Friday Poetry: Elsa Beskow

June

First Summer is here,
the lake so mild.
Summer has come
to the water-child.

We'll take the boat
and row to an isle.
We'll bathe in the water,
leave our clothes in a pile.

We'll play at boats,
we'll splash and tease.
The sun is so warm
and so is the breeze.

A June day it is
when all is green.
We'll row through the reeds
and never be seen.

First summer is here,
the lake so mild.
Summer has come
to the water-child.

~Elsa Beskow

Another one from Around the Year: a picture book by Elsa Beskow.


Isn't this a marvelous picture of her reading to the children? Did you notice that the girls are all wearing caps?

We had the joy of The First Swim this week: our first swim of the summer, and my first time swimming with my children. Once we established that we weren't going to drown, we had a joyous happy time which put me in mind of this poem.

Use Mr. Linky to add the link to your Friday Poetry post; be sure to link to your post, not to your whole blog.

Then turn off your computer, put on your swimsuit, and go find your splashy place. If you can, arrange to take a water-child with you.

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Welcome June
We are a people ready for sun and light and blooming things. By Sun & Candlelight shares Robert Frost's "A Prayer in Spring" as Sherry at Semicolon posts, along with a gorgeous Klmit print, a hearty endorsement of all things June-ish: Knee-Deep in June by James Witcomb Riley.

CloudsCome at A Wrung Sponge shares three flower-scented haiku of her own making, each accompanied by her well-composed photographs. Becky at Farm School joins the giddiness that the warm weather has brought, posting O Sweet Spontaneous Earth by e. e. cummings.

Gregory K. posts an original as he rejoices in the end of the school year. I too am ready for summer

And days when I’m just lazybones
While eating melty ice cream cones

Children
Anne Levy at Book Buds reviews Poems in Black & White by Kate Miller whilst Susan at Chicken Spaghetti writes an informative post about the picture book "Dinner at the Panda Palace". I especially want to thank Miss Erin for posting At the Zoo by A. A. Milne as it has been too long since I had read it and I feel as if I was just handed a long lost friend, you know, the stuffed sort that a child sleeps with. MsMac adds a fun poem and an invitation to join MotherReader's 48 hour Challenge.

Birthdays
MaryLee celebrates John Masefield's birthday with a gorgeous poem (Sea Fever) and then continues to treat us with some letter poems that her students wrote.

In honor of Walt Whitman's recent birthday, Michele shares a O Captain! My Captain! and A noiseless patient spider and Kelly Fineman shares the A child said What is the grass? passage from Whitman's Song of Myself. I always learn from -- or am reminded of things forgotten by -- Kelly's posts. Thank you.

Interviews
Jules at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast shares an interview with Cecil Castellucci which includes an original Cecil poem. Elaine at Wild Rose Reader interviews Douglas Florian once again. I'm find it hard to describe these interview posts. They are too rich to capture in a word or two. Just go read them.

Housekeeping
Kelly at Big A, little a posts the utterly unpoetic hosting schedule for the month of June. Vivian, the HipWriterMama, is up for next week, June 8th.

Hard to Cubby (or I'm just getting too sleepy)
Bookbk and A Fuse #8 Production take us in a blink from puberty to perimenopause. Elaine at Blue Rose Girls also chose for us THE MONTH OF JUNE: 13 1/2 by Sharon Olds as did Hipwritermama (Vivian). I guess that THE MONTH OF JUNE: 13 1/2 is a poem that just wanted to be read today, appearing as threebie.

Alkelda the Gleeful shares a delicious poem about Caedmon of Whitby; I am consistently charmed and informed by her blog.

Kim from Hiraeth shares a Welsh poem (in both Welsh and English) about Caernarvon Castle. She even includes a pic.

John at The Book Mine Set joins Poetry Friday for the first time with a clever mashup poem of Al Purdy's "At The Quinte Hotel", Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" and e.e. cummings's "next to of course god america i": Border.

Ruth at Inspiring Readers & Writers joins Poetry Friday for the first time, sharing a great classroom poem, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR by Jeff Moss

David Whyte is a new poet for me, and I have Nancy (Journey Woman) to thank for sharing him with us. I also appreciate the links Nancy provided to make sure that I had easy access to more information. Thank you!

NYCTEACHER at Mentor Texts & More posts a useful and timely (for me) reminder about Letting Go.

Liz in Ink gleefully prepares to receive visitors from afar and finds Lucille Clifton's poem sisters just right.

Did you know that L. Frank Baum wrote poems? Somehow I had missed this. Katie at Pixiepalace shares Baum's baseball poem, Two Pictures, wherein he pens the fickle nature of fans.

Eva at Digital Changeling shares an original, which she describes as being one of her "slightly more poem-shaped pieces": Obscurity.

Rosemary at Seasonings of the Heart shares Frank Houghton's Road of My Desire.

Christine at The Simple and the Ordinary posts a swwisshy poem written by her daughter, Pippi and Little Willow charms us with an original and whimsical poem: Paper.

What kind of poetry roundup would this be without Shakespeare? Kimberly at lectitans makes sure we have enough (can we ever really have enough?) with selections from four Shakespearean plays.

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