Song to Mothers

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Song to Mothers

Your laugh is a green song,
canción verde,
that branches
through our house,
its yellow blooms smelling
like warm honey.
Your laugh peels apples
and stirs their cinnamon bubblings,
then opens a book and pulls me
onto your lap.
At night, your laugh kisses
us soft as a petal, smooths my pillow
and covers me, a soft leafy blanket,
green and yellow.
I snuggle into your laugh,
your canción verde
and dream of growing
into my own green song.

~ Pat Mora

I found this poem the other day in the book Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers, edited by Pat Mora. Every time I read it, I smile. :)

Happy Mother's Day to all of my readers!

Great dreamers...

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"All men 

who have achieved great things 

have been great dreamers." 

~ Orison Swett Marden 

(All women, too!)

Dream BIG and then work hard to achieve those dreams...

Susurrant

A few months ago I was reading a book* that used a word I was unfamiliar with, susurrant [soo-sur-uh nt].  After looking it up to find out the pronunciation and the meaning, I decided that it belonged on my list of interesting and/or cool-sounding words to share here sometime.  In my opinion, susurrant is both interesting and cool-sounding. :)

Susurrant is an adjective meaning "softly murmuring; whispering".  Said aloud, the word sounds like its meaning, don't you think?  Here are a few example sentences I came up with:

Hiking through the woods, I paused a moment, 

closed my eyes, and listened to the susurrant breeze 

blowing through the trees.

The susurrant brook beside my cabin lulled me to sleep.

While waiting for the service to begin, 

members of the congregation greeted each other quietly, 

creating a susurrant sound in the large sanctuary.

How would you use the word susurrant?  What are some words that you find interesting or cool-sounding?  I'd love to hear about them!

* Unfortunately, I can't recall which book it was at the moment.

Working magic...

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"What an astonishing thing a book is. 

It's a flat object made from a tree

 on which are imprinted 

lots of funny dark squiggles. 

But one glance at it and you're 

inside the mind of another person, 

maybe somebody dead 

for thousands of years. 

Across the millennia, 

an author is speaking 

clearly and silently inside your head, 

directly to you. 

Writing is perhaps 

the greatest of human inventions, 

binding together people 

who never knew each other, 

citizens of distant epochs. 

Books break the shackles of time. 

A book is proof that humans 

are capable of working magic." 

~ Carl Sagan

What a great quote for book lovers everywhere! :)

Spring Rain

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Spring Rain

In the rains of spring,
An umbrella and raincoat
Pass by, conversing.

~ Buson

This haiku poem makes me smile. :)  I love the idea of the umbrella and the raincoat greeting each other in the rain. We've had quite a bit of rain around here this spring.  How about where you live?

They've been hiding there all along...

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An excerpt:

The three of us walked across the field on a hot, sunny Saturday afternoon that smelled like new growing things.  We could have gone down the road, of course, but it seemed like the sort of day when walking across a field would be a nice thing to do.  Wildflowers were just beginning to appear.  They always take me by surprise.  It seems, each year, as if winter will go on forever, even back in town.  Then when you've resigned yourself to a whole lifetime of grayness, suddenly bright bursts of yellow and purple and white spring up in the fields, and you realize they've been hiding there all along, waiting.

~ from A Summer to Die,

written by Lois Lowry

I remember reading A Summer to Die a year or so ago and being struck by the images in this passage. I love Lowry's description of the day smelling "like new growing things" and how the wildflowers take the character by surprise.  Spring is like that for me, as well.

A key...

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“Reading 

can be a road to freedom 

or a key to a secret garden, 

which, if tended, 

will transform all of life.” 

~ Katherine Paterson

What a great quote!  I love the idea of reading being a key to a secret garden. :) And I know that reading has transformed my own life.  What will you read today?

earthworms

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earthworms

a
short
storm

worms
here

worms
there

wear
shoes

~ Bob Raczka, 

from Lemonade and Other Poems 

Squeezed from a Single Word

I've mentioned this before, but I love how Raczka created the poems in his book, using only the letters found in the title of each one.  I really need to try that sometime.  I'm sure it is very challenging!

It's been earthworm weather here lately with all of our rain -- worms all over the sidewalk. Raczka's good advice at the end of the poem makes me giggle every time I read it! :)

Zephyr

The word for this week is zephyr [zef-er], a noun meaning "a gentle, mild breeze".  I like the way this word sounds -- and also the way it looks.  (Is that strange?)  I think of it as a "springy" word and since we've been having some spring weather recently (finally), I thought it would be a good word to share.

Here are a few example sentences:

A spring zephyr blew through the meadow, 

rippling the tall grasses in gentle waves.

Digging in the garden, I appreciated the balance 

between the warmth of the sun on my head 

and the hint of a zephyr that cooled me.

How would you use the word zephyr?  Are there any words that you like because of their sound or look?  I'd love to hear about them!

May Day

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May Day

A delicate fabric of bird song
Floats in the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple
Are clenched like a hand,
Like girls at their first communion
The pear trees stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
Shining after the rain?

~ Sara Teasdale

The sensory details in this poem paint such a beautiful picture.  Happy May Day, everyone! :)