Three Thanksgiving Poems



THE THANKSGIVINGS

Harriet Maxwell Converse (1836-1903)

Translated from a traditional Iroquois prayer

We who are here present thank the Great Spirit that we are here to praise Him.

We thank Him that He has created men and women, and ordered that these beings shall always be living to multiply the earth.

We thank Him for making the earth and giving these beings its products to live on.

We thank Him for the water that comes out of the earth and runs for our lands.

We thank Him for all the animals on the earth.

We thank Him for certain timbers that grow and have fluids coming from them for us all.

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

THANKSGIVING

Author Unknown

The year has turned its circle.

Seasons come and go.

The harvest is all gathered in

And chilly north winds blow.

Orchards have shared their treasures,

Fields, their yellow grain,

So open wide the doorway--

Thanksgiving comes again.

 

THANKSGIVING TIME

Author Unknown

When all the leaves are off the boughs,

And nuts and apples gathered in,

And cornstalks waiting for the cows,

And pumpkins safe in barn and bin,

Then Mother says, "My children dear,

The fields are brown and autumn flies;

Thanksgiving day is very near,

And we must make thanksgiving pies!"

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Rebecca has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Sloth Reads.

 

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING , EVERYONE!

PICK A PUMPKIN: A Halloween Read Aloud in Verse

Looking for an excellent Halloween book in verse to read aloud to young children? I've got a recommendation for you: PICK A PUMPKIN, which was written by Patricia Toht and illustrated by Jarvis. The book was published in July. I was eager to get a copy of  PICK A PUMPKIN to read to my granddaughters because we all loved Toht's PICK A PINE TREE, which was also illustrated by Jarvis.

 

In PICK A PUMPKIN, a family goes to a farm to select just the right pumpkin to carve for Halloween. While at the farm, they also

Stop for mugs

of spicy punch,

toffee apples,

sweet to crunch.

The family takes the pumpkin home, rubs it clean, and gathers the things they'll need for carving their jack-o-lantern. Then...they invite a "pumpkin carving crew" over to help.

 

The crew begins their work:

Now all together...

carve the eyes.

Giant circles of surprise.

Small slits sleeping

or one eye peeping.

Cross-eyes crazy.

Angry. Lazy.

Before the crew lights its "new creation," they decorate the house for Halloween with...

Cobwebs strung from post to post.

Rings of gauzy dancing ghosts.

Spiders. Tombstones.

Dangling bats.

Skeletons and witches' hats.

Next, the children don their costumes, take the jack-o-lantern outside, and an adult strikes a match so it will glow.

It's red-hot eyes

will gaze

and flicker.

Its fiery grin

will blaze and snicker.



 

It will also guard the house while the children are off trick-or-treating.

Jarvis's illustrations are a perfect match for Toht's rhythmic, rhyming text. The final double-page spread shows children trick-or-treating in a dark neighborhood that glows with lit jack-o-lanterns and streetlights. The book truly captures the "spooky" excitement children feel on Halloween.

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Karen Edmisten has the Poetry Friday Roundup at her blog.

 

AUTUMN CELEBRATION: An Original Poem



Early autumn is my favorite time of year. I enjoy the cooler days and colored foliage. I like the way my daughter decorates her house for Halloween. I love reading spooky Halloween books and poems to my granddaughters.

 

I wrote the following poem more than a decade ago:

AUTUMN CELEBRATION

In October, colored leaves

Fall from oak and maple tree--

Bright confetti shaken down

From their boughs. All over town

Trees are celebrating fall,

Decorating every wall,

Sidewalk, yard, and flowerbed

With pumpkin-orange, gold, and red.

We stand out in the falling leaves

And catch confetti on our sleeves,

In our hands and in our hair. 

We party till the trees are bare.

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Catherine has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Reading to the Core.

 

Remembering Lee Bennett Hopkins with Poetry

I have been thinking a lot lately about my dear friend Lee Bennett Hopkins who passed away earlier this month. I've also been thinking about all of Lee's poetry books that I have collected over the years. I have dozens and dozens of them! I used his books often when I was teaching elementary school. I treasure those books even more now that he is gone.

