What Shall I Pack in the Box Marked "Summer"?
A handful of wind that I caught with a kite
A firefly’s flame in the dark of the night
The green grass of June that I tasted with toes
The flowers I knew from the tip of my nose
The clink of ice cubes in pink lemonade
The fourth of July Independence parade!
The sizzle of hot dogs, the fizzle of coke
Some pickles and mustard and barbecue smoke
The print of my fist in the palm of my mitt,
As I watched for the batter to strike out or hit
The splash of the water, the top-to-toe cool
Of a stretch-and-kick trip through a blue swimming pool
The tangle of night songs that slipped through my screen
Of crickets and insects too small to be seen
The seed pods that formed on the flowers to say
That Summer was packing her treasures away.
by Bobbi Katz
from The Family Read-Aloud Holiday Treasury, selected by Alice Low
13 comments:
Mrs. Hunewell, we just finished reading this wonderful poem. In Writer's Workshop last week, we practiced adding sensory words and phrases into our writing about the Tunbridge Fair. Today we're trying that strategy again to write about what we would pack in our boxes marked summer. We especially loved finding the onomatopoeia words--sizzle, fizzle, and clink. Thank you for sharing your reading treasure with us. As soon as we finish writing, we'll be back to share some of it in more comments!
Miss Blessing's class in Vermont
What I Would Pack in My Box Marked Summer
By "Elsa"
Twelve gooey s’mores,
A scoop of sand from the seashore,
A piece of fluffy, white cloud
From the airplane to Colorado,
A hug from my cousin Juliana,
Who I’ve only seen once,
The crunch of grilled bread in my mouth,
Crunch!
The taste of frosting and lavender pearls
On the cake that my cousin and I made,
The clank, clank of my gramm’s old typewriter,
The rich chocolate wedding cake.
What I Would Pack in My Box Marked Summer
My Cute Finn
By "Trot-along"
You are so cute, my kitty, Finn!
I just love you so.
You are soft.
You are snuggly.
You are cuddly
When you sleep
With your head on my neck.
I love you, Finn!
You jump and land with a thump and a bang
On the counter to look,
To sniff,
To lick,
And sometimes to stick your nose into our dinner.
Summer and Sun
By "Frozen"
I will pack . . . . . . .
A lake and a dock to jump off,
A blooming flower,
A star from the midnight sky,
A mango smoothie,
A pond flowing to be seen,
A firework going BOOM
So people will be there soon,
Bright blue sky and a fluffy cloud,
A candied apple,
A beautiful, golden puppy,
And a book.
Fall is here! Hurry!
My Summer Box of Having Fun
By "Long Tall Sally"
I would put the nice summer breeze
And the warm summer sun in my box.
I would take only some nice, splashing ocean water.
I would take the fun times
With Autumn and Reed and Mia our cat.
I would take Camp Good News
With its archery and nature hiking.
I would be out in the pretty views
And going to Maine to get a house.
I would put in sleeping in a lot,
A lot!
I would put in my art.
I would put my ideas and my playing,
Doing firewood,
Getting up to have fun with Mia,
And having fun with Holley
Before Holley left for college.
I would put in when Jaelyn
Had a play date with us
And took care of us.
My Box of Summer
By "Gymnast"
What can I pack in my box of summer?
I can pack the deep bellow of the cow
On a happy Wisconsin farm,
The sound of the bang-bang-boom
Of the Indian festival for the beginning of summer,
An outdoor meal with corn on the cob,
Laughing and singing,
Silly songs,
Playing, and dancing.
This is what I want to pack
In my box of summer.
In My Box
By "Gulloona"
I would like to put in my box
Baby frogs
And a splash of pond water
From the boat that Reed splashed.
I would put in my box
Doing gymnastics,
Swimming in the pool,
Grilling outside,
And the smoky smell when we grilled
Zucchini, hot dogs, and hamburgers.
My Summertime
By "Olaf"
Splash, splash.
Here I go in the summer breeze.
I hear the splash of the cannonball.
The creamy ice cream
Makes me want to go to the ocean blue.
I do backflips, frontflips,
Daring dives.
Twist, turn of the cool pool.
Switching my blanket to electricity
To warm my bed,
I go to put my summer memories in my box.
What I Put in the Box Marked Summer
By "Muscles"
The hot beating of the sun,
The cold touch of the pool
Makes everything fun and cool!
A handful of wind
And a scoop of ice cream
Makes everything fun.
Going to Wendy’s and McDonalds,
Getting treats and gumballs
Makes everything FUN!
The sweet sound of birds singing,
The river in the morning
Just makes time fly.
The bide rides in the afternoon,
The smell of pine
Makes everything fine.
The clink of ice on lemonade,
The fan in the window,
The Fourth of July parade,
Hiking mountains,
Especially Mt. Lafayette
Was so, so fun!
The sunrise in the morning
That brightens up the sky,
The sweet smell of flowers,
The icky touch of slugs,
The chickadees singing at the evening sky,
The coyotes howling
That brightens up my day.
And that’s what I put in my box marked summer.
Summer Box
By Ginger
The tweet tweet of the robins,
A splash in the pool,
Do you wish you did that in summer too?
The screaming when you went down the slide,
The smell of burgers cooking inside,
The feeling of the water,
The feeling of covers on my in my cozy, cozy bed,
The pillow must have been happy,
To help me rest my head.
The sound of carrots--crunch, crunch,
The smell of cookies after dinner,
The splashing sound of pink lemonade,
The stepping sound of the parade,
Lick, lick on the ice cream in a cone,
Weeeeeeeeeeee, down the slide,
Hop, hop, hop on the steps,
A pole from the playground monkey bars.
That’s what I would pack in my box marked summer.
These comments are fabulous! You have all really captured the essence of summer in your writing! I love your use of sensory words - they made all the sights and sounds, smells and feelings of summer come rushing back to me as I read. Please ask Miss Blessing to let me know when these pieces are published to your blogs. I want to read them over and over! I'm so happy you liked this poem as much as I did! Thank you all for these comments!
Summer Box
By Darth Vader
I would put in my swimming pool,
So cold and chilly,
When my dad cooks some hot dogs,
So good and tasty.
The corn on the cob
And the smell of the smoke
Makes me hungry.
I would add the ice cream,
The swimming hole,
And when my friends come over to play.
We have sleepovers and stay up late.
We watch a movie and have Daddy time.
I would put in roasted hot dogs
And the smell of pine.
My grandparents come and play too.
We go on trips,
And pine trees pass by,
And cool breezes pass by.
I’d put in my box the plop-plop
Of a water gun fight.
That is so fun.
Plus my fort.
Goodbye, summer!
I hope fall will be so fun too.
I shared your post with a VT librarian I see at the pool for my Aqua Zumba class. We chat about books in the locker room. She had some teenage teaching assistants who made paper boxes with her students, and then they all put tiny papers in the boxes with their wonderful summer box ideas on them. Your sharing goes on and on.
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