
Happy Thanksgiving to you all from GCP! Even though we took Thursday off to celebrate with family and friends and stuff ourselves silly, we could not let this week pass without a Thoughtful Thursday for the holiday. And so today we offer a lineup of Thanksgiving inspired poetry from African American poets. First, the very appropriate "Thanksgiving Time" from [...]
With much of the nation focused on the cold weather these days, Today's Thoughtful Thursday follows suit, featuring poems about the chilly days of Fall. In "Fall, Leaves, Fall" Emily Bronte celebrates the season's change from fall to winter, and in "Winter Trees" William Carlos Williams writes approvingly of the changes that winter brings. Claude McKay encourages us to [...]
With Halloween upon us, today's Thoughtful Thursday poems are appropriately unsettling and haunting. They are written by well known African American poets, Jean Toomer (1894-1967) and Claude McKay (1889-1948). Enjoy. Reapers Black reapers with the sound of steel on stones Are sharpening scythes. I see them place the hones In their hip-pockets as a thing that’s done, And start [...]
It is Back To School with Thoughtful Thursday! Today's offering includes two favorites: "School", which describes a school day all too familiar to parents of boys, and "Who Has Seen The Wind", a classic that introduces youngsters to the mysteries of science. Science is also the topic of the poem "Astromony Lesson" in which two brothers step away from [...]
The young men and women entering college this year were in kindergarten on September 11, 2001. This means that many of our children have limited to no personal recollection of the horrific events of that day. One of the phrases most frequently quoted in reference to 9/11 is "Never Forget". But how do we make sure our school aged [...]
The leisurely days of summer may give us more opportunities to read aloud with our sons and daughters. Today's Thoughtful Thursday presents classic poems, good for our children to know and even be able to recite. This summer, why not incorporate some poetry discussion and memorization into your reading time with your son? Or challenge him to memorize one [...]
As each day seems to bring new stories of tragedies around the world, today's Thoughtful Thursday offers us thoughts of hope. Enjoy. “Hope” is the Thing with Feathers “Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - And sweetest - [...]
Today's Thoughtful Thursday celebrates women. Women of all ages. While we at GCP are generally focused on mothers, today we celebrate all women: Grandmothers, Mothers, Sisters, Aunts, Girlfriends. The village of women. Let these mighty words and the images they evoke lift you up and give you the strength and energy to do all that you want and need [...]