Hello and welcome to Poetry Friday Roundup! Our theme for today is "The Moon in June." Please add your link below...and take a moment to enjoy all the lovely poetic offerings!
Is there a poet among us who has NOT at some point written about the moon? Click here for a MOON padlet I created that includes some moon poems I've collected so far!
I love Karla Kuskin's instructions, found in her collection MOON, HAVE YOU MET MY MOTHER?, which is also the title of her Collected works from HarperCollins 2003, illus. by Sergio Ruzzier:
Write about a radish
too many people write about the moon.
The night is black
the stars are small and high
the clock unwinds its ever-ticking tune
hills gleam dimly
distant nighthawks cry.
A radish rises in the waiting sky.
- Karla Kuskin
So, here's to radishes and all the fresh ways poets of today and yesterday write about the moon!
And now it is my pleasure to share some moon offerings from a few of today's beloved children's poets.
Marilyn Singer's book A Full Moon Is Rising (Lee & Low, 2011, illus. by Julia Cairns) opens with “Broadway Moon” and closes with:
Broadway Moon Again
New York City, USA
On the sidewalk, the audience of one is now ten.
“What you looking at, girl?” they ask.
“O, the moon,” she says. “Just the moon.”
But what a moon!
Between the skyscrapers, it takes a bow.
“Encore in one month!” it proclaims.
“Admission is always free.”
- Marilyn Singer
The next moon poem comes from J. Patrick Lewis, found in his book Phrases of the Moon: Lunar Poems (Creative Editions, 2018, illus. by Jori van der Linde). Thank you, Pat, for giving me permission to share this one...and for calling the moon an "eternal museum"... my forthcoming book also uses the museum metaphor. Yay!
The Moon Is
Man or woman,
Rabbit or cat,
Depending on what
You're gazing at.
Misshapen in full
Or parenthesis,
So often mistakenly
taken for Swiss
Cheese. Dusty trustee
Of famous footprints
Of twelve astronauts who
Have landed there since.
Eternal museum
Where folklore abides,
Sojourner of heavens,
Re-turner of tides.
The luminous news
(Farmer's Almanac),
A cool monthly cruise
Round the zodiac.
- J. Patrick Lewis
Finally, I've got this magical one I just want to read over and over again from Rebecca Kai Dotlich in One Minute till Bedtime: 60 Second Poems to Send You off to Sleep selected by Kenn Nesbitt (Little Brown, 2016, illus. by Christoph Niemann). Thanks, Rebecca!
Sky Story
Who has the keys
to the moon,
to the moon...
who has the keys
to the moon?
Not me,
said the owl,
said the owl;
no keys.
Not me,
said the mouse
as he nibbled his cheese.
Not me,
said the bee.
Nor I, said the fly.
Only I, said the sky.
Only I.
Crabs are dancing
their sideways dance
Sky is surging
as I tilt toward you
and only you
O Beauty, O Muse
O Furnace of a Thousand Dreams
Burn me
Broadway Moon Again
New York City, USA
On the sidewalk, the audience of one is now ten.
“What you looking at, girl?” they ask.
“O, the moon,” she says. “Just the moon.”
But what a moon!
Between the skyscrapers, it takes a bow.
“Encore in one month!” it proclaims.
“Admission is always free.”
- Marilyn Singer
“Broadway Moon Again.” Poem from A Full Moon is Rising. Poem copyright © 2011 by Marilyn Singer. Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Julia Cairns. Permission arranged with LEE & LOW BOOKS Inc., New York, NY 10016. All rights reserved. Learn more at leeandlow.com/books/a-full-
Don't you love "Admission is always free" ?? Lovely!
The next moon poem comes from J. Patrick Lewis, found in his book Phrases of the Moon: Lunar Poems (Creative Editions, 2018, illus. by Jori van der Linde). Thank you, Pat, for giving me permission to share this one...and for calling the moon an "eternal museum"... my forthcoming book also uses the museum metaphor. Yay!
The Moon Is
Man or woman,
Rabbit or cat,
Depending on what
You're gazing at.
Misshapen in full
Or parenthesis,
So often mistakenly
taken for Swiss
Cheese. Dusty trustee
Of famous footprints
Of twelve astronauts who
Have landed there since.
Eternal museum
Where folklore abides,
Sojourner of heavens,
Re-turner of tides.
The luminous news
(Farmer's Almanac),
A cool monthly cruise
Round the zodiac.
- J. Patrick Lewis
Finally, I've got this magical one I just want to read over and over again from Rebecca Kai Dotlich in One Minute till Bedtime: 60 Second Poems to Send You off to Sleep selected by Kenn Nesbitt (Little Brown, 2016, illus. by Christoph Niemann). Thanks, Rebecca!
Sky Story
Who has the keys
to the moon,
to the moon...
who has the keys
to the moon?
Not me,
said the owl,
said the owl;
no keys.
Not me,
said the mouse
as he nibbled his cheese.
Not me,
said the bee.
Nor I, said the fly.
Only I, said the sky.
Only I.
- Rebecca Kai Dotlich
And here is this week's ArtSpeak: Light poem. It has a very long title. (Do you, like me, love very long titles??)
And here is this week's ArtSpeak: Light poem. It has a very long title. (Do you, like me, love very long titles??)
Soliloquy of a Moth Upon Rising from the Rushes Just as Moon Sheds Her Robe of Clouds
O Queen of Tides
O Mirror of the SunCrabs are dancing
their sideways dance
Sky is surging
as I tilt toward you
and only you
O Beauty, O Muse
O Furnace of a Thousand Dreams
Burn me
- Irene Latham
I'll have more moon goodness in the coming weeks. Thanks so much for reading...now let's get ready to dance with the July Supermoon! (Or at least say hello/make a wish/send a kiss.) 💜
