Monday, April 30, 2018

"Between the Covers"


Between the Covers

Back in the day, summers meant adventure
not only astride pony and bike
but eyes and fingers waltzing pages,

arm-chairing sweltering afternoons
intoxicated with an artist's sleight of hand,
an author's conjuring

and just like that I'd Mary Poppins into each book,
not in lady-like fashion, feet first,
but cannon-ball style,

discipling into Aslan's world,
cow-girling Wyoming's Green Grasses,
sonneting a White Way of Delight

honeycombed within worlds
where characters became friends,
their words sandwiched within me,

nibbled on all these years,
nourishing, thrilling, sharing with my children
cocooned in a hammock come summer.

by Margaret Bednar, April 30, 2018

This is linked with "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - A Final in Verbs - Imagined by Brudberg" a challenge to turn nouns into verbs.

and NaPoWriMo 2018 (30 poems in 30 days)... I competed 29 - missed one day.

The books referred to in this poem are:

Narnia series
Green Grass of Wyoming series
Anne of Green Gables series

I invite you to listen to me read this poem (I have to re-record this as I made a few changes):


10 comments:

Jim said...

You did really well with making 'Bjorn' verbs. It read well, none sounded very contrived at all. My favorite:
"honeycombed within worlds
where characters became friends,
their words sandwiched within me,"
I have an affinity with chocolate covered honeycomb, our Sprout's Grocery sells it in bulk. I like the dark variety better but I have resisted for a couple of months now. We've both had busy schedules this spring. You did really well, working and all with the kids, and only missing one. I purposely postponed income tax and somehow stayed married. We are trying to get our prior residence back in order to try selling again. Neither AC unit worked, replacing the roof, and minor landscaping the most. Also I'm recovering from a very badly pulled hamstring muscle from an accident with the yard stuff. More too but TMI again.
..

Sanaa Rizvi said...

This is absolutely gorgeous to read and envision, Margaret!💜 I love the image "Mary Poppins into each book".. and oh "their words sandwiched within me".. Beautifully executed! Its been a pleasure writing alongside you this April 😍

brudberg said...

I really love this not only for the use of verbing but also how you describe the adventure of walking into a new book. Too many sees it as a passive thing, a following rather than taking part. This is what a good reader would know.

Kerry O'Connor said...

I'd Mary Poppins into each book..

That is just perfect. I love your book shelf pic - many of my favourites are there.

Anonymous said...

Beautifully narrated poem. Well done for April.

annell4 said...

I enjoyed your verbing, and your summers!! xoxo

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

Perfect new verbs for each of those book series!

purplepeninportland.com said...

Well done, Margaret! Some of my favorites:

eyes and fingers waltzing pages,

arm-chairing sweltering afternoons

sonneting a White Way of Delight

kaykuala said...

and just like that I'd Mary Poppins into each book,
not in lady-like fashion, feet first,
but cannon-ball style,

Great verbing, Marge! All of them! The above stanza is representative of all!

Hank

Amrit Sinha said...

There is nothing better than a book in a hammock :-)