Friday, June 15, 2018

Poetry Friday -- Fireflies





If You Catch a Firefly
by Lillian Moore

If you catch a firefly
          and keep it in a jar
You may find that
          you have lost
A tiny star.

If you let it go then,
          back into the night,
You may see it
          once again
Star bright.


Want to learn more about fireflies? Click here.
I've featured fireflies for Poetry Friday two other times!

I didn't grow up with fireflies.
Did you?
Do you have them where you live now?
Do you call them fireflies or lightning bugs?


Karen has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Karen Edmisten*.


16 comments:

  1. I say "lightning bugs" first. :) And I blogged about fireflies earlier this week, with a look at the middle grade novel TINY INFINITIES, which features fireflies (and friendship and....). Thank you, Mary Lee! xo

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  2. When I was little, we called them "lightning bugs." We lived in the country, and the night was filled with tiny lights. Now, I live in a development, and I miss seeing them.

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  3. I have never encountered fireflies. I would love to interact with them!

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  4. What a sweet poem! I didn't grow up with fireflies but do see them occasionally now.

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  5. I grew up with them, and we had to visit family in Missouri for my own kids to see them. Lovely poem, Mary Lee.

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  6. As a little girl, I chased these around my grandmother's backyard in Chicago every summer. I wonder why they don't live in Colorado.

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  7. Oh, my comment disappeared, but lightning bugs is what we called them growing up in OK. We don't see them in WA, but the most beautiful display I ever saw was an entire field on fire with light once when we visited KS. I wanted to get out and dance with them!

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  8. I know them as fireflies and grew up with them–always fascinated by them and I still am, as is my daughter. Thanks for your flurry of firefly poems Mary Lee!

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  9. Oh, your post evoked such happy memories! I grew up with lightning bugs, though we also called them fireflies. Such amazing creatures! I still thrill when I see them.

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  10. Lilian Moore is one of my favorite children's poets!

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  11. What a sweet poem! I don't remember when I first saw fireflies. I think I was older or an adult, not a child.

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  12. One of my favorites from Lillian Moore!

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  13. What a fun firefly poem! I seem to switch back and forth between fireflies and lightning bugs, depending on the mood. I'm not even sure which phrase comes from where I am now (Indiana) or where I grew up (North Carolina). Anyway, I have many fond memories of chasing fireflies, putting them in jars and letting them go.

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  14. I wonder if the firefly/ lightning bug is a northern/southern thing? I live in the south and we called them lightning bugs. I hadn't seen one in years due to the mosquito spraying that kills them, but just last night sitting on the porch at my parents' house in Mississippi, I saw them. Little flashes that remind me of childhood and family and happy evenings.

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  15. I grew up with lightning bugs, but over the years it seems I've run into more people/books referring to them as fireflies. Now I'm not certain what to call them! (Of course, there are worse dilemmas to be faced with! Like, is it a dragonfly or a darning needle?)

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  16. I only see fireflies very rarely here in Minnesota. This is such a great poem--I love Lilian Moore. Have you read Rebecca Kai Dotlich's beautiful poem about fireflies, too? Sigh. They are just magical...

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