Poetry Friday - After Reading a Child's Guide to Modern Physics

I'm still reading Auden and thinking this week about the intersection of poetry and science.

After Reading a Child's Guide to Modern Physics
by W.H. Auden

If all a top physicist knows
About the Truth be true,
Then, for all the so-and-so's,
Futility and grime,
Our common world contains,
We have a better time
Than the Greater Nebulae do,
Or the atoms in our brains.

Marriage is rarely bliss
But, surely it would be worse
As particles to pelt
At thousands of miles per sec
About a universe
Wherein a lover's kiss
Would either not be felt
Or break the loved one's neck.

Read the poem in its entirety. You can also listen to Auden read it.

If you haven't been here before, or haven't been following my National Poetry Month project, here are the posts from this week. Feel free to poke around.

16 - National Park Week
17 - National Environmental Education Week
18 - World Heritage Day
19 - National Coin Week
20 - Chinese Language Day
21 - Kindergarten Day
22 - Earth Day

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Happy poetry Friday friends!

P.S. - Come back tomorrow for some fun with Talk Like Shakespeare Day!

NPM Celebrations - Kindergarten Day

April 21st is Kindergarten Day. This day celebrates the birthday of Friedrich Frobel (born in 1782), who is credited with starting the first Kindergarten in Germany in 1837.

This seems like a good time to celebrate the joys of play at school with a selection of poems about recess.

Stampede!: Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School (2009), written by Laura Purdie  Salas and illustrated by Steven Salerno, is a collection of poems that recognizes and celebrates the ways kids mimic the behaviors of animals. The poems are funny, clever, and clearly recognize the ups and downs of being a kid.

King of the Jungle (Gym)

From metal branch
to metal vine,
I dip and dive—
this jungle's mine.

Back and forth
I soar and swing.
On monkey bars
I'm Monkey King!


Playground Sparrows

In one wave, we fly the coop.
We flood the field, we slide and loop.
We flock together, shout and whoop.
Then school bell rings, and—
     no
          more
               group!

Poems ©Laura Purdie Salas, 2009. All rights reserved.

Messing Around on the Monkey Bars: And Other School Poems for Two Voices (2009), written by Betsy Franco and illustrated by Jessie Hartland, is a collection of school poems that takes readers on a ride around the school and schoolyard, beginning with the school bus and ending with the final school bell. In the author's note Franco says "Though these poems can be read silently and enjoyed by a single person, they are the most fun when read aloud by two people." This is followed by a graphic that shows what the voices look like. In the poem below, the plain font is Voice 1, the bold font is Voice 2, and the larger bold font is for both voices to speak at the same time.

Messing Around on the Monkey Bars

Time for recess!
Here we are,

messing around
on the monkey bars!

Hand over hand,
fast or slow,

calling to
our friends below.

Skipping two bars,
skipping three,

dangling down
by just our knees.

Swinging up
above the ground,

missing bars
and tumbling down.

Hooting, howling,
here we are,

messing around
on the monkey bars!

Poem  ©Betsy Franco, 2009. All rights reserved.

For information on how to use this book in the classroom you can download a teacher's guide for Franco's book.

  

I Thought I'd Take My Rat to School: Poems for September to June, selected by Dorothy Kennedy and Illustrated by Abby Carter, contains 57 poems that describe the range of experiences children have in school, from classroom pets, to school supplies, recess, mean kids, and more.

Recess
by Lilian Moore

The children
scribble their shadows
on the school yard,

scribble
scribble
on a great blackboard—

lanky leg
shadows
running into
lifted arm shadows
flinging
bouncing ball shapes
into skinny upside down shadows
swinging
on
long monkey bars

till
a cloud
moving
across the morning sun
wipes out all
scribbles
like a giant
eraser.

Poem  ©Lilian Moore. All rights reserved.

The Bug in the Teacher's Coffee: And Other School Poems (2002), written by Kalli Dakos and illustrated by Mike Reed, is an I Can Read Book designed to introduce poetry to children learning to read independently. The mask poems in this book are short, rhymed, and full of bouncy fun.

Monkey Bars

Rightside up,
and upside down,
Back and forth,
And all around,
The kids
are making monkey sounds!

Poem  © Kalli Dakos, 2002. All rights reserved.

First Food Fight This Fall: And Other School Poems, written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa, follows a group of children as they learn and grow over the course of a school year. These poems are written in the children's voices and fairly sing about the highs and lows of school. What's most interesting is that readers will see how the kids grow and change over the course of the year.

Tag
by Jenna & Abigail

I'm the very bet at tag.
It's my great claim to fame.
I can zig and I can zag.
I'm the very best at tag.
I'll let the cat out of the bag—
my dog taught me the game.
I'm the very best at tag.
It's my great claim to fame.

My classmates call me Snail.
At tag, I'm always It.
My real name's Abigail.
My classmates call me Snail.
I wish they'd let me bail.
I'd much prefer to sit.

My classmates call me Snail.
At tag, I'm always It.

Poem ©Marilyn Singer. All rights reserved.

Hello School!: A Classroom Full of Poems (2001), written by Dee Lillegard and illustrated by Don Carter, is a collection of 38 very brief poems for young children. These short poems describe furniture, school supplies, and daily events in an early childhood classroom.

Swings
They hang around
stare at the sky . . .
wait to be sat on
so they can fly!

