Poetry Friday: A Hanukkah Poem

I don’t miss many Poetry Friday posts—but I was really spent last week after all my preparations for Thanksgiving dinner for a dozen people at my house. I am sure my overindulgence in rich foods and the sampling of too many calorie-laden desserts helped to bring on my overall feeling of lethargy last Friday—so I took a poetry vacation.

Since Hanukkah falls in early December this year, I thought I’d post a poem for the holiday that was written by one of my favorite children’s poets—Aileen Fisher

Light the Festive Candles
by Aileen Fisher
(For Hanukkah)

Light the first of eight tonight—
the farthest candle to the right.

Light the first and second, too,
when tomorrow's day is through.

Then light three, and then light four—
every dusk one candle more

Till all eight burn bright and high,
honoring a day gone by

Click here to read the rest of the poem.

Note: I found Fisher’s poem thanks to Lunchbox Poems, an online journal feature at the website of the Poetry Foundation. The article was written by two fabulous kidit bloggers—Julie Danielson and Eisha Prather of 7-Imp. I suggest all you poetry lovers head on over to the website and read their piece.

Quoting from Julie and Eisha: "Poetry can be a great way to connect with children. Why not, as Kenn Nesbitt suggests, slip some verses into your children’s lunchboxes to share a giggle or remind them that you’re thinking of them? To get you started, we’ve paired a few poems with momentous days of the school year."

In their article, Jules and Eisha include links to more than twenty poems that would be great for a parent to print and pack in a child’s lunchbox or bag. The poems would also be fine for sharing in an elementary classroom.


I have reviews of two Hanukkah books for children at Wild Rose Reader today: Hanukkah Lights: Holiday Poetry and I Have a Little Dreidel.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Two Writing Teachers today.