Poet Aileen Fisher: living close to nature and writing for the child you used to be.

Welcome to Poetry Friday, hosted this week at READING TO THE CORE. Here you will find an interesting quote by Flannery O’Connor and a few engaging haiku. Thank you!

The place to begin learning about children’s poet Aileen Fisher(1906-2002) is Renée LaTulippe’s video library at her website No Water River. Here you will find Renée’s interview with Lee Bennett Hopkins about Fisher, the recipient of the 1978 NCTE award for children’t poetry. She authored over 100 books for children.

Aileen Fisher lived close to nature, was someone who would not have had to alter one bit her lifestyle in the face to our global warming crisis. She preferred being home and didn’t fly. For part of her life she lived in a cabin near Flagstaff Arizona with no electricity. She grew her own vegetables. She chose trousers over dresses and was an avid hiker and dog walker, an outdoors woman, always observing nature, the inspiration for so much of her poetry. She was modest, eschewing public recognition and declined traveling even to attend the ceremony, where she received the 1978 NCTE award for children’t poetry.

I began with the 2002 anthology of her work, I HEARD A BLUEBIRD SING, edited by Bernice Cullinan and illustrated by Jennifer Emery. It is a collection of her poems chosen by children. She wrote about nature and also friendship, family and the seasons. Here’s one about our planet:

THE SPINNING EARTH (First and third stanzas) 

The earth, they say,
spins round and round.
It does't look it
from the ground,
and never makes a spinning sound.

And houses don't go whirling by,
or puppies swirl around the sky,
or robins spin instead of fly. 

As a child, I remember wondering how the earth could be traveling so fast, yet everything around me appear calm. She did too, apparently.

She wrote about pets. You will notice that her poems are rich with sounds and images:

MY CAT (One of two stanzas)

My cat rubs my leg
and starts to purr
with a soft little rumble,
a soft little Whirr,
as if she had motors
inside of her.

And another humorous one:

CAT BATH (The last two of four stanzas)

I watch and I think
it's better by far
to splash in a tub
with soap in a bar

And washcloth in hand
and towel on the rung
than to have to do all
the work BY TONGUE.

Indeed! A child would enjoy imagining that..

Why am I presenting poems about cats? I chose that topic because my son has a new addition to his household, a cat named Marshmallow. He’s a city cat and quite beautiful. I believe Aileen Fisher might feel a twinge of sadness that he rarely gets to go outdoors.

So, for this week’s Poetry Friday, I came up with this:

A CONVERSATION WITH MARSHMALLOW

What is it like
to be a posh city cat?
Is it possible you actually
prefer life like that? 

Which mouse do you play with,
which stuffed little prey?
Do you enjoy mischief
or snoozing away?

And do you feel lonely
at home the whole day?
If you could tell me
what would you say?

© Janice Scully 2020

Aileen Fisher said, “Poetry is a rhythmical piece of writing that leaves the reader feeling that life is richer than before.” Lee Bennett Hopkins tell us that she wrote for the child that she used to be. If her inner child liked a poem, she figured her audience would too. In her opinion, to write for kids, “You really don’t have to grow up.”

Thank you, Aileen Fisher!