Poetry Jam: A Late Find

Tonight while Sis was doing my hair--she loves to see how many clips she can get into it!--I read her some poetry from a new favorite poet of mine, Naomi Shihab Nye, whose collection for girls, A Maze Me, arrived today.  Sis listened very quietly, which means she was absorbing it all.  

Even though poetry month is officially over, I find myself reading some everyday.

Here are three of our favorites from this evening:

Mystery

When I was two

I said to my mother

I don't like you, but I like  you.

She laughed a long time.

I will spend the rest of my life

trying to figure this out.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Life is a tangle of 

twisting paths.

Some short.

Some long.

There are dead ends.

And there are choices.

And wrong turns,

and detours,

and yield signs,

and instruction booklets,

and star maps,

and happiness,

and loneliness.

And friends.

And sisters.

And love.

And poetry.

Life is a maze.

You are a maze.

Amazed.

And amazing.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Feeling Wise

A lady was quoted in the newspaper.

"It is not so hard to feel wise.

Just think of something dumb you could say,

then don't say it."

I like her.

I would take her gingerbread

if I knew where her house was.

Julia Child the famous chef said,

"I never feel lonely in the kitchen.

Food is very friendly.

Just looking at a potato, I like

to pat it."

Staring down

makes you feel tall.

Staring into someone else's eyes

makes you feel not alone.

Staring out the window during school,

you become the future,

smooth and large.