Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure and visit Tricia at Miss Rumphius Effect for Roundup.
Well, it's been a rough week in these parts. I've been sick! But I'm improving now, thank goodness! Just in time for my birthday. :) HAPPY! HAPPY! to all the others in our community who have birthday around this time.
I do have an ArtSpeak: Animals poem for you. This time, a stork!
My favorite storks from childhood:
The stork that brings baby Dumbo in the Disney movie.
THE WHEEL ON THE SCHOOL by Meindert DeJong.
These days we spend a lot of time watching stork-like blue herons at the shore of our lake. They definitely do a lot of watching and waiting...
thank you so much for reading!
Hope Has Long Legs
It wades all day
in the shallows
waits
watches
time nothing more
than a ripple
of minnows, mice
flies
each moment
a feast
of sunlight
and possibility
It wades all day
in the shallows
waits
watches
time nothing more
than a ripple
of minnows, mice
flies
each moment
a feast
of sunlight
and possibility
- Irene Latham
The repeated sounds are so comforting, Irene! "a feast of sunlight and possibility" leaves me wondering what's next. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, Irene, and I hope you are feeling better. I love herons, they make me wonder how something so graceful can even exist.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Irene - I hope you feel 100% again soon!
ReplyDeleteWe have a heron that visits our park and I am always impressed by his patience, and slow, elegant movements. Your poem does a great job of capturing the experience of watching them fish. Thanks for sharing this with us!
This is beautiful--it shifted me into a different way of looking a time. I'm glad you are on the mend in time to celebrate. Happy birthday!
ReplyDeleteWe can learn a lot from these birds about how to live in the 'heron' now. ;)
ReplyDeleteHappy fully recovered birthday to you, Irene!
Happy birthday, Irene. Gosh, I'm a heron fan, too, and you really captured the waiting -- the beautiful, ancient, frozen-in-timeness -- here.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's lovely! And happy birthday! Glad you're better.
ReplyDeleteSending birthday and health-improvement wishes to you! A those herons, such watchers, they surely know how to relax in the sunshine and yet they fly off rather quickly when needed, flapping those huge, gangly wings. Here's to you and a better week ahead!
ReplyDeleteJanet Clare F.
I originally read the title as "Hope Has Eight Legs!!" Still true, but not the poem you wrote! Happy Birthday and happy healthier day!
ReplyDelete"a ripple of minnows" - this phrase will remain with me; hope you feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, tomorrow. That 'feast of sunlight and possibility" is my wish for you, Irene. Sorry you've been sick. Feel better fast!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are feeling better! Love all of the w sounds. I did a poetry lesson with some 5th graders today and they had so much to say about alliteration. It made my day!
ReplyDeleteThere is so greater symbol of patience than a heron! Their unwavering belief that they'll catch one of those minnows, eventually. :)
ReplyDeleteYou've really captured a different sense of time here. Heron time, I guess. :) They are one of my favorite birds and it always lifts my spirits when I see one. I just love "feast of sunlight and possibility" I'm so glad you're feeling better and Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!! Thanks for the lovely poem. Glad you're feeling better. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Irene. We don't have any heron nearby, but we do have lots of birds, squirrels, rabbits, and a stray cat I enjoy watching. We can learn so much from them!
ReplyDeleteSorry you've been sick! But, what a great poem...those long legs = hope! I've had a heron sighting recently. I do love them.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, Irene. My first son's birthday is this week also. Love your heron poem...a feast of possibility. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIrene, you have brought the sunshine and hope to me today-"a feast/of sunlight/and possibility. Thank you for this beautiful poem and the master class you presented. I am still processing everything you said. May your birthday be filled with love and peace.
ReplyDelete