Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Ayuh to Z Challenge - G

There's a squirrel distracting me this morning.  He's taking corn off the cob we threw out there a couple of days ago, and he's burying each kernel on our lawn or in the woods.  You know they never find them again, don't you?  I think we'll have a garden this year, thanks to Rocky.  Yesterday we watched a lone turkey out there, two days ago it was five deer.  The osprey returned on the 4th and 5th (one each day).  It must be spring! 
Slight revision - 13 turkeys keep appearing out of the woods to peck around on the lawn today, then disappear to reappear later like it's all brand new territory.  Maybe they are digging up the kernels of corn.
Wow!  And 7 deer with tails straight up, white torches, just now blazed through the woods in back of the house!  This is a great place to sit!  Oh, no!  All the big ones passed about three minutes ago, and now here comes a little one, a fawn, all by itself picking its way slowly through the woods.  At least it appears to be headed in the right direction.
There's not a G word in this...Goodness!  See below if you want to get inundated with the letter G.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My theme: Book Titles A to Z written by Maine authors,
and a poem for that title each day for the month of April.  The poem is not about the book, but is written with the title as inspiration!
Today there were four good titles, so I've used all four in one poem!

Welcome to G!

G is for 
Grandma’s Secret Letter
by Maggie Davis
A Garden of Whales
by Maggie Davis
A Gift from the Sea
by Kate Banks
Gossamer
by Lois Lowry

I am not sure of the title to this.  I think it's the first - "Grandma's Secret Letter".  I've used all four titles in this poem.

Grandma’s Secret Letter A Garden of Whales A Gift from the Sea

Gossamer

the day my ocean grandma died
mom handed me a brown package tied
with gossamer ribbons
“grandma said it was
her secret letter for you,
valerie”
mom put the package
in my hands
i gently untied its featherlight bands
and unwrapped the brown paper
there inside
rested
in the paper
nested
a little gold heart with a V
and a book
my small hands shook
as I read the title
“a gift from the sea”
with shells all named
and fish of all sorts
swimming across the page
and a handwritten note
above the fish
on a boat
in its sails
it said “look for
a garden of whales”
turning more
i saw whales galore
whales and more whales
swimming together
not whales of a feather
but a big ocean garden
of none of the same
red letters hand-traced
in each name
BOWHEAD - PILOT - BELUGA
HUMPBACK - GREY - MINKE - ORCA
“granddaughter, please,
unscramble these”
said a note written on
the sea
“use this for a V
mom whispered to me
as she pointed to
the gold heart.
OILUYEO
i wrote them down
and messed them around
until grandma’s secret
letter revealed
I LOE YOU!
“foreer and eer
Grandma ~
i will loe you,
too!”

©Donna JT Smith, 2014
Grandma's Secret Letter by Maggie Davis
A child's secret letter from Grandma tells her get to her grandmother's house, and tells her of the elves, ghosts, witches, and dragons she will meet along the way.
Maggie Davis lives in East Blue Hill, writing and publishing books for children and adults.

A Garden of Whales by Maggie Davis
A young boy is concerned with how the whales are disappearing from the earth.  He  imagines how the whales could be saved.
Maggie Davis lives in East Blue Hill with her husband. She founded her own publishing company, Heartsong Books, in 1993. She's published books for children and adults.
A Garden of Whales

A Gift from the Sea by Kate Banks (Banks, Katherine)
A boy finds a rock on the beach. As he looks at it in his hand, he doesn't realize the story of that rock and how it as come to be where it is.  But he does know that it is a gift from the sea. 
Katherine Anne (Kate) Banks was born and grew up in Maine, and now lives in France. She has written many books for children and young adults.
A Gift from the Sea

Gossamer by Lois Lowry
Gossamer is about dream makers who gather memories from the things in our home, and then give them to us in our dreams. But it is also about how the boy in the story, in foster care, is dealing with the affects of an alcoholic, abusive father.  So that puts it in the upper ages for kid's books, probably middle school.
Lois Lowry's family was in the military and she became a military wife, so she has lived in different places all over the world. She lives in Cambridge, MA and in Maine. She attended Brown University and received her degree from the University of Southern Maine.



This post was brought to you by the letter G!

G-r-r-r-eat!

See you tomorrow H!

17 comments:

  1. Note to self: must visit Maine at earliest opportunity.

    My crit partner lives in and writes about Maine also. Reading your blog and hers makes me realize that Maine is a whole 'nuther world from the Midwest! No ocean for one thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Maine is a different world. It is hard to keep it that way, but we try. I lived in the Midwest for a while. Cried most of the first year missing my ocean. But I came to love the Wisconsin-Minnesota-Mississippi River area immensely. Every place has its good stuff!

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  2. Since I am a grandmother, like you, this touches my heart, Donna. What a lovely story poem you've crafted. And you keep adding to my book list, too! Didn't know that Lois Lowry lived in Maine, nor do I know this book.Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. It didn't bother me while I was writing it. It was hard to get started, but once I did, it just came out. However, JUST NOW, reading it brought tears to my eyes. What's up with that? I think it was the first time I read it - I was "taking dictation" from my brain before, I guess.

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  3. Your poem is so sweet! I just love the ending. It made my heart swell. :)

    A Garden of Whales looks like a neat book!

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    1. I'm happy you enjoyed the poem -
      and yes "A Garden of Whales" is beautiful. I thumbed through it, not my copy. Many of these I wanted to read again or for the first time later, after the poem. I didn't want to get distracted by the story by reading it right before writing!

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  4. It was your comments about your garden that struck a chord with me. My daughter gets deer, squirrels and wild turkeys on her Michigan property. No ospreys though, just herons visit her lake. I have to make do wth photographing them when we visit from England.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love watching the wildlife here. We have very large windows, so sometimes I feel like a part of the herd as we stand in the kitchen or livingroom "with them". Before a couple of houses were built in their feeding area, we had moose peek in our windows, too.

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  5. We have squirrels too but I keep calling them chipmunks because it sounds funnier. Nice post and thanks for visiting mine. Aloha!

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    Replies
    1. Chipmunks are more plentiful in this particular area we are in. I enjoy the squirrels so much more.

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  6. So much wildlife to watch, awesome!
    What a sweet poem. You are so talented with poetry.

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    Replies
    1. It was a busy day out there! I sat here too long!

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  7. i adore your poetry and love your book choices!!

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    Replies
    1. Hey, Lynn! Nice to see you! I have to get back in the habit of stopping by your blog. It was fun reading today.

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  8. ohhhh "Gossamer" sounds interesting.. Should see if i can get a copy of that somewhere! :D

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  9. Thanks for the book choices and for the poetry. You are talented. Thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a nice comment. Thanks for wishing my grandson well with his gymnastic pursuits.

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  10. Okay, I do feel inundated by G now :)

    Love that poem!

    Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2014, My Latest post

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

    ReplyDelete

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