Poetry Friday: Because of Libraries by Naomi Shihab Nye

Thanks to Michelle at Michelle Kogan for hosting Poetry Friday.

I think this is a fitting poem for the end of the school year.  The last stanza speaks to me the most.

Because of Libraries We Can Say These Things by Naomi Shihab Nye

She is holding the book close to her body,
carrying it home on the cracked sidewalk,
down the tangled hill.
If a dog runs at her again, she will use the book as a shield.

She looked hard among the long lines
of books to find this one.
When they start talking about money,
when the day contains such long and hot places,
she will go inside.
An orange bed is waiting.
Story without corners.
She will have two families.
They will eat at different hours.

She is carrying a book past the fire station
and the five and dime.

What this town has not given her
the book will provide; a sheep,
a wilderness of new solutions.
The book has already lived through its troubles.
The book has a calm cover, a straight spine.

When the step returns to itself,
as the best place for sitting,
and the old men up and down the street
are latching their clippers,

she will not be alone.
She will have a book to open
and open and open.
Her life starts here.

– from Fuel, by Naomi Shihab Nye

Check It Out will be on hiatus as I figure out what the content of this blog will be now that I’m retired (weird for me to say).

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Poetry Friday: Surprise Ode

Thanks to  Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge for hosting Poetry Friday.

On Monday we had our last Family Library Night.  It was a celebration of reading and saying goodbye to my fabulous families.  It was so wonderful.  I am grateful for my advocation.

The half-sister of the second grader who tragically died in 2004.  Her brother’s accident planted the seed of the manuscript I am working on.  As a fifth grader she just read my manuscript and in her card to me, she called us family.

I was gifted with a signed collection of the odes that Poetry Rocks wrote.  In it was a surprise ode written bt Avery.  Here it is:

Ode to Ms. Mac

I see Ms. Mac reading a book.
I hear Ms. Mac reading a book.
I feel relaxed by Ms. Mac reading
a book out loud so everyone can hear it.
I wonder if she is reading an Eric Ode
Yes she is.

Ah, Avery, this is wonderful and such a gift.  Thank you.