Poetry Friday

"Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them.” ~ Charles Simic

A few days ago, I picked up a poetry book written by an 11 year-old boy. His name, Mattie J.T. Stepanek. He began writing poetry at the age of three, to help him deal with the death of his older brother. Mattie had a rare form of muscular distrophy, and somehow this young soul was able to feel and see life for what it really was...living our lives listening to our heartsongs. The Journey through Heartsongs, the book I read, has poems written by a very young Mattie, age 3 to age 11. There is much to be learned by his poetry...I would hope that I too will listen to my heartsongs...

Here is an excerpt from a poem written by Mattie, age of eight, in his book titled, Journey through Heartsongs..

Swinging

So high. . .
Wind tickles my tummy
Plays with my feet
Gives my hair a ride.
So high. . .
Grab a leaf from a tree
Reach a so-far-up branch
See over the edge of my earth.
So high. . . read the rest..

Julie Larios is hosting Poetry Friday today. Check out the roundup here.

Poetry Friday

"Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth." - -- Samuel Johnson

This week I have been reading a number of older children's poetry books. One of them I have picked up is Til All The Stars Have Fallen, Canadian Poems for Children, selected by David Booth and illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton. It is filled with many wonderful poems by Canadian poets; some funny, some serious, some spirited, some rhyming, some non-rhyming.

Many of the poems show Canada's varied landscape, weather, people, and nature. The artwork is varied, from soft watercolours to bold paintings that capture the essence of each poem.

I have picked out two I liked:

This I know

The light of day
cannot stay.
The fading sun
will not come
to anybody's calling.

The cold moon light
Is clear and white.
She will not go,
this I know,
til all the stars have fallen.

~Anne Corkett


The sky is falling

It's cool under the August
apple tree
and fun
lying on my back looking
at the sky
shaped into blue chunks
between leaves
magnified
between fingers
rainbowed
between eyelashes.
You can see a lot
everything but the apple
that hits your nose
and then nothing but
stars.

~Diane Dawber



Becky's Book Reviews is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup!

Poetry Friday

"If a writer isn't a reader, he's in the wrong profession." ~Marion Dane Bauer.

And isn't that the truth! The more we writers read the more we learn, and besides it's fun to read and I love going to the library and just pulling out books from shelves, randomly!

Earlier this week that's exactly what I did, and I came upon The Rainforest Grew All Around by Susan K. Mitchell and illustrated by Connie McLennan. It's poetry, non-fiction and song. What more could one ask for a book fot children. The words are written based on the song The Green Grass Grew All Around. Susan Mitchell builds on the the ecosystem in the rainforest and comes full circle, from seed to seed. It is fun to read, even to yourself. The art work is lovely and makes the reader feel as though they are in the colourful and alive rainforest.

There are sidebars throughout giving the reader information about the various plants and aminals the author writes about. It is truely a great way for children (and adults) to learn about the jungle!

The book also won the NAPPA Honors and the 2008 Teachers' Choice Award

.

This is an excerpt from The Rainforest Grew All Around by Susan K. Mitchell; the last verse...

and I wish I could surround the words with the artwork for you...

AND FROM THE POD,

there blew a seed...

the fluffiest seed that ever did see

The seed from the pod,

and the pod by the bat,

and the bat near the bird,

and the bird by the frog,

and the frog in the plant,

and the plant by the sloth,

and the slothnear the and,

and the ant by the snake,

and the snake by the vine,

and the vine near the cat,

and the cat in the tree,

and the tree from the seed,

and the seed in the gound,

and the rainforest grew

all around, all around;

the rainforest grew all around.

Please check out the Poetry Friday Roundup at Cuentecitos

Poetry Friday

"The longing for the dance stirs in the buried life." - Stanley Kunitz from, "Touch Me"


The above quote reminded me of some of the poetry I read in Wind in my Pocket by Ellen Bryan Obed. Illustrated by Shawn Steffler.This is an older book but still well worth the read.

She is newly discovered for me. Sometimes, when I'm short on time, I walk into the library, head for the children's poetry section and randomly pull out several books I have not read yet. Then I leave and wait for the surprise when I get home. Well the Wind In My Pocket was a nice surprise. Her tribute says:

for the children of

Newfoundland

Labrador

and the Quebec North Shore

and for my uncle

Robert A. Bryan

who first introduced me to them

Her poetry is written in rhyme, soft heartfelt rhyme. The art is colourful, and filled with children in relationship with family, friends, weather and life.

I had many favourites in this book but I chose the following, even this s the first day of spring!

Winter Journey

By

Ellen Bryan Obed

In goose-down fields

we leave our tracks

while black-crow cliffs

look down our backs.

Over porcupine hills

we make our way

to the red fox sun

on the side of day.

Elaine at Wild Rose Reader as the Poetry Friday roundup today.

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 Friday

“Writing a poem is discovering.” ~Robert Frost

Not only is writing a poem discovering, but so is reading a poem, as I discovered!

I am not a horse person. It’s not to say I don’t like horses. I do. But I don’t ride them, dream of them or even think of them. So I’m not exactly sure why I picked up a poetry book filled with horse poems. Maybe it was the cover. There’s a shadow of a horse with a woman riding it and the shadowed fields make me want to jump into the picture and forget about all my cares and woes.

What I learned from picking up My Kingdom for a Horse, An Anthology of Poems About Horses, Edited by Betty Ann Schwartz, Illustrated by Alix Berenzy, is that it doesn’t always matter what the topic is, it’s the beauty of the written word that draws me to love poetry. Especially, such simple yet powerful word pictures. I had many favourites and there were poems by authors such as, Robert Frost, Christina Rossetti, Jack Prelutsky, Ruth Feder and many more including one by William Shakespeare.

Two poems which spoke to me and eased the stress out of my shoulders (which reading poetry out loud tends to do) were:

White Horse by Moonlight

Santo feeds
while the moon
comes up
curved like the bowl
of a silver spoon,
buries his nose
in silver
weeds.
Santo
the color
of moon.

~Tony Johnston, all rights reserved

Retired to Pasture

The meadow moist with morning dew
Is calling me to canter through
Its oak lined paths of pasture grass.
The brook beside it, as I pass,
Invites me down to quench my thirst.
To think that I had once been cursed
To trot upon the city streets
With honking cars in sweltering heat!
Refreshed am I as wind blown wheat.

~by Anita Wintz, all rights reserved

The Poetry Friday round up is at The Simple and the Ordinary

Poetry Friday

Each Haiku--a moment--together--a story. ~~Marianne H. Nielsen




My first Poetry Friday...here goes.











I have been reading a number of poetry books lately, anthologies, non-fiction rhyming picture books, stories in verse and themed poetry books. The one I want to mention today is Dogku by Andrew Clements, illustrated by Tim Bowers (Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers).

It's a story in haiku verse and I think the author has done a great job. It's the kind of story kids will love, and the fact that it's written in verse won't even phase them. It's a timeless and ageless story about a lost dog who shows up at a family's back door. They take him in and then have to decide whether to keep him. The end even brought a tear to my eye. But then again, I am a bit of a sap when it comes to animal stories, whether they be happy or sad.

The story has seventeen haiku poems all of which show a moment in time. My favourite one is:

Nose out the window,
ears flapping, hair pushed straight back.
Adventures in smell.

The art work that goes along with this book is full-paged with no detail left out, done in oil paint on canvas.

What a great way to introduce young children to verse through haiku. Having a cute dog on the front cover helps too.