Thursday, September 19, 2024

Welcome! Poetry Friday Is Here!

 


             

  • "A smile is a welcomed sight that invites people in."

  • Do you feel me smiling? I am, because I'm delighted to welcome you to this Poetry Friday, two days before the first official day of Autumn.

Want to know what Poetry Friday is? Here is an explanation that Renee LaTulippe shared on her blog, No Water River

          Many of you know that I am the Volunteer Coordinator at a non-profit used bookstore run entirely by volunteers. Except for a few "new" books we purchase, every book in the store has arrived through donations. It's an amazing and wonderful place. In addition to those donations, some interesting things come in the boxes of donations and in the books, too! Sometimes, there are postcards, special notes, and photos. Other times, we find lots of sticky notes, boarding passes, receipts, playing cards, and certainly bookmarks from bookstores everywhere.  
          One thing recently left in an older book, not a bookmark, was a pressed leaf. And, I've kept it, imagining who kept it, when and from where. So I have it on a shelf, remembering the time I created a leaf book when I was a child, excited for the coming season.  I know many of you are, too, a time of change and beauty as we say our goodbyes to another beloved season of sunshine and lazy days and vacations. 




Clock Watching

 

Summer yawned before us in June.

We leapt into time spent our way,

with neighborly talks,

July outside walks

at the shore enjoying the spray.

 

Days filled with flights or blue highways, 

picnics with family and friends.

Gardens are growing

because we are knowing

how quick summer slips to its end.

 

Earth at its maximum tilt

brought hours full of buttery sun.

Yet weeks circle by,

now we give a sigh

at the signs summer’s had its full run.

 

Linda Baie ©


A Reminder - Here is the #PoetryPals challenge for next week, the last of September!

             Poetry Peeps! You’re invited to our challenge for the month of September! Here’s the scoop: We’re wandering through Wallace Stevens’ “13 Different Ways of Looking…” at something. Maybe it’s not 13 ways – maybe it’s only seven. Maybe it’s not a blackbird or anything alive, but something inanimate. Whatever happens, your way of looking will be different than mine, and I’m here for it. Are you in? Good! You have a month to craft your creation and share it on September 27th in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals.




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29 comments:

  1. What a wonderful, heartfelt poem! I'm in love with "buttery sun and outside walks and the shore enjoying the spray." Seeing summer go is always a bit sad and I swear it's the fastest season! I'm delightfully full of good memories and looking forward to pumpkin spice :) Thank you for hosting this week. I love your stories of the book shop. What a great endeavor.

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  2. Oh, Linda, what a lovely, wistful poem about summer's end. :) I love "Summer yawned before us in June" — it always feels like it will last an eternity and then, poof, it's gone! Thanks for hosting!

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  3. Love your poem, Linda. Hard to believe summer's over (it flew by, didn't it?). Last stanza is my favorite. Sigh . . . Thanks for hosting this week!

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  4. I laughed when I read about your leafy discovery--every fall I press a few (or many) favorite leaves in books, and many are still there the following year. Hard to believe that that yawning summer has had its full run. Thanks for hosting and the lovely poem.

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  5. Hard to believe we're already at this point in the season, and you do a fine job of bringing us into your thoughts. Thanksf or hosting, Linda!

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  6. I'm definitely going to make a leaf bookmark in your honor, Linda :) Unlike other folks, I am so excited for fall! Whew, cooler weather! Thanks for hosting!

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  7. Thanks to all you early birds! Yes, the time zips along. We have cooler weather starting this weekend, and I wonder if the eighties will return! It's such fun to read about the leaf keeping, leafy bookmarks, too. I'm sure I have a few tucked into books in various places, just unsure where! Happy weekend!

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  8. Linda, your bookstore sounds like an amazing place, and all your finds are so interesting! I loved your poem from its yawning June through its last sigh. Thank you for hosting this week!

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  9. Linda, I always love to hear about the treasures you find at the bookstore. You created a great ending for your poem: "now we give a sigh/at the signs summer’s had its full run."

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  10. Oh I'm going to miss those "hours full of buttery sun" when the days get shorter. :( I love finding interesting things in used books. Have you seen the Instagram account "in used books"? They post about interesting things they find in used books.

