POETRY FRIDAY: End of Summer

Well, the hot days of summer...and endless hours of freedom are coming to a close for school-aged children. On the first day of school each year, I presented my students with little booklets of end-of-summer and back-to-school poems. For this Poetry Friday, I am posting some of the poems that I included in those booklets

Here is the first stanza of Eve Merriam’s poem  Leavetaking:

Vacation is over;
It's time to depart.
I must leave behind
(Although it breaks my heart)

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

Now

by Prince Redcloud

Close the barbecue.
Close the sun.
Close the home-run games we won.
Close the picnic.
Close the pool.
Close the summer.
Open school.

Here is the last stanza of Judith Viorst’s poem Summer’s End:

And all the shiny afternoons
So full of birds and big balloons
And ice cream melting in the sun are done.
I do not want them done.

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

Here is the first stanza of Bobbi Katz’s poem September Is:

September is

when yellow pencils

in brand new eraser hats

bravely wait on perfect points–

ready to march across miles of lines

in empty notebooks–

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

From Aileen Fisher’s poem The First Day of School:

I wonder if my drawing,
will be as good as theirs.

I wonder if they'll like me,
or just be full of stares.

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

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My granddaughter Julia is really enjoying her summer this year. She is learning how to swim...and loves jumping into the pool! 

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Heidi has the Poetry Friday Roundup at My Juicy Little Universe.

POETRY FRIDAY: Two Summer Poems by Lilian Moore

This week has been free of nanny granny duties for me as my “grandgirls” are up in Maine with my daughter and son-in-law. I thought I’d post a couple of summer poems written by Lilian Moore—one of my favorite children’s poets—for them.

IF YOU CATCH A FIREFLY

If you catch a firefly

            and keep it in a jar

You may find that

            you have lost

A tiny star.

Click here to read the rest of the poem

MINE

I made a sand castle.

In rolled the sea.

            "All sand castles

            belong to me—

            to me,"

said the sea.

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

I miss Julia and Allison SO much. I can't wait to see them tomorrow. Fortunately, my daughter has been sending pictures of the girls to me and "Papa."

 JULIA

 ALLISON

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Dori Reads today.

SPRING THING: Welcoming April...and National Poetry Month!

Being a nanny granny for two little ones is a lot more tiring than I had expected. Julia is four now—and Allison just turned one in early March. Sorry to say that I don’t have much time or energy for blogging these days. I have managed to carve out some time for writing poetry. In fact, I wrote three new collections this year. The first one I completed is a seasonal collection of mask poems told in the voices of plants and animals. The second one is also a collection of mask poems--told mostly in the voices of farm animals. The manuscript that I just finished last week is my second collection of “things to do” poems. This collection is about winter.

 Julia and Allison

FYI: Things to Do, my first poetry/picture book, won’t be published until February of 2017—not this coming October as originally planned.

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Here are some poems about April and Spring to start Poetry Month off:

And now spring settles in,

Pitches her green tent
Robins return, daffodils dance
In the garden, fruit trees explode with blossoms, as the sun
Lays her warm yellow hands over the earth.

Softly, raindrops come to call. Can you

Hear them gently tap-tapping

On the

Windowpane, on the roof with an

Even, steady beat…

Repeating the song that April loves to

Sing?

Patter of April showers.

Up go our umbrellas,

Down go our booted feet…

Down into shimmery

Liquid looking glasses.

Everywhere we go we’re

Splashing in pools of fallen sky.

Soft, scented breezes, kite-catching winds, the
Pitter patter of warm rain on the
Roof, daffodils and daisies and lilacs
In bloom, apple trees wearing snow-white crowns.
Now the sun lingers at the edge of day and
Green…lovely green…has come home to stay.

TASTING THE SUN

Shower in the April sun

Shower in the light,

Streaming down on yellow days.

Stand out in the pouring rays.

Like butter on a toasty bun,

Let the sunlight melt and run

In golden rivers on your skin.

Feel it glowing deep within.

Feel the touch of early spring,

Feel the warmth that April brings.

Shower in the pouring rays

Washing winter cold away.

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The talented children’s poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

SUN: An Original List Poem

A couple of weeks ago, I posted some pictures of the built-in bookcases that we had installed at our new home. I’ve already begun filling the shelves—even though we haven’t moved yet.

Julia likes to visit my “library,” look at all the pictures books, pull books off the shelves and “read” them. Sometimes, she insists on taking one of the books back over to her side of the house.  

(BTW, we're planning to have another built-in bookcase made for our upstairs hallway. One can never have too many bookcases!)

I often grab my “gram cam” to snap pictures of Julia reading books.

Julia reading Miss Mary Mack.

 

Julia reading Merry Christmas, Ollie!

One of Julia’s new favorites isn’t a picture book. It’s Grace Lin’s Dumpling Days. One night last week, she refused to go to bed without the book. On Wednesday afternoon, she sat on the floor of the family room quietly flipping through the pages and looking at the illustrations/sketches that Grace included in her novel. That night, her dad told me she chose Dumpling Days over her favorite stuffed animal when he put her to sleep.

 

Julia reading Dumpling Days yesterday:

 

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My life has been so busy lately that I don’t find much time to write poetry. I did compose the following a list poem in my head this week. I consider it a companion poem to the one I wrote about night last fall.

Sun 

rises in the eastern sky,

melts the stars 

and bids goodbye

to darkness, night, 

and lights the way

for arrival of a brand new day.

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Tabatha has the Poetry Friday Roundup is at The Opposite of Indifference.