Summer Fun, Travel & Vacations with A Garden Villanelle Poetry from Year of The Poet (Vol 18)
Featured in The Year of the Poet June, 2015 Volume 18.
Poetry & Brain Health: Rhythm and Cadence Helps Us Predict The Future
Reasons to read poetry to children …
“Rhythm and metrical regularities are fundamental properties of music and poetry — and all of those are used in the interaction between infants and their parents. Music and rhythm perception have been shown to support auditory and language skills. Overall, the present results support the view that rhythm is likely to create a template for future events, which allows auditory system to predict prospective input and thus facilitates language development.”
―Suppanen, E., et al. (2019). “Rhythmic structure facilitates learning from auditory input in newborn infants.” Infant Behav Dev 57: 101346.
My Natural Mind
In “every animal the capacity / to lose hold / from time to time” / chants Braitman in Animal Madness
There is a chameleon inside / colorful and cute / if you want me / to be / full to the skin of adaptability / a whirling world
I hold tight / to what is real
A totem bear / grasping sacred my own / defining my family / seen through wise eyes
A fox ready to run / or snarl and growl / if threatened yet / like the Little Prince’s / ready to be tamed / by those who mean / something to me
Ready to jump and play / a dolphin indulging in / the pleasures of life / circling bubbles / ready to dive in
An osprey willing to hope / for eternal love / near the water / high above the drama / swirling within / my mind
- Originally written for Tiferet Journal’s 2015 Poem-A-Thon
Summer Rain
Pierced by sunlight / summer rain / brings green leaves / red tomatoes / blue hydrangeas / a double rainbow / burning bright
Steady beats / soothing sounds / watering plants / driving us indoors / to games and books
Cooling the earth / slowing passage / emitting an earthy smell / soaked up by an unquenchable thirsty / to grow and learn
We cannot stop the summer rain / but choose how / to spend the time / while sky dances / with the land
Planting Seeds, A Garden Villanelle
Full of magic my hands hold a seed envelope / bringing to life the land around us / as with her I plan a future brimming with hope
Garden buds Jerusalem artichokes cantaloupe / we sit on the redwood swing and gently discuss / the magic my hands hold in a seed envelope
Children, bikes, blue hydrangeas swirling kaleidoscope / time and fresh space a plus / as with them I plan a future brimming with hope
A meditation labyrinth of rope / I chart a walnut tree at the center lush / full of magic my hands hold a seed envelope
Previous chapters closed once wrote / looking forward to the years of tasty nutritious nuts / as with her I plan a future brimming with hope
Hiking to the mailbox down the slope / enjoying birds aerial stunts / full of magic my hands hold a seed envelope / as with her I plan a future brimming with hope
Originally published in The Year of The Poet at http://www.innerchildpress.com/the-year-of-the-poet.php on June 1, 2015.
