POETRY PLACE

January Starts the Year

-Risa Jordan-

 

January, February, March, April, May.

The first five months are A-OK.

June, July, August, September,

How many summers can you remember?

October, November, December's the end,

Any month's a good time to make a new friend.

Fifty-two weeks or twelve months in a year,

As each month ends, a new one is here.

Winter and fall, summer and spring.

These are the seasons that each year brings.

The days in a year come to three hundred sixty-five.

Isn't it great to be alive?

Martin Luther King, Jr.

-Helen H. Moore-

 

Martin worked for justice.

Martin worked for peace.

Martin worked so people could be free.

Martin had a dream that someday

Children everywhere

Would live in freedom and equality.

Happy Chinese New Year

-Helen H. Moore-

 

"Gung Hay Fat Choy!

In China, every girl and boy

celebrates the New Year

in a very special way-

With fireworks and dragons,

colored red and gold-

They welcome in the new year

and chase away the old!

The Mitten Song

-Mary Louise Allen-

 

"Thumbs in the thumb-place,

Fingers all together!"

This is the song

we sing in mitten weather.

When it is cold,

It doesn't matter whether

Mittens are wool,

Or made of finest leather.

This is the song

We sing in mitten-weather:

"Thumbs in the thumb-place,

Fingers all together!"

Snow Words

-Helen H. Moore-

 

Snow jackets, snow boots

Snow pants, snow suits.

Snowflakes, snowstorm-

Snow is cold, but we feel warm.

Zero Degrees

-Betsy Franco-

 

Your cheeks,

your nose,

your fingers,

your toes

all feel it the most

when the temperature goes

to zero degrees

or something

below.

Snowman

-Helen H. Moore-

 

Snowflakes falling

thick and fast,

build a snowman

make him last...

 

Snowflakes falling,

swirling, slow,

my snowman melted-

where'd he go?

Penguins

-Helen H. Moore-

 

The penguins' habitat

is freezing-

You'll like it there

if you don't mind sneezing.

(I, myself, don't find it pleasing.)

Snow

-Lillie D. Chaffin-

 

Snow blows

In bunches.

Snow sparkles

And crunches.

 

Snow is clean and cold.

Snow is crisp, and yet

When it warms a little,

Snow is wet.

 

Any winter day, I know,

Is pleasanter when there is snow.

Snow Friends

-Betsy Franco-

 

I make a snow boy, and a girl.

They like the crispy, crunchy weather.

Their smiles are wide.

They raise their arms.

They're glad I made them close together.

 

But when the sunshine warms them up,

they melt and shrink,

their arms sag down.

There's really nothing I can do.

Their silly smiles turn to frowns.

 

"Don't worry now," I tell them both.

"'Cuz even if you melt away,

I'll build you both back up again

as soon as there's

a snowy day!"

Wrapped in a Quilt

-Betsy Franco-

There's no better place

than wrapped in a quilt

when the weather is blustery, flustery;

when the window is

covered with icy-cold lace

and you don't have to get up

and be anyplace.