When my boys were younger, I bought a lot of poetry books for them. One of our favorites is A Snowflake Fell: Poems About Winter by Laura Whipple. The book, unfortunately, is out of print. That’s a shame because the selection of poems is lyrical and interesting and the illustrations by Hatsuki Hori are so evocative of the soft light and shapes of winter.
My boys’ favorite poem is The Winter Tree by New York artist and poet Douglas Florian. I didn’t connect the poem the boys memorized with the poet until I was doing some background research on him and I realized that he periodically participates in Poetry Friday through his blog, Florian Cafe. How neat is it that the boys have memorized a poem by a fellow poetry Friday participant!
So, without further ado, The Winter Tree by Douglas Florian
The winter tree
Is fast asleep.
She dreams, in reams
Of snow knee-deep.
Of children climbing up her trunk,
Of white-tailed deer
And gray chipmunk,
Of picnics,
Hammocks,
And short sleeves,
And leaves
And leaves
And leaves
and leaves.
For more Poetry Friday, visit Violet Nesdoly’s blog.
Thank you for sharing this, Katya. Sweet illustration on the cover. The poem’s repeating final line works so well! It made me think of the quiet sweep of snow, right after fall.
I agree. Those repeating final lines are why we all love this poem.
Love this poem! Thanks for sharing, Katya. (Especially love those “reams of snow”!)
It’s great use of the word, isn’t it. I associate ‘reams’ with items that can be assembled and stacked in bulk like books or pens.
What a great poem to memorize! Love your photo — I envy you your snow.
We all love snow so we’re happy with as much as Mother Nature cares to dump on us.
Gorgeous poem! I too have sometimes been a little ‘star-struck’ when I realize who I am rubbing shoulders with here at Poetry Friday. I’m glad these talented, successfully published poets are ok to hang with us.
Getting to know professional and amateur poets and poetry-lovers through Poetry Friday has been the highlight of starting this blog.
Douglas really knows how to capture a moment. Beautiful. I like the photo, too – looks like you’ve got about as much snow as we do here in NH – which isn’t much, for this time of year!
Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten as much as the kids would like. The scouts didn’t get to build and sleep in winter shelters this year because it was too warm and there wasn’t enough snow.
I love the idea that the tree is dreaming. Beautiful poem.
I agree… I love how he extended the idea of a tree sleeping to a tree dreaming.
I love that your boys are loving poetry, Katya. What a gift to give to them! The poem is lovely. Florian makes me feel all kinds of feelings with his poetry-prolific & good! Thanks!
Me, too. I’m so glad to be raising a new generation of poetry lovers.