Slide
Slippery slithery
Slide says, Go!
This is not time to be shy
or slow.

Poems ©Dee Lillegard, 2001. All rights reserved.

That's it for today. I hope you'll join me tomorrow for our next celebration.

NPM Celebrations - Chinese Language Day

April 20th is Chinese Language Day. The United Nations (UN) has 6 official languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Each of them have their own days to "promote multiculturalism and cross cultural understanding by showcasing the rich history and literary culture of each language." The dates for the Language Days were selected by the Department of Public Information for their symbolic or historic significance in connection with each language. The date for the Chinese day was selected to pay tribute to Cangjie, the figure attributed with the invention of Chinese characters.

Today's books and poems highlight Chinese culture.

A Suitcase of Seaweed and Other Poems (1996), written and "decorated" by Janet Wong, is a collection of 36 poems that celebrates all aspects of her heritage. Divided into three sections, Korean poems, Chinese poems and American poems, the poems are preceded by an introduction that describes the author's experiences with this part of her culture. Many of the poems revolve around family and food. Here are two poems from the Chinese poems section.

Albert J. Bell

Forty years of friendship
with my grandfather,
and still Uncle Al cannot eat
with chopsticks.

Forty years of friendship
with Uncle Al,
and still my grandfather forgets
to offer him a fork.


Grandmother's Almond Cookies

No need cookbook, measuring cup.
Stand close. Watch me. No mess up.

One hand sugar, one hand lard
(cut in pieces when still hard),

two hands flour, more or less,
one pinch baking powder. Guess.

On hand almond, finely crushed.
Mix it with both hands. No rush.

Put two eggs. Brown is better.
Keep on mixing. Should be wetter.

Sprinkle water in it. Mke
cookies round and flat. Now bake

one big sheet at three-seven-five.
When they done, they come alive.

Poems © Janet Wong, 1996. All rights reserved.

**When I first got this book, I actually tried this recipe/poem. Let's just say I failed miserably! Here's the recipe I use to make Chinese almond cookies.

My Chinatown: One Year of Poems (2002), by Kam Mak, is a lushly illustrated book that follows a young boy as he adjusts to his new life in the Chinatown of his new American city. The pictures are so beautiful and finely detailed that in some instances readers may be fooled into thinking they are looking at a photograph. The heart ache and longing for home the boy endures can be felt in every poem. These poems are also filled with stories of family and food. Here is the poem that begins the winter section of the book.

Back home in Hong Kong,
it's New Year.
Papa says we'll have New Year here,
in America, in Chinatown.
Mama says it will be just like home.

But it isn't home,
even when the firecrackers
hiss and crackle all night long
to scare off every evil spirit in the world.
In the morning, I go out along
to kick through drifts of red paper.
Somewhere there will be one whole firecracker
hidden, waiting for me.

But I can't find one,
even though the air dances
with scraps of red,
a snowfall the color of luck.
It must be someone else's luck this year.
Not mine.

Poem © Kam Mak, 2002. All rights reserved.

Summoning the Phoenix: Poems and Prose About Chinese Musical Instruments (2014), written by Emily Jiang and illustrated by April Chu, is a collection of free verse poems told from the perspective of children preparing for a concert in which they will play their instruments. In addition to the poems are informational sidebars that describe the history of the instruments, how they are played, and their sounds.

Painting with Sound

Picking at my guzheng
I can feel

the crisp, clean
mountain air

breezing over
my unbound hair.

Strumming my guzheng
I can feel

the cold rush
of waterfall

filling my ears
with thunderous call.

Poem © Emily Jiang, 2014. All rights reserved.

Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems (1997), selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Karen Barbour, is a collection of 16 poems on calculators, division, multiplication, fractions, time, and other mathematical topics. Here's one that uses Cantonese.

One to Ten

Yut yee sam see
Count in Cantonese with me!

Eun look chut bot
Can you tell me what we've got?

Gow sup. One to ten!
(Could you say that once again?)

Poem © Janet Wong, 1997. All rights reserved.

That's it for today. I hope you'll join me tomorrow for our next celebration.

NPM Celebrations - National Coin Week

April 17-23 is National Coin Week. The theme this year is Portraits of Liberty: Icon of Freedom. This was selected because 2016 marks the centennial anniversary of three popular U.S. coin designs featuring Liberty -- the Mercury (or Winged Liberty) dime, the Standing Liberty quarter and the Walking Liberty half dollar.

Let's kick off this week's celebration with some poems about coins and money. The first poem that came to mind for me was this poem by Shel Silverstein.

Kenn Nesbitt shares all kinds of poetry on his web site, Poetry4kids.com. (You'll find them in his books too!) Here are two funny poems about money from The Biggest Burp Every: Funny Poems for Kids, written by Kenn Nesbitt and illustrated by Raphael Domingos.

I Love to Do the Laundry

I love to do the laundry.
I mean it. I don't mind
because I get to keep
whatever money I might find.

I know it sounds ridiculous.
I'm sure it must seem strange.
But every time I wash the clothes
I find some pocket change.

I found a dollar yesterday.
Today I found a ten.
I'm certain that tomorrow
I'll find money once again.

You see, I have a strategy.
(I guess that's what you call it.)
And sometimes I just accidentally
wash my father's wallet.

