Here are three original poems about the sounds of summer. Bed in Summer (previously posted at Wild Rose Reader last July) and Sing a Song of Summer were written for a collection of unpublished poems entitled Tasting the Sun. I wrote Summer Music for another unpublished collection of memoir poems called A Home for the Seasons.
Bed in Summer
by Elaine Magliaro
Dark drifts in when I'm in bed.
Dreams whisper to my sleepy head.
Ice cubes clink into a glass.
Our sprinkler whirs and wets the grass.
Shouts of children still at play
Spark the night...then fade away.
Mosquitoes drone, crickets cheep.
Wrapped in summer sounds I'll sleep.
Summer Music
by Elaine Magliaro
I live on a busy main street.
In summer our open windows
bring us the whoosh and rumble of traffic
we don’t hear during the colder seasons.
I often fall asleep counting cars, not sheep.
I love to spend summer nights
sleeping in my grandparents’ spare room,
with crickets serenading me to sleep
and mourning doves cooing softly
before the sun has kissed the sky awake.
Sing a Song of Summer
by Elaine Magliaro
Sing a song of seasons,
A pocket full of June
A field of chirping crickets
Making music 'neath the Moon
Strum their wings in concert
And play a melody,
A lovely lilting lullaby
Of summer…just for me.
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At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem by Richard Brautigan entitled Gee, You're So Beautiful That It's Starting to Rain.Cloudscome has the Poetry Friday Roundup at A Wrung Sponge this week.
These are beautiful, Elaine! Because we're drowning in Iowa this year, I've heard no crickets, seen no fireflies :( Reading your poems reminds me of the beauty that is summer. Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteKelly,
ReplyDeleteMy sympathies are with all of the residents of Iowa. How awful to see on the news as entire homes were being washed away by flood waters. I can only imagine what it must feel like to lose everything I owned.
I hope you have some good weather soon.
Such lovely imagery. Thanks, as always, for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteKelly, I was just wondering how far you are from all the flooding.
Jules,
ReplyDeleteLast night as I lay in bed--with the windows open--I was awakened by what sounded like someone using a pneumatic drill. At 2:00 AM! Go figure. I wasn't dreaming. My husband heard it, too.
What gorgeous images. I love all three poems. You've reminded me to take more time to listen, and really hear.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful images. It's funny -- This morning, I was thinking of the curious mix of sounds I hear on a summer morning, too. From my kitchen window, as I type up a poetry Friday post, I always hear the chirping of the birds and the rush of traffic on the highway that is too close to our house. :-)
ReplyDeleteElaine,
ReplyDeleteOh, what lovely poems! I love night sounds too. You truly captured the sounds of summer.
Thank you for sharing.
Jama and Karen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. As a child--and even as an adult--I absorbed/absorb a lot about the world, the seasons, etc., through my senses. I think many children today have fewer opportunities to get "tuned into" nature.
Linda,
ReplyDeleteThanks! I do love the sound of crickets--especially at the end of summer. I could, however, do without one sound of summer: lawnmowers growling early on a Sunday morning.
Lovely work, Elaine.
ReplyDeleteMMMmmmm. You've got it just right. Not just the sounds of summer, but the relaxed way of falling asleep when there's not a million things to be done tomorrow and the mental list is the noise I fall asleep to, rather than the crickets. Hallelujah for summer!
ReplyDeleteElaine these are wonderful! I am listening to the early birds right now, in the dark before the sun is up. That's the only way I get a jump on my kids LOL! Your poems are giving me a peaceful feeling and I'm looking forward to bedtime already.
ReplyDeleteI particularly loved the music of the middle poem, Elaine, and the notion of the sun kissing the sky awake. So great.
ReplyDeleteSusan, Cloudscome, Mary Lee, and Kelly--
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments! The sounds of crickets and birds are surely more pleasant than those of cars and and rumbling motorcycles going down the street.
I love these, Elaine. I especially liked the fun of #3, though the specifics in the first 2 were gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteFavorite lines from all 3:
Ice cubes clink into a glass.
Our sprinkler whirs and wets the grass.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. It's always good to get feedback from a published children's poet.