Sahalie Falls
Splashes dampen spring green moss
Singing river lava cliffs
Always moving never rest
Rushing river rolling home
Otter, dipper, chipmunk too
Play beside the river blue
Softly floating rainbow mist
Rushing river rolling home
Laughing dancing waterfall
Surrounded by the trees so tall
Alder maple cedar fir
Rushing river rolling home.
--Sahalie Pittman, Age 10, Lane County Oregon
PARTNER POEM
Some Things, Say the Wise Ones
Some things, say the wise ones who know everything,
are not living. I say,
you live your life your way and leave me alone.
I have talked with the faint clouds in the sky when they
are afraid of being left behind; I have said, Hurry, hurry!
and they have said: thank you, we are hurrying.
About cows, and starfish, and roses, there is no
argument. They die, after all.
But water is a question, so many living things in it,
but what is it, itself, living or not? Oh, gleaming
generosity, how can they write you out?
As I think this I am sitting on the sand beside
the harbor. I am holding in my hand
small pieces of granite, pyrite, schist.
Each one, just now, so thoroughly asleep.
--Mary Oliver
ASK THE POEMS: “Sahalie Falls” and “Some Things, Say the Wise Ones”
1. In your world, how is water moved by everything surrounding it? Does it enjoy changing directions, or is it something to grumble about? 2. If I jumped into your water, how would my life be different and how would it be the same?? 3. How do you speak to the water? Has it taught you a different language? 4. In your world, how do things change immediately and over time as water touches them? 5. What makes water feel so generous or inviting to you?
YOUR TURN: What poem or story will you write?
See Details
|