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  11. The imagery in this poem is just delightful...from those blue highways to the buttery sun...I am there. And even though you don't write it, your thoughtful words have me thinking about all of the ways that time passes and the ways "we are knowing/how quick summer (it all?) slips to its end." Thank you for hosting and for sharing about your so-cool volunteer work. I, too, press leaves in books! xo, a.

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  12. I love the unexpected verb in the first line - Summer yawned before us in June. Pulled me right in!

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  13. Oh, lovely--I especially like the last stanza with its buttery sun and sighing. Just how I feel! I'll respond to your bookstore volunteer story by recommending a book I'm nearly done with: THE READING LIST by Sarah Nisha Adams, with things found inside library books that change lives.

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  14. What a beautiful memento to find in a book, Linda. I can see how it gets you wondering about the story behind its being tucked in. Good-bye to summer and those beautiful blue highways! I'm a teeny bit jealous knowing Denver will host some gorgeous fall color now. Our son is moving to Colorado Springs in a couple of months. Who knows...maybe I'll end up in those gorgeous Rockies too!

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  15. Good Morning and thanks again for your kind words & recommendations! I'll be sure to look for that link, Marcie, & that book, Heidi! I love reading that so many of you still press leaves!

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  16. Lovely goodbye summer poem Linda, and images from the bookstore, thanks for hosting though as I’m still knee deep in my new class no post yet… Happy Fall!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Michelle! We all miss you but hope the class is going great!

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  17. Linda, I love that buttery sun! And what joy you bring to your work in the bookstore...it ripples out to all of us! Thank you. Also, your "smile" quote brings to mind something I've been trying this week: smiling while I write. Amazing what happens! xo

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    1. Thanks, Irene, seems easy to smile but I never thought to be sure I'm doing it when I write! Thanks for sharing!

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  18. Linda, Thanks for hosting with such a post full of goodness. I am so ready for some cooler temperatures. Your poem uses rhyme and meter effectively. I like to imagine summer yawning. I just wish it would close its mouth! Ha!

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    1. Ha ha! I love the idea & think it's going to happen here, at least temporarily, Margaret! Best wishes for you getting your wish!

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  19. Linda, I love the second stanza of your poem. It speaks to me as I run back and forth from WI to NY to visit my Dad. I love autumn and all the color it brings. Thanks for hosting.

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  20. Linda, so much of "Clock Watching" placed me back in my childhood. The last stanza is wonderful and this line is absolutely luscious, "brought hours full of buttery sun."
    I love that you found a leaf pressed in a book and kept it. It's the kind of thing I would do. I'm never too sad about summer's passing since fall is my favorite season.


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  21. Ramona here. I just read your comments and a good friend recommended The Reading List to me yesterday and now I see it here. Must be a sign to read it.

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  22. Thanks, Carol & Ramona. I love the look of autumn very much but I have many trees around my home & know the raking is coming soon! I ordered The Reading List, Ramona. Yes, so glad Heidi shared it! Carol, I'm sure between your own home & your Dad's, you'll see plenty of Autumn beauty!

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  23. What a wonderful welcome to Fall, Linda - thank you! Your poem captures the transition perfectly. 🍁 I send a packet of colorful leaves from here (SC mountains) to my folks (Central Florida) every Fall. :0)

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    1. Thanks, Robyn, what a special gift for them, enjoying Autumn from afar!

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  24. So delightful to welcome fall. I'm excited for it! I love the maximum tilt and buttery sun and summer yawning in your poem, Linda. I also love the pressed leaf you saved. Every year, I save a few brilliantly colored leaves. They inevitably crumple and fall apart, but I love the reminders of fall when all is white and blue during winter. Also...your leaf book. Did you ever read The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. (or something close to that) by Kate Messner? It's mg, and I *think* it was her first book. When I met her at ALA or NCTE, that book was just coming out. Wow, what a career she has built! Anyway, thanks for hosting us this week, Linda!

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    1. No, I haven't read The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, Laura, & I'm sure I'd love it! Thanks for the reminder. I guess it slipped right by me & I usually read all of Messner's books. Yes, I save the leaves, too & still wonder how many teachers encourage or show their students to do that. I've shown my grandchildren how to press them between sheets of waxed paper with an iron, to keep them safe! It looks pretty! Thanks!

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