POETRY Poems Across America
Illustrator: Stephen Alcorn
For: Anyone (but written for kids)
Published:2002
Rating: 4/5
Endpapers: 12 illustrations (different ones on front and back) taken from the illustrations within the book.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN AND ELLA. I have five birthdays in the year that are of the utmost importance to me, and TWO fall on the same day, this day. So I've been looking through my poetry collection this morning for a good poem. I decided NOT on a birthday poem, but on one that reminds me of my family. This book is a short anthology of "place" poems. Included is one called "Rez Road" by Joseph Bruchac that would be a great accompaniement to The True Diary of a Part-time Indian (Alexie, just reviewed). Also included is a favorite, "My Desert Home" by Lillian M. Fisher. But the one that's speaking to me today is:
ON MY ISLAND
by Patricia Hubbell
I watch sleek seals on wave-wet rocks,
rowboats bobbing at weathered docks.
I hear the buoy's lonely bell,
I touch a chalky oyster shell.
All about me, pines grow tall.
All about me, seagulls call.
I dream of sunken ships, dim caves,
mermaids floating on sunlit waves,
then wake to silver everywhere --
fog drifting through my island air.
I long, sometimes, to go away,
and other times, just want to stay
on my island far at sea,
this island -- home to me.
September in Maine. Crisp autumn air. The greeness beginning to be touched by reds and yellows. Indian summer days...the best. Happy birthday, Brian. Happy Birthday, Ella.
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