One of my favorite anthologies compiled by Lee came to mind a few days ago. It's titled ON THE FARM. It's a thin volume of sixteen poems that is beautifully illustrated by Laurel Molk. It was published by Little, Brown in 1991. The book contains poems by some of America's finest children's poets--including David McCord, Aileen Fisher, Lilian Moore, Myra Cohn Livingston, Valerie Worth--and Lee Bennett Hopkins.

 

Here's a sampling of the poems you'll find in this lovely anthology:

FOAL

by Mary Britton Miller

Come trotting up

Beside your mother,

Little skinny.

Lay your neck across

Her back, and whinny,

Little foal.

You think you're a horse

Because you can trot--

But you're not...

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

LAWNMOVER

By Valerie Worth

The lawnmower
Grinds its teeth
Over the grass,
Spitting out a thick
Green spray;

Its head is too full
Of iron and oil
To know
What it throws
Away...

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

PRAYER

By Myra Cohn Livingston

Thank you for the sun,
          the sky,
     for all the things that like to fly,
          the shining rain that turns grass green,
          the earth we know --
          the world unseen...

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

 

THE COW

By Robert Lewis Stevenson

The friendly cow all red and white, 
I love with all my heart: 
She gives me cream with all her might, 
To eat with apple-tart. 

She wanders lowing here and there, 
And yet she cannot stray, 
All in the pleasant open air, 
The pleasant light of day... 

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

FAMILIAR FRIENDS

By James S. Tippett

The horses, the pigs,

And the chickens,

The turkeys, the ducks

And the sheep!

I can see all my friends

From my window

As soon as I waken from sleep.

 

The cat on the fence

Is out walking.

The geese have gone down

For a swim.

The pony comes trotting

Right up to the gate;

He knows I have candy

For him...

Click here to read the rest of the poem. (NOTE: You will have to scroll down a page as the link takes you directly to a poem by Elizabeth Coatsworth.)

 

THE PICKETY FENCE

By David McCord

The pickety fence
The pickety fence
Give it a lick it's
The pickety fence
Give it a lick it's
A clickety fence
Give it a lick it's
A lickety fence...

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

Lee opened ON THE FARM with his own poem titled HELLO, FARM.

HELLO, FARM

By Lee Bennett Hopkins

Hello, ducks,

chickens,

cows.

Hello, hen house,

stable,

barn.

Hello, woodpiles,

silo,

swing.

Hello,

hello,

everything.

I used Lee's poem as a model for the following poem that I wrote in his memory.

HELLO, POETRY

By Elaine Magliaro

Hello, children,

library,

books.

Hello,

reading

in cozy nooks.

Hello, meter,

rhythm,

rhyme.

Hello,

poetry

all the time!

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Kathryn Apel has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

 

MOON Poems & A Rocket Poem



This weekend my husband and I will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing--and our 50th wedding anniversary! So...today, I thought I'd share some of my original moon poems and one rocket poem.

THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE THE MOON

Live in the sky.

Be bold…

OR

be shy.

Wax and wane

in your starry terrain.

Be a circle of light,

just a sliver of white,

or hide in the shadows

and vanish from sight.

Look like a pearl

when you’re brim-full

and bright.

Hang in the darkness.

Dazzle the night.

Mirror

Of the sun, bright

Orb in the evening sky, Earth's

Nightlight

Now that the sun has left the sky.

It’s time for ME to shine on high…

To spread my gentle pearly light

For all the creatures of the night.

Sometimes Moon is round and bright.

Sometimes it’s just a wisp of white.

Sometimes it vanishes from sight.

Moon is an ever-changing light.

 

Night sang Sun a lullaby,

sprinkled stars across the sky, 

switched on Moon

and let it shine

into this little room of mine.

Roaring

Off the launchpad in a

Cloud of smoke,

Kicking off its invisible tether to

Earth, it blasts into space, blazing a

Trail, searing the sky with its fiery tail.

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The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Carol's Corner this week.

 

 

Poem for a Retiring Teacher

A few weeks ago, I was asked to write a poem for one of my former teaching colleagues who was retiring. I had worked with Robin for a dozen years. She came to my elementary school after I'd been teaching there for more than twenty years. She was a wonderful addition to our teaching staff. She was hard-working, dedicated, loved children, and got along well with everyone.

