Summer is officially over for me. Yes, you read that correctly. Faculty are back, first year students arrive on Wednesday, and classes begin next Monday. I am perfectly happy with this. You see, I was the kid who was ready for school to begin about one-week into summer. I love school! And while I do need a break from it every so often, I relish the end of summer. For some this is a sad time, but for me it marks the passage into fall, my favorite season of the year.
Yesterday I was savoring Wallace Steven's wonderful poem, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. I began to think that looking at summer in this way might be an interesting thing to do. Now, you don't need to come up with 13 ways of looking at summer. Perhaps we could write this as a modified renga, each contributing a verse or two. However you want to approach it, the challenge this week is to write a few stanzas (or more!) about summer.
Here are the stanzas I'm starting with (I think).
Yesterday I was savoring Wallace Steven's wonderful poem, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. I began to think that looking at summer in this way might be an interesting thing to do. Now, you don't need to come up with 13 ways of looking at summer. Perhaps we could write this as a modified renga, each contributing a verse or two. However you want to approach it, the challenge this week is to write a few stanzas (or more!) about summer.
Here are the stanzas I'm starting with (I think).
ILeave me a comment about your pieces and I'll post the results here later this week.
Leaning in
at this point farthest
from the sun
we still burn and sweat
while waiting patiently
to tilt away
II
Nights glow and sing
thick with fireflies
and crickets
It's 90 here today, so it's like our summer in WNY is just finally beginning.
ReplyDelete"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" is a favorite of mine, so I love this idea...
Do you hear that hum?
ReplyDeleteIs it the bees' bumbled ums
as summer leaves us?
Hmmmmmm...
or is it the leaves'
tumbling, is it the ums
of autumn coming?
The days cool down
ReplyDeletelike a runner after a race,
toweling themselves
into autumn.
I love the two totally different feelings of Julie and Jane's poems/stanzas! I especially love "...is it the ums/of autumn coming?"
ReplyDeleteI'm a fall person, too. Back-to-school is the best. The fresh start, the clean slate, the anticipation. I loved it as a kid going back to school, as a teacher going back to school, and more than ever now as a freelance writer sending her kids back to school (not for 3 more weeks, though) and looking forward to a quiet house!
I have 13 Observations on Summer
ReplyDeleteI've given this a try, though I'm not really sure how these stanza's/chapters work....
ReplyDeleteMy poem is about a teacher's summer and is at http://dianemdavis.livejournal.com/63152.html
diane
A Summer Stanza Quintet
ReplyDeletebeaches and ice cream
drinks that are cool
children who frolic
or swim in the pool
under construction
displayed on the ramp
attempting to get to
the Bills training camp
not many buses
that take kids to school
browsing the state fair
and linger to stay cool
sitting in lawn chairs
beneath a shade tree
notebook in hand
to write poetry
RVs go camping
or to a baseball game
summer is all this
within nature's frame
Another stanza to add:
ReplyDeletethirteen weeks
from solstice
to equinox
ups and downs
hots and colds
wins, losses,
and draws
I didn't mean to when I began, but I ended up with 13 of my own here.
ReplyDeleteWatermelon ribs
ReplyDeletecorn teeth
tomato blood --
summer’s body
spills
fills
our paper plates.
sunk deep in shade
ReplyDeletethe porch swing holds
just his moment
of summer
on the lawn
we are watching two trees
with kid's legs
swinging below heavy branches
two friends listing to
cicadas singing
around the soft laughter
and clink of ice
In the first line of the last stanza I meant to say:
ReplyDelete"two friends listening to"
Have I ever thanked you for so much inspiration?
ReplyDeleteYou've inspired me but I work slowly. I am waiting for a photo permission to add to my poem, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Cicada in August
http://writtenforchildren.blogspot.com/2009/08/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-cicada-in.html