Sea Turtle (Monday Poem)

 by Nicola Davies

It was a flat, calm day, and we floated

on water at least nine thousand feet deep

and two days sail to any land.

A turtle, smaller than a soup bowl,

passed us by. It swam on and on,

and disappeared from sight.

From horizon to horizon,

there was nothing but the sea

and that small turtle,

steering its straight, sure course.

from A First Book of the Sea by Nicola Davies

Candlewick Press, 2018

Sargasso (Monday Poem)

 by Nicola Davies

The Sargasso is a sea without a shore:

a giant whirl of water,

caught by swirling currents.

You'll know you are there

when floating weed surrounds you.

Yellow-gold and green, it tangles

in the waves and sunlight,

full of life!

from A First Book of the Sea by Nicola Davies

Candlewick Press, 2018

Picking Blueberries (Monday Poem)

 by Mary Oliver

Once, in summer,

in the blueberries,

I fell asleep, and woke

when a deer stumbled against me.

I guess

she was so busy with her own happiness

she had grown careless

and was just wandering along

listening

to the wind as she leaned down

to lip up the sweetness.

So, there we were

with nothing between us

but a few leaves, and the wind's

glossy voice

shouting instructions.

The deer

backed away finally

and flung up her white tail

and went floating off toward the trees--

but the moment before she did that

was so wide and deep

it has lasted to this day;

I have only to think of her--

the flower of her amazement

and the stalled breath of her curiosity,

and even the damp touch of her solicitude

before she took flight--

to be absent again from this world

and alive, again, in another,

for thirty years

sleepy and amazed,

rising out of the rough weeds,

listening and looking,.

Beautiful girl,

where are you?

from Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver, by Mary Oliver

Penguin Random House, 2017

People (Monday Poem)

 by Charlotte Zolotow

Some people talk and talk

and never say a thing.

Some people look at you

and birds begin to sing.

Some people laugh and laugh

and yet you want to cry.

Some people touch your hand

and music fills the sky.

from Poetry by Heart: A Child's Book of Poems to Remember

compiled by Liz Attenborough, Scholastic, 2001

The Snakes (Monday Poem)

 by Mary Oliver

I once saw two snakes,

northern racers,

hurrying through the woods,

their bodies

like two black whips

lifting and dashing forward;

in perfect concert

they held their heads high

and swam forward

on their sleek bellies;

under the trees,

through vines, branches,

over stones,

through fields of flowers,

they traveled

like a matched team

like a dance

like a love affair.

from Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver, by Mary Oliver

Penguin Random House, 2017