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Monday, September 9, 2013

Monday's Post: The Park

The Park

I run, run, run.
I slide and swing.
The park's more fun
Than any other thing.
     
                         Anne Knowles

Monday, September 2, 2013

To the Memory of Seamus Heaney

THE RAIN STICK
for Beth and Rand

BY SEAMUS HEANEY 

Upend the rain stick and what happens next
Is a music that you never would have known
To listen for.  In a cactus stalk

Downpour, sluice-rush, spillage and backwash
Come flowing through.  You stand there like a pipe
Being played by water, you shake it again lightly

And diminuendo runs through all its scales
Like a gutter stopping trickling.  And now here comes
A sprinkle of drops out of the freshened leaves,

Then subtle little wets off grass and daisies;
Then glitter-drizzle, almost-breaths of air.
Upend the stick again.  What happens next

Is undiminished for having happened once,
Twice, ten, a thousand times before.
Who cares if all the music that transpires

Is the fall of grit or dry seeds through a cactus?
You are like a rich man entering heaven
Through the ear of a raindrop.  Listen now again.


I celebrate the life of Seamus Heaney, a sublime human being and poet.  It was a joy to be alive at a time when he was writing.  Let's celebrate our own lives.  "Who cares if all the music that transpires is the fall of grit or dry seeds through a cactus?"  Each one of our lives is undiminished for having been only one of many billions of lives on earth.  Despite the grit and dirt, let's look at our lives and the lives of others and listen for the music.  That is a fitting tribute.  "Listen now again."

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Monday's Poem: August Days

August Days

Our pool splashes, our campfire songs,
our ice cream dashes, our pings our pongs.
Our badminton, tennis, archery, too,
our Monopoly, and, of course, our Clue.
Our flip flop shoes, our no-school rules,
our trip, our beach, our being fools.
Hot dogs, s'mores at summer camp,
lemonade and firefly lamps.
Our happy, humid, mosquitoey play,
our happiness with August days.

                        Anne Knowles

Monday, August 19, 2013

Monday's Poem: Train Ride

Train Ride

Robert, Bob, and Bobblely
Rode a train called Wobblely;
Bounced up and down
All through the town
And lost their frowns most probably.

Robert, Bob, and Bobblely
Loved the train called Wobblely;
Leaned left, leaned right
With all their might
And laughed all night most probably.

                                        Anne Knowles

Monday, July 8, 2013

Monday's Poem: Big City Tea Party

Big City Tea Party

Tea Party!  Tea Party!
Box, pillows, bear;
Box is on the balcony;
Party's out there.

Box makes the table.
Pillows make the chairs.
Bear wears a happy smile;
I love my teddy bear.

Bear's brought a cookie.
I brought the tea.
I have an old tea set
A neighbor gave to me.

Tea pot lid is missing.
We only have one cup.
Bear and I don't mind at all.
We make what's missing up.

Our royal castle's in the sky
Seven stories high.
Our kingdom is the neighborhood
And pigeons that fly by.

We share a crumb of cookie
With pigeons when they rest.
They don't want tea like bear and me;
They're simply cookie guests.

Tea Party!  Tea Party!
Come and have some tea.
You're welcome to the party
With bear and birds and me.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Monday's Poem: Thistle in My Whistle

Thistle in My Whistle

Thistle bristles in my whistle;
Sister slipped the thistle in.
Now my whistle doesn't tweet;
My whistle threet, threet, threets.

Sister used to be so thweet;
I'm glad she's almost three.
Since sister slipped the thistle in,
My whistle threet, threet, threets.

                                         Anne Knowles

Monday, June 24, 2013

Monday's Poem: Summery Yum Yum

Summery Yum Yum

Greenery leafery
summery heat;
Gopher stole a beet
from under my feet.

Greenery leafery
 summery fun;
Gopher stole another
and gave me one.

Summery yum yum,
summery treats;
One plus one
equals two tasty beets.

                             Anne Knowles

Monday, June 10, 2013

Monday's Poem: All Aboard

All Aboard

My choo choo train is chair chair chair.
It carries me and my teddy bear.
It carries my snack,
And sister in the back,
 And an engineer flicking his tail, tail, tail.
 
We chugga chug chug past big, pillow hills,
And coffee table towns, and river window sills.
Our puppies are the cows;
Their mama moos, "Bow Wow;"
And the engineer toots, "MEOW.....OW.....OW!"
                                                               Anne Knowles 

Monday, June 3, 2013

Monday's Poem: No Wind Today

No Wind Today

Dandy dandelion,
Today's wind isn't handy.
There's not a huff
To spread your fluff,
Dandy dandelion.

I can be quite handy,
Dandy, dandelion.
I know you need
To spread your seeds,
So PUFF!
                          PUFF!
                                               PUFF!
       
                                                                           Anne Knowles

Monday, May 27, 2013

Monday's Poem: Learning

Learning

Johnny, Johnny loved his cow.
Cow loved Johnny, too.
Johnny took his cow to school.
Cow said, "Moo plus moo."

