Poetry Friday: Fireflies

As a Californian transplanted to the Midwest, I really struggle with the six months of cold and plant matter death. But there are some really great things about living in a four-season climate as well, like spring. Spring is glorious. And, fireflies. How can you top fireflies?

Today's Poetry Friday is in their honor.

Hundreds of Fireflies
by Brad Leithauser

Sky yet violet,
shadows collecting
under the trees

and first stars wan
as night birches, the fireflies
begin: from the first,

the night belongs
to them.

...

Merely
to watch, and say nothing,

gratefully,
is what is best, is
what we needed.
For we've seen

stars enough tonight
to hold us through a year
of city living--

To read the entire poem with correct line formation, head on over to PoetryFoundation.org.

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I'm up for the roundup, folks. Leave me your comments!
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Wow! I can tell this is going to be a busy PF. 18 comments by 10am CST. Let's get going...

More from the Collected Works of Susan Ramsey over at Fuse's place. Love these lines: "Your job will be/to name that big dog nudging at your hand,/prop your heels on the porch rail, and to watch/the fine pearl silt of happiness float down/into the crater blasted in your heart./When it is full, we'll go." Lovely!

Alkelda shares Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink..." over at Saints and Spinners.

Elaine has pulled together a real Poetry potpourri at Blue Rose Girls. (Fabulous links for the poetry fan.) Oh, and don't miss Elaine's post over at Wild Rose Reader. Today she shares spring poetry for the classroom and thoughts on teaching children to write their own spring poems.

Jules reviews Robin Cruise's Only You (illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine) at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, finding it a poetry for the eyes and the ears.

The Old Coot brings us Rudyard Kipling's "The Ballad of East and West." (Favorite poem from his favorite poet.)

Christine M. shares a wonderful (and hilarious) poem written by her daughter at The Simple and the Ordinary.

Barbara and I are psychic twins this week. She reviews Firefly Mountain, by Patricia Thomas (illustrated by Peter Sylvada), over at Cats and Jammers Studio.

Cloudscome shares Lucille Clifton's "blessing the boats" over at A Wrung Sponge.

Hey, Susan has posted a video! She's letting the Ben Folds Five talk the poetry with "Kate" over at Chicken Spaghetti.

Tricia celebrates new glasses with Justin Roberts' "Get Me Some Glasses" at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

Ms.Mac takes Poetry Friday to the beach at Check It Out with "At the Beach" by Kemal Ozer.

Don't miss the results of The Fire Escape's First Annual Bilbo Baggins Birthday Limerick Contest! (Thanks, Mitali, that was fun.) You know the winners so head on over and congratulate them.

Dawn celebrates spring and magnolia blossoms with Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 over at By Sun and Candlelight.

Adrienne shares a little William Blake and a childhood memory at What Adrienne Thinks About That.

MotherReader reviews A Writing Kind of Day: Poems for Young Poets, by Ralph Fletcher, and posts her favorite poem from the collection.

Myrtle Jane Chicken contributes an absolutely awesome original poem about proctoring the Iowa Test of Basic Skills at book, book, book. Not.To.Be.Missed.

Snow reviews A Wreath for Emmett Hill (by Marilyn Nelson, illustrated by Philippe Lardy) and Getting Away with Murder: the true story of the Emmett Till case (by Chris Crowe) at Kiddie Lit.

Michele rues the changeable English weather with Shelley's "The Cloud" over at Scholar's Blog.

And there's more...

Becky at Farm School is in with Edward Thomas (with a little help from Michele) at Farm School.

Monica talks concrete and animated poetry over at Educating Alice.

Katie shares a goblin poem over at Pixie Palace!

Suzanne contributes an introspective original at Adventures in Daily Living.

Gregory K. shares a hilarious "search fib" over at GottaBook.

Wendy supports MotherReader with a review of A Writing Kind of Day, by Ralph Fletcher, at Blog from the Windowsill.

And still more...

Kelly Fineman is in with two poems from Robert Herrick.

Liz Garton Scanlon talks memory, poetry, gods and goddesses over at Liz In Ink.

Mary Lee celebrates the end of testing with a little Harry Potter Hokey Pokey over at A Year of Reading. Goodbye testing week! Don't the the door hit you on the way out.

Miss Erin shares James Whitcomb Riley's "Little Orphant Annie" this week.

Marcie talks and quotes clerihews over at World of Words. Thanks, Marcie. I learned something new today!

Oh, no! Charlotte has posted Ogden Nash's "The Germ" in "honor of" a stomach bug suffered through this week at Charlotte's Library.

Liz B. shares an "awesome" radio show for children, now accessible via the internet, at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy.

Elizabeth of Frabjous Days is in with a little Monty Python ("The Four Yorshiremen").

Kimberely is in with more Catullus (her own translation!) at lectitans.

Little Willow shares Thomas Hardy's "A Confession to a Friend in Trouble" at Bildungsroman.

Keep 'em coming, folks!