Thanks this week to My Juicy Little Universe for hosting Poetry Friday. I have chosen a poem about writing by one of my very favorite writers, Naomi Shihab Nye. I was browsing through some of my collected poems, and this is the poem that spoke to me for this week. I am thinking ahead to school and the writing that I want to do with my students, and this poem inspires me to write. Maybe it will do the same for you! Have a great weekend! 😉
The Time
Naomi Shihab Nye
Summer is the time to write. I tell myself this
in winter especially. Summer comes,
I want to tumble with the river
over rocks and mossy dams.
A fish drifting upside down.
Slow accordions sweeten the breeze.
The Sanitary Mattress Factory says,
“Sleep is Life.”
Why do I think of forty ways to spend an afternoon?
Yesterday someone said, “It gets late so early.”
I wrote it down. I was going to do something with it.
Maybe it is a title and this life is the poem.
August 14, 2015 at 9:27 am
Hi, Maureen!
I don’t think we’ve met before. Thanks for joining us on Poetry Friday. I JUST this week discovered this same poem by NSN…are you also reading the “Note Slipped Under the Door” book?
I’m moving from K to 2nd grade and looking forward most, I think, to more writing together.
If you have a moment, tell me more about your PCS. I tried to start one where I live, but the effort was unsuccessful. : (
August 14, 2015 at 10:14 am
Hi Heidi!
I love Note Slipped Under the Door. I forgot about that book, but will pick it up again. Thanks for the recommendation and comment!
August 14, 2015 at 12:20 pm
This is a new Nye poem – and another one that makes me just sit back and sigh. Love the last lines, our lives are our poems, aren’t they?
August 14, 2015 at 2:00 pm
Isn’t she so amazing?! Thank you for your comment!
August 14, 2015 at 3:02 pm
What a great poem. I love it. Thanks for sharing and welcome to Poetry Friday!
August 14, 2015 at 3:18 pm
Thank you, Doraine!
August 14, 2015 at 6:13 pm
Thanks for sharing this great NSM poem. Isn’t that always it–we see a shadow, hear a line and it may be a title, but it takes time to work it into a poem. For me, the other seasons bring more poems.
August 14, 2015 at 6:26 pm
Nice to meet you, Joyce!
August 14, 2015 at 8:08 pm
This poem is new to me. Thanks for sharing it today.
August 15, 2015 at 8:01 am
Thanks for joining us for PF and for sharing a NSN poem that is new to so many of us (me included). She is forever reminding me that random can lead to beauty.
I am also a 5th grade teacher in the urban corner of a suburban district. Pleased to meet you! (Maybe I already know you? I see you know me, based on your blogroll!)
August 15, 2015 at 8:45 am
Hi Mary,
Yes, I think we have communicated before over various poems! I enjoy your website and follow you on twitter. Have a great school year!
Maureen
August 15, 2015 at 9:38 am
I love Naomi Shihab Nye, but I didn’t know this poem. She pretty much describes my summer. I really was going to write a whole lot more than I did…
August 15, 2015 at 10:51 pm
Thanks for this amazing poem, Maureen. It’s not one I’d heard before.
August 17, 2015 at 2:20 pm
Welcome, Maureen! (and I love your name as my 12 y/o is Maureen, though she goes by Mo at home). Thanks for sharing NSN’s poem. I, too, thought I was going to write SO much more than I did this summer…funny how time gets away from you when you have a little bit more of it. =)
August 20, 2015 at 8:43 am
Yes! I *always* think summer is going to be writing time for me. It’s mid-August and I’m still waiting for things to settle down so I can settle in and put in some serious time at the keyboard. But we’ve got to live life and “tumble with the river” to be good writers, don’t we?