I'm delighted to share the final three postcards I received in our wonderful January Postcard Exchange organized by the ever-generous Jone.
The first two came sauntering in with their caramel-colored cards and entertaining animals, bringing smiles I do not take for granted this month.
Many thanks to Penny for this fun poetic diversion (you can see the properly centered formatting in the picture.):
Dr. Goat
If my doctor were a goat
and if I had a sore throat
he'd ask if I would open wide
so he could take a look inside.
And, yes, of course I'd open wide
so he could take a look inside.
But if my doctor were a goat
looking down my sore throat
I definitely could not say, "AAAAAHHHH!"
Cause Dr. Goat deserves a "BBAAAAHHHH!"
©Penny Parker Klostermann. All rights reserved.
Penny shared the backstory on the reverse of the card: "Your postcard was inspired by one of my childhood picture books. I snapped a photo of a page and wrote my poem based on that. Enjoy!" I did! Thanks, Penny. Makes me miss the goats we used to have when we lived on a little farm.
The next two were haiku, as I enjoyed in the first two cards posted last week.
The text on the back of Mary Lee's adorable kitty picture reads:
desire
just our of reach
whiskers twitch
©Mary Lee Hahn. All rights reserved.
Ha! This one made me fondly remember my childhood cat, a "cameo" Persian with the same color coat as the mischievous meow-er in this photo. He was named O'Malley (Yes, after The Aristocats!) Many thanks, Mary Lee!
My last mailbox treasure was from Ramona, whose poem graces that beautiful snow scene above:
A snowy sabbath
A new year's soft beginning
Wintry white frosting
©Ramona Behnke. All rights reserved.
"No snow in a very long time in my part of the world," she wrote, "so this dusting of snow on New Year's Day was a special treat!"
Ramona also tucked in printed copies of the poems read at both of President Obama's inaugurations. I probably hadn't read or heard them since those occasions, and it was comforting to revisit the words. You can find Elizabeth Alexander's 2009 poem and Richard Blanco's 2013 poem at www.poets.org . Thank you, Ramona, for your lovely poem as well as these.
Borrowing from each of those inauguration poems (in order), I wish you a "Praise song for every hand-lettered sign, the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables" and "the unexpected songbird on your clothes line."
For more unexpected and welcome delights, visit Carol this week at Beyond Literacy Link. She always has wonderful surprises.
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