Copyright © 2014 Kenn Nesbitt. All Rights Reserved.

Floyd the Coin Collector

I'm Floyd, the coin collector.
It's coins that I collect.
I'm really not too finicky
with which ones I select.

I like collecting pennies;
they're all I get sometimes.
But often I get nickels, too,
and frequently it's dimes.

I'll gladly keep a dollar coin,
a quarter, or a pound.
I'd even save a rupee
or a ruble that I found.

A euro here, a guilder there,
a peso or a franc;
I'll happily collect them all
and put them in the bank.

My hobby is a simple one;
it's not the least bit strange.
And all you have to do to help
is give me all your change.

Copyright © 2012 Kenn Nesbitt. All Rights Reserved.

I'm particularly fond of this poem by Sara Teasdale.

The Coin
by Sara Teasdale

Into my heart’s treasury
I slipped a coin
That time cannot take
Nor a thief purloin,
Oh better than the minting
Of a gold-crowned king
Is the safe-kept memory
Of a lovely thing.

Edgar Allan Poe's Pie: Math Puzzlers In Classic Poems (2012), written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Michael Slack is a collection of cleverly disguised math problems in the form of parodies of classic poems. Here's a poem that asks readers to solve a money problem.

Robert Frost's Boxer Shorts
Inspired by "Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost

Whose underwear?! I wish I knew
Who left these for me, all brand-new—
Five dollars, ninety cents a pair.
They're not my size. I'm forty-two.

And fourteen pairs? Why, I could share
A few with you with some to spare.
If nine are cotton (cotton blend)
And five are silk, then let's compare:

On each set, how much did he spend?
Arithmetic is just the friend
To multiply, divide, or add.
And what's the total in the end?

These boxer shorts are not half bad
With lions, tigers, stripes, and plaid.
My tightie whities look so sad.
My tightie whities look so sad.

Poems © J. Patrick Lewis. All rights reserved.

Let's wrap up today with this poem by Kelly Ramsdell Fineman from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations: Holiday Poems for the Whole Year in English and Spanish, compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.

That's it for today. I hope you'll join me tomorrow for our next celebration.

NPM Celebrations - World Heritage Day

April 18th is World Heritage Day. UNESCO established this day in 1983 as the International Day for Monuments and Sites. This celebration is designed to "raise public awareness about the diversity and vulnerability of the world's built monuments and heritage sites and the efforts required to protect and conserve them." World Heritage sites can be cultural, natural, or a mixture of both. To date there are 1007 sites on the list, located in 161 countries around the world.

National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry: More than 200 Poems With Photographs That Float, Zoom, and Bloom! (2015), edited by J. Patrick Lewis, is  a collection of classic and contemporary poems that celebrate the variety of life and landscapes on Earth. You'll find poems about a number of natural heritage sites here, including the Great Barrier Reef, Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon, Galápagos: Hood Island, and more. Here are two poems about natural heritage sites outside the United States.

Lake Baikal
The oldest and deepest lake on Earth,
Lake Baikal, in the south of the Russian
region of Siberia, holds a fifth of the planet's 
unfrozen freshwater.

If Earth could fit within your cupped hands,
and the lands slipped free between the fingers,
and the skies' blue released between the thumbs,
and the oceans' tears seeped along your arms,

then you hold the planet's water in your palm.
Lift it to your lips. Sip that primal fresh.
And that crazed marble, that sapphire cat's-eye
in the rivulet that crosses your creased flesh?

That is Lake Baikal: frozen time.
Gaze into the blue. That glint?
It's Earth's beginning
staring back at you.

Poem © Michael J. Rosen. All rights reserved.

Wonder Down Under
Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia

I'm know around the rockin' world by many,
enchanted by my ruddy, wrinkled dome.
But neighbors of my ilk? I don't have any.
The harsh and empty outback is my home.
My power is mysterious and mythic.
My people, the Anangu, understand
that I am more than simply monolithic—
I am a huge Australian rock star in the sand.

And though I love your awe and admiration,
applaud me from a distance if you will.
I'm big enough for long range observation,
and I can guarantee you'll get a thrill.
In photos or in person you will gawk,

even if you'r not a fan of rock.

Poem © Ted Scheu. All rights reserved.

A World of Wonders: Geographic Travels in Verse and Rhyme (2002), written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Alison Jay, is a collection of poems about explorers, places on the map (Sandwich Islands, Italy, Angel Falls, Mount Everest etc.), the globe itself (latitude v. longitude, equator and the poles), earth science topics (aurora borealis, San Andreas fault, stalactites v. stalagmites), and many other things. This is a terrific book for introducing a mix of geography topics, as well as science topics like biomes, ecology and natural resources. The poem below is actually a shape poem that was hard to reproduce here, so be sure to click the image above to see what it's meant to look like.

Angel Falls

Venezuela

3,212 feet tall

At

least

three

times

higher

than 

the 

Eiffel

Tower

stands

t h e 

w o r l d ' s

t  a  l  l  e  s  t

t    h    u    n    d    e    r    -

s       h       o       w       e       r       !

 Poem ©J. Patrick Lewis, 2002. All rights reserved.

Lady Liberty: A Biography (2008), written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Matt Tavares, is a collection of free verse poems that tells the story of the project that eventually saw the completion of the Statue of Liberty, a project that stretched over 20 years and took place on two continents. 

