Things to Do If You Are a Window: An Original List Poem

Happy National Poetry Month!

For the first day of April, I’d like to share a list poem for spring that I wrote for my Things to Do poetry collection--a collection that takes a child through a day in her life. Things to Do If You Are a Window was supposed to be the first poem in the book—but then I decided it didn’t fit. Eliminating poems from manuscripts is something that I often do as I get a better sense of where I’m going with the collection…what I hope to achieve with it…how I want the poems fit together as a cohesive whole.

THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE A WINDOW

Let sunshine in…

warm breezes too.
Let the scent of spring
come wafting through.
Let the old air out.
Listen to the sigh
as winter leaves
and bids goodbye.

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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 during the first week of National Poetry Month (April 1-7), I’ll enter your name in the drawing to win a copy of Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets: 100 Poems to Rip Out & Read. The poems were selected by Bruno Navasky and the book was published in conjunction with The Academy of American Poets. (Note: If you leave comments at two of my poetry posts, I'll enter your name twice...and so on.) The winner of the book will be announced next Sunday (April 8^th).

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NOTE: Super blogger Jama Rattigan has a wonderful list of all of the wonderful events that will be taking place in the kidlitosphere during the month of April at  Alphabet Soup. Here’s the link: National Poetry Month KidlitosphereEvents.