#small children

[yolas0]

[april-is]

April 21, 2026: Coconut, Paul Hostovsky

Coconut Paul Hostovsky

Bear with me I want to tell you something about happiness it's hard to get at but the thing is I wasn't looking I was looking somewhere else when my son found it in the fruit section and came running holding it out in his small hands asking me what it was and could we keep it it only cost 99 cents hairy and brown hard as a rock and something swishing around inside and what on earth and where on earth and this was happiness this little ball of interest beating inside his chest this interestedness beaming out from his face pleading happiness and because I wasn't happy I said to put it back because I didn't want it because we didn't need it and because he was happy he started to cry right there in aisle five so when we got it home we put it in the middle of the kitchen table and sat on either side of it and began to consider how to get inside of it

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Also: + Egg, C.G. Hanzlicek + Bearhug, Michael Ondaatje + This Morning in a Morning Voice, Todd Boss + Will You?, Carrie Fountain

Crack open the past:

2025: An Improvement in Stairs, Mairead Small Staid 2024: April Morning, Jonathan Wells 2023: What I Did Wrong, Marie Howe 2022: This Morning, Jay Wright 2021: Kiss of the Sun, Mary Ruefle 2020: Teaching English from an Old Composition Book, Gary Soto 2019: Easter, Jill Alexander Essbaum 2018: Annunciation, Marie Howe 2017: The Promise, Marie Howe 2016: In the Woods, Kathryn Simmonds 2015: Heat, Jane Hirshfield 2014: What Remains, Ellery Akers 2013: 30th Birthday, Alice Notley 2012: Untitled [I closed the book and changed my life], Bruce Smith 2011: The Forties, Franz Wright 2010: Prayer of the Backhanded, Jericho Brown 2009: A Primer, Bob Hicok 2008: Because You Asked about the Line between Prose and Poetry, Howard Nemerov 2007: Open Letter to the Muse, Kristy Bowen 2006: A Sad Child, Margaret Atwood 2005: The Crunch, Charles Bukowski

[brazilspill]

Just a thought.

I think one of the things that's missing in the English language that's really important is the distinction between ser and estar (both mean "to be" in Portuguese and Spanish).

I once was talking to a pre-k toddler (he was around 3.5 or 4 at the time) and I found myself having to explain to him that when his mommy said he was bad she didn't mean he was a bad kid, but rather that what he did was bad.

Kids really internalize that stuff, and they're very literal, so having a distinction between permanence and temporary badness as a state of being would go a long way in helping them understand the difference.

[intothestacks]

If you're planning on working with kids, I highly recommend you take an improv class or two.

Being able to bs an answer* out of nowhere and/or to "yes and" a kid suggestion is critical when working with tiny humans.

And taking drama classes also helps to teach you how to project your voice with maximum effect without hurting your throat, which is a VERY useful skill when you have 25 little kids bouncing off the walls.

* I don't mean lie to them if you don't know the answer to their question, but rather how to improvise an answer related to magic lore like Santa or the Tooth Fairy when someone questions the magic.

[stephanieyumyum]

little kids are fun because i was just watching my 5 year old cousin who asked why my hair was wet. i responded that i had just showered, to which he replied "YOU CAN SHOWER???????"

[purplegoose24]

I saw a little kid at the farmers market with a full a$$ rumi costume, like purple braid and everything, and I just know it was one of those screaming and kicking situations where they refused to leave the house without their costume.

[plat-ypus19]

maybe the last ones… (probably not) i srsly can’t stop somebody sedate me

found my good pen again…

based on @quippip ‘s au w/ this cutie pie Marley