Joseph Pulitzer

Publisher, New York World

New York City, August 1886

Liberty's skeleton is now anchored

to the pedestal,

bolted to huge girders

that protrude from the concrete.

Eighty-nine feet tall, twenty feet thick,

and faced with granite,

the pedestal is more majestic than I had hoped.

I am humbled by my readers' generosity.

Many who have so little gave so much

to build this noble structure.

Liberty arrived in 214 crates.

On her trip across the ocean,

vicious storms buffeted the ship.

Labels fell off crates.

Pieces of her copper skin were shaken.

Many need to be reshaped.

Slowly each copper sheet

is hoisted up with heavy ropes.

The workers sit on the crossbars,

fitting her copper skin to the skeleton.

When one piece doesn't fit,

they haul up another and try it,

then another,

until they find the right one.

The first piece of copper skin attached

to the skeleton is name "Bartholdi."

The second piece is christened "Pulitzer."

Each day she grows more beautiful.

I predict that those who once mocked her

will soon love her and understand

her power and significance.

Poem ©Doreen Rappaport, 2008. All rights reserved.

An Old Shell: Poems of the Galapagos (1999), written by Tony Johnston and illustrated by Tom Pohrt, is a collection of 34 poems (most written in free verse, though a few are written in haiku) in which Johnston pays tribute to the wonder that is the Galapagos. The book opens with a two-page map of the islands. The poem topics include the sea, the islands, animals, plants, and more. 

The Birth of Fernandina Island

One molten morning

the world

                              explodes

in sprays of sparks,

plumes of smoke,

gush

     of lava,

          water,

               ash

spitting,

          spurting,

                    spewing

from the sea's crucible

with a great hiss

to make this terrible

     barnacle.

Nesting, Genovesa Island

Watch the white petals

of fluttering gulls brush the

stone face of the cliff.

Poems ©Tony Johnston, 1999. All rights reserved.

Gary Geddes, a contemporary Canadian poet, wrote a series of poems in the voices of figures in the Terracotta Army. The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China.

Spearman

Before double-ninth day, my measure was taken
in a single sitting, so sure were Lao Bi’s

eye and hand. The tenth month I returned
with armoured vest and spear and struck a pose

that pleased him so much he laughed out loud
and threw his wineskin at my feet.

He called me the youngest of the Immortals
and promised me a place in the glory-line.

The likeness was uncanny, not just the face,
but the way the sleeves bunched up at the wrists,

studs and fluted leather of the shoulder-pads.
I was drawn to it again and again as if by magic.

One day, without warning, we left for the frontier
and I felt a greater reluctance

to part with this pottery replica of myself
than I had in taking leave of my own village.

Bi used to slap me on the back and say,
you’re too serious to be a soldier.

Poems ©Gary Geddes. All rights reserved.

You can read additional poems at BBC Radio 4: Terracotta Army.

If you are interested in the World Heritage sites highlighted in these poems, you'll find them at the links below.

• Russian Federation - Lake Baikal
• Australia - Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park
• Venezuela - Canaima National Park
• United States - Statue of Liberty
• Ecuador - Galapagos Islands
• China - Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor

That's it for today. I hope you'll join me tomorrow for our next celebration.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Cyhydedd fer Sonnet

The Cyhydedd fer is a Welsh verse form, consisting of couplets of eight syllables. The Cyhydedd fer sonnet has 14 lines and no meter requirement. The only requirement is 8 syllable lines of rhymed couplets. The rhyme scheme is a a b b c c d d e e f f g g.

You can read more about the cyhydedd fer sonnet at The Poets Garrett.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a cyhydedd fer sonnet. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

NPM Celebrations - National Environmental Education Week

April 17-23 is National Environmental Education Week, a time when we encourage and celebrate environmental learning. The Environmental Protect Agency describes environmental education this way: "Environmental education does not advocate a particular viewpoint or course of action. Rather, environmental education teaches individuals how to weigh various sides of an issue through critical thinking and it enhances their own problem-solving and decision-making skills." To do this, we must ensure that we raise kids with an awareness and sensitivity to the environment and the environmental challenges that exist.

Poetry is a great resource for making kids aware of the beauty of their natural world. I could share hundreds of poems on this, as nature is fodder for poets, so choosing is hard. Here are a few favorites.

The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination, with poems selected by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston, is a stunning collection of nature poetry and information. The book includes a CD where many of the selected poets read their own works. Footnotes accompany many of the poems. These include explications of both the content and form of the poem. There is also a glossary of scientific and poetic terms, as well as a brief biography of the included poets. This is one of my favorite science poetry collections.

The World
by Mary Oliver

I would like to write a poem about the world that has in it
   nothing fancy.
But it seems impossible.
Whatever the subject, the morning sun
   glimmers it.
The tulip feels the heat and flaps its petals open
   and becomes a star.
The ants bore into the peony bud and there is a dark
   pinprick well of sweetness.
As for the stones on the beach, forget it.
Each one could be set in gold.
So I tried with my eyes shut, but of course the birds
   were singing.
And the aspen trees were shaking the sweetest music
   out of their leaves.
And that was followed by, guess what, a momentous and
   beautiful silence
   as comes to all of us, in little earfuls, if we’re not too
   hurried to hear it.
As for spiders, how the dew hangs in their webs
   even if they say nothing, or seem to say nothing.
So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe they sing.
So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe the stars sing too,
   and the ants, and the peonies, and the warm stones,
   so happy to be where they are, on the beach, instead of being
   locked up in gold.

