SPRING THING: Welcoming April...and National Poetry Month!

Being a nanny granny for two little ones is a lot more tiring than I had expected. Julia is four now—and Allison just turned one in early March. Sorry to say that I don’t have much time or energy for blogging these days. I have managed to carve out some time for writing poetry. In fact, I wrote three new collections this year. The first one I completed is a seasonal collection of mask poems told in the voices of plants and animals. The second one is also a collection of mask poems--told mostly in the voices of farm animals. The manuscript that I just finished last week is my second collection of “things to do” poems. This collection is about winter.

 Julia and Allison

FYI: Things to Do, my first poetry/picture book, won’t be published until February of 2017—not this coming October as originally planned.

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

Here are some poems about April and Spring to start Poetry Month off:

And now spring settles in,

Pitches her green tent
Robins return, daffodils dance
In the garden, fruit trees explode with blossoms, as the sun
Lays her warm yellow hands over the earth.

Softly, raindrops come to call. Can you

Hear them gently tap-tapping

On the

Windowpane, on the roof with an

Even, steady beat…

Repeating the song that April loves to

Sing?

Patter of April showers.

Up go our umbrellas,

Down go our booted feet…

Down into shimmery

Liquid looking glasses.

Everywhere we go we’re

Splashing in pools of fallen sky.

Soft, scented breezes, kite-catching winds, the
Pitter patter of warm rain on the
Roof, daffodils and daisies and lilacs
In bloom, apple trees wearing snow-white crowns.
Now the sun lingers at the edge of day and
Green…lovely green…has come home to stay.

TASTING THE SUN

Shower in the April sun

Shower in the light,

Streaming down on yellow days.

Stand out in the pouring rays.

Like butter on a toasty bun,

Let the sunlight melt and run

In golden rivers on your skin.

Feel it glowing deep within.

Feel the touch of early spring,

Feel the warmth that April brings.

Shower in the pouring rays

Washing winter cold away.

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

The talented children’s poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

HIBERNATION: An Original Acrostic Poem

 

As I’ve noted many times before on Wild Rose Reader—I LOVE writing animal mask poems. A couple of years ago, I wrote a collection of acrostic poems about spring. The following acrostic, HIBERNATION, from that collection is also a mask poem. I wrote it in the voice of a mother bear.

How long have

I slept? How long has it

Been since I’ve

Eaten? I hear the river running again. I must

Rouse my cubs from their slumber

Now…open their eyes to the wonders of spring,

Awaken them to a new life. It is

Time to take my children out

Into the sunlight,

Out into a brighter world they’ve

Never known.

 ********************

REMINDER

Book Giveaway
As in past years, I’ll be giving away a children’s poetry book at Wild Rose Reader every week during the month of April. If you leave a comment at one of my poetry posts this week (April 1-6), I’ll enter your name into the drawing for a poetry book. If you leave comments at two posts, I'll enter your name twice...and so on. I’ll announce the winner of this week’s giveaway on Sunday, April 7^th.

This week’s prize from Wild Rose Reader will be a copy of Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word, which was written by Bob Raczka and illustrated by Nancy Doniger.

 

Here’s the link to my April 1^st post: SpringSings…with Poetry!

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

The Poetry Friday Roundup can be found at Life on the Deckle Edge.

 

Spring Sings…with Poetry!

Sorry that I have been away from blogging for so long! I’ve missed being a part of the children’s literature community. Sometimes we have to step away from things we enjoy doing in order to tend to other important things in our lives.

The past two months have brought both good things and challenges into my life. The illness of a close family member was a major concern for me. While providing daycare for my granddaughter Julia, finishing renovations on our new home, moving my books and other belongings from our current home to our new place, I was also helping to care for that close family member—who, I am happy to say, is well again. 

I couldn’t let the first day of National Poetry Month slip by without posting on Wild Rose Reader. We had a long winter up here in Massachusetts—which included a series of storms that dropped quite a bit of snow on the ground. March is always a brown month around these parts. I did see crocuses poking through the soil in my daughter’s garden last week. Yesterday, I received a gift of tulips. The plants and decorated Easter eggs got me to thinking about flowers and the joyous color they bring as winter gives way to spring. I decided to post a number of my spring flower poems for you to celebrate the beginning of National Poetry Month.

NOTE: As in past years, I’ll be giving away poetry books away again this year. See the details  of my poetry book giveaway at the bottom of this post.

SPRING FLOWER POEMS

Coming up, I’m coming up,
Reaching through the softening soil, poking my petals
Out of the earth,
Collecting sunlight in my purple cup.
Up, I’m coming up.
Spring is on the way!

Look! A starting line
of crocuses ready
to sprint into spring

Crocuses
pierce the softening
soil, push up
purple periscopes,
search for spring’s warm face.

SPRING SINGS
Spring sings with yellow—
Daffodils trumpet the color in a world growing green
Forsythia bushes explode into golden clouds
Dandelions light our lawn like little suns
Daisies flaunt their pollen-powdered faces…
Everywhere I look
Yellow is singing out its bright song.


Daffodils…
dipped in sunlight,
dusted with gold—
brassy blossoms
trumpeting their color
in April gardens

 

FORSYTHIAS
One morning
they unexpectedly
burst into bloom
and sprouted gold.
April used her Midas touch
and turned a gray day
into a surprise celebration
for spring.

FORSYTHIA

Sun rubs resting earth

With warm yellow hands…coaxes

Forth petals of gold

TULIP

Poked its pink head up
looking for spring,
stood watching while clouds passed by,
waited till warm yellow rays

showered down...
then lapped up sunlight
with its silky tongues.

Win a Poetry Book!
Every week during April, I’ll be giving away a children’s poetry book at Wild Rose Reader. If you leave a comment at one of my poetry posts this week (April 1-6), I’ll enter your name in the drawing for a poetry book. If you leave comments at two posts, I'll enter your name twice...and so on. I’ll announce the winner of this week’s giveaway on Sunday, April 7^th.

This week’s prize from Wild Rose Reader will be a copy of Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word, which was written by Bob Raczka and illustrated by Nancy Doniger.