POETRY FRIDAY: Fireflies by Marilyn Kallet

Sorry I’ve been missing in action the past two Fridays. I was away on vacation at a beautiful waterfront house on Westport Island in Maine. Except for one rainy day—we had glorious weather. It was warm and dry. My daughter and her husband and two close friends came up for the weekend—and other friends joined us later in the week. We cooked and ate outside and chatted and laughed and enjoyed the view and the sound of lobster boats putt-putting around and put together jigsaw puzzles and played Scrabble and bocci. I also had an opportunity to do some reading and crossword puzzles. It was a relaxing and fun-filled vacation.

As we near the end of summer, I thought I’d post this lovely poem about fireflies and memories that I found at Ted Kooser’s site American Life in Poetry.

Fireflies
By Marilyn Kallet

In the dry summer field at nightfall,
fireflies rise like sparks.
Imagine the presence of ghosts
flickering, the ghosts of young friends,
your father nearest in the distance.
This time they carry no sorrow,
no remorse, their presence is so light.
Childhood comes to you,
memories of your street in lamplight,
holding those last moments before bed,...

You can read the rest of the poem here.

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At Wild Rose Reader, I have a post titled Going Back to School…with Poetry 2010. The post includes a brief review of and excerpts from Betsy Franco’s book MESSING AROUND ON THE MONKEY BARS AND OTHER SCHOOL POEMS FOR TWO VOICES—as well as links to my reviews of other school-themed poetry books and my original school-themed poems.


The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Book Aunt.