Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Laura at Poems for Teachers for Roundup.
I've got a couple more books for you!
In and Out the Window by the incomparable Jane Yolen, illus. by Cathrin Peterslund. This collection features more than a hundred poems, across several sections "At Home," "School," "Animals," "After School"...and each section is divided into "In" poems (inside) and "Out" poems (outside).
One I really like is "Hook in the Water," which is an invitation... "Come, little fishes..." Another one called "The Poem in Your Heart' starts "The poem in your heart / is beating." Yes!
"The library smells like a symphony. Every imaginable word housed in the building's books mingles in my head to create something full and rich. It's not a song I recognize, but it's using every instrument.
The automatic doors whoosh purple..."
Yes! That's a library!
And here's a winning picture book about something I still love to do: swinging! Touch the Sky by Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic, illus. by Chris Park. A beautiful read for anyone trying to learn any new skill.
Today's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem features a train painted by George Voronovsky (same Florida Highwaymen artist as last week!).
What kid at some point doesn't love a train? I remember fondly the Thomas the Tank Engine days with our oldest son in particular... so sweet! Poetry, too, has been known to host a few trains. Perhaps you know "Song of the Train" by David McCord? Or Clackety Track by Skila Brown, illus. by Jamey Christoph (Candlewick, 2019).
Also, here's a song I am in love with that features a different kind of train: "Land of Hope and Dreams" by Bruce Springsteen. (We saw Bruce in concert last year and all night I waited for him to sing this song, but he didn't. Boo!)
Earlier this summer I wrote a poem playing with a metaphor for summer: "Summer is an Aligator Eating an Ice Cream Cone." That was a lot of fun! So today I decided to try "train" as a metaphor for summer. Thanks so much for reading.
Here comes Summer!
Toot-toot!
Instead of track
this train rides
a sunny satin ribbon
Instead of smoke
this train puffs
a kaleidoscope
of bubbles
instead of graffiti-
stained boxcars,
this train pulls
flower boxes
in blooming colors
instead of chugga
chugga
choo choo
this train sings
la-de-dah!
- Irene Latham
la-de-dah is such a summer sound and feeling. I have loved hearing this train these past weeks. Now, it's time for me to wave at the train from inside a school house window. Hello Summer train...See ya later Summer train.
ReplyDelete"La-de-dah" indeed! This train sounds like a Southern woman to my ears, lolling over those ribbony tracks. Thanks for helping us linger over summer, Friend, and for all the other goodies. xo
ReplyDeleteThis post is full of light, color and joy--thanks as always for chugging us along with you! It's nice they put out such a large collection of Jane's poems--don't think that happens much anymore!
ReplyDeleteOh, what a great extended metaphor! I especially love the flower boxcars. Glorious. And for train books, I especially love All Aboard, by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. I love trains--hearing them, seeing them (especially when out in more rural areas), riding them--though I only usually get to do that when I travel. Thanks for the little vacay today!
ReplyDeleteI love this metaphor! I feel like we are almost to the end of the line for summer. :( (It's my favorite, so I'm sad).
ReplyDelete"A kaleidoscope of bubbles!" Isn't that fun!?
ReplyDeleteAnd this stanza is so full--I can see both trains before and after, as if they are right here:
"instead of graffiti-
stained boxcars,
this train pulls
flower boxes
in blooming colors"
Lovely poem! And thanks for the book suggestions.
More book recommendations! Yay and Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWe live a block and a bit from train tracks, so I'll try to imagine the bubbles and flower boxes and I'll listen for the "la-de-dah!"