Friday, January 30, 2009

Original Winter Poems

I'm under the weather today. It seems I have a bronchitis again--for the second time this month. I didn't have the energy to write new poems or to review poetry books--so here are some winter-themed poems that I posted previously at Wild Rose Reader:



WINTER POEMS

by Elaine Magliaro




SPACEMAN


Whooshing down the hillside fast

Trees and people blurring past

Runners carving out the snow

Like an astronaut I go

Blasting into outer space

Rocketing at record pace

Through the stratosphere I fly

I’m commander of the sky

Won’t return to Earth until . . .



I reach

the bottom

of the hill






Pond in Winter



The meadow pond lies silent, still…

Sealed in tight by winter’s chill.

A downy quilt of fallen snow

Hides a cold, dark world below.

I wonder all the winter through

“What do fish and turtles do?”




Bedtime in Winter



Dark comes early.

Night is long.

Mommy sings

A bedtime song.

I am snuggled

Down and deep

Beneath soft covers.

While I sleep,

I have my teddy bear

To hold.

He keeps me warm

When nights are cold.





WINTER BALLET



It’s white snow,

Bright snow,

Soft-as-feathers light snow…

Tiny ballerinas there

Pirouetting through the air

With their sparkly crystal shoes

In their winter dance debuts.





Ferns of ice

Rooted

On windowpanes, their

Silver fronds growing in the frigid night

Then melting in the morning light.






Snow dropped by

And here am I

Catching flakes

Of falling sky.





Sleet tap-dances on

my roof, clicks its icy heels

on my windowpane


With frosty feet

little mouse prints a message

in the snow: Hello!



I wrote the following poem for Tricia’s Monday Poetry Stretch—What Words?. The “stretch”—or challenge—was to write a poem that contained all of the following eight words: snow, frozen, wind, evening, woods, lake, village, farmhouse.




UNTITLED

A long way from the village,


near quiet woods,

snow settles on a frozen lake.

Burrowed in the mud below,

frogs dream the winter away.

Their larders full,

sleepy squirrels curl upagainst the cold.

No wind stirs in the trees

this chill evening.

Everything is still.



In the distance,

a solitary farmhouse stands,

a weathered monument

to the past.

Here, in his lonely lair,

an old man

wraps himself in the silence

and his memories

and hibernates from the world.

********************




At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem by Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szymborska entitled Children of Our Era.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Adventures in Daily Living.

16 comments:

Jules at 7-Imp said...

Oh no. Feel better soon, Elaine!

Anonymous said...

Spaceman is so visceral and brilliant, Elaine. Feel better!!

Sara said...

Oh, dear. Bronchitis is no fun at all. Hope you have some warm things to comfort you.

I love the FROST poem. I love frost in general, except when it's on my car, and you captured its ephemeral nature so delicately.

Anna Alter said...

Hope you feel better Elaine! I love the poem about the pond, reminds me of the pond near our house.

Elaine Magliaro said...

Thanks, everyone. I haven't felt this sick in years. I rarely spike a temperature. I just hope I'm better by Sunday so I can go to a Superbowl party with a few close friends. I'm responsible for the dessert.

jama said...

Love the Winter Ballet. What a lovely selection of poems today. Sorry to hear you're not feeling well. Take care and eat lots of soup!

Anonymous said...

Hi Elaine,

Feel better soon!

Thanks for all these lovely winter poems. They make the looooong January more bearable!
Love "Spaceman"--we took our kids sledding for the first time a couple of weeks ago (pretty sad, I know; but hey, we're Texans born-and-raised). Trekking back up that hill was no joke. And I won't even start on my horrible ancient windows and the frost that forms on the INSIDE!!

Linda said...

Elaine, my students are learning about how sensory imagery. With your permission, I'd love to include your poems as examples. I especially love the winter pond poem because I used to live by a pond and wondered the same thing.

Feel better soon. This weather sure doesn't help.

Anonymous said...

I hope you're feeling better soon, Elaine!

What a wonderful job of capturing so many different moods of winter. This winter too should give lots of scope to the imagination!

Kelly Polark said...

Love these wintry poems, especially Spaceman!
Get better!

Elaine Magliaro said...

Jama, Jennifer, Linda, Becky, Kelly--

Thanks for your comments and get well wishes. It's Saturday morning and I'm feeling so much better. The chicken soup must have helped.

We've had lots and lots of storms here so far this winter. It's hard to get my mind off of snow and ice and winter weather.


Linda, you have my permission to use my poems with your students.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you're feeling better! Of these, I think "Spaceman" is my favorite. It reminds me of many a sledding run (and wipe-out) I had as a child. Thank you for re-sharing it. :-)

Elaine Magliaro said...

Lisa,

Thanks for stopping by. We had open land across from our house--with a big hill perfect for sledding in winter. In "Spaceman" I tried to capture the childhood feelings I had when whosshing through the snow.

Jules at 7-Imp said...

Elaine, hope you're feeling better....

Vivian Mahoney said...

Hope you're feeling better, Elaine! These poems are great. Spaceman is FUN!!!

Elaine Magliaro said...

Thanks, Vivian. I'm feeling better--but still have a sinus infection and shortness of breath. I had to get out and shovel yesterday, though, because my husband is off in sunny Arizona where the temperatures are in the 80s.