As I was thinking about how to approach writing a poem about my friend, a poem by Mary O'Neill titled Miss Norma Jean Pugh, First Grade Teacher came to mind. I pulled The Random House Book of Poetry for Children off the shelf and read the poem. It was the perfect inspiration for my poem about Robin.  (Click here to read O'Neill's poem.)

A POEM FOR ROBIN

By Elaine Magliaro

On a morning in May that's sunny and bright

When robins are singing with great delight

And butterflies flit through blossomed air

And lilac scents are everywhere

And honeybees buzz around apple trees

And you feel the breath of spring in a gentle breeze...

When your whole wide world seems fresh and new

And sparkles with beads of morning dew

And you'd like to fly a kite or climb a tree,

Play with your friends down by the sea,

Ride your bike and roller blade,

And have an exciting escapade--

Who cares if two and two are four...

Or five or six or even more?

Who cares if Earth is shaped like a sphere

Or December's the last month of the year?

Well, now I do--I really do

Even though I didn't used to--

Not until I met Mrs. Berg!

She's pretty old as teachers go--

Fifty-four or six or eight or so--

But she makes her students WANT to KNOW!

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Laura Shovan has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

 

 



FACING IT: A Poem for Memorial Day



 My father served in the army during World War II. One of my mother's first cousins, John Koziski, was  killed in that war. A number of my friends served in the Vietnam War. Two did not return home. I'm

 posting a poem by Yusef Komunyakaa in honor of them and all of our veterans who have served our 

 country during wartime.

 FACING IT

 By Yusef Komunyakaa

My black face fades,   

hiding inside the black granite.   

I said I wouldn't  

dammit: No tears.   

I'm stone. I'm flesh.   

My clouded reflection eyes me   

like a bird of prey, the profile of night   

slanted against morning. I turn   

 

this way—the stone lets me go.   

I turn that way—I'm inside   

the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

again, depending on the light

to make a differenceVietnam Veterans Memorial Located in Washington D.C., the Memorial is roughly 500 feet wide, and the names of soldiers who died in Vietnam are etched on its black granite walls. For more information and photos, visit The Wall-USA.

   



Click here to read the rest of the poem.

 

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Dani has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Doing the Work that Matters.

 

 

A Poem in Memory of My Beautiful Mother



A poem in memory of my beautiful mother Mary Koziski Drabik (February 24, 1918-January 5, 2017)

MOTHER'S DAY

by David Young

I see her doing something simple, paying bills,

or leafing through a magazine or book,

and wish that I could say, and she could hear,

that now I start to understand her love

for all of us, the fullness of it.

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

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My mother's last Mother's Day (2016)

Mother's Day 2012

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Elizabeth Steinglass has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.





DOUBLE DACTYLS about Fairy Tales & Children's Books



Here are some double dactyls that I wrote years ago. All of them are about children’s books and fairy tales. Not sure that I adhered to the poetic form perfectly. Still, it was fun writing them!

Higgeldy piggeldy

Charlotte Cavatica,

Writer and weaver,

Spun tales for her friend,

Wilbur, the runt pig

She nurtured and cherished.

That spider was loyal

And true to the end.

Higgeldy piggeldy

Vegan Pete Rabbit

Pilfered some lettuce

And carrots and kale.

Mister McGregor

Chased after that bunny

But Peter escaped

By the fluff of his tail.

 

Higgeldy piggeldy

Poor Sleeping Beauty

Slumbered for decades

Because of a spell.

Prince Charming knelt down and

Kissed the prone princess.

They married. They’re happy.

There’s no more to tell.

 

Higgeldy piggeldy

Sad Cinderella

Sat in the ashes

Bemoaning her fate.

Godmother fairy

Said: “Honey, don’t blubber.

My magic will score you

A rich, handsome mate.”

 

Higgeldy piggeldy

Beauty was grossed out

Watching the ugly Beast

Nnoshing raw boar.

“God,” she said, “can’t you please

Masticate quietly!

Dining with you is

A distasteful chore.”

 

 

Higgeldy piggeldy

Max was a "wild thing,"

Got into mischief,

Was sent to his room,

 

Kicked up a rumpus

With Like-minded wild things.

Some kiddies go crazy

Once they leave the womb.

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Click here for the definition of the Double Dactyl from The Poetry Foundation.

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Jama has the Poetry Friday Roundup at her wonderful blog Alphabet Soup.