One Single Impression

"Poetry is to do with moments...." - Robin Marchesi

The picture below is from this week's One Single Impression. Come and join in and read many other beautiful circle poems.

in search of a home
nestled within each pattern
safe, loved, together

Poetry Friday

Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. ~~Carl Sandburg

I found this treasure at the library last week, and it caught my eye because I am doing some research on the snowshoe hare. The Midnight Dance of the Snowshoe Hare, Poems of Alaska, by Nancy White Carlstrom, Illustrated by Ken Kuroi.

This is a delightful book, for children, of non-rhyming verse. The word pictures the author captures in each poem are astounding. She uses many forms of poetry and is able to allow the reader entrance to her special world in Alaska. There are 14 poems included in this collection each written about the seasons as experienced by nature. I had many favourites but the one that touched me most was as follows:


When Night Is Bright Like Day
By
Nancy White Carlstrom

In summer
When night is bright like day
The stars we see
Are wildflowers.

But if we close our eyes
We see winter sky
And stars shining in darkness

In summer
When night is bright like day
The sun we see
Cuts a path to the river.

But if we close our eyes
We see winter sun
Struggling to sit up
Above the horizon.

In summer
When night is bright like day
The river we see
Rolls over with boats and fish.

But if we close our eyes
We see winter river
Solid ribbon of ice
Winding through silence.

In summer
When night is bright like day
The trees we see
Wear sunshine and Red Squirrels.

But if we close our eyes
We see winter trees
Asleep in snow
Kissed by the moon.

In summer
When night is bright like day
We think the midnight sun
Will last forever.

But if we close our eyes
We see winter light
Dim, short-lived
And weaving its own magic.


The artwork of Ken Kuroi blends with the words, and is soft, gentle, yet crisp and filled with the colours of summer, spring and fall, and the white ice crystals and mist of winter.

This book is out of print but if you go to the author’s website you can order directly from her.

This week's Poetry Friday's roundup is at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup , where you will notice she is honouring the work of Bob Dylan, which this post is obviously not doing! Oh well, another time...

Poetry Stretch

Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted. ~Percy Shelley, A Defence of Poetry, 1821

This week's Miss Rumphius poetry stretch is photo-based. Writing poems from captured moments is one of my favourite, but most challenging, poetry exercises. So here goes...

framed in the window

contemplate dreams far afield

one day to be touched

Well haiku is what came out, one of my weaker forms of poetry. But as I practise them I come to appreciate them so much more. What makes them a stretch for me is writing about that one moment. It is so much easier to write about what came before or after, but capturing the moment is what makes haiku so beautiful, in my opinion.

One Single Impression

A poem is never finished, only abandoned. ~Paul Valéry

This week at One Single Impression the prompt is kindness. Please take this opportunity to practice your haiku and to read many wonderful picture poems. Here is my contribution this week:

alone unsmiling

happy sounds fill the playground

a hand reaches out

Non-Fiction Monday

Always be a poet, even in prose. ~Charles Baudelaire, "My Heart Laid Bare," Intimate Journals, 1864

I am posting this on Sunday as we will be leaving for the ski slopes of Quebec in a couple of hours, not to return until Thursday.

I absolutely love reading animal books. Even books about animals I’m not crazy about, like creepy spiders, slimy earthworms, or evil looking bats. I don’t mind snakes and reptiles for some reason, and I love wild cats and animals from the African reserves and deserts.

This past weekend I picked up a book, at the library about starfish. It’s a non-fiction book written in non-rhyming verse, titled Starfish by Edith Thacher Hurd, illustrated by Robin Brickman.

The first printing was in 1962 and the updated version in 1990. In the updated book there were a few changes made, none apparently effecting the poetic verse or the telling of the information. The artwork is a creation of unique collages.

As I read the verse I felt like I was floating alongside a starfish, being given lessons on its life cycle, what it eats, and how it eats.

This book is a Stage One Let’s-Read-And-Find-Out About series. So simple, yet full of enough information to fill the minds of young readers, and stimulate their desire to learn more about starfish. And maybe even about poetry!