Poetry Friday: Bat Poems, A Milestone Birthday, and Final Call for Ekphrastic Nature Poetry Submissions

I’m pleased to host Poetry Friday this week! If you want to know more about what Poetry Friday is, check this post by author Renee M. Tulipee.

When I realized I’d be the host on the Friday before Halloween, I immediately turned to my Jack Prelutsky poetry book entitled, It’s Halloween (1977). This book is a treasure as it belonged to my late mother and her classroom library. Prelutsky is my favorite children’s poet.

But, as I paged through the poems didn’t find one that I could build a theme around for today’s post. So I started to brainstorm and came up with the subject of bats.

This week is International Bat Week <<<<<<< click for more info!

Why bats you might wonder?

Earlier this year, I presented to 75 first-grade students on bats for a local school’s environmental day. It was my first time presenting on bats and I learned so much in preparing for the day.

We need bats! They are important to us for insect control and pollination of several popular foods like bananas.

I am presenting to a first-grade class on bats. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2023

Then, I went searching for bat poems and found several. I’m sharing them with you today. You might recognize the authors’ names.

Bat
BY D. H. LAWRENCE

At evening, sitting on this terrace,
When the sun from the west, beyond Pisa, beyond the mountains of Carrara
Departs, and the world is taken by surprise ...

When the tired flower of Florence is in gloom beneath the glowing
Brown hills surrounding ...

When under the arches of the Ponte Vecchio
A green light enters against stream, flush from the west,
Against the current of obscure Arno ...

Look up, and you see things flying
Between the day and the night;
Swallows with spools of dark thread sewing the shadows together.

A circle swoop, and a quick parabola under the bridge arches
Where light pushes through;
A sudden turning upon itself of a thing in the air.
A dip to the water.

And you think:
"The swallows are flying so late!"

Swallows?

Dark air-life looping
Yet missing the pure loop ...
A twitch, a twitter, an elastic shudder in flight
And serrated wings against the sky,
Like a glove, a black glove thrown up at the light,
And falling back.

Never swallows!
Bats!
The swallows are gone.

At a wavering instant the swallows gave way to bats
By the Ponte Vecchio ...
Changing guard.

Bats, and an uneasy creeping in one's scalp
As the bats swoop overhead!
Flying madly.

Pipistrello!
Black piper on an infinitesimal pipe.
Little lumps that fly in air and have voices indefinite, wildly vindictive;

Wings like bits of umbrella.

Bats!

Creatures that hang themselves up like an old rag, to sleep;
And disgustingly upside down.

Hanging upside down like rows of disgusting old rags
And grinning in their sleep.
Bats!

In China the bat is symbol for happiness.

Not for me!

D. H. Lawrence, "Bat" from Birds, Beasts and Flowers: Poems. London: Martin Secker, 1923. Public Domain.

Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44574/bat

The Little Brown Bat

  by: Edith Matilda Thomas (1854-1925)

Quoth the little brown bat: “I rise with the owl–
Wisest and best of the feathered fowl;
Let other folks rise, if they will, with the lark,
And be early and bright–I am early and dark!”

Quoth the little brown bat: “I’m awake and up,
When the night-moth sips from the lily’s white cup;
While the firefly lanterns are searching the sky,
I am glancing about, with fiery eye!”

Read the rest, here.

I put the information I presented about bats into a QR code and attached the code to a bat for each student to take home. It was a way that a young student could share information about bats with their families. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2023.

There is another poem about bats by Theodore Roethke, © 1938, which can be found here.

Bats can be scary to young children and even adults.

At Halloween, bats seem to make a reappearance in decorations. In addition, there is a lot of misinformation floating around (excuse the pun) about bats. One of my aims as an environmental educator is to offer up-to-date, correct information to our communities. This was certainly the objective of my bat presentation. My hope was that some of the children would go home appreciating bats, not fearing them.

Next year, I hope to incorporate a writing component to my bat presentation, if I can work with an older age group.

This week, give bats some thought.

Read up on them in the link I provided early in the post

Spiral staircase in a Maine lighthouse. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2023.

Moving On…

This week was also important to me as I celebrated my 60th birthday on Monday! I’ve had many blessings in my life, not the least of which is my husband of 36 years and our three boys (ahem, young men). It is a milestone for sure to have lived so well and happy.

