Roses are Red...

"If you are a dreamer come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer...
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!"

This is the first page of "Where the sidewalk ends" one of my all time favourite children's books, by Shel Silverstein. I can remember one of my elementary school teachers reading us passages from it every day and now I do the same with my daughter. He has written many other wonderful books, including "The Light in the attic" "Falling up" and "The Giving Tree", which is also in my Top 10.

This is a book filled with poetry and pictures that are both funny and profound.

did you know April was National Poetry month?
Nope, me neither.

But my home day care provider, my personal photographer, my very good friend Jodi, she did.

She has her own blog, where she plans to post a poem each day, to celebrate National Poetry Month. She also plans to discuss poetry with her kids in the daycare, something I think my 5 year old will be very excited about.

On her blog she is calling for submissions - asking anyone and everyone to post THEIR favourite poems, to provide her with a variety of ideas to use in this theme in her daycare. You don't have to know her to participate - just go to her blog, click on "leave a comment" and post a poem you love. You don't have to give an explanation, your name, how you found her blog, anything...although I'm sure she'd love it if you did.
It's a social experiment of sorts...to see who is willing to participate, and where great ideas will come from, so please, help a girl out :)
While you're there, you can check out her amazing photography skills - all the pics on her blog are her own.


As for me, I'm sticking with Shel Silverstein for today, but plan to add more to her blog over the month... here are a few of my other faves from "Where the Sidewalk Ends"...

Colors

My skin is kinda brownish
Pinkish yellowish white.
My eyes are greyish blueish green,
But I'm told they look orange in the night.
My hair is reddish blondish brown,
But it's silver when it's wet.
and all the colors I am inside
haven't been invented yet.

Listen to the Mustn'ts

Listen to the MUSTN'TS child,
Listen to the DONT'S.
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS.
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me -
Anything can happen child,
ANYTHING can be.



No Difference

Small as a peanut
Big as a Giant
we're all the same size
when we turn off the light.

Rich as a sultan
Poor as a mite
We're all worth the same
when we turn off the light.

Red Black or orange
llow or white
We all look the same
when we turn off the light.

so maybe the way
to make everything right
is for God to reach out
and just turn off the light!

Sick
'I cannot go to school today,
'Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
'I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more-that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut-my eyes are blue-
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke-
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is-what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is...Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play! '

Where the Sidewalk ends
There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

Now, go visit Jodi's blog...you'll be glad you did.