Laura Purdie Salas

Small Reads for Brighters Days

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Laura’s Books
  • Poetry
    • Poems Published Elsewhere
    • My Poetry–a Sampler
    • Poetry Videos
    • How To Write Poetry
      • Poetic Pursuits
  • For Teachers
  • Presentations
  • Freelancer
  • About
    • Press Kit
      • Short Bios
      • Awards & Honors
      • Author Photos
      • Book Covers
      • Book Reviews
      • In the Press
    • Who Am I?
    • How I Became a Writer
  • Blog
    • Review Policy
  • For Writers
You are here: Home / Poems for Teachers / Poetry Friday: Jane Kenyon Went to My Pool?

Poetry Friday: Jane Kenyon Went to My Pool?

May 28, 2010 By Laura

 
Langford Hotel postcard.
I started reading Jane Kenyon: Collected Poems recently, and was shocked when part of one of the poems described a landmark of my childhood, The Langford Hotel, in Winter Park, Florida.

My family had a membership to the pool, and my dad put on pool/diving shows there, sometimes including my sisters (I took diving lessons when I was older, after the shows had stopped). My sisters tell me that when I was less than a year old, Dad would toss me into the pool as part of the show to wow the crowd with the swimming baby.

Some of my best and worst childhood moments happened there. I still blush about an incident when I was about nine that involved a cute lifeguard, my underwear that had fallen out of my tote bag, and a general announcement: “Is anyone missing these?” And my mom piping up, “Laura, aren’t those yours?” Uh, thanks, Mom.

I spent so many weekend days there it felt like home. And there was this little area, cool and shady, full of tropical animals in a miniature zoo. I spent hours, alone and with friends, on those stone walkways surrounded by mossy trees and screeching monkeys. It was dark and dank and beautiful.

Kenyon’s poem, Cages, which begins, “Driving to Winter Park in March,” brought it rushing back. Here’s part 2.

By the pool, here at the hotel,
animals in cages to amuse us:
monkeys, peacocks, a pair of black swans,
rabbits, parrots, cockatoos,
flamingoes holding themselves on one leg,
perfectly still, as if they loathed
touching the ground.

The black swan floats
in three inches of foul water,
its bright bill thrust under its wing.

And the monkeys: one of them
reaches through the cage
and grabs for my pen, as if
he had finally decided to write a letter
long overdue.

And one lies in the lap of another.
They look like Mary and Jesus
in the Pieta, one searching for fleas
or lice on the other, for succour
on the body of the other–
some particle of comfort, some
consolation for being in this life.

–Jane Kenyon, all rights reserved (from her collection Colors)

The Poetry Friday Roundup is with Tricia (of wonderful Poetry Stretch Mondays) at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

Tagged With: poems, Poetry Friday, teen/adult poems

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Related

« Quotation Motivation: Lost at Sea
Poetry Friday: Poems of Hope and Fear by Young Authors »

SEPTEMBER NEWS

Whee! It's fall, the time of fresh starts. I'm busy working with a web designer to redesign my site--yikes. That's a big project. But I started off the month with a family visit in Florida, which was great. Now I'm prepping for a fall-themed storytime at the South St. Paul Library on Sep. 26 at 10:30 a.m. Hope you can come! Click the image below for details!

Are You Looking For…?

  • Poems for the Classroom
  • Poetryactions
  • 15 Words or Less Poems
  • Poetry Activities for Teachers

Tags

15 Words or Less Poems 30 Painless Classroom Poems anthologies A Rock Can Be... bookalikes BookSpeak! Can Be... books classroom connections conferences and conventions equation poems free verse haiku imagepoems Kidlit Combos Laura's books Laura's poems my writing process National Poetry Month 2012 (haiku a day) National Poetry Month 2014 (riddle-ku) National Poetry Month 2016 National Poetry Month 2017 (#wonderbreak) national poetry month 2018 (haiku a day) National Poetry Month 2020 National Poetry Month 2021 (#EquationPoem) national poetry month 2022 (sticky-note poems) National Poetry Month 2023 (Digging for Poems) nifty news nonfiction books personal photopoetry poems poemsketch Poetry 7 poetryactions poetry books Poetry Friday Poetry Princesses poetry prompts poetry sisters Putrid rhyming nonfiction rhyming poems Rock the Blog school visits snowman-cold

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2009–2023 · Laura Purdie Salas · WordPress · Log in