Guest Poet & NaPoWriMo Poem #10

One of the happiest parts of my life is writing with people: young children, older students, friends, my own family, and teachers. This month, my teacher-friend, Melinda Harvey, from Iroquois Intermediate School, is also writing a poem for each day of April. She reads poetry before bedtime and is writing up a storm, posting a daily poem to her Facebook page. Thank you, Melinda, for allowing me to share this sweet poem here:

Let a Poem Kiss You Good Night

Let a poem kiss you good night.

Let it tuck you into bed.

Then enjoy the simple imagery

dancing 'round your head.

Let the words start to flutter

as you pull the blankets tight.

You're drifting off to sleep...

Let a poem kiss you good night.

© Melinda Harvey

Writing back-and-forth with Vicki Boyd at Heinemann today, she mentioned that she'd recently been looking at greeting cards and thinking about friends.  Vicki didn't buy or send the cards, just looked and thought.  This reminded me of the days (before we had three children and a farm full of pets) when my husband and I used to hang around in card shops, just looking, handing cards across the aisle to each other, laughing and matching our own emotions to others' printed words.  Mark and I would leave those card shops empty-handed, but full-hearted.

Card Shop Game

When we go to a card shop

I read

until I find

a card that fits my feelings

a card that reads my mind.

I place it in an envelope

and give it straight to you.

No stamp

no mailbox

needed.

No postman helps it through.

You read.

You smile across the aisle.

You reach to put it back.

I watch you reading greetings

as you pull one from the rack.

You place it in an envelope

and give it straight to me.

We play 

this game

all afternoon --

just giving cards for free.

© Amy LV 

This rainy afternoon, I ran into a colleague at the gas station, and we talked about how poems are simply everywhere.  Lately, she is seeing poetry in daffodils and in memories of her childhood rain boots.  It is strange to think that the NaPoWriMo challenge for 2010 (write and post a poem for each day of April) is one third complete.  I may continue on my own after April, writing (but not posting) a daily poem.

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