Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Amaized - My Poem Writing Year #125




Corny Paths
Photo by Amy LV




We live nestled between two farm fields, and each year we wonder what the farmers will decide to plant.  It's important for them to change crops from year to year as this keeps the soil healthy.  Well, this year we have corn on both sides, and everyone loves rustling between the stalks, finding secret open areas, and getting lost in a very safe way.  It's such fun to watch the field go from rows of tiny shoots to tall stalks.  And I love hearing my children repeat the folk poem, "Knee high by the fourth of July!"  We always predict whether it will be so, and usually...it is.

The format of this poem comes from an anonymous poem that I have tucked in a notebook somewhere.  While I forgot the title, I remember the poem:

Read        see         that          me.
up             will         I                love
and           you         love        you
down        and         you         and

If you like quirky poets that closely observe our world and sketch it too, you will love author and illustrator James Stevenson's  poetry books with the word 'corn' in their titles.  These short poems are genius in their brevity, humor, and insight.  And Stevenson's illustrations are full of zest and sensitivity.

 
Didn't Stevenson have the neatest idea to name this series of books after different types of corn?  If you don't own any of these yet, do yourself a favor and splurge.

(Please click on COMMENTS below to share a thought.)
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5 comments:

  1. RaihanahMMAugust 3, 2010 at 8:26 PM

    Oooooo
    this one i really like!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looking for the Write WordsAugust 3, 2010 at 11:38 PM

    Great fun - quirky little poems like this. Great photo too! One of these years I need to try one of those corn mazes. Speaking of corn, we have had some tasty, sweet, pop-off-the-cob corn recently. The next best thing is corn salsa made with the leftovers. Corn Salsa sounds like a possible title.

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  3. AnonymousAugust 4, 2010 at 8:12 PM

    You inspired me!
    I wish I had a pair of wings
    to fly me anywhere
    I'd flutter off and the spend the day flitting here and there

    I'd visit with the goldfinch
    and perch upon an oak
    I'd fly above the city
    amazing all the folk
    who gather on the sidewalk to watch me flutter by
    If I had wings, I'm sure
    I'd be a happy butterfly!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amy L VAugust 4, 2010 at 10:38 PM

    Riahanah & Theresa,
    Thank you so much! And Theresa, I wish you could send corn salsa through the internet. That sounds fabulous.
    A.
    -------------------

    Mary Alice,
    What a lovely lovely poem! I like those goldfinch and oak and flitter-flutter-visit language. And the end is a fun surprise. Thank you so much for sharing it with me! (I think that I would like wings too.) This made my evening - many thanks for taking the time. Fly to bed!
    A.

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  5. Michelle Heidenrich BarnesMarch 8, 2014 at 5:47 AM

    I just came from Jama's quirky poetry post, and now yours-- you can never have enough quirkiness as far as I'm concerned. Love "Amaized"-- so so clever!

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