Evenings darken earlier now, and when I go out I notice the moon, right there, shining down on me. This past week it was a waxing crescent, lightly clouded over and gauzy. Leaves are beginning to turn, the air is nippy, and the moon looks spooky. Perfect!
Ted Kooser wrote a poem that I like very much, from his collection of poems titled "Winter Mornings: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison." It begins:
Only a crust of moon is left
to offer the morning,
I can almost feel that crust, rough and dry in my throat. But in spite of that crust sounding like a cold dry leftover, it also sounds intriguing. There's something about the tiny crescent that fascinates and even amuses. Not much to offer the morning, perhaps, but much to offer the imagination.
Speaking of imagination, I'm dedicating some space to a new book by Irene Latham titled The Museum on the Moon: Curious Objects on the Lunar Surface. Myriam Wares illustrated it with just the right tones for the calm bright surfaces of the moon, and Irene wrote poems for each artifact that has been left there. I really like the premise for this book: curious objects that have been left on the moon. What a fascinating topic!
Irene's poems are delightful. I have several favorites, but I'd like to share a bit of this one because in just a few words it made me think about something I had not considered:
Forever Footprints
Human tracks tattoo
Moon's rutted face --
With no wind, no rain
There's no way to erase...
I invite you to find Irene's book and share it. It will be perfect for a classroom or that young person who is enthralled with space. And don't miss the final pages, which are full of astronauts and timelines and many good notes about the moon and its visitors. Congratulations, Irene! Stellar!!!
And now...
How about a fun Moon craft? I did this with kids ages 4 to 12, and they all loved it. Mix paint with flour until it looks like paste, brush a thick layer on a paper circle and stamp it with various sized circles. After a day for drying: Tada!!! A moon with craters. So fun!
I wrote a moon poem some years ago, and decided to rework it for today's blog. Today is a full moon, by the way... the Harvest Moon! I hope the clouds give me a chance to see it.
This is my first time participating in the annual Progressive Poem. I signed up somewhat late in the game, and chose the penultimate line. Gutsy or naive? It's your call! As my turn came closer I started scouting for lines that would fit. I agree with Tabatha that the poem seems less of a narrative and more about mood. It's atmospheric! So...
Ted Kooser is one of my favorite poets, and since I grew up in Nebraska I have always loved his poem "So This is Nebraska." I have adapted a line or two from his poem for my addition in italics below.
And now... on to Michelle Kogan for the finale!
THE PROGRESSIVE POEM OF 2022, SO FAR:
Where they were going, there were no maps.
Sorry! I don’t want any adventures, thank you. Not today.
Take the adventure, heed the call, now ere the irrevocable moment passes!
We have to go back. I forgot something.
But it’s spring, and the world is puddle-wonderful,
so we’ll whistle and dance and set off on our way.
Come with me, and you’ll be in a land of pure imagination.
Wherever you go, take your hopes, pack your dreams, and never forget –
it is on our journeys that discoveries are made.
And then it was time for singing.
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain, paint with all the colors of the wind, freewheeling through an endless diamond sky?
Suddenly, they stopped and realized they weren’t the only ones singing.
Listen, a chattering of monkeys! Let’s smell the dawn and taste the moonlight, we’ll watch it all spread out before us.
The moon is slicing through the sky. We whisper to the tree, tap on the trunk, imagine it feeling our sound.
Clouds of blue-winged swallows, rain from up the mountains,
Green growing all around, and the cool splash of the fountain.
If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden,
a bright, secret, quiet place, and rather sad;
and they stepped out into the middle of it.
Their minds’ libraries and lightning bugs led them on.
The darkwood sings, the elderhist blooms, the sky lightens; listen and you will find your way home.
The night sky would soon be painted, stars gleaming overhead, a beautiful wild curtain closing on the day.
Mud and dusk, nettles and sky – time to cycle home in the dark.
There are no wrong roads to anywhere
lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove.
Standing at the fence of the cottage, I hear the new note in the voices of the birds.
I pray to the birds because I believe they will carry the message of my heart upward.
I make up a song that goes on singing all by itself
Surfing rivers of wind way up high . . . calling zeep, zeep, zeep in the sky,
blinking back the wee wonder of footprints, mouse holes, and underground maps.
I feel like waving... like dancing around on the road
Sources:
1. The Imaginaries: Little Scraps of Larger Stories, by Emily Winfield Martin
2. The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien
3. The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
4. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
5. inspired by "[in Just-]" by E. E. Cummings
6. "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
7. Maybe by Kobi Yamada
8. Sarah, Plain, and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
9. inspired by Disney songs "A Whole New World" from Aladdin and "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas
10. The Other Way to Listen by Byrd Baylor
11. adapted from Cinnamon by Neil Gaiman
12. adapted from The Magical Imperfect by Chris Baron
13. adapted from On the Same Day in March by Marilyn Singer
14. adapted from a line in Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson 1
5. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
16. Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
17. The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
18. Kate DiCamillo's The Beatryce Prophecy
19. The Keeper of Wild Words by Brooke Smith
20. Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
21. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
22. "Dance Me to the End of Love" by Leonard Cohen
23. adapted from Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
24. A quote from Terry Tempest Williams in Birdology by Sy Montgomery
25. adapted from "When I Was a Bird" by Katherine Mansfield
26. Warbler Wave by April Pulley Sayre with Jeff Sayre
27. a quote from the poem, "Reading in the Dark" from the book, "Please Bury Me In the library" by J. Patrick Lewis. 28. adapted from "So This is Nebraska" from Sure Signs: New & Selected Poems by Ted Kooser
It's another Poetry Friday. Join the poetic fun at Jone Rush MacCulloch's blog. Jone is sharing a beautiful morning poem written this month, and other poets will be linked to her blog. YOU are welcome...
