This week I've been savoring NIGHT GARDEN, by Janet S. Wong, illustrations by Julie Paschkis. It's a gorgeous book with poems about the people we dream of and nightmares and even dog dreams! My favorite poem is the final poem in the collection:
There Is a Place
by Janet S. Wong
There is a place
where the museum houses thousands of paintings
seen nowhere else in the world,
the colors so bright they grab your eyes
and hold you there, looking,
where the library is filled with brand new books
waiting for you to open them first,
to tell stories only you could know
where fresh cherries have no pits,
where puppies never grow old.
There is such a place,
hidden deep
in me.
----
Cherries with no pits! Puppies that never grow old!! Love the thought that those places exist in me... because they do, they really do.
And while we're on the subject of puppies, here's a pic (screenshotted from son's Instagram) of our 3 month old Aussie puppy Georgia with almost 4 year old Ruby:
Some funny things about Georgia:
She's not very lady-like... she always sleeps with her legs spread.
She has one pert ear and one floppy ear that gives her this kind of mischievous "I don't know what you're talking about" look.
She still lays on the ground to eat from her bowl (as if she is nursing), tail ticking like a speeding metronome.
While Ruby lives to fetch the rubber chicken, Georgia is like, mehhh, I'd rather just sit here. :) She DOES like digging herself a cool bed in the dirt under our deck and almost always has a dirty nose!
She's a climber. The other day I found her sleeping ON TOP of her crate. :)
Georgia sounds like a real character! May you save so many memories of her puppyhood that even when she is old and white-muzzled and slow, you will still remember her puppy self as clearly as if it were today!
ReplyDeleteI like the thought that those images are all inside us. I need to look for the book, Irene. I think our school library has it. And your dog (puppy) stories. Just like humans, dogs have their own unique quirks, don't they? Sweet stories from Georgia and Ruby. Thanks for highlighting Janet's book!
ReplyDeleteI love that book by Janet, too! The details about your dogs are too cute :-) Our Lucy's ears remind me of Dobby the house elf. Thanks for giving me the name of the rock and roll band I'll start someday ("Fetch the Rubber Chicken").
ReplyDeleteGeorgia sounds like great fun. Thank you for sharing this lovely poem, and for treating us to you reading it aloud.
ReplyDeleteJanet's book is terrific! Thanks for sharing your sweet puppies, Georgia and Ruby, too. Dogs make every day better. = )
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds like something I should order for the library, but, when I looked it up, I found that it is out of print. Too bad...
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to my first grand-doggy. My daughter is moving soon and the first order of business after the move is a puppy!
Lovely poem! I look forward to reading this one. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHow can Night Garden be out of print? Janet Wong is one of my favorite poets. Now I must go digging in the garage to find my copy (still have many boxes out that I haven't unpacked yet from moving my classroom home). My favorite is the one about the dead visiting the folks they loved in their dreams. But I have many poems I love in this book.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia sounds like our Sydney (Aussie shepherd and Border Collie) -- when we throw anything (stick, toy, ball, anything...) she looks at us as if to say, "What? You don't want that? Well, don't expect ME to go get it." :) Love the lines you pointed out -- cherries with no pits! Perfect! Puppies that never grow old! Even better!
ReplyDeleteI can remember sitting on the floor in my local library with this book in my lap, thinking that I might like to publish a book, too. And of course I wanted Julie Paschkis as the illustrator! Thank you, Janet Wong, and thank you, Irene, for taking me back to the Night Garden. May your puppy never grow old!
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