Imagine the Possibilities

Today is Poetry Friday! Jone has the round up today where she gives us two wonderful interviews. Part 1 is with Carol Labuzetta where we get a peek at her new book, Picture Perfect Poetry: An Anthology of Ekphrastic Nature Poetry for Children. Part 2 is with Liz Garton Scanlon and her new book, Everyone Starts Small, illustrated by Dominique Ramsey.

This was a busy week, but I was able to keep up with my Call and Response: Picture Books and Poetry April Poetry Project. One of the books I read this week was City Feet written and illustrated by Aixa Pérez-Prado (2023 Reycraft). The rhyming text, multicultural word choice, and colorful illustrations engage from the very beginning and demonstrate diversity for our youngest readers.

Aixa’s book made me think about the variety of tracks that spring up from time to time in my backyard and the diversity of animals they represent.

tracks

morning’s frosted grass
tells of friend or foe who passed
through the yard last night

two feet, four feet up and back
busy with a pre-dawn task
along the well-worn path

raccoons, foxes, hungry deer
looking for a tasty meal
to keep them satisfied
Draft, 2024RoseCappelli

Thanks for reading!

Today is the first Poetry Friday in National Poetry Month! For my April poetry project I’m combining picture books and poetry. I call it “Call and Response: Picture Books and Poetry.” Reading a picture book is the call followed by a response in the form of a small poem. It was inspired by Laura Purdie Salas’ Poetryactions.

One of the books I read this week was Song of the Old City by Anna Pellicioli and Merve Atilgan (G.P.Putnam’s Sons, 2023). The book takes place in Istanbul where we meet a little girl who receives gifts from the many people she meets while journeying through the city. Somehow, she manages to find a way to pass along the kindnesses she receives.

Passing the Joy

wren welcomes morning
with her song flowing
through the trees
over the rooftops
into my heart
when we meet under the climbing tree
I’ll share it with you
Draft, 2024RoseCappelli

I also wrote an elfchen in response to Follow the Flyway: The Marvel of Bird Migration by Sarah Nelson and Maya Hanisch (Barefoot Books, 2023)

Migrating Birds

flying
high following
wind, water, warmth
pulled south by sun
navigating
Draft, 2024RoseCappelli

Irene has the round up today at Live Your Poem where you’ll find lots of poetry goodness including the next couplet for our community progressive poem.

It’s Poetry Friday and I’m happy to be hosting today. Please add your link at the end of the post.

This past Christmas, one of my presents was a bird feeder with a camera feed. We finally got around to installing it last week and it’s provided tons of bird watching fun. My first visitor was a tufted titmouse I named Captain. He was soon joined by a pair of bluebirds (Fred and Ginger), Redboy and Queenie (cardinals), chickadees, cowbirds, sparrows, and a host of finches. I name many of my birds, especially the ones I know make daily visits. Eventually I had to turn off the notifications because it got too distracting, but everything is recorded so I can see who visited.

I wasn’t able to embed any of the videos here, but I found a poem (a double ehtheree) about bird visitors I wrote a while back.

I’m expecting that Fred and Ginger will soon be starting a family. Here’s a poem for them.

The birds remind me that even though temperatures are chilly, spring is here. Please click below and add your link. I’m looking forward to reading all the poetry goodness! Thanks for stopping by and for your supportive comments each week.

It’s Poetry Friday and almost time to welcome spring. Of course with spring comes Daylight Saving Time. I enjoy the light lingering longer in the evening, but it’s still dark when I wake, at least for a few more weeks.

I was thinking of the time change this week as I reread some poems in The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal edited by James Crews, looking for a line or image that might spark an idea. In “Listen Back” by Brooke McNamara I found the lines:
“How many mornings have I woken like this, early
and called to listen
at the window of the unknown?”

Then, very serendipitously, Margaret Simon posted a photo of sunrise through fog by Marshall Ramsey in This Photo Wants To Be a Poem.

Margaret also included this quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery:
“For behind all seen things lies something vaster; everything is but a path, a portal, or a window opening on something more than itself.”

All of those things gave me the inspiration for today’s poem.

Early Morning
I’m called to the dark
beyond the window

called to witness
the gradual unfurling of morning

only when the highest branches of the maples are visible
will the wren announce the sun

and the sky will lighten, slowly
as if a blanket were being pulled from its eyes

what does the day hold?
the answer lies in the light within
Draft, 2024RoseCappelli

Tanita has the roundup today at {fiction, instead of lies} Be sure to stop by for lots of poetry goodness.