SOL 16/31 & Poetry Friday: A Moon Poem & Moon Books (Old & New)

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the March Slice of Life Story Challenge community.

Thanks to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lanny

 for hosting this meeting place each day in March

and for nurturing our writing lives.

Head over to Linda's blog, Teacher Dance, 

for this week's round-up of poetic goodness. 

She's hosting a spring fling this week.

Thanks, Linda, for hosting our gathering!

I keep trying to become a regular contributing member to Poetry Friday, a delightful group of bloggers who share poetry each Friday. I'm entranced with moon poems and moon books, an enchantment that I wrote about for Spiritual Journey First Thursday post and was followed up by sharing a newly discovered book of moon verse for Poetry Friday. Today I want to share a poem that I found by Walter de la Mare, "Full Moon."  It's a poem that I'd like to memorize so I can recite it to the grand boys.

Full Moon by Walter de la Mare

One night as Dick lay half asleep,
Into his drowsy eyes
A great still light began to creep
From out the silent skies.
It was the lovely moon's, for when
He raised his dreamy head,
Her surge of silver filled the pane
And streamed across his bed.
So, for a while, each gazed at each --
Dick and the solemn moon --
Till, climbing slowly on her way,
She vanished, and was gone.

I can't read this delightful poem without thinking of one of my all-time favorite picture books published in 1987, Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. That means it's more than thirty years old. I never tire of the poetic language in this book and the warm relationship between father and child.

When I was exploring moon book titles for my earlier post about the moon, I requested a new book published in 2017, When the Moon Comes by Paul Harbridge and illustrated by Matt James. It's the story of children who must wait for the arrival of a full moon in order to play hockey on the beaver flood. The illustrations in this book are breathtaking. I couldn't wait to share this title with my good friend, Coleen, who lives in Canada and has sons and grandsons who play hockey.

While I've never been owling in the woods or played hockey on a beaver flood, both of these books transport me to a place and time where I feel that I'm a participant. And one of the magical elements in each book is the moon, so important to each story that it almost becomes a character. If you don't know these books, stop now to request them from your library or order them from your indie bookstore.

I had already written this post before I saw Linda's spring fling invitation, so I'm including a pic of spring in the Northwest, snapped just this past week in our library parking lot.