Poem © Mary Oliver. All rights reserved.

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature, written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Mark Herald, is a collection of poems that move through the year from spring to winter. Each seasonal section contains more than 12 poems and includes a mix of reflections and suggestions for how children can enjoy the world around them. A nice blend of science and poetry, the verses are easy to read and offer plenty of information.

Migration 

In the treetops, in the bushes,
there are new songs and colors.
The little birds are back!

The've flown so far!
Over forests, mountains, deserts, seas—
such a long, long way to get back to us.

Yet here they are,
bright and alive, fluttering, singing,
ready for spring.

Poem © Nicola Davies. All rights reserved.

The Robin Makes a Laughing Sound: A Birder's Journal, written and illustrated by Sallie Wolf and designed by Micah Bornstein, is a beautiful nature journal that includes poetry, sketches, watercolors and more. The scrapbook look and feel of this book has been created using by Wolf's actual sketches and drawings that have been manipulated in PhotoShop.  The Author's Note in the beginning describes how a teacher ignited Wolf's love and passion for bird-watching.

Organized by season, the pages contain a wealth of information about bird watching, bird identification, and behavior.  Here's the journal entry and poem that give the book its title.

March 26 - I saw a cardinal & a robin perched in the same young maple, both singing.

The Robin Makes a Laughing Sound

The robin makes a laughing sound.

It makes me stop and look around

to see just what the robin sees—

fresh new leaves on twigs of trees,

a strong high branch on which to rest,

a safe, dry ledge to hold its nest.

The robin makes a laughing sound.

I stop. I always look around.

Poem ©Sallie Wolf. All rights reserved.

The Green Mother Goose: Saving the World One Rhyme at a Time, written by Jan Peck and David Davis and illustrated by Carin Berger, presents 30 well-known nursery rhymes and children's songs, rewritten as parodies with an eco-friendly twist. Collectively these poems promote both healthy living and conservation activities. The rhymes deliver positive messages in an inventive and catchy way, though some readers may find a few of the poems didactic. The illustrations support the notion of going green in that they are composed of recycled materials, scraps of paper, and other ephemera. The book opens with this poem.

Green Mother Goose

Together we’ll do it—
We’ll help save the Earth,
Our emerald home,
The place of our birth.
Come now, rhyme with me,
Let’s turn our hearts loose,
And fly ‘round the world
With Green Mother Goose.

The rhymes cover a range of topics, including solar energy, reusable shopping bags, carpooling, organic gardening, replacing incandescent lightbulbs, and much more. Here's one more example.

Sister Moon and Brother Sun

Sister Moon and Brother Sun,
Bless our world when day is done.
Four gentle prayers for Mother Earth,
Four angels round her head:
One for sun and one for rain
And two to heal the Earth again.

Poems ©Jan Peck and David Davis. All rights reserved.

National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry: More than 200 Poems With Photographs That Float, Zoom, and Bloom! (2015), edited by J. Patrick Lewis, is  a collection of classic and contemporary poems that celebrate the variety of life and landscapes on Earth. This is also one of my favorite collection of poems celebrating nature and science.

from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
by George Gordon, Lord Byron

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.

(You can read the canto this excerpt came from at  Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: Canto the Fourth. Scroll down to CLXXVIII.)
 
I'll close today with two favorites from Emily Dickinson. These can be found in Emily Dickinson, Complete Poems (1924).

from Part Two: Nature
LX

The grass so little has to do,—
  A sphere of simple green,
With only butterflies to brood,
And bees to entertain,

And stir all day to pretty tunes      
The breezes fetch along,
And hold the sunshine in its lap
And bow to everything;

And thread the dews all night, like pearls,
And make itself so fine,—      
A duchess were too common
For such a noticing.

And even when it dies, to pass
In odors so divine,
As lowly spices gone to sleep,      
Or amulets of pine.

And then to dwell in sovereign barns,
And dream the days away,—
The grass so little has to do,
I wish I were a hay!


from Part Five: The Single Hound
XXXIV

Nature is what we see,
  The Hill, the Afternoon—
Squirrel, Eclipse, the Bumble-bee,
Nay—Nature is Heaven.

Nature is what we hear,      
The Bobolink, the Sea—
Thunder, the Cricket—
Nay,—Nature is Harmony.

Nature is what we know
But have no art to say,      
So impotent our wisdom is
To Her simplicity.


That's it for today. I hope you'll join me tomorrow for our next celebration.

NPM Celebrations - National Park Week

April 16-24 is National Park Week. This is a particularly appropriate year to celebrate, as the National Park Service turns 100 years old this year. National Park week is marked as "America's largest celebration of national heritage." During this time, admission to all National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee will offer free admission to everyone. So don't spend all your time on the computer. Get out there and enjoy exploring some amazing places.

My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Stephen Alcorn, is a collection of 50 poems grouped by geographic region. It includes the northeast states, Capital, southeast states, Great Lakes states, plains states, mountain states, southwest states, and Pacific coast states. The section for each region is prefaced with a map and facts about each state, including capital, nickname, motto, bird, flower, tree, area, and one "great fact." 

