19/30, Summertime Poem

We are a community of educators at various stages in our journey and are stronger because of it. This week, we welcome preservice teachers into the hosting role of #VerseLove.

Our Hosts: Abigail Hambrick, Betsy Matlock & Soshi Xiong

Soshi is a Senior at Oklahoma State University with a Secondary Education English Major. He currently resides in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He enjoys spending time with friends and taking long road trips across the country. He hopes to be able to teach overseas and would love to see the whole world if he gets the chance. 

Betsy is a Senior in the Secondary Education program at Oklahoma State University who also works full-time for OSU Athletics while completing her degree. Betsy lives in the middle of absolutely nowhere with her husband and small herd of animals containing a handful of horses, dogs, and cats. They love to travel and usually take the two smaller dogs with them if traveling “locally” within Oklahoma, though longer treks to Colorado are preferred each summer, specifically to the Pitkin area, nestled in a little valley of the Gunnison National Forest.  

Abigail is a Junior in the Secondary Education major at Oklahoma State University. She lives in the town of Stillwater, which is very different from the ranch she grew up on. She enjoys spending time with her boyfriend, dogs and their cat. They always have a trip planned for the summer in order to enjoy time away from Oklahoma and their stressful lives. 

Inspiration

Our inspiration for the poem comes from noticing that we all mentioned some sort of summer traveling in our bios. This is where our minds are at this point of the semester. We thought it would be fun for each of us to write a stanza and then combine them for a summer poem. Maybe in some way all of our/your poems today will bring summer sunshine sooner.

Summer seems to be a time where students have more freedom to live their lives without the worry of classes, due dates, exams, or major projects. After the year we’ve all had, there seems to be some comfort and solace knowing that we’re nearing the end of the semester and hopefully entering a time where we can relax and just enjoy life, taking time to enjoy our hobbies or not… Simply a time to do what we want.

The dreary winter weather can weigh down spirits, and summer seems to be a season that lifts that exhaustion from our souls. And during this week of April, Earth Day is near, so creating a summer poem earlier in the week might create a little continuity, especially with the local weather being so dreary this week here in the Stillwater, OK. Freeze warning, friends. 

Let’s take a bit of inspiration from Jacqueline Woodson’s poem “Firefly” — the sheer joy of summer and the bugs that come with it. 

It’s almost May
and yesterday
I saw a firefly.

You don’t see
them a lot
in the city.

Sometimes
in the park
in the near dark

one comes out
you’ll hear
a little kid shout

Lightning bug! Firefly!

It’s almost May
and yesterday
I caught a firefly in my hand.

First firefly I
seen in a
long, long time.

Make a wish,
Miss Edna said.
Make a good one.

Firefly wishes always come true.

Process

Free verse is appropriate for summer — a poem that isn’t bound by the limitations of rhyming or meters, thus providing the freeing sense of what summer feels like when it comes. 

To begin the poem, it was important to just think about what the word “summer” brought to our minds. What we saw, felt, remembered, or saw when we thought about summer. Did the word incite joy? Happiness? Giddiness, even? The poem became a way to express the feelings that came with the word – the feel of the unfrozen ground, the arm breeze; connecting with our senses. Since there were three of us working together, we thought we could each write our own stanza to create the one poem, explaining in each stanza what summer meant for us. 

Betsy: For the first stanza, when I thought of the word “summer,” I pictured my front yard and the bees and the grass and the breeze all circulating and soaking up the heat of the day. 

Abigail: For my part of the poem, I began by thinking back on the memories I have from summers past. It was important for me to think about how summer feels in my heart and not just outside. Were there certain memories that I could think back on to bring back feelings? What did the air feel like on my skin? Was it happy or sad? I was thinking of how it felt to spend my summers at home, surrounded by friends, family and the warmth that was around me and in my heart. 

Soshi: For this part, I tried to think about the “feelings” I get during summer and think about things I do once summer is upon us. So I thought of how everyone would yell and cheer about school being over. One of the major feelings I also wanted to touch on is the feeling of how quick summer goes by and how quickly your life gets back to a stress inducing state when you have to go back to work, school, etc. I specifically only mentioned the end of summer in my last sentence to show how quickly summer is over and how we sort of snap back into our daily lives. Also, I’d like to note, in case someone didn’t notice, that my stanza spells out “ENDING” to signify the end of summer and the poem. Not that creative, but I thought it’d be nice to add this small easter egg.

Our Poem(S)

Bare toes grabbing lush, green grass
Light, sweet breeze brushing past
Sun thaws the winter from our bones
Finally, the invigorating summer arrives and
The arrival is cause for celebration.

It brings a bright, hot period
The sun warms the ground with its rays
Come to push winter aside
It brings the children out to frolic and
Has families gather with jubilation.

Eha! Summer is here! A shout of excitement!
Now there is sunscreen everywhere, burns everywhere
Daily fun times, relaxation here we come
If I had the choice, the year would be here
Never ending stress free lives forever!…and it’s
Gone now, Snap back to reality and a year’s wait is to come

Your Turn

Follow Woodson’s lead to take us into a moment in your life today that may be a signal that summer is near, or take our lead by thinking about what “summer” means to you. Take us there, and let today be a day of summertime on Ethical ELA.