Childhood Memories
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Children’s Poetry, Part 3 Capturing Wonder, Igniting Hope
Dear Seized Readers,
Magic is in the air this morning. It’s July, and yet, the bright and breezy weather in central North Carolina suggests spring. The birds are warbling in the silver maple. Hummingbirds—iridescent fairy-like creatures—shimmer in the sunlight, helicopter to our backyard feeders. One bobs in the air above me and must believe I’m a huge flower since I’m dressed in salmon pink!
I’m floating like the hummingbird, light and carefree. This is an atypical attitude for me, and likely for you too, I’m guessing, especially if you’re an adult in charge of running a household, paying bills, and taking care of your family in a myriad of ways.
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When we enter adulthood, we forfeit our leisure. We become weighed down by our responsibilities as well as the tragedies we see continually occurring in our world. It’s easy to lose our sense of wonder that we enjoyed as children. Reading and writing children’s poetry provides a return route into the magic of childhood.
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I wanted my adult daughter to feel that magic again. So, I wrote the poem, “Make a Wish” for her while she was teaching in Nara, Japan during 2020. Due to COVID, this proved to be a challenging time for her to be so far away. My poem sought to lift her heart by reminding her of sweet childhood memories.
Claire as a little girl was captivated by the world. She was fascinated by everything around her, from hunting sticks to magic leaves, and she eagerly anticipated summer when she could play all day with her friends, splash in the pool, and celebrate her birthday.
As you read “Make a Wish,” consider how I address my daughter, and in so doing, strive to make this poem direct and tender.
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Make a Wish for Claire Remember how/ you would pucker your lips,/ blow through the wand,/ softly,/ so as not to break the bubble,/ watch the rainbow sphere/ float into sky,/ and pump your chest/ fiercely/ as you gathered the air/ in your lungs/ to extinguish each lit birthday candle?/ Consider this day,/ soft or hard—/ as each day can be—/ a new wish,/ a fresh beginning./ Bring/ every bird of hope/ to the top of your lungs./ See the flock/ soar/ from your breath/ into/ morning light./ Diana Ewell Engel
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Images of Hope and Happiness
One of the joys of writing an intentionally hope-spirited poem is how this process can ignite hope within us and make us feel lighter.
In writing “Make a Wish,” I brought to mind images of my daughter when she was young. I remembered how she loved blowing bubbles in our front yard and watching as the rainbow globes floated into the sky. This is how I began this poem. I enlivened my poem by making it active and placing Claire directly in the moment puckering, blowing bubbles, and watching the bubbles, extinguishing her birthday candles. Notice how the poem begins with a question. When we start a piece of writing by asking a question, we can hook the reader’s interest.
As I thought about my daughter blowing bubbles, I was led to my memories of Claire blowing out her birthday candles every June. Her breath became an image of her power.
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As we write, our beginning images can lead to crowning images, the cruxes of our poems. In “Make a Wish,” the crowning image becomes my daughter’s power to breathe and to imagine a good day beginning.
As I thought about the air and sky, I visualized a flock of birds. The flock is a metaphor for her hopeful thoughts rising from her lungs and into the light while she exhales.
You may wonder why I italicized certain words in this poem. I did this for emphasis. I wanted Claire and other readers to see clearly these contrasting ideas of soft and fierce or hard, to understand that each of us has the power to be soft or fierce, and each day can be this way too.
Gather Your Memories, Gather Your Images
In Poetry Everywhere, Jack Collom writes that “poetry … is what people may write (say) when their sense of discovery is working well.” Because the world is new to them, young children are masters at discovery.
To write a poem about the wonder we experienced in our childhood or in the childhood of our children or grandchildren, we must rediscover this time. How do we do this? Memories provide the portal. Taking the time to daydream can unlock our childhood memories, help us reflect decades back to when we pretended to perhaps be knights and princesses, built forts in the woods, swung on grapevines, or had imaginary friends.
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As I’ve suggested in a previous post, photos are a helpful tool in the rediscovery process. The cliché, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” is true! We may come across a photo or video of ourselves, a sibling, or friend that transports us back to an experience. Suddenly, we’re in that moment, reliving that time and we’re seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching the world that surrounded us. These are sensory images that will bring our poems to life.
Remember the helpful and simple free-writing process. Once you’ve identified the moment you wish to write about, open your writing notebook and have at it! Write down everything you remember about that unique experience. Don’t let your pen leave the page. Just write. Don’t worry about the quality of your writing. Simply get it down.
Then, go back and circle any arresting images. These will serve as springboards for writing your poems.
Share your poems and favorite children’s poetry in the Comments section.
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Make Your Poem A Gift
Each time we sit down to write, we are giving ourselves a gift. We learn about ourselves, gradually grow our vocabularies and writing skills, experience the pleasure of creating something uniquely ours.
We can also give our poems as gifts to others. Just as I gave my daughter my poem about her, you can choose to give the poem you write to someone who shared your experience. Should you write about a child in your life, you may decide to give your poem to that friend or family member.
Today’s Book Pick
Photo by Diana Ewell Engel
Poetry Everywhere: Teaching Poetry Writing in School and in the Community by Jack Collom & Sheryl Noethe, T&W books, 2007. This guide is perfect for discovering the fun of writing verse, from acrostics to recipe poems. While it’s oriented to those teaching and leading poetry writing workshops, this book will broaden your knowledge about delightful poems you can write and help you access your playfully creative side. This is a treasure trove which includes a few poems by famous poets and many original and stunning poems by kids of all ages.
What’s Coming
From whirring lawnmowers to droning cicadas, the season of summer delivers many sounds to our ears. In the next post, we will explore the vivid onomatopoeia and delightful rhythms created in children’s verse.
Until then, enjoy the sensory pleasures of summer!