Looking Up

The treehouse in our backyard is impressive. Whenever children visit, they want to climb the rope ladder and enter that tiny house in the branches. Lately, older children have visited, kids who climbed up to it in their earlier years, and they express surprise at how small it looks now. Still, I do ascend every so often, just for perspective.

In Dana Jensen's book A Meal of the Stars, he examines the ups and downs of experiences, objects, and thoughts in ingenious vertical poems. I love the idea. I love reading them in the direction they take (like from the bottom to the top when a ladybug ascends a dandelion stem). I look forward to sharing the book with students in the fall and with teachers and librarians at a children's literature workshop next Monday. I just had to try one for myself...

below
scene
the
share
to
friends
for
enthusiasm
eager
yields
edge
the
over
stepping
and
ladder
rope
frayed
fearfully
the
climbing
carefully