Author of The Rundelstone of Oz, Merry Go Round in Oz, The Moorchild, etc.
Originally published in The Orbit, the 1931 yearbook of Classen High School, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Eloise Jarvis was a junior and a member of the school’s literary group The Goose Quill Club. This is her earliest known published creative writing.
Swaying and Waving,
And weaving in fantastic rhythm,
Trembling in the sudden laughter of the blue wind,
Cluster the reeds of the marsh;
Slim as silver swords,
Graceful as fingers of smoke,
Their roots clutching the slimy mud.
Loving the grasp of tiny bird feet of their length
For a brief, dipping second,
And snapping up again to watch white wings
Beat the air over the dimpled marsh pools;
Intimate with little brown frogs;
With jeweled dragon-flies and winged marsh-hawks.
Moving with rippling slimness and smiling gravity;
With gypsy dancing and love of the wind
And the creatures of their swamp;
With constant pointing to the stars,
And awe of the moon;
With wild, winning, wayward swaying
From day to summer day.
THE FORGETFUL POET
By Ruth Plumly Thompson
Originally published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, May 2, 1920.
Puzzle Corner
The farm implements and terms used in last week’s verses were: Hoe, rake, stock, pen, harrowing, patches and crops. The dear fellow wants to find out how many great people you know wee enough to call by their nicknames. How many can you recognize?
The Little Corporal
Old Hickory
The Bard of Avon
The Border Minstrel
Rough and Ready
The Great Commoner
The Quaker Poet
The Maid of Orleans
The Great Emancipator
Poor Richard
We shall have to give our history bump a jog I’m thinking to name some of these celebrities. And here besides is a verse containing several booky people.
Book People
I know a little giant girl,
Her name is -----.
And if you’ve read a certain book
Of travels you’ll know which
(One I mean).
I know a little book boy, too,
Quite cheerful, though he’s lame.
He’s in a book by Dickens. Now
You’ll surely know his name!
[Answers next time.]
Copyright © 2015 Eric Shanower and David Maxine. All rights reserved.
