Tuesday's Poem: With Nothing at All

With Nothing at All

I can have fun with nothing at all:

Skip, jump, or roll in a ball;

Hop, spin, or race down the hall;

Make up a story; make up a song;

Make up a cow fifty-feet long;

Make up a friend twenty-times strong;

Wonder if stars are hot or cold;

Wonder if circles like to be rolled;

Wonder if numbers do as they're told;

Duck waddle-waddle, or snail-slow crawl;

Seed sprout rise, or leaf twirly fall;

I can have fun with nothing at all.

                                        Anne Knowles

SOME BOOK: Everywhere Babies

Holiday book or baby shower idea:  Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers.  Illustrations are by Marla Frazier.

No preaching.  No moralizing.  Simply the acceptance through words and illustrations that each one of us is normal and that all kinds of family relationships are normal.  Children can find themselves in the book.  That makes it SOME BOOK.

Everywhere Babies is recommended for 6 months to 3 years.  I'd recommend it for newborns to 3 years.  Babies need to hear written language from the very beginning.  The text is spare and rhythmic, and it's fun to read.

Monday's Poem: All of Me Tall

All of Me Tall

I'm not small,

Not small at all.

From the down of me

To the up of me,

I'm all-of-me tall.

                             Anne Knowles

Monday's Poem: On the Other Side of Broken Me

On the Other Side of Broken Me

On the other side of broken me,

I see what I am going to be.

A doctor, a nurse, a strawberry grower,

A builder, an artist, a round-the-world goer.

Hitting a ball or walking on Mars,

Cooking or swimming or fixing up cars.

Fighting a fire, singing, teaching,

Caring for animals, writing, or preaching.

Anything!  Anything!  Something I love!

Rocks or math or turtle doves.

Anything!  Anything I want to be!

Hiking the hills or sailing on seas.

On the other side of broken me,

Someone is calling to broken me.

I'm listening.  It's me!  It's me calling me!

I'm telling myself to keep holding tight,

To follow myself with all of my might.

                                     Anne Knowles

Monday's Poem: April

April

Peeking up daffodils,

Stretching down roots,

Seeds seeking sunshine,

Muddy puddly boots.

Melting snow in gutters,

Puddle jumping fun,

Fluttering by butterflies,

Hide and seek sun.

                           Anne Knowles

Monday's Poem: March

March

Lion

Wind roars.

Branches clack swords.

Dark clouds twirl, swirl.

Sky blusters and rain flusters.

Sun wakes up and seeds wake up.

New grass whispers green.

Wispy, white clouds

Amble like

Lambs.

                                 Anne Knowles

Monday's Poem: The Hopping Girl

THE HOPPING GIRL

The hopping girl lives

just 'round the bend.

She's my very, very

very, very

very best friend.

She hops when she walks,

always right right left.

She's my merry, merry,

merry, merry,

merry best friend.

It's always right hop right

and only then comes left.

She's my right, right,

left, right,

right best friend.

                         Anne Knowles