Instructions: sit under a tree, listen. Listen again.

A poem for you to enjoy … let the words roll around in your mouth like candy … the images cause you to imagine … and smile.  Read this poem to someone.  Poems are for sharing.

“Instructions Found After the Flood”

Let the red fox quicken the seasons.
Let the zebra clatter and buck in the cage of his skin.
Leave the glass lagoons to the blue heron, whose eye is steady.
Let jungles whisper jaguar….

Let the worm explore the globe, his apple.
Let the spider embroider the air.
Let tongue and belly be called reptile.
Let the bat acrobats tumble till dawn.
Let the lowly slug pearl the footpaths…
Let the panther surround the quiet panic she has made.
Let the hippos squat and the antelope lope….

Let the turtle be….

Leave afternoons for music, the bees drilling in the lindens.
Let owls be your night lanterns, geese your compass,
Skunks your caution.

Thank you, J. Patrick Lewis, U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate 2011-2013, awarded the NCTE Excellence in Poetry.

May we create a safe place for all to exist, safe from extinction.

May we let ourselves rest in the stillness of poetry.