Hey You! Have a poem!

Hey You! Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitoes, and Other Fun Things
Selected by Paul B. Janeczko
HarperCollins, 2007

Hey You! Is a collection of poems of address. That’s how Paul Janeczko referred to them when he spoke about this book this summer at Hollins. Each poem is speaking to something. For example, there are poems written to dust, sneakers, mosquitoes, a maggot on an apple, the moon, and more. Poets the likes of George Ella Lyon, J. Patrick Lewis, X.J. Kennedy, Douglas Florian, Karla Kuskin, Nikki Grimes, Kristine O’Connell George, and Naomi Shihab Nye all have poems featured in this collection.

In celebration of the poem of address, I wrote a poem in the spirit of the season.

Pale Pumpkin
You lie in wait
in a desolate field
only a few of you left.
The orange fellows are all gone.
But you,
the lone white pumpkin,
still remain,
waiting to be cut from your vine,
adopted by a family
who will proudly put you on display.

You are exactly what I’ve been looking for,
A gourd like no other---

Come light up on my porch.

--Marcie Flinchum Atkins