Today is Earth Day!

                                    Earth Day    by Jane Yolen

                                        I am the Earth

                                        And the Earth is me.

                                        Each blade of grass,

                                        Each honey tree,

                                        Each bit of mud,

                                        And stick and stone    

                                        Is blood and muscle,

                                        Skin and bone.

                                        And just as I

                                        Need every bit

                                        Of me to make

                                        My body fit,

                                        So Earth needs

                                        Grass and stone and tree

                                        And things that grow here

                                        Naturally.

                                        That’s why we

                                        Celebrate this day.

                                        That’s why across

                                        The world we say:

                                        As long as life,

                                        As dear, as free,

                                        I am the Earth

                                        And the Earth is me. 

Today is Earth Day

Earth Day

by Jane Yolen

I am the Earth

And the Earth is me.

Each blade of grass,

Each honey tree,

Each bit of mud,

And stick and stone

Is blood and muscle,

Skin and bone.

And just as I

Need every bit

Of me to make

My body fit,

So Earth needs

Grass and stone and tree

And things that grow here

Naturally.

That’s why we

Celebrate this day.

That’s why across

The world we say: 

As long as life,

As dear, as free,

I am the Earth

And the Earth is me. 

From The Three Bears Holiday Rhyme Book. Copyright © 1995 by Jane Yolen.

A Poem for Earth Day

Remember 

by Joy Harjo

Remember the sky that you were born under,

know each of the star’s stories.

Remember the moon, know who she is.

Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the

strongest point of time. Remember sundown

and the giving away to night.

Remember your birth, how your mother struggled

to give you form and breath. You are evidence of

her life, and her mother’s, and hers.

Remember your father. He is your life, also.

Remember the earth whose skin you are:

red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth

brown earth, we are earth.

Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their

tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,

listen to them. They are alive poems.

Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the

origin of this universe.

Remember you are all people and all people

are you.

Remember you are this universe and this

universe is you.

Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.

Remember language comes from this.

Remember the dance language is, that life is.

Remember.

 

Joy Harjo was appointed the new United States poet laureate in 2019. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1951, Harjo is a member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation. She is the author of several books of poetry, including An American Sunrise, which is forthcoming from W. W. Norton in 2019, and Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (W. W. Norton, 2015). She is a current Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Funny Friday - Earth Day

            Frazz                                                                                      by Jef Mallett

(originally published on April 21, 2008)