Poetry Response #9: How to Write a Poem about the Sky By: Leslie Marmon Silko

How to Write a Poem about the Sky

By: Leslie Marmon Silko

You see the sky now 

colder than the frozen river

so dense and white

little birds

walk across it.

You see the sky now 

but the earth

is lost in it

and there are no horizons.

It is all

a single breath.

You see the sky 

but the earth is called

by the same name

                                  the moment 

                                      the wind shifts 

sun splits it open

and bluish membranes

push through slits of skin.

You see the sky

     How to Write a Poem about the Sky by Leslie Marmon Silko is a beautiful poem. The first stanza gives a beautiful image almost as if their is a frozen pond in the sky with little birds walking across or hopping across. Though, it really is the birds gracefully flying in the sky. The second stanza brings the sky and the earth as one while it works as "