Moo plus moo is two, indeed.
Two moos plus moo is three.
That's how Johnny learned his sums,
(But not his A, B, C's).

Monday, May 20, 2013

Monday's Poem: My Pet Snake Escaped!

My Pet Snake Escaped!

Dog's in the stairwell;
Cat's in a box;
Snake's crawling somewhere;
I'm throwing rocks.

Mom's yelling, "Get inside;"
Dad's looking mad;
Snake's crawling somewhere;
I think they think that's bad.

Brother's grunting, "Yucky!"
Sister's screaming, "Eek!"
Snake's crawling somewhere
And has been for a week.

Crawling on my stomach;
Searching everywhere;
Snake's crawling...Uh Oh!
Up my mother's chair.

Oops!  Mother's fast asleep.
Silence!  Shhh!  Hush!
Snake's sleeping on her lap.
Shush!  Shush!  Shush!
                         
                        Anne Knowles

Monday, May 13, 2013

Monday's Poem: Bella Bulldog

Bella Bulldog

Bella Bulldog came to tea;
kissed me slobber sloppily;
poured the tea and served the cakes.
What a pal my Bella makes!

                                                 Anne Knowles

Monday, May 6, 2013

Monday's Poem: Ten Mosquitoes

Ten Mosquitoes

A hot summer day with one of me,
a book, and a stool, and an apple tree.
Ten mosquitoes visited me,
knocked on my skin,
and asked to come in.

Ten mosquitoes visiting me.
One sat down to dine
and then there were nine.

Nine mosquitoes visiting me.
One asked for a plate
and then there were eight.

Eight mosquitoes visiting me.
One brought flour and leaven
and then there were seven.

Seven mosquitoes visiting me.
One had sticks to mix
and then there were six.

Six mosquitoes visiting me.
One landed with chives
and then there were five.

Five mosquitoes visiting me.
One begged for some more
and then there were four.

Four mosquitoes visiting me.
One came for some tea
and then there were three.

Three mosquitoes visiting me.
One thought I was stew
and then there were two.

Two mosquitoes visiting me.
One dove for my thumb
and then there was one.

One mosquito visiting me.
It yelled, "Cinnamon!"
and then there were none.

A hot summer day with one of me,
a book, and a stool, and an apple tree.
Twenty mosquitoes visited me,
knocked on my skin,
and asked to come in.
Mosquitoes, a stool, and an apple tree.
No more book and no more me.
                                      Anne Knowles

Monday, April 29, 2013

Monday's Poem: Oops!

Oops!

Dripped, dropped, downed.
My ice cream's on the ground.
My toesies dare
To taste the fare. 
Dripped, dropped, downed.
                          Anne Knowles

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Monday's Poem: My Face

My Face

My face is very different
Some people laugh at me
You may laugh
You may point
But I love me.

I've had my different face
Since I was one day old
You may laugh
You may point
But I love me.

I wish you wouldn't laugh
I wish you wouldn't point
I'm just like you
I'm me all through
And I love me.
                                   Anne Knowles

Monday, April 8, 2013

Monday's Poem: The Really Me

The Really Me

My mommies love me
inside out.
They love me
outside in.
They really love--
I know they love--
the really me I am.

They love the me
I'm figuring out,
the me that cries
and sometimes shouts.
They really, really,
really love
ME
ME
the me I am,
the really me I am.
                                    Anne Knowles

Monday, April 1, 2013

Monday's Poem: April Fool

April Fool

I love eating green beans
and taking a nap,
picking up toys
and taking a bath.

Me, me, me, mine
are words I don't like.
I'm two years old now--
a peaceful, wee tyke.
                               Anne Knowles

Monday, March 25, 2013

Monday's Poem: Shadow Words

Shadow Words

When day is done and dark arrives 
to spread through all your light,
it's only me surrounding you
to hold you in the night.

I'll always be your close-by friend;
I'll always stay with you.
I'll be in back or by your side
or right in front of you.

And when you wonder who you are
and feel all sad inside,
remember I am just like you,
created by the light.

                                  Anne Knowles

Monday, March 18, 2013

Monday's Poem: Two Trees

Two Trees
For Elwood

Outside my window
two trees touch,
like holding hands.
When wind is still
and the trees are still,
they don't even whisper
a single, soft word
to each other.
When the wind blows
and combs their words
through my hair,
I laugh at their jokes.

                         Anne Knowles

Monday, January 14, 2013

Monday's Poem: Snowdrifts

Snowdrifts

You'd think a child had set these snowdrifts down,
They come with such a simple march down the mountain,
Lined in rows as if the child had played
Toy soldiers with the snow and left behind,
When evening came, the armies at attention.
It was a storm that caused it, not a child,
And the snow had come all in a jumble.
Who could know there would be such a pattern
As these rows of snow the morning after?
                                                            Anne Knowles