Zion National Park - Utah

by Fran Haraway

Canyon walls remain unchanged by days

Standing as they did when earth began.

Massive rock, passive to nature's ways

Unmoved by inquisitiveness of man.

Yet each evening brings a constant change.

Shadows quilt each hill and canyon wall.

Pastel patchworks gently rearrange

Antique patterns, then night covers all.

Poem © Fran Haraway. All rights reserved.

Tour America: A Journey Through Poems and Ar (2006), written by Diane Siebert and illustrated by Stephen T. Johnson, is a collection of 26 poems of varying length about a range of places and things around the United States. In her author's note, Siebert explains how a summer motorcycle trip across the U.S. turned into a 10-year journey around the country. In TOUR AMERICA she wrote about some of her favorite sights, including the Everglades, gargoyles, Lucy the Elephant, Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, Old Faithful, The Golden Gate bridge, and more. The book opens with a map of the U.S. with dots and illustrated captions highlighting the sights.

Mount Rushmore
South Dakota

A distant dream, a complex plan,
A work in granite carved by man,
A piece of art, its presence fills
This corner of the great Black hills.

Four faces on a mountainside,
It speaks of patriotic pride--
A tribute, silent and immense,
To four distinguished presidents.

Recall their names and what they've done--
The leadership of Washington;
The insights Jefferson revealed;
Abe Lincoln's Union, torn, then healed;
The lands preserved by Roosevelt--
The impact of their lives still felt
By each of us who celebrates
Our life in these United States.

Each poem in this collection is accompanied by a brief bit of informational text. Here's the text for this poem.

MOUNT RUSHMORE - The 60-foot-high faces of four U.S. presidents were carved by sculptor Gutzon Borglum and his team beginning in 1927. Approximately 500,000 tons of rock were dynamited to expose the softer granite into which the images were chiseled. Borglum dies 14 years later, just a few months before the memorial was finished. His son supervised the project's completion, and the national monument was dedicated in 1941.

Poem and Text © Diane Siebert, 2006. All rights reserved.

The illustrations beautifully complement the poems. In the artist's note Johnson says "And so, in keeping with the forms, contents, and moods of Diane's poems, my artwork, in a variety of mediums--acrylic, charcoal, colored pencils, collage, gouache, graphite, ink, oils, pastel, photography and watercolors--celebrates the colors, diversity, and rich textures of America."

Here's one more poem from this collection.

Old Faithful
Wyoming

Far beneath the quiet soil
Where molten rock lies glowing,
A cache of water starts to boil,
And then, with pressure growing,

The steam and water start to rise
Up through the age-old routing
As people lift astonished eyes
To watch Old Faithful spouting.

Poem  © Diane Siebert, 2006. All rights reserved.

 

Amazing Places (2015), with poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrations by Chris Soentpiet and Christy Hale, is a collection of 14 poems that highlights landscapes, historical sites, and cultures across the United States. The poem below is actually a shape poem that was hard to reproduce here, so be sure to click the image above to see what it's meant to look like.

S A N D Y  H O O K  L I G H T H O U S E

Wild 

storms rage, lightning

lightning carckles,

nothing

deters me.

I have

stoon on 

duty in this

place for 

more than two

centuries.

Sentinel

of the sea,

I battle

darkness,

piece it

with sabers

of light,

warn you

away from

treacherous

shoals . . . 

determined 

to protect you,

welcome you to

New York Harbor,

keep you SAFE.

S A N D Y  H O O K

L I G H T H O U S E

National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry: More than 200 Poems With Photographs That Float, Zoom, and Bloom! (2015), edited by J. Patrick Lewis, is  a collection of classic and contemporary poems that celebrate the variety of life and landscapes on Earth.

Fossil Beds at the Badlands
Badlands National Park, South Dakota, U.S.A.

Pass the RUSH-NO-MORE CAMPGROUND,

take a few turns, absorb the jagged shapes.
Saber-toothed cats sleeping,
wild horse dreams pressed into rock.
No quiet bigger than theirs.
Step gently, touch nothing,
does anyone remember?
Once they roamed the land of shining grasses,
owning sky. Tonight there's a bighorn sheep,
his back to the sunset, prairie dogs huddling
underground. How does so much disappear?

This kingdom holds lost hopes.
They are orange now. Some look like
fingers pointing to the sky.
Drop your own pain, no one will know.
Navigate soft sediment, whispering Rhino.
Everyone's emptiness made elegant,
even the bison and black-footed ferret,
even the woman, even the man.

Poem  © Naomi Shihab Nye. All rights reserved.

Monday on the Mississippi, written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Frané Lessac, is a poetic trip down the Mississippi River, from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Mississippi Delta in Louisiana. Each day of the week celebrates a new location on the river.

Saturday on the Mississippi

Vicksburg, Mississippi

The guide is telling a tale dark as the gathering clouds:

"1863. North and South. Whoever held this river

was sure to win the war."

Thunder booms like cannonfire.

The visitors jump, then watch wide-eye

as the wind grabs the guide's favorite hat

and tosses it into the water.

The Mississippi waves it once like a tattered flag,

then swallows it whole.

Poem ©Marilyn Singer. All rights reserved.

If you are interested in the National Parks highlighted in these poems, you'll find them at the links below.

