ONE HOT SUMMER 7

Will the monsoons ever come?

Will I see lightning?

Will I hear thunder?

Once more?

Yes, the monsoons will come.

But now it is summer.

Doves coo and 

the elf owl hoots a sweet lullaby

to sing you to sleep.

Listen.

Hush now,

sleep,

the monsoons have come.

Raindrops splash

against your window.

Cracks of lightning shine

in the sky,

and everything is cool

and green,

once more.

    So, there you have it.  Everyone is waiting for the monsoon season to begin again.  I hope you have enjoyed working your way through a week's worth of waiting for the monsoons.  
       I did want to share the headline from yesterday's newspaper with you.  In Tucson, we really do wait for the monsoons to come.

This poem is inspired by NOW IT IS WINTER, written by Eileen Spinelli.  The ending to her story is very different from mine.  Her's is very elegant.  Please read her book to see how it makes a great mentor poem.  I hope my ending makes sense.  

      Now for your poetry challenge.  Look at poems you like and find what you think is a good end line.  Now make that line the first line for your own poem.  Have fun writing.

Writing Children's Poetry is the best place 

I know to play.

THE FRIENDLIEST SOUND

The friendliest sound 
in the desert to me
is a phainopepla calling
from a Paloverde tree.
Too-weet, too-weet, too-weet.


    On my walk this morning, I saw and heard the phainopepla.  It reminded me that it is about time for the birds to start their migration.
    This poem can work fairly well as a template for lots of bird sounds.  Next I want to try calling from a cactus.  Let's see:

The eeriest sound
in the desert to us
is an elf owl calling
from a Saguaro cactus.
Chewk, chewk, chewk.

 Now, let's see with a different bird:

The strangest sound
in the desert to us
is a Gila woodpecker calling
from a Saguaro cactus.
Churr-kip, churr-kip, churr-kip.

 Now, let's see with a different location, bird, and tree:

The prettiest sound
in the mountains to me
is a cardinal calling
from a pine tree.
Cheer-cheer-cheer-chireep.

  So, here is your challenge for today--can you use this template to write a poem about a sound you hear in your locale?  Have fun trying this in lots of different ways.
  
The nosiest sound
I've ever heard
is my dog barking
at a bird.
Woolf, woolf, woolf.
Do have fun writing today.
, 

Night Songs

The moon is full

shadows are long

I can hear coyotes

sing a yipping song.

From a hole

in the saguaro

way up high

I hear an elf owl

with a too-weet cry.

It is getting late

I should be abed

but I am listening

to night songs instead.

     What sounds/songs do you hear?  Can you write a poem about sounds?  Have a fun weekend.

Who Lives Here?

See these holes

in the Saguaro?

Who lives here

do you know?

Elf Owl?

Woodpecker?

Cactus Wren?

Do not knock

upon their door.

Cactus spines

make knuckles sore.

     Yesterday morning I saw a cactus wren sitting at the edge of an opening in the Saguaro cactus.  The bird sat there singing, but just as soon as I got my camera out the wren ducked inside the hole.  I waited and waited. but the bird did not want her picture taken. 
     Can you write a poem about picture day at your school? Do you like having pictures taken, or would you rather be like the wren and have a hole to duck into?Have fun writing

haiku

coyotes yipping

desert winds erase all tracks

an elf owl calls--why

     I don't normally like to use a center margin with my poems.  It seems a little too easy.  But in this haiku I felt the need to use it to represent the centering, or pulling toward the center of all beings--we are all related.  Each thing we do has an effect upon all others.  I thought I could use the center margin to help show this. 

    This poem was fun because I had to do a little research.  We're having a bit of wind tonight, so the yipping voices of the coyote are carrying across the canyon.  I have been reading the GAURDIANS OF GA'HOOLE by Katherine Laski, and I knew I wanted to include an owl watching the coyotes from his burrow in a Saguaro. I had originally used the traditional owl sound who as the last word of this poem.  But when I looked the bird up in my PETERSON FIELD GUIDES, Western Birds, text and illustrations by Roger Tory Peterson; the listing for the elf owl, Micrathene whitneyi, says the voice is "A rapid, high pitched whi- whi-whi-whi...often becoming more yipping or 'puppy-like,'" (Wow, I didn't think I'd ever have use for that single quote followed by the double quote, but there it is.)  So then I knew I had the bird I had heard and the one I wanted in this poem and I had to change the who to the why which makes the poem so much richer in conveying the meaning I wanted with this poem.  Oh, this was fun.

   This poem includes the word "tracks" which is the challenge word for this month at children's poet David L. Harrison's blog.  So I will post this poem over there too.  If you write your own poem, Harrison has a monthly challenge for adults and two categories for children. The children poems are at http://davidlharrison.wordpress.com/young-poets-word-of-the-month-poems/

and the adult poems are at http://davidlharrison.wordpress.com/adult-word-of-the-month-poem/

So here is the writing exercise for today,  write your own haiku, or a poem about "tracks."  Share your poem with me in the comments below or post it on Harrison's blog.
   Thank you for stopping by.

Coyote Dreams

Coyotes pause in the river bed

to sing a song to the moon.

Their yip, yip, yip,

is a raucous tune.

The pack of coyotes

travels in the wash,

while bats fly by

and elf owls watch.

The javelinas look

for a tasty treat

to fill their

night time dining.

The night air cools

and the songs echo

making memories

of a desert night.

And as I nod to sleep

I hear those songs

rippling through

my dreams.

Good night coyotes.

Good night javelinas.

Good night elf owls and bats.

Good night to us all.

      This poem is a lullaby, because it is one that should be read just before going to sleep.  Can you try writing your own lullaby?  Have fun.