Poetry Friday -- Perspective

 

photo via Unsplash

Perspective

All my life you've been a dipper.

Just this morning, though,

as I wondered whether you were telling me

to pour out

or scoop up

you changed into a giraffe

your long curved neck

reaching across galaxies

so you could nibble on the juicy gibbous moon.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2021

Obviously, that photo was not taken in Ohio, but it was the one I could find with the correct orientation of The Great Giraffe, as this constellation is now known (to me). 

The big ideas here are

    1. Look up

    2. Notice

    3. Wonder

    4. Be willing to think differently about everything you've been taught

Kat, at Kathryn Apel, has the Poetry Friday Roundup for this week.

    

When I Stepped Outside for My Early Morning Walk

When I Stepped Outside for My Early Morning Walk

I was met by the moon,
full and bright, hanging low.
Good morning, Moon, I said.
What do you know?
And Moon said, Glow.

Few will notice
fewer will care.
All the more reason to always be there
and glow.

Waxing is joyous
waning is real.
Whether a sliver or the whole wheel,
you glow.

Find some light
get in its way
reflect that light with beam or ray
and glow.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

A Tale of Two Beasts

A Tale of Two Beasts
by Fiona Roberton
Kane Miller, 2015
review copy provided by the publisher

I have a whole collection of books that have two stories that dovetail in the middle. This one is similar, but instead of dovetailing, it has two parts, each told from a different point of view.

In the first part, a little girl discovers a strange beast stuck in a tree in the forest. She rescues it, takes it home, feeds it, dresses it, walks it, and shares it with her friends. The minute she opens the window, the beast runs away. Later that night, when the little girl is lying awake in her bed trying to figure out where she went wrong, the beast comes back.

In part two, a small furry forest animal (maybe a squirrel?) tells the story of being "ambushed by a terrible beast!" This beast ties him up and carries him away to her lair where he is subjected to any number of indignities. Finally, when she opens the window, he is able to escape. Later that night, when he is hanging upside down from a tree in the forest, he realizes that there might be a reason to go back.

Same story, two different points of view. Is there one beast in this story, or are there two? Depends how you look at it!

A fun book for children of any age who are working to understand point of view.