"If You Bring a Mule to School" poem and Summer Reading Report #1

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone for Roundup.

*First a moment of silence for one Lee Bennett Hopkins. I prepared this post before I heard the news of his death, as I am traveling. One of the great honors of my poetic life has been being included in some of Lee's anthologies and receiving awards in Lee's name. Lee has done so much to promote poetry and to nurture poets. What a gift to the world! I'm grateful for every word and interaction. My thoughts are with all whose lives were touched by him. 

This year as my summer reading project, I decided to revisit Marguerite Henry's body of work. I'm on book #7 of the 16 volume boxed set, and today I'd like to share something from each book... and also a fresh poem inspired by one of the books. Here goes:


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BENJAMIN WEST AND HIS CAT GRIMALKIN - based on the true life of Benjamin West, known as "the father of American painting."

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"The hours flew. Often he caught himself humming like a teakettle. Happiness seemed to bubble up inside him whenever he painted."

BLACK GOLD – based on the heartbreaking true story about 1924 Kentucky Derby winner whose trainer later decided not to do surgery to correct quarter crack in hoof, and Black Gold never won another race and then broke leg in final race and had to be put down. You can visit his memorial at centerfield of Fair Ground Park.

“'Patience is the trick, Jaydee,' Griffin would explain. 'Time is like a rubber band. It stretches some, but if you pull it to the breaking point, it snaps back and hits you in the face. Never rush a colt. Long, slow workouts are the ticket. Colts are just like youngsters, Jaydee. Rush 'em and they get so excited they're too tired to rest at night; they want to bite and kick and play until they're clean tuckered out. You try it slow and patience, my boy, and you'll get results.'”

BORN TO TROT - about the beginnings of America's "Trotter" breed and sport.

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"He had no oats to offer, no sugar. He wanted no cupboard love from Rosalind. She was no pet, no plaything. She was a magnificent creature of bone and brawn and satin, with years of trotting music bred in her. He wanted her only to accept him as part of the sights and sounds and smells of her life, to go on about her business aware of him but not wary."

BRIGHTY OF THE GRAND CANYON - a burro's adventures with man and nature in the place he makes his home. There's also a film by the same name... anyone seen it? It's on my to-watch list!

"With tired feet Brighty tested the welcoming green carpet. His hoofs sank deep. He doubled his legs like a jackknife and fell into its softness. A great peace came over him. For along time he lay still, as if bedding down for the night. Then wanting to feel more of it, he began rolling blissfully, this way and that, enjoying the springiness of the grass after his rocky canyon beds. At last he rose to crop the juicy blades. A doe and her spotted twins came to share his retreat, but they gazed wet-nosed at him from a little distance.

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The sun dipped low and purpled the shadows across the meadow. Brighty heaved a sigh. The meadow as just where it should be. He had rolled in it. He had eaten his fill of it. Now to find his secret cave and then to give himself to sleep."

CINNABAR, THE ONE O'CLOCK FOX - this one could be my favorite, and it's not even about a horse. :)

"Cinnabar was, in truth, afraid of nothing. Neither of dark, nor of storm; nor of hunters nor hounds. He was free and unfearing, the very spirit of the wilds."

"Though why they called it Honey Hill, he would never know. Not once had he seen or heard a single honeybee. Oh, well, man's ways were wondrous strange and he was not one to other his head trying to change things that were. They just were, and that was an end to it."

"By now the pot was boiling. 'The water has stopped smiling; it's laughing out loud!' Mischief announced as she looked into the steaming pot."

“'Life is nice and round,' he continued reflectively. 'No beginning. No ending. I am now arrived at an age when you, my children, will carry on for me.'”

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BROWN SUNSHINE OF SAWDUST VALLEY - about a horse-loving girl who doesn't get the horse she wants at an auction... but gets a big surprise when the horse she does bring home foals a mule colt! I learned about Mule Day and mule parades, as Brown Sunshine was asked to be Mule King. Next year I'd like to go to Columbia TN for their Mule Day, which has a 100 year history http://muleday.org/

And now.... a poem! Because there are a lot of stereotypes about mules. But what if we decided to learn from them instead of thinking we have them all figured out? Enjoy!

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If You Bring a Mule to School

Don't be surprised

if your teacher learns a thing or two:

what one calls stubborn

is sometimes patience in disguise

mischievous can be code

for intensely curious

and nothing is silkier

more miraculous

more rousing

than a long pair

of (teacherly) ears

listening, simply

                              listening.

- Irene Latham

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