I'm tossing out an old pitch today, a poem from
Pumpkin Butterfly that 's just full of those -CHs I love so muCH. Without further ado (and with deep longing for more of the hint of warmth that we got in Bethesda today)....
Cherry Very
Be sneaky, be cheeky
Pinch from the kitchen
The reddest, the roundest there are
A bowl full of cherries
a bowl of the very
most cherriest bombs by far
Backbone straight
Step up to the plate
Puff up your chest and lungs
Swallow the fruit
Ready to shoot
Put the pit in the groove of your tongue
One more tip:
Round your lips
To launch it without a hitch
Don’t get tense
Aim for the fence
Wind up like you’re fixing to pitch
Now blast it hard
Across the yard
Kissing that missile goodbye
It’s over the fence!
It’s out of the park!
It’s a letloose cherryjuice
noschool slobberdrool
spitwhistle summerfun home run!
HM 2009
all rights reserved
************************
And what
cherry pits are you spittin' I mean pitCHing at us today? I heard a rumor that we might have some kids' work coming our way today....CHampion!
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Good morning on this snowy day in suburban DC! We're marching along briskly in our first week of the Forward...MarCH Poetry CHallenge (read the introduction to this project
here) and our word today is "punCH"--another one with several meanings most delicious to the poet.
I'm posting my one previously published poem for the week, but first I'll share one from Donna of
Mainely Write. You'll see why...
A Punch of Sun
Packing a wallop
Up in the sky
Noontime it reaches
Cerulean;
High
--Donna Smith
Really tight, really strong, really great! And how's this for a coincidence?
Solar-Powered Sun Puppet
the dark side of me
glowers inside
drags at the tips of my toes
it feeds on clouds
on rainy skies
and only my shadow knows:
how heavy
the day is
how low the horizon
how sodden
and sad
I am
then sweet sun punches a hole in the clouds
sizzles and swims in my eyes
my shadow spills out through a hole in my sole
my darker side hung out to dry
howbrilliantthedayis!
howhighthebluesky!
how sudden and mad I am!
I’m sunny-side up
I’m pumped full of light
my silhouette dances on walls
now I can see clearly:
my dark doppelgangerfreed by the sun's high call my demon cast out, my shadow of doubt is the shadow that proves that I am HM 2009Pumpkin Butterfly: Poems from the Other Side of Nature (Boyds Mills/Wordsong)I don't know Donna well, but clearly we have sunthing going on. Go visit Donna's blog--there's a LOT going on there!
Diane of
Random Noodling has gone in a different direction with one of her
senryu. Love this marriage of words and image! (Too bad about Punch and Judy's marriage.)
And
Charles Waters is back, too--reminding me of all the "punch buggy, no punch-backs" that I've lived through in the car.
THE GOOD LUCK ALTERNATIVE
I bash my brother on his arm
I did this as a good luck charm
Until he punches my arm, whack!
I then decide to pat his back.
(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.
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Join us tomorrow for "fetCH"!
Poetry Friday here tomorrow and feeling summery at 90 degrees...
Many delights await, since I had an opportunity to do some poetry work with my son's second grade class this week; virtual permission slips are rolling in, which will allow me to share some of their really individual, skilled and charming work.
I'll collect the breakfast links around 8 am (or, if I can persuade Mister Linky, he'll do it), be back for a late lunch around 2 pm, pop off for a job interview and come back for nightcaps after 9. See you tomorrow!
*from "Botanical Jazz,"
Pumpkin Butterfly, 2009
What's your favorite season? It's an important question; in my family we seem to review our preferences, with revisions, on a regular basis (just like we keep having to come back to the food question: "If you could have only one carbohydrate for the rest of your life, what would you choose? only one fruit? only one vegetable?").
I find it very easy indeed to pick summer, but this early fall time is a close second because of piquant overlaps like the one I tried to capture in the opening poem of last year's Pumpkin Butterfly (Boyds Mills/Wordsong). My school is full of painted lady and monarch butterflies because of the second-grade science curriculum, and the pumpkins are already on their way in, all under the mellow October sunshine. Don't forget to watch for ghosts.
Ghosts
we haul our wagon to a patch of hilly earth
weighed down with deep orange
with bigbellied, cumbersome pumpkins
“This is the one”
“And this one”
we say
we cut the tough vines and turn to load them up
behind our backs
a gust of butterflies rises and tumbles
on hot October air
yellowgreen tinged with orange
wings as weightless and angular
as the pumpkins are heavy and round:
the ghosts of our pumpkins untethered from earth
What a wonderful poem -- thanks for sharing!
Heidi,
My favorite season is autumn. I love it here in New England at this time of year. I don't tolerate the humid days of summer well.
I've been reading up on Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday that honors loved ones who have passed away. One of the traditional ideas is that the spirits of loved ones return to visit us in the form of Monarch butterflies. Fascinating connection, isn't it?
Heidi-This is so lovely! The trees are starting to reach their peak and pumpkins patches are in full bloom here in Maryland, and I'm loving it! "bigbellied pumpkins" what a great image!
Thanks for sharing this poem, now I want to read more of the collection!