Ekphrastic Nature Poetry Submissions Soon To Close

And lastly, I am making one more announcement about the ekphrastic nature poetry book submissions. Submissions close on November 1st. There remains a tiny bit of time left to submit if you so desire.

https://theapplesinmyorchard.com/ekphrastic-anthology-submissions/

Thank you to those who have submitted. I am pleased with the variety of poetry and photos I’ve received. If you’ve recently submitted, I will be in touch soon with the status of your submission(s). Thank you, all, for your support and interest in this project!

Spooky Moon Rise on October 3, 2018 © Carol Labuzzetta, 2023.

I wish you all a safe and Happy Halloween! Thanks for visiting this Poetry Friday! Please leave your link on Mr. Linky and comment on today’s blog! Thank you!

54 thoughts

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  2. Thanks so much for hosting this week, Carol, and for the submission reminder.
    What a great program you put together! Thanks for the batty goodness and the poems. (I couldn’t get the Roethke link to work, btw.) As part of an annual Literacy Week in Georgia I’ve been involved with for many years, I’ve been hanging out with fellow presenter Brian Lies (among other great folks) this week. He’s a Caldecott-Honor winning author-illustrator and all-around wonderful human, and he has a delightful series of bat picture books. :0) http://www.brianlies.com/

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    1. Robin, Thanks for stopping by! And thanks for the heads up about the Roethke link. I fixed it – I think! 🙂 I will definitely check out Brian’s picture books on bats. I’ll add them to a list that I give out to the children to take home after my presentations (anything to keep them reading.) I am sure your efforts with literacy in Georgia are rewarding! Thanks for being involved in that effort!

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  3. Thanks so much for all the great bat-related poetry, Carol. They really are fascinating creatures. Thanks also for hosting this week. I hope to submit to your anthology this weekend–so another thank you for that opportunity!

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  5. I’ve gone batty in a good way. Such a fun and interesting post, Carol! Bats are fascinating creatures and your post is just right for Halloween. Happy Belated Birthday, and thanks so much for hosting this week. 🙂

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  6. Carol, I found the link to the Bat poem by Theodore Roethke https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/poetry-180/all-poems/item/poetry-180-012/the-bat/. The ending line was interesting. I can imagine how exciting your presentation was for the young students. Thanks for hosting and providing options to submit poems and photos for your special anthology. Have a Happy Halloween. Your role as an environmentalist specialist sounds fascinating.

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  7. Pingback: Poetry Friday–Poem Prompt, Holiday Prep, & Inktober… | Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, & Writing

  9. Thanks for this terrific post Carol, I’m a fan of bats and included them in a picture book I wrote and illustrated-though haven’t found a publisher for it yet… Love all the poems here especially Edith Matilda Thomas’, and now I’d like to read more of her poetry. Happy Belated Birthday! I’m hoping to get a poem to you soon–thanks for hosting!

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  10. Thank you for such a rich and rewarding post! Happy Birthday to you. We are so fortunate that you are an environmental educator. I’m in this week with a catch-up on my national conference…and tonight I’m prepping slides for my session at the next conference next week. Thanks so much for hosting!

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  11. First, happy birthday! Woohoo, milestones are the best. I love the Bat poem by none other than D. H. Lawrence (one of my favorites as a teen). Bats a so fascinating. I’m subbing tomorrow so I must wear my bat earrings.

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  14. Carol, enjoyed the battery of information and poetry regarding bats. It’s important to take kids on a learning journey through the natural world and you did this. Love the way you linked new learning to the home environment, further empowering these young learners. Happy Birthday to you! Thank you also for hosting.

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  15. I love watching bats fly around in the evenings, Carol, and love your poems, especially the new look by Roethke & becoming ‘old rags’. We can observe them closely in a zoo exhibit, so cool. Thanks for hosting and hope it’s been a special birthday with lots of celebrating!

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  16. Happy birthday, Carol! Thanks for hosting! I like “Dark air-life looping” in the first poem. I interviewed a bat keeper from a zoo once — fascinating! She thought they were very misunderstood and underrated.

