Saturday, May 30, 2015

Poetry Friday: Sharing Some Shadows



Here's a little poem by Robert Louis Stevenson to accompany Julie Paschkis's reflective new post over at Books Around the Table. When I was little, I remember reading that line about the "india-rubber ball" and thinking it was so exotic, so strange....ditto the word "nursie"....I had to ask my mom what both of them meant! Read Julie P.'s post, then head over to Reflections on the Teche, where Margaret hosts the Poetry Friday round-up.


   

MY SHADOW

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Poetry Friday: Scissors!

Happy Poetry Friday! Today I'm going to post the poem that I sent in to Michelle at Today's Little Ditty in response to Nikki Grimes's DMC challenge to write a poem by choosing an object/word and playing with it   - "What it looks like, sounds like, feels like.  What it does, how it's used, etc." Michelle posted my poem a few days ago - you can find it on her blog  via this link. Be sure to check out other people's responses to the challenge - Renee LaTulippe wrote a knock-out poem about a lemon!





Scissors

Scissors is a sharp word,
a thin word, a steel word,
an I-can-hear-it-click word,
a catching-the-light word,
a see-it-flash word, a fast word,
cutting here, clipping there,
a round-metal-eyes word,
a long-pointed-nose word.
It sews as it goes,
and it sings its own name:
Scisssssssssors --snip!
Scisssssssssors --snap!



I also posted today over at Books Around the Table - a few thoughts about the joys and terrors of motherhood. You can read that post by clicking here

Michelle at Today's Little Ditty is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup today - head over there to see what other people have posted.