M____'s Book of Poems
The old tree sits on a hill
Near a meadow past a stream
CRACK!
The tree falls down
Bird it flies it chirps
Letting its song
Ring out
In the open air
Horse
Jumping, trotting
Always nice
Living in a stable
Turtles
Slow but steady as a rock
Live in sea or marsh
God's favorite animals
Tiger
Tiger's soft stripes
Blends in
The jungle
Eats meat
Dot
Dot grows to be
A large animal
That can take
You on an adventure
Books
Can take you
On an adventure
Even by reading
A single page
Sun
Brightly shining
Happily glowing
Warming the park
Hot summer day
Soccer
Lights flash
Green grass
Far away
The crowds cheer
9 comments:
zenlike koans from the typewriters of babes...
Excellent wordsmithing!
So sweet -- touching testimony to your daughter's imagination and to the power of a typewriter.
How long does it take to unlearn? To be as lucid and fluent as that? Impressed and humbled M---! ...and I prefer the uncorrected version ;-)
Wow, I like these. God's favorite animals. CARCK!
Wonderful. Children are sometimes the better poets (particularly yours!). I don't say that in a precious way because -I will admit- I am not a poetry fan. I just think children often get at the heart of sentiments in a less tortured, more fluid way. Their lens is clear, I suppose you could say.
"Live in sea or a marsh/God's favorite animals."
Just fantastic.
OK, I can't claim to know a lot about poetry. But dang, you got yerself the makings of a serious poet there.
What I wouldn't give to be able to see the world that way again. I guess that's one of the reasons we have kids, to be able to glimpse, if through a glass somewhat darkly, a world still full of wonder.
I think the horse one reads way better if you don't automatically correct her spelling of "horse".
Thanks for sharing - those are awesome. And what dad's heart doesn't grow two-sizes-too-big when their kid makes such a request?
Love this, of course.
I'm particularly intrigued by the turtle verse. God's favorite animal...?
@Rob: Personally, I like the rough versions, too. She was working very hard on this, and one of my Key Pieces of Advice was: "Don't worry about mistakes. You'll make mistakes. Just keep typing."
I transcribed in case the scan didn't come out very clear (she's a light typist) and because I wanted to capture the intent of the poem. But I'm very happy with the Happy Accidents.
@Duffy: Agreed. "Hours" makes it a much more interesting poem!
@LFP: I'm not sure of the theological implications here. Best to ponder the significance on your own, I suppose.
For the record, my favorites in the bunch are "Books" and "Soccer," especially the spacing of the latter.
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