• Zion National Park
• Mount Rushmore
• Old Faithful - Yellowstone National Park
• Sandy Hook National Lighthouse
• Badlands National Park
• Vicksburg National Military Park

That's it for today. I hope you'll join me tomorrow for our next celebration.

NPM Celebrations - World Art Day

April 15th is World Art Day. Celebrated on Leonardo da Vinci's birthday, this day is designed to promote all forms of art and serve as a reminder that art is a symbol of free expression, multiculturalism, tolerance, and peace.

This is a good day to celebrate individual artists in poetry, as well as poetry about art. For last year's National Poetry Month project on poetic forms, I tackled Ekphrastic Poems and highlighted a number of poems inspired by works of art. For today's post I'd like to highlight the work of three poets, Margarita Engle, Carole Boston Weatherford, and Carmen Bernier-Grand, all of whom have written numerous poems about men and women in the arts.

Margarita Engle

The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano (2006), written by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Sean Qualls, is a biography in verse that uses alternating points of view to tell Juan's horrific and beautiful story. His first owner allowed both his parents to buy their freedom and she promised he would be freed upon her death. However, Juan Francisco remained a slave after Dona Beatriz’s death. Here is one of the early poems in the book.

Juan

Three hundred pesos, is it a lot?
I like to imagine that I already have enough
     to buy them all
     mother, father, unborn brothers and sisters
     myself

Imagine
     what it would be like
     to buy yourself
     and wrap yourself up in a package
     and walk away
     carrying yourself
     under your arm
     like a book

Imagine
     how it will happen
     in just a few years
     on the day
     of her death
     doesn't she wonder
     how it feels to know that all I need now
     is a swift ending for her
     in order to make a sweet beginning for me?

Poem © Margarita Engle, 2006. All rights reserved.

The Sky Painter: Louis Fuertes, Bird Artist (2015), written by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Aliona Bereghici, is a collection of poems about the life of Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the man known as the father of modern bird art.

Learning

When I am fourteen, I finally
have the chance to paint my first
brightly colored bird,
a red crossbill
with a funny beak.

I use a pen to sketch the outline
and watercolors to fill in the feathers.
Then I try adding more details
with ink, but my painting
starts to look muddy.

If I want to be a bird artist,
I can't get discouraged.
I need to practice.
I have to draw, draw, draw!

Poem © Margarita Engle, 2015. All rights reserved.

Drum Dream Girl (2015), written by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Raphael Lopez, is a book length free verse poem inspired by the childhood of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga. Born in Cuba in the 1920s, she was drawn to drumming, a tradition which did not include women. Here is an excerpt.

At home, her fingertips
rolled out their own
dreamy drum rhythm
on tables and chairs ...

and even though everyone
kept reminding her that girls
on the island of music
had never played drums

the brave drum dream girl
dared to play
tall conga drums
small bongó drums
and big, round, silvery
moon-bright timables.

Poem © Margarita Engle, 2015. All rights reserved.

Carole Boston Weatherford

Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane (2008), written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Sean Qualls, is a book-length poem that explores the influence of music on Coltrane's life long became he became famous. He listened closely to the world around him and exercised and amazing gift for hearing and creating music. Back matter includes information about Coltrane's life and work, as well as a list of some of his most well known recordings.

Before John was a jazz giant,
he heard hambones knocking in Grandma's pots,
Daddy strumming the ukulele,
and Mama cranking the phonograph.

Before John was a jazz giant,
he heard steam engines whistling past,
Cousin Mary giggling at jitterbuggers,
and Bo-jangles tap dancing in the picture show.

Poem © Carole Boston Weatherford, 2008. All rights reserved.

Leontyne Price: Voice of a Century (2014), written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Raul Colon, is a lyrical picture book biography of the African American opera singer.

1927. Laurel, Mississippi.
The line between black and white
Was as wide as the Mississippi River was long.
All a black girl from the Cotton Belt could expect
was a heap of hard work—as a maid, millworker, or sharecropper.
Her song, most surely the blues.

Yes, the Mississippi Delta cradled misery,
but from day one, Mary Violet Leontyne Price
heard a different refrain—her mama, Katie, singing hymns;
her daddy, James, playing tuba for the church band;
the flock, greeting praise songs with hallelujahs.

Poem © Carole Boston Weatherford, 2014. All rights reserved.

Becoming Billie Holiday (2008), written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper, is a fictional verse memoir that tells the story of Holiday's life from birth through age 25. The poems carry titles from Billie’s songbook. The writing is tender and vivid, matter-of-factly portraying the ups and downs that dominated the singer's life.

How Deep Is The Ocean

Without the microphone
there would be no spotlight,
no band backing me
with bluesy swing.

My voice was too small,
barely an octave,
but the mic enlarged my songs,
let me hold listeners close.

With the microphone,
my voice was an ocean,
deep as my moods,
and audiences dove in.

Poem © Carole Boston Weatherford, 2008. All rights reserved.

Sugar Hill: Harlem's Historic Neighborhood (2014), written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, is a ryhming book length poem about the neighborhood so many artists called home. Referenced in the text are musicians, artists, entertainers, writers, and more.  Back matter provides additional information about figures highlighted in the text and illustrations, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Faith Ringgold, Zora Neale Hurston, and others.

