Baby Rhymes

Poetry came to my heart 

when I held my first newborn on my lap

and began to read her rhymes.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear,

What do you see?

I see a Red Bird

Looking at me.

-Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle

She couldn't have understood 

the words but I felt her body fall still

and her breath go soft and smooth.

Catch me & Kiss me & Say it again

Set sail in a cockleshell boat. 

If no one fell out then who stayed in?

Catch me & Kiss me & Say it again!

-Catch Me & Kiss Me & Say It Again by Clyde and Wendy Watson

She tuned in with her whole self, 

watching my face, listening, listening

as I sang the words to her. 

One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry

Hatberry, shoeberry, in my canoeberry.

Under the bridge and over the dam,

Looking for berries, berries for jam.

-Jamberry by Bruce Degen

Soon there were toddlers with me,

dancing and singing and laughing with joy, 

bodies alive with the beats.

Each peach, pear, plum

I spy Tom Thumb.

Tom Thumb in the cupboard,

I spy Mother Hubbard. 

Mother Hubbard in the cellar,

I spy Cinderella. 

Cinderella on the stairs,

I spy the Three Bears.

-Each Peach, Pear, Plum by Janet and Allen Ahlberg

We read all kinds of stories.

Not every one featured rhythm and rhyme

but those we loved most of all.

Oh my goodness oh my dear

Sassafrass and ginger beer

Chocolate cake and apple punch

I’m too full to eat my lunch!

-Father Fox's Pennyrhymes by Clyde and Wendy Watson

The poems filled my soul too,

settling into my memory so 

I could sing them all day long. 

See the piggy, see the puddle

See the muddy little puddle

See the piggy in the middle

of the muddy little puddle.

See her dawdle, see her diddle

In the muddy, muddy middle.

See her waddle, plump and little

In the very merry middle. 

-The Piggy In The Puddle by Charlotte Pomerantz and James Marshall

In time, my daughters slowed down,

Again sitting still as I read to them

words rich in power and strength.

Kings in crimson, crowns all crystalline

Moving to the music of a single gong.

Watchers in the jungle, moist and mistalline,

Bibble-bubble-babbled to the bing-bang-bong!

-17 Kings and 42 Elephants by Margaret Many and Patricia MacCarthy

Frost, cummings, Whitman, and Yeats:

my girls now read and write their own poems.

But baby rhymes still bring joy.

Goodnight stars

Goodnight air

Goodnight noises everywhere. 

-Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd

* * * * *

A poet named Mary Jane, who is also my friend, invited me to write 

a poem a day for eight days in a row. Here I go!

For Myself

Baby Rhymes

Art Fair

Dear Dylan

Haiku On A December Afternoon

O Christmas Tree - 2020 Remix

Orange

Yellow

And one more for good measure:

Snowflakes Fall