THANK YOU, SUN

Verse and pictures expressing gratitude for nature’s gifts above, below, and all around.

Sandwiched between circle poems addressed to the sun and its “magic mirror,” the moon, the veteran poet’s simply phrased rhymes offer thanks to 14 more wonders as vast as the stars, as small as snowflakes, and as varied as wildlife and landforms. Though characteristically incapable of passing up a pun—“How grand you stand, from base to crest. / Mountain, you peak my in-ter-est!”—Florian generally keeps to a reverent tone. “Thank you, Earth, where we all live. / You truly have so much to give.” His fancy flies more freely in the gouache and rubber stamp illustrations, which are done on paper bags and feature a multiracial cast of actively posed children lifting up the whole Earth, joyfully riding on the back of a huge bee, embracing a smiling thundercloud, or nestling in the crescent moon’s lap. Each short poem is distinct enough to stand alone, but with their unity of theme the verses can also be read straight through as articulations of a single feeling. Florian’s rhymes and rhythms fall so naturally that his lines never sound singsong; few poets can match him for readability or clarity of expression.

More serious than silly, and vintage Florian.