An Invitation Poem

Every winter my students and I explore a mini-unit on the poet Robert Frost.  We delve into three of his poems - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, The Road Not Taken, and a shorter, less known poem called The Pasture.  I've shared it here for you to enjoy:

I am going out to clean the pasture spring;

I'll only stop to rake the leaves away

(and wait to watch the water clear, I may):

I shan't be gone long - You come too.

I'm going out to fetch the little calf

That's standing by the mother.  It's so young,

It totters when she licks it with her tongue.

I shan't be gone long - You come too.

                    ~Robert Frost

After exploring this poem in depth, I ask the kids to write an "invitation" poem in the style of The Pasture, inviting the reader to come into their world and join them while they do something they enjoy.  The resulting poems are always so amazing.  Of course, I model the process by writing one of my own on the white board.  Having grown up in the desert of Tucson, I almost always choose to write a poem inviting the reader into that world.  On this quiet Sunday morning, I thought I'd share with you my most recent "invitation" poem about my beloved desert:

I hear the cactus wren call to its mate in the distance

The harsh "char char char" increasingly louder before a pause

The desert begins to awaken, to stir, to pulse with life

The Sun beats down and warms the rocks, the sand

Beckons the prickly pear and saguaro flowers to open and smile

Come explore the nooks and crannies of this magical place

           with me

I smell the creosote bush after a rare evening rain

That completely indescribable odor - sweet, clean, sharp

       that defines this desert

Quail scurry with their brood on their hunt for breakfast

and lizards emerge to do their push-ups and bask in the heat

Come explore the washes and gullies

           with me

I see the green arms of the ocotillo plant reaching toward the sky

  with its red blossoms punctuating the tips

While lower to the ground the cholla spread out, warning one to not

get too close to the long needles that seek a passing shoe or pant leg

The palo verde tree offers the only shade in this stark landscape

  under which sand rubies - small red gems - wait to be discovered

by anyone patient enough to stoop and let the sand sift through their fingers

Come explore

    come explore

          come explore the beautiful desert

                       with me

Enjoy your day!

Quote for the day:  Adopt the pace of nature:  her secret is patience.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson