Moments like the one above don’t come along very frequently – the first time Lola smelled a rose – she seemed to like it! Today I was on RadioBlogging.net, and I read the poem below, all about fleeting moments, moments that are special and wonderful for a number of reasons, but which you cannot keep, bottle, retain… except in memory. And possibly, sometimes, if you are lucky, in a photo! I’m at 18:20 on the link if you only want to hear me reading the poem below, with an interview a little while afterwards.
If you haven’t come across Radioblogging.net then would encourage you to listen to the link above in its entirety – a wonderful daily show (from 9:30 am) full of interactive activities to keep everyone busy and engaged, with Pie Corbett, Deputy Mitchell, Ian Rockey and Russell Prue. It’s aimed at families and schools, it’s interactive, and children’s writing can be published during and after the show. It’s brilliant!
Here’s the poem – to be published in a new book coming out next year by Otter-Barry:
Things You Cannot Keep
The softness of the lemon in a primrose
the nodding of a bluebell from a bee
the silence in the gaps of a bird’s song
the library of the creatures in a tree
the plumping of a plum in the sunshine
the crazy path an ant left in the grass
the warmth of a hug and its safety –
the moment when the sky darks for the stars.
© Liz Brownlee
You could write your own poem about things you cannot keep – there were some great suggestions on the radioblogging show, such as Hannah’s line, ‘your breath on a winter’s morning’, Onora’s line, ‘the shine of a rainbow in a the sky’, Lydia’s line ‘the white-pink blossom from an apple tree’, and Coco’s, ‘the crackle of rice krispies on my tongue’!
Don’t forget you can send me poems you have written, and maybe you’ll see them on this blog!
Poetry Roundabout 