Friday, August 10, 2018

Poetry Friday: Summer

Last week's back-to-school poem was for me; today's is one I always read with my students the first week.  Can you believe it?  It's time for another school year!


Summer

Summer is with it,
             she's wild,
             she likes
             bare legs and cutoffs
             and camping
             and hikes;
             she dives in deep water,
             she wades in a stream,
             she guzzles cold drinks
             and she drowns in ice cream;
             she runs barefoot,
             she picnics,
             she fishes,
             digs bait,
             she pitches a tent
             and she stays up too late
             while she counts out the stars,
             swats mosquitos and flies,
             hears crickets,
             smells pine trees,
             spies night-creature eyes;
             she rides bareback,
             goes sailing,
             plays tennis,
             climbs trees;
             she soaks in the sunshine;
             she gulps in a breeze;
             she tastes the warm air
             on the end of her tongue,

              and she falls asleep
              reading
              alone
              in the sun.

Myra Cohn Livingston 




10 comments:

Linda Mitchell said...

Oh, this is fantastic! So truuuuuuuuuuue. It's taken me all summer to be able to stay up til midnight. And, I report to work on Monday. Sob.

Tabatha said...

No wonder Summer falls asleep reading, she's been on the move! She's done all the things, and now it's time for a well-deserved book and a nap.
In our corner of the world, school hasn't started yet but there's homework to do.

Books4Learning said...

I love this poem! Wow! It really captures summer--especially when I was a child. I love the figurative elements and the imagery. Thanks for sharing it.

Mary Lee said...

I was getting ready to comment that my childhood summers (even my adult summers) don't have much in common with the one in this poem (except the ending!) when I thought...MENTOR TEXT!! I'm SO going to get my students writing on the first day of school, making a poem to summer that starts with

Summer is with it
She's (or he's or it's) wild
She/he/it likes..."

And just for the sake of ease, we'll not worry about rhymes.

THANKS!!

Molly Hogan said...

I am so glad you shared this poem! What a delight! Love the images, the language, those verbs!!! I can't wait to share it with my students. Thanks!!

Kay said...

What a delightful poem. Even though I'm no longer tied to the school schedule, there is still something wild about summer.

Michelle Kogan said...

I like Myra Cohn Livingston's voice in "Summer."It's intoxicating–and I hope our summer decides to linger a bit longer. Thanks Ruth, and all the best with this new school year!

Brenda at FriendlyFairyTales said...

What a wonderful race of a poem that shows how easy it is to come to the end of summer before you're really ready to.

Robyn Hood Black said...

Terrific poem - thanks for sharing. This summer whizzed right by!

Donna Smith said...

What a great list poems. It would be a good format to have students use. Loving
"she gulps in a breeze... climbs trees, ... falls asleep in the sun"