Happy Poetry Friday!
This was the first year I participated in the Sealey Challenge to read a book of poetry every day in August, and I’m proud to say I was successful. I chose old friends to reread that sparked memories from my teaching days and ideas for my own work.
Yesterday I revisited A Chill in the Air: Nature Poems for Fall and Winter by John Frank with illustrations by Mike Reed. I’ve always been fascinated by the way one season melts into the next. In fact, I have an entire picture book manuscript devoted to seasonal change that I hope one day will be a book. I especially love the transition from summer to fall – warm days and cool nights, baseball’s last hurrah in the midst of football frenzy, nature’s changing color palette. John Frank’s small poems got me thinking about the transition we’re heading into now and sparked this pantoum:
Transition
Summer doesn’t slip away
In the deep and dark of night.
Roses offer one last bloom
Won’t give up without a fight.
In the deep and dark of night
Spiders spin a lacy web.
Won’t give up without a fight
Linger long with morning dew.
Spiders spin a lacy web,
Mice romp through garden’s harvest.
Linger long with morning dew
Not content to rest yet.
Mice romp through garden’s harvest
Roses offer one last bloom
Not content to rest…yet
Summer slips away.
Draft, 2023RoseCappelli
In addition to A Chill in the Air, I rounded out the Sealey Challenge with:
Friends and Anemones: Ocean Poems for Children by The Writers’ Loft Authors and Illustrators.
I Never Said I Wasn’t Difficult by Sara Holbrook.
This Poem is a Nest by Irene Latham. Illustrated by Joanna Wright.
Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill. Illustrated by John Waller.
Long Night Moon by Cynthia Rylant. Illustrated by Marc Siegel.
Book Speak! Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Josee Bisaillon.
Ramona has the round up today at Pleasures From the Page. Please stop by.
Imagine the Possibilities 
Thanks for your book list, Rose. Your pantoum got me thinking!
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Good thoughts, I hope.
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Yes! I’m writing a new collection.
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I’ve never been very good at writing pantoums. It’s a craft to get the repeated lines to work with other lines. You crafted this one masterfully. And I imagine Charlotte saying goodbye to summer.
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Thanks for reading, Margaret. I don’t usually spend too much time thinking about how the lines will flow. I come up with eight lines (four for each of two stanzas), then expand into a pantoum for (hopefully) a pleasant surprise. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I learned this morning that pantoums traditionally have an ABAB rhyme scheme. I’ve never done that but hope to try.
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Rose, I love the first and last lines of your pantoum. The denial leading to gradual acceptance is perfect for the way we sometimes view the end of summer. I will have to try a pantoum with the ABAB rhyme scheme you mention. Thanks for books you’ve shared. I learned about Book Speak! here, and I have to order This Poem is a Nest–I haven’t read that one yet, but I feel I know it.
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I admire you for doing the Sealey Challenge—definitely a CHALLENGE! And LOVE your list of books!!
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Thanks, Janet. I chose to reread from my collection of children’s poetry books for the challenge. It was truly a special experience and brought me right back into the classroom on many occasions.
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Rose! If you’re a fan of seasons and how they transition, I want to ask if you’ve read When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano? I fell in love with that collection after the first poem. If you haven’t read it, do. I think you might like it…
I love the line “Won’t give up without a fight” in your poem.
And I hope that your picture book manuscript will be a book one day!
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Julie Fogliano is a favorite of mine, so yes, I’ve read (and own) When Green Becomes Tomatoes. I just picked it off my bookshelf – it will be tomorrow morning’s read. Thank you!
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Beautifully crafted pantoum, Rose, exactly how it goes. Right now we are in a heat wave so I am wishing for “summer slips away”, just not sure when it will this year. Thanks for the poetry book list, too. And, like Lou, Fogliano’s When Green Becomes Tomatoes is another good one! Happy Weekend!
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I love the line “Roses offer one last bloom”- it made me think of the row of rose bushes that grew across the back of my mother’s house. Those late blooms deserve a line of poetry!
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Congrats on the Sealey! You – once again – inspire me…I may have to attempt this in 2024.
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Rose, it is a feat to make sure you read at least one book of poetry a day. Congratulations! Your pantoum is full of beautiful images of summer’s last hurrah for the year.
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You read some of my all-time favorite poetry books this week! So fun! Everytime I read THIS POEM IS A NEST, I find something new! Such a gem. And I’m so proud of our pantoums this week!
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Your pantoum is fantastic! I admire your rhyme of “harvest” and “rest yet.” The way you add an ellipsis to the final stanza is perfection!
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Thanks for pointing out “harvest” and “rest yet” – that was totally unintentional.
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Rose, congratulations on reading your way through the Sealey Challenge! What lovely books and poems you discovered and revisited. I went right to my library website and requested several of your selections. Pantoum is a smart form for a poem titled “Transition.” I love the interplay between stanzas, especially the first and the last.
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The opening line “Summer doesn’t slip away” is so true, Rose!
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