Resisting the Urge: Reading Goodnight Moon
Reading Goodnight Moon
is not like stopping
at McDonald's
for your favorite double-shot latte.
You don't drive through Goodnight Moon.
You take each word
in a languishing slide off the tongue,
naming what is named
that you never saw before.
Looking, finding, pointing delighted
in the room the moon the light
the red balloon that lifts
Darkness even as sleep
falls fast
and clock's hands change
What you see changing
before a child's eyes.
If you slow long enough
to take in what your child sees
with eyes that
Refuse to be moved
to a new page before the
first page is exhausted
The last page you turn
holds the dream you
thought would never last:
A snuggling close closer closest still
beneath moon's shadows.
Copyright 2009 Maureen E. Doallas. All Rights Reserved.
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7 comments:
Oh - beautiful. One of my favorite books, and you have captured it beautifully in this piece.
I loved "You don't drive through Good Night Moon."
And altogether, what a delight! :)
i will go again
but not through good night moon
for now it is finding a new moon
a new way to be close
seeing through
and into
the eyes of a tween
"Refuse to be moved
to a new page before the
first page is exhausted"
Oh, children have a way of putting the breaks on us with Goodnight Moon. That's for sure. Thank you for a delightful aftenroon break!
Loved this... oh I remember falling asleep before my little ones when reading those books.
And then like you said, realizing that the slowing into the moments was the point.
Oh how I love Goodnight Moon! I had seen another blogger writing about slowing down. She titled her post "Hush," and it got my mind thinking about Goodnight Moon and the old lady whispering "hush." So I wrote a Goodnight Moon post of my own before seeing your poem!
Fortunately, L.L. pointed me over here, to your lovely tribute, a journey deeper into the book...a call to linger.
Do you know I've actually had people tell me they can't stand Goodnight Moon?
It bores them, they say. (!)
I wonder now if they are high-speed families who have a hard time slowing?
Ahhhh--
a lovely reminder of days gone by...
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