Driftwood dragons and other seaside poems by Tyne Brown illustrated by Tamara Thiebaux Heikalo

There are many reasons I need to mention this book.  I do not have enough poetry books in my blog, I live near the sea and my school and school library are near the sea.  The ocean forms a major backdrop to the childhood of every child who visits my library and finally a large part of my recent trip was spent near the sea on the East Coasts of America and Canada and the south coast of England.

The author of this book, Tyne Brown, lives in Nova Scotia.  Driftwood Dragons and other seaside poems is a collection of 34 poems covering many different aspects of the seaside experience from whales, to the moon, the sand and the waves. 

Here is one about clouds – it paints a lovely word picture :

Shape Shifters

Clouds

drift, shift,

spread, lift,

zoom, loom,

scud, plume,

curl, swirl,

roll, twirl,

sweep, heap,

wisp and creep.

But when those

Shape shifters,

Snow spreaders,

Hail shedders

Disappear –

The sailing is clear!

This book also has gentle wash illustrations by Tamara Thiebaux Heikalo.

The final poem in the collection is one that really speaks to me.  Here is an extract :

Touch a Wish

….If you could touch a poem,

A wish, a hope a song,

Would you touch them gently,

Let them go where they belong?

If you could hear the sunrise

As it spreads above the sea,

What a different kind of world

This world would surely be.

Here is a review of this book.