UBIQUITOUS: Celebrating Nature's Survivors by Joyce Sidman

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! I am just back from Disney World and my first-ever visit to the land of Harry Potter at Universal -- and, well, I am not ashamed to say that I CRIED, it was so like waking up inside a favorite book!-- followed by a relaxing few days at the beach with a few of my favorite folks.

JuliAnna, Andrew, Dan, Eric, & Paul

Whew! And now there are poems to be written and a certain survival story to be revised (yet again) and all sorts of other summer adventures!

But first: be sure to visit Catherine Johnson for Roundup!

I'm happy to share with you a poem from UBIQUITOUS by Joyce Sidman, illus. by Beckie Prange.

According to the back cover, "ubiquitous" means "Something that is (or seems to be everywhere at the same time." It's big title for a big concept: species that have been present on our Earth for a very long time. There are ants and grass and humans. And my favorite: mollusks!

The Mollusk That Made You
by Joyce Sidman

Shell of the sunrise,
sunrise shell,
yours is the pink lip
of a pearled world.

Who swirled your whorls and ridges?
Was it the shy gray wizard
shuttered inside you?
I hear he walks on one foot
and wears a magic mantle,
trailing stars.

O Shell,
if only I could shrink!
I'd climb your bristled back,
slide down the spiral
         of your heart.
I'd knock on your tiny door
         and ask to meet
         the mollusk
         that made you.