SUMMER FUN!
It’s been a wonderful summer for me, and I hope for you too!
Particularly for poetry, with two poems accepted in two super children’s magazines. One in Little Thoughts Press, ‘Helter-Skelter’, and one in The Toy, ‘A Message for Mum’.
I also have a poem currently on display on a Poetry Trail at Painshill Park, Cobham, Surrey UK. Painshill is on Instagram if you want to have a peep, and if you fancy a walk around the beautiful landscape gardens, my poem is number 23 on the trail and it is called Red Kite. The display of 25 poems is magnificent. Big and bold in the landscape. Each poem is a joy to read. But in case you miss it, here is my poem:
___
RED KITE
We are the same. Me. The clouds. Sky.
Sometimes racy. Sometimes a slow
glide, a sharp turn of grace, slung
on an updraft catching the world’s
breath through my tail. My day is the wing.
Across the hills, forests, fields, rooftops,
I cast a searching eye for a hapless prey.
I am the dark shadow that flays the ground;
the shrill call that pins the sky. I leave no trace
though I make and criss-cross a million
sky-tracks every day. When the last light
is gone from the sky I roost. A tree-top rest.
There in the dark I feel the stars, taste
the sharp cool drift of a winter night.
______
This next poem is for all of you who are off to school in September, whether returning, or stepping into school for the very first time. Good luck!
SEPTEMBER
Summer is over,
clouds sweep the sky.
Swallows are leaving.
We whisper, goodbye.
**
It’s the time of the season
for harvesting hay.
Gathering apples.
Less light in the day.
**
But the biggest event,
as a general rule,
is the sound of the children
returning to school.
**
Meet at the school gates,
with new bags, new shoes.
Lots to catch up on,
much chatter and news.
**
New classroom, new teacher,
in different spaces,
but facing it all with
same friends, same faces.
**
For some it’s the first time
ever at school.
Let’s welcome them all,
and be kind, it’s the rule!
____________________________
And here is a little reminder poem about our special selves:
Why not have a go at writing a unique poem about YOU!
UNIQUELY ME
Nobody else can ever be me –
the things that I do, the things that I say,
My fingerprints, my DNA,
are unique to me in every way.
I might look a bit like my mum or my dad.
My nose, my ears, my mouth, my eyes.
But nobody looks quite like me, you see,
because how I look is unique to me.
Some of the things that I love to do,
might be some of the things that you like to do too.
I like to go shopping, and bike around town.
I’m usually up, but sometimes I’m down.
I like to paint and I like to draw,
and play with my dog on the kitchen floor.
But all that I like, is unique to me,
and everyone likes different things you see.
Sometimes I’m brave, and sometimes courageous.
Some people think I’m a little outrageous.
No-one is quite like me, you see,
because what I am is unique to me!
(All poems copyright of Val Harris)