We woke this morning to snow, which is always a newsworthy happening in Alabama! In anticipation, last night many schools instated a 2 hour delay. Now that the snow has actually arrived, some schools are calling it a complete "snow day." Love it!
Of course I had to take a few photographs... tears blurred my eyes because watching the snow drift so gently down fills me with hope for the world.
And then I remembered two new snow books I want to share:WHEN THE SNOW FALLS by Linda Booth Sweeney, illus. by Jana Christy
This one features a sleepover with a lively Grandma and tight two-word sentences with a rhyming pattern. Here's the opening:
When the snow falls...
Frost paints.
Skies gray.
Windows sparkle.
Snow? Yay!
A lot of strong rhymes and great energy make this one score big points in the re-readability charts.
Also, SNOWBALL MOON by Fran Cannon Slayton, illus. by Tracy Bishop. I confess I haven't read this one yet, just some teasers, but I loved Fran's middle grade novel WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS, and this one promises rhyming wonder, and hello "snowball" moon! Isn't that brilliant?! I'll never think of a winter full moon now as anything else.
If I was really on top of things I would share a fresh-penned original snow poem, but hello, it's snowing, I'm living my poem today!
I did, however, enter "snow" into the search engine and found a few snowy lines I wrote who-knows-how-many years ago on a morning just like this one. Maybe I will work with them later today? Meanwhile here they are in all their rawness:
When it snows
you prop the window sash
with a book,
invite the clean air inside
where you warm the piano bench
without him.
The still air ghosts into the
room
and carries out with it
strands of
Schubert.
Your eyelids drift as snowflakes,
your cheeks pinken
as your fingers dance --
stillness needs music
and music needs
stillness,
and if he asked you to come back,
you would.
- Irene Latham
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Happy Snow Day! xo
Wow! I can't believe you awoke to snow. None here in Maine yet. One very, very small dusting in November happened but you wouldn't have seen it if you blinked. Enjoy the feeling!
ReplyDeleteYour poem makes me sigh with longing, Irene. We have snow here too...a two hour delay for the students and a day off for my hubby teacher! It's beautiful... Enjoy every moment. xx
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the snow. We are supposedly getting some tomorrow. :) Thanks for mentioning the two snow books (haven't seen either yet).
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the snow! I remember from my growing up in NC what a treat a snow day is (and I still get excited for them here in IN!) We are still waiting for our first snow, but the cold has definitely arriived.
ReplyDeleteAh snow, and your poem brings back the loveliest of snowtime, Irene. We are expecting lots of it tomorrow, and I am ready!
ReplyDeleteWow, snow in AL is, indeed, newsworthy! Of course, up here, we have to get 4-6" before schools will consider closing, but we might get an inch or two tomorrow. Thanks for sharing these books - I'll have to check them out!
ReplyDeleteI don't have much experience with snow. But I was in Holland Michigan for Christmas in 1990, and it snowed. So beautiful! (We were thrilled when it sleeted while we were up at the glacier in Ushuaia last year.)
ReplyDeleteAmazing to have snow. We need it and are in the sixties again this weekend! Thanks for sharing new books, Irene. I'm looking forward to seeing what your group sends us in January! There is a sweetness of the air when it snows, as your poem shows: "you prop the window sash
ReplyDeletewith a book, /invite the clean air inside."
We have snow to our ankles, but it's all the beautiful when I hear your exuberance for it. :-)
ReplyDeleteIrene--Thank you for sharing photographs from your snow day. Your comment: "I'm living my poem today!" made me smile : ) Thanks for the books to look for, too--I agree, Snowball moon is an image that stays with you.
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you and all the joyful Southerners, savoring a rare snow day! "Your eyelids drift as snowflakes" (I'm hoping to do this soon, since it is 4 a.m.!) Lovely, Irene :-)
ReplyDeleteLovely post Irene, hope you enjoyed your snowy day!
ReplyDeleteI like your snow poem, this is my favorite part,
"The still air ghosts into the room
and carries out with it
strands of Schubert."
The last line is truly special–I'll carry that out on one of our snowy quiet days, thanks!
Nope. I'm not opening the window on a snowy day! More like -- sit with the space heater blowing on my feet!
ReplyDeleteLove your post Irene and the spirit behind LIVE YOUR POEM. Just beautiful!
ReplyDelete