While waiting for the fireworks to begin last night I was doing a bit of stargazing, or not, given how cloudy it was. Even on clear nights in the summer I find myself missing Orion. His reappearance is just another of the many things I love about fall. Yes, I know it's summer, but it's hot and my least favorite time of year, so I'm trying to think cool thoughts.
Are you a stargazer or skywatcher? What is your favorite thing in the sky? I'll have to admit I'm most fond of birds in flight, the harvest moon, and winter stars. Let's write about the sky this week and the things you find most appealing in it. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.
Are you a stargazer or skywatcher? What is your favorite thing in the sky? I'll have to admit I'm most fond of birds in flight, the harvest moon, and winter stars. Let's write about the sky this week and the things you find most appealing in it. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.
Tonight
ReplyDeleteTonight I feel empty and yearning
as a black hole, so I come outside
and sit by myself looking up at you,
night sky. And even though
your hair, your face and your clothes
are covered with jewels, I can feel
the vastness of your loneliness.
Can we be lonely together,
me with my small dark sadness,
you with your broken heart
the width of a universe?
--Kate Coombs, 2010, all rights reserved
I was earth, you sky
ReplyDeleteand all the birds writing their songs
across the blue.
I was ground and you air,
with wings beating out your heart rhythms
while I merely rhymed leaves.
Did I envy you the names, the notes, the songs,?
Sometimes, when words on paper
were not enough, were never enough.
But we made a whole world together,
and now I must read the blue
without you, whose eyes were the skies
I saw myself in.
©2010 Jane Yolen All rights reserved
Oh, oh, oh--
ReplyDeleteHow sad and bereft your sky poems are! Mine (unearthed, not fresh, which is enough stretch for me today) is also tinged with loss...
Black Under Blue
We cycled on,
debating whether to prefer
the unbroken blue of a
cloudless sky hurtling away into space
or the textured, nearer depths
of the same sky brushed with clouds,
and meanwhile, beneath
our wheels we crushed
dozens of plush black caterpillars
boldly crossing to the other side.
-- Heidi Mordhorst
all rights reserved
Oh, my, I'm only going to add to the sadness. I'm not sure this works. It certainly isn't me, except for the impatience part, but, it's what appeared on the screen when I sat down to write!
ReplyDeleteSUMMER SKY
Looking up at the summer
sky--I know only the dippers.
I learned them back when stars
were an attraction to the child
I was then. But, my interest
in sparkle was short-lived.
I'll not add to my knowledge
of the heavenly lights since
I have no patience. I do not
have hours to spend starring
off, imagining radiant belts
on mythic persons and creatures.
I do not have the fearlessness
of the ancients for whom light,
at night, was unknown except
for that which was cast by the moon
and stars. I see only the darkness
in the night. Only the boogie man.
That's weird--I went in to read other people's poems, and mine had disappeared. Here it is again. And by the way, I like these poems; they feel poignantly unexpected, redefining the sky.
ReplyDeleteTonight
Tonight I feel empty and yearning
as a black hole, so I come outside
and sit by myself looking up at you,
night sky. And even though
your hair, your face and your clothes
are covered with jewels, I can feel
the vastness of your loneliness.
Can we be lonely together,
me with my small dark sadness,
you with your broken heart
the width of a universe?
--Kate Coombs, 2010, all rights reserved
Aaand, now it's back! Oh well.
ReplyDelete--Kate
Tricia,
ReplyDeleteHere is one of my "things to do" poems:
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
and dazzle the night.
© 2010 Elaine Magliaro. All rights reserved.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSunrise
ReplyDeleteI leave the dark dungeon
of the wage slave,
and wait for the sun.
It bursts from the earth like a flower,
full-blossomed and bold,
gold as a Krugerand,
pink as a magnolia blossom,
orange as breath blown embers,
reincarnated each morning
and I with it.
Nightshift.
It has its perks.
~~Barbara J. Turner
What a great bunch of poems everyone!