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  17. Happy Birthday, Carol! Thank you for hosting and for sharing this interesting information on bats. Sadly, we have seen fewer and fewer bats in our area over the last several years. (Though one did fly into our house last summer! Luckily, when we opened the door and laid low, it let itself out!) They are fascinating creatures. Your work educating children about their role in the ecosystem is so important!

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  22. Happy birthday, Carol! Thank you for sharing this great bat celebration…I look forward to sharing the poems with our scientist daughter who has done some bat research. Congratulations on your forthcoming book, and happy continued fall! Thank you for hosting. xo, a.

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  24. Pingback: Poetry Friday: Phillis Wheatley Golden Shovel | Reflections on the Teche

  25. I remember bats vividly from living on Okinawa–I was afraid of them then (and one even pooped on me as it flew over.) Now I know what remarkable creatures they are, and these poems reflect that. How wonderful you’re giving kids the full picture. Thank you for that, and for hosting today!

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    1. Thank you, Sara! The more I learned about bats, the more I wanted to share the information! I had the opportunity to arrange tours in a cave in WI in which the local bat scientists gave the presentation. I was the amazed student in that case (2019)- it led me to want to teach kids about how important bats are for humans and our environment!

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  27. My husband wants to put a bat house on our house to help control mosquitoes, but it freaks me out. My students made bats from clothespins and coffee filters. We made a door decoration “It’s Batty in Here!” I have a question about submitting. Can the poems be already published on my blog? Or do you want never before seen poems? I need to get on this. I’ve been so busy with school.

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    1. Hi Margaret, I am glad to know you are still seeing bats – providing a bat house is a great idea. I would be willing to send you my QR coded bat (with the active QR code that has plans for a bat house if you are interested. Just let me know. Bats can be scary, I agree, but they are so important to our environment that I try to put my fears aside. Maybe you can too?!

      I want to answer your question about the anthology submissions. Many people have asked what you have about the poems. I am trying to be consistent in my answer and that is that yes, it need to be a new – never seen poem. So this excludes poems from blogs. I hope you can still submit – I feel that you have a strong connection to nature and students and would have some excellent ekphrastic poems. Thanks!

      Let me know if you have other questions and about the bat house plans! ~ Carol ~

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  29. Happy birthday Carol! And thank you for sharing these bat poems. In terms of things batty, I am rather fond of Randall Jarell’s book The Bat-Poet. I just love that the bat uses poetry to get the forest creatures to see things his way.

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  30. What a delightfully rich post – I’ve quite liked the bats I’ve met and I have a quiet amusement for DH Lawrence’s shudder. Your informational lesson with the kids looks really fun. Thanks for hosting today.

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      1. Tanita, Thank you so much! I have to let you know that I read your indepth explanation of the Bout-Rimes and could not comment because I was not signed in – I am travelling so I will rectify this when I get home. In any case, I love your coffee poem! (Because I love coffee!) Thanks!

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  33. Happy birthday, Carol! What a lovely milestone! I find bats very cool. I’ve written several bat poems, but my PF post was already committed to my monthly group. But you’ve inspired me. Maybe I’ll post one or two of them next week :>) Thanks for sharing and for hosting.

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    1. Liz, I am so happy to hear that! Thanks! I had a video to share with the children of the bats coming out of a bridge in Texas at dusk! Quite extrarordinary! I will get to Carlsbad Caverns someday to see the bat exodus from the caves! Thanks!

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  35. Thanks Carol for hosting. It’s so important that because of you, some children will be less scared and more appreciative of bats. It was fun reading the D.H. Lawrence poem, set in Florence. I was there once and enjoyed thinking about the Ponte Vecchio and imagining the bats. Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoyed the day.

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    1. Thank you Janice! I am proud of the connection I can help build between children and nature than you for telling me it’s important! I am also glad you are appreciative of bats. I have not forgotten to look at your second condor photo – I’ll get there. I travelled to see my oldest son this weekend and will get a chance later this week to look at it in more detail. We’ll make something work, for sure! No worries there! Thanks!

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  36. Carol, happy birthday! I can so agree–“It is a milestone for sure to have lived so well and happy.” Such truth. Thank you for sharing all the delicious battiness. And yesterday I submitted to the poetry anthology! 🙂 Thank you for the opportunity, and for hosting today.

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