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Sports and Outdoor Activities

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  • Poem

    Knoxville, Tennessee

    By Nikki Giovanni
    I always like summer
    best
    you can eat fresh corn
    from daddy's garden
    and okra
    and greens
    and cabbage
    and lots of
    barbecue
    and buttermilk
    and homemade ice-cream
    at the church picnic

    and listen to
    gospel music
    outside
    at the church
    homecoming
    and you go to the mountains with
    your grandmother
    and go barefooted
    and be warm
    all the time
    not only...
  • Poem

    poetry-magazine

    The Summer You Learned to Swim

    By Michael Simms
    The summer you learned to swim
    was the summer I learned to be at peace with myself.
    In May you were afraid to put your face in the water
    but by August, I was standing in the pool once more
    when you dove in,...
  • Poem

    poetry-magazine

    My Rock

    By Pat Mora
              Summer’s ending.

    I sit on my desert rock, listen
              to the world’s hum.
                       Crows and ravens caw,
    finches and sparrows chirp. A dog barks.

       ...
  • Poem

    Gathering Leaves

    By Robert Frost
    Spades take up leaves
    No better than spoons,
    And bags full of leaves
    Are light as balloons.
     
    I make a great noise
    Of rustling all day
    Like rabbit and deer
    Running away.
     
    But the mountains I raise
    Elude my embrace,
    Flowing over my arms
    And into my face.
     
    I may load and...
  • Poem

    Recess! Oh, Recess!

    By Darren Sardelli
    Recess! Oh, Recess!
    We love you! You rule!
    You keep us away
    from the teachers in school.
    Your swings are refreshing.
    Your slides are the best.
    You give us a break
    from a really hard test.
     
    Recess! Oh, Recess!
    We want you to know,
    you’re sweeter than syrup,
    you’re special like...
  • Poem

    To Catch a Fish

    By Eloise Greenfield
    It takes more than a wish
    to catch a fish
    you take the hook
    you add the bait
    you concentrate
    and then you wait
    you wait     you wait
    but not a bite
    the fish don’t have
    an appetite
    so tell them what
    good bait you’ve got
    and how your bait
    can...
  • Poem

    Nature Knows Its Math

    By Joan Bransfield Graham
    Divide
    the year
    into seasons,
    four,
    subtract
    the snow then
    add
    some more
    green,
    a bud,
    a breeze,
    a whispering
    behind
    the trees,
    and here
    beneath the
    rain-scrubbed
    sky
    orange poppies
    multiply.
  • Poem

    The Lake Isle of Innisfree

    By William Butler Yeats
    I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
    And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
    Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
    And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

    And I shall have some...
  • Poem

    Casey at the Bat

    By Ernest Lawrence Thayer
    The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
    The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play.
    And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
    A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of...
  • Poem

    poetry-magazine

    Trees

    By Joyce Kilmer
    I think that I shall never see
    A poem lovely as a tree.

    A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
    Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

    A tree that looks at God all day,
    And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

    A tree that may in...
  • Poem

    Dust of Snow

    By Robert Frost
    The way a crow
    Shook down on me
    The dust of snow
    From a hemlock tree

    Has given my heart
    A change of mood
    And saved some part
    Of a day I had rued.
  • Poem

    The Road Not Taken

    By Robert Frost
    Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
    And sorry I could not travel both
    And be one traveler, long I stood
    And looked down one as far as I could
    To where it bent in the undergrowth;

    Then took the other, as just as fair,
    And...
  • Poem

    The Ball Poem

    By John Berryman
    What is the boy now, who has lost his ball.
    What, what is he to do? I saw it go
    Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then
    Merrily over—there it is in the water!
    No use to say 'O there are other balls':
    An ultimate...
  • Poem

    A Bird, came down the Walk - (359)

    By Emily Dickinson
    A Bird, came down the Walk - 
    He did not know I saw -
    He bit an Angle Worm in halves
    And ate the fellow, raw, 
     
    And then, he drank a Dew
    From a convenient Grass -
    And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
    To let a...
  • Poem

    Blackberry-Picking

    By Seamus Heaney
    Late August, given heavy rain and sun
    For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
    At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
    Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
    You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
    Like thickened wine: summer's...
  • Poem

    [in Just-]

    By E. E. Cummings
    in Just-
    spring          when the world is mud-
    luscious the little
    lame balloonman

    whistles          far          and wee

    and eddieandbill come
    running from marbles and
    piracies and it's
    spring

    when the world is puddle-wonderful

    the queer
    old...
  • Poem

    To an Athlete Dying Young

    By A. E. Housman
    The time you won your town the race
    We chaired you through the market-place;
    Man and boy stood cheering by,
    And home we brought you shoulder-high.

    Today, the road all runners come,
    Shoulder-high we bring you home,
    And set you at your threshold down,
    Townsman of a...
  • Poem

    Barrel Racer

    By Nancy Bo Flood
    The bleachers are packed full.
    Everyone’s watching.
    What if I fall?
    What if my time is too slow?
    One more rider, then
    me.
     
    "Next rider up!"
    I click my tongue,
    push my boots hard in the stirrups,
    heels down.
    My hands are sweaty,
    but I hold the reins right.
    Ready, girl.
    Ride!
     
    I bust...
  • Poem

    Taking One for the Team

    By Sara Holbrook
    We practiced together,
    sweat and stained.
    We pummeled each other
    and laughed off pain.
    Teams may disagree,
    may tease,
    may blame.
    Teams may bicker and whine,
    but get down for the game.

    You had my back.
    We fought the fight.
    And though our score
    was less last night,
    we're walking tall.
    Our team came...
  • Poem

    Cookie

    By David L. Harrison
    Tonight's your lucky night, boys.
    Look what I fixed for you!
    Stood all day in the burning sun
    to make this son-of-a-gun stew.

    Longhorn steaks two inches thick,
    dig in while they're hot.
    The coffee'll keep you up all night,
    belly up to the pot.

    You know your...
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