ReplyDeleteJust for your information, today, July 7, is Star Festival in Japan (Tanabata). http://gojapan.about.com/cs/japanesefestivals/a/tanabata.htm
Did you plan the sky poems to coincide, Tricia?
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI recently compiled a list of the Top 15 blogs on reading and literacy, and I
just wanted to let you know that you made the list! It
is published online at
http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-15-blogs-on-reading-and-literacy/
Thanks so much, and if you think your audience would find useful
information in the list or on the site, please feel free to share the
link. The blog is just starting up, so we always appreciate a linkback
as we're trying to increase readership.
Thanks again, and have a great day!
Maria Magher
Hi Tricia,
ReplyDeleteNot sure if I have told you, but anyway I have been enjoying your fabulous blog for several months now. I love all the features especially the Monday Stretch. My students liked trying the challenges too. Now that I have a bit more time I am dipping my toes a little deeper and posting my own attempts at poetry. Here is my Blue Sky Day poem for blue skies are my favorite! Thanks.
http://lookingforthewritewords29.blogspot.com/2010/07/poetry-friday_09.html
~Theresa
OOPS - take 2!
ReplyDeleteBlue Sky Days
In every season
Find a reason.
Just listen.
As our closest star
Proclaims
It’s a blue sky day
Come out and play!
Ski down my mountain,
Build a snowman,
Dive in my leaves,
Pick a plump pumpkin,
Walk the dog,
Plant a glorious garden,
Shoot some hoops,
Build a castle in the sand,
Toss a ball,
Stay away from the mall!
Take a hike,
Ride your bike,
Catch a fish,
Make a wish,
Pour some tea
Come join me
It’s a
Blue sky day.
~Theresa
Thank you, Tricia, for another exercise! A.
ReplyDeleteWords Out On Water
Sky is a poet
jotting lines in deep lakes.
She blows a cool breeze
to erase her mistakes.
She whispers to fishes.
A still pond reflects
her thoughts in its mirror.
The ocean connects
rhythms to people
who never will meet.
Sky’s river journal
flows on incomplete.
So study a sea or a creek
to know air
for sky keeps her innermost
dreams written there.
She scribbles in ripples
pours words out on water.
How do I know this?
I am her daughter.
© Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
Nice ending, Amy!
ReplyDeleteMy first participation in the Poetry Stretch and first poem ever shared online. If you like, please visit my new poetry blog, The Small Nouns ( http://thesmallnouns.blogspot.com )
ReplyDelete"Not For Us To Know"
There is talk amongst us
of what’s above.
Analysis of stars and satellites
and the heavens.
Gaseous nebulae reduced
to formulas.
Predictions of collision and
implosion.
Those sparkling shards--
that darkness--
calling to us, daring us
to unravel the science within.
The unwritten
chapter of the night--
it is not for us to know.
Children’s arms reach upward,
the skies just within their grasp.
They marvel at
the moon’s majestic glow
and worship its light.
They know
the majesty fades
each dawn,
the sequel arrives
each dusk.
There is more
to know. There is no
more to know.
This mystery.
This distant palette.
This celestial regalia.
Ours only to admire,
to wish, to hope,
to imagine.
There is
beauty
in not knowing.
I love it, Amy!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite line is"she scribbles in ripples pours words out on water."
I love it, Amy!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite line is"she scribbles in ripples pours words out on water."
Ok, I'm a week late, but what the heck. I needed a nudge for my daily poem and stopped by to visit. I loved sky-watching on our trip last week to Lake Superior's North Shore, and this is what came out for my poem. Thanks, Tricia!
ReplyDeleteSky
Vast and empty
above me
when I move
But when I’m still
and watchful
it spills its treasure
of twinkling lights
and contrail ribbons
Cloud ships
sail on spacious seas
Owls hold star after star
aloft on their twilight wings
Airplanes, space shuttles, satellites
sneak past sky’s locked doors
If I refuse to think, to reason,
I might fly up to explore
Sky
--Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved