On Saturday, in my post I Am Looking for a Poem About…#3, I invited blog readers to ask me to find a children’s poem on a specific topic or subject for them. Cheryl wrote: “I'd like to read a poem about a child flying. Not flying in an airplane, but just freely through the air/clouds. Do you know of one?”
Lines of a particular poem began running through my head--but I couldn’t remember the author or the title of it. After looking through a couple dozen of my children’s poetry books, I have found the poem, I Can Fly. It was written by Felice Holman and first published in her poetry book At the Top of My Voice (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970). The book was illustrated by Edward Gorey.
The poem can also be found on page 31 of the following book:
Lines of a particular poem began running through my head--but I couldn’t remember the author or the title of it. After looking through a couple dozen of my children’s poetry books, I have found the poem, I Can Fly. It was written by Felice Holman and first published in her poetry book At the Top of My Voice (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970). The book was illustrated by Edward Gorey.
The poem can also be found on page 31 of the following book:
THE 20th CENTURY CHILDREN'S POETRY TREASURY
Selected by Jack Prelutsky
Illustrated by Meilo So
Alfred A. Knopf, 1999
Here is an excerpt from Felice Holman’s I Can Fly:
I can fly, of course,
Very low,
Not fast,
Rather slow.
I spread my arms like wings,
Lean on the wind,
And my body zings
About.
Nothing showy--
A few loops
And turns...
Cheryl, I hope Holman’s poem fits the bill!
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3 comments:
Cheryl:
I have a poem about NOT flying in NIGHT GARDEN: Poems from the World of Dreams.
FLYING
In their dreams
my friends can fly.
They flap their arms
and soar like hawks.
I've never flown
except in planes.
I think I would be terrified
to find the ground lost
under me.
I like to go to sleep at nine,
curled up round
in my safe bed,
dreaming soft and fuzzy
things--
goose down dreams
cradling
my head.
I wrote the poem after talking to two friends who flew regularly (in their dreams). I so envied them...I did finally have a flying dream about a year after that book was published, and I remember thinking (during the dream), "But: I never fly!"
Janet,
NIGHT GARDEN was one of the first poetry books I looked through. Thanks for leaving your poem for Cheryl.
I can't recall ever having a flying dream.
Perfect! I *love* it. Thank you! It's such a feel good poem for me. I wanted to fly when I was little. Parts of me still do. :)
And Janet, I understand feeling afraid to fly. Some things that we can imagine doing might be scary in real life.... though they might be exhilarating, too. :)
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