POETRY FRIDAY

Savor.

That's my word for 2012.

Savor the last few months with my almost 18-year-old

before he heads out into the world.

And with his brother, our resident

16-year-old expert (on everything!).

Savor the days with my

23 ten-year-old treasures.

Just savor.

DEAR HOT DOG, by Mordecai Gerstein is a perfect book, then, for 2012. I discovered the book when I was serving as a First Round Cybils judge. DEAR HOT DOG was selected as a finalist in our category, and fellow judge and Poetry Friday participant, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, from The Poem Farm, wrote a beautiful synopsis for the CYBILS website:

Full of gratitude, this collection renews a reader’s appreciation for the stuff we touch and use each day, stuff that just might have feelings of its own. From morning through evening, Gerstein speaks to and about humble things, elevating them through observation and questions. We come to see that autumn leaves are really wearing Halloween costumes and hear a toothbrush “gargling your little song.” A cup “puts a handle” on liquids and a hot dog is “snug as a puppy in your bready bun. For the first time, we wonder where light goes in the darkness.

By celebrating daily objects, this delightful tribute offers readers of all ages a way to see our own lives – with whimsy, wonder, and thankfulness for the small stuff of our own lives.

Here is the title poem:

HOT DOG

Dear hot dog,

snug as a puppy

in your bread bun,

I love you.

I squeeze the sunny

mustard

up and down

your ticklish tummy,

and cover you up

with relish and a blanket

of crimson ketchup.

You are so fragrant,

plump, and steamy.

I could

eat

you

up.

Mordecai Gerstein

(In the book it's really printed in two columns, the first ten lines on the left hand side, the last ten on the right, but I can't figure out how to make blogspot do that, my apologies to Mr. Gerstein).

I will be pairing this book with another favorite "savoring" book, dear world, by Takayo Noda.

Poetry Friday is at A Teaching Life. Thanks for hosting, Tara!

Savor the day!