Where the BEST and BRIGHTEST strive and shine
and STAIRWAYS lead right to cloud nine

Where grand TOWNHOMES lend river views
and parties swing to JAZZ and BLUES

SUGAR HILL, SUGAR HILL WHERE LIFE IS SWEET
and the NEIGHBORS smile at all they greet.

Poem © Carole Boston Weatherford, 2014. All rights reserved.

Carmen Bernier-Grand

Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life! (2007), written by Carmen Bernier-Grand with paintings by Frida Kahlo, is a collection of 26 poems that capture Kahlo's strength in the face of adversity, her passion, and the poignant experiences that marked her life. Here is a poem describing an early event that shaped her life.

Hummingbird Wings

I am a wounded hummingbird
caged in my room for nine months
with polio, crippling polio.

Warm towels soaked in walnut water
ease the pain in my leg,
a thin, drying twig.

I hide in the walnut wardrobe,
put on a white sock,
another on top,
and another.
Is the right leg as fat as the other?

The cage opens.
Now I have wings.

Poem © Carmen Bernier-Grand, 2007. All rights reserved.

Diego: Bigger Than Life (2009), written by Carmen Bernier-Grand and illustrated by David Diaz,  is a collection of 34 poems about Diego Rivera that highlight the unmistakeable connection between his passionate, controversial life and his art. Here's a poem that describes his art.

Brimming With Mexican Light

As naturally as I breathe,
I painted in grand scale the colors of Mexico—
clearer, richer, more full of light than colors in Europe.

As naturally as I speak,
I painted in grand scale the music of Mexico
in markets, crowds, festivals—
Burning of the Judases, the Dance of the Deer.

As naturally as I sweat,
I painted in grand scale the workers of Mexico
in fields, mines, streets—
Indians carrying bundles of calla lilies.

A million public walls
wouldn't be enough
to paint all the beauty of Mexico.

Poem © Carmen Bernier-Grand, 2009. All rights reserved.

Picasso: I the King, Yo el rey (2012), written by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand and illustrated by David Diaz, is a collection of 40 poems

"I Am God"

"God is really another artist.
He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat.
He has no style. He just keeps trying other things."
Picasso paints late into the night, an owl his only companion.

When Picasso emptied himself of painting, he draws,
when he has emptied himself of drawings, he makes ceramics,
when he has emptied himself of ceramics, he makes prints,
when he has emptied himself of print making, he sculpts,
when he has emptied himself of sculpting, he illustrates
when he has emptied himself of illustrating, he photographs,
when he has emptied himself of photographing, he writes poems,
when he has emptied himself of writing poems, Picasso paints.

An old wicker basket becomes the ribs of a goat.
A bicycle seat becomes a bull's head, the handlebars it horns.
Claude's toy cars become the head of Baboon and Young.
Picasso seldom titles his works.
Others do.
He has stopped signing his art.
What for? He knows who has done them.

"I am God ... I am God ... I am God."

Poem © Carmen Bernier-Grand, 2012. All rights reserved.

Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina (2011), written by Carmen Bernier-Grand and illustrated

by Raúl Colón, is a free verse biography of the Cuban dancer. In more than 30 poems, Bernier-Grand shares the achievements of Alonso, despite the difficulties that marked her life.

First Solo

Her feet hurt.
Her legs hurt.
Her arms hurt.
But ballet dancing
tastes better
than chocolate ice cream.

December 1932
     * * *
Alicia's first solo--
a bluebird spinning
and fluttering in a light,
airy flight.
A dance for Princess Aurora
who has been asleep for a hundred years,
and for the prince
who has woken her up with a kiss.

Poem © Carmen Bernier-Grand, 2011. All rights reserved.

I promised to highlight three poets today, but there is just one more book I must share.

Self-Portrait With Seven Fingers: The Life of Marc Chagall in Verse (2011), written by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen, is a collection of 14 poems (named for the art by Chagall) about the artist's upbringing. The text is paired with reproductions of Chagall's paintings, as well as a few photographs. In addition to the poems and images is a nonfiction narrative describing the events in the poems. Here are two poems from the book.

I and the Village

I hailed a milkmaid standing on her head
I saw a cow a-milking in a cow's head
I watched a peasant off to canvass tillage
I met the very universe in a village
I spied a blossom sprig, a tree of life
I loved Vitebsk in glory and in strife
I scanned a multitude of images, with mirror
I etched a dream and strove to make it clearer
I solved the riddle imagined by a child
I sketched a field, geometry gone wild
I knew myself, white lips, my face in green
I drew the cow's contentment in between

Poem © J. Patrick Lewis, 2011. All rights reserved.

The Flying Horse

There is no arguing with soldiers,
no pleading while wearing the yellow star.
There is only escape: on the rails, in the air,
on foot across the mountains, one by one by one,
leaving behind the camps where men in stripes
and women with shaved heads,
and the children—never forget the children—
rock to and for with G-d's name on their lips.
So you leave behind the bistros of Paris,
soldiers lurking in every corner of the city;
leave behind a lifetime of work,
paintings of Vitebsk on every wall.
But Death, that old leveler,
can find you wherever you go,
even on a sledge pulled by a rooster,
even as you rise into the darkling skies.

Poem © Jane Yolen, 2011. All rights reserved.

That's it for today. I hope you'll join me tomorrow for our next celebration.