Tasting the Sun: An Original Poem

As April comes to a close, I thought I'd post a poem about the month that I wrote a long, long time ago. Where I live, spring doesn't really arrive in March. In fact, it's not until we're well into April that it usually feels anything like spring around here. (This year has been a fluke. We've already experienced temperatures in the eighties and nineties already!)

The following poem expresses how it feels when spring has truly arrived and I can sit outside on my deck and read and feel the warmth of the sun on my face and my skin after a long cold winter spent indoors.

 

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.

Fourth Week of NaPoMo...And the Winner of "Requiem" Is...

I am happy to announce that the winner of Paul B. Janeczko’s book Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto is Jama Rattigan. Congratulations, Jama!

Win a Poetry Book!

I’ve decided to extend National Poetry Month until May 5^th at Wild Rose Reader. That means if you leave a comment at any of my poetry posts (except for the Poetry Friday Roundup) that I publish from Sunday, April 29^th through Saturday, May 5^th—I’ll enter your name in the drawing to win a copy of I Am the Book—with poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrations by Yayo.

I'll announce the winner of I Am the Book on Sunday, May 6th.

An Original Animal Mask Poem by Linda at TeacherDance

I LOVE writing animal mask poems. It’s fun to imagine what animals might say to us if we could understand THEIR language. I enjoy speaking—poetically—in the voice of all kinds of creatures, including snails, caterpillars, ladybugs, eels, earthworms, lions, grizzly bears, and blue whales. A few weeks ago, I issued an invitation to blog readers to write animal mask poems and to share them with us. One blogger/poet accepted my invitation: Linda of TeacherDance.

Here is Linda’s lovely poem:

I was kept warm, quite safe and fed
and then surprised to hear the call
to leave home because I wasn’t meant
to stay there very long at all.

I began to push, to dry and move
the side door open, then it gave a sigh
I wiggled and jiggled till I was out
And I became a butterfly.

Note to Linda: I have a special gift for you. It’s Marilyn Singer’s wonderful collection of animal mask poems titled Turtle in July. It’s beautifully illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. The collection is now out of print—unfortunately—so I don’t have a new book to give to you. I'll be sending you one of the paperback books that I used in my elementary classroom. (It’s in good condition.)

Wild Rose Reader: Dinner with Friends, A Poetry Podcast, & A Poetry Month Martini

On Friday, I had the pleasure of having dinner with two of my best literary friends—Grace Lin and Janet Wong. We had a most delicious meal at Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We sampled six different appetizers and soups and shared an entrée—duck saltimbocca.  We devoured the dessert we ordered—churros with a bittersweet chocolate dipping sauce. It was to die for!

After dinner, we returned to Grace’s house. Grace recorded a poetry podcast with Janet and me—which she’ll post on her blog later this year.

Last week, I also invented a Poetry Month Martini. It’s yummy. I think I’ll call it the “Julia”—after my granddaughter. Let me explain why: I love champagne mangoes and bring a couple of them with me every week when I go up to my daughter’s house. My daughter suggested I give Julia some pureed mangoes for lunch one day to see if she liked them. Like her grandmother, Julia loves champagne mangoes too. As I was pureeing a batch of them for Julia on Wednesday, I thought creating a cocktail with the puree might be a good idea. My first attempt was a winner! My daughter thought so too. It’s a potable to write poetry about. Here’s the recipe:

Champagne Mango Martini

(For one cocktail)

2 shots of vodka

2 shots of champagne mango puree
1 shot of triple sec
1 shot of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 shot of simple syrup

Add ingredients to cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake hard. Pour contents into a martini glass and garnish with a strawberry. Enjoy!

At Your Service: An Original Mask Poem

Every now and then, I like to take a poem that I've written and rewrite it in another form or voice. A few years ago, I wrote a poem titled Things to Do If You Are a Pencil. The poem was included in Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems, which was edited by Georgia Heard.

Things to Do If You Are a Pencil

Be sharp.

Wear a slick yellow suit
and a pink top hat.
Tap your toes on the tabletop,
listen for the right rhythm,
then dance a poem
across the page.

Some time after that poem was published, I rewrote it two different ways--as a poem of address and as a mask poem:

**********

Poem of Address

You’re looking sharp
in your slick yellow suit
and your pink top hat!
Get ready to rock and roll and write.
Get into the groove.
Listen for the right rhythm.
Then tap your toes on the tabletop
and dance a poem
across the page.

**********

Mask Poem

I’m sharp!
I wear a slick yellow suit
and a pink top hat.
I tap my toes on the tabletop,
listen for the right rhythm,
and then dance a poem
across the page.

**********

Today, as I was looking through my writing files, I found another mask poem written in the voice of a pencil. It was unfinished--so I thought I'd work on it. Here's what I have so far:

At Your Service: A Mask Poem

I’m at your service

Poised on pointed toes
Eager to write a new poem.
Can’t wait to create…
To dance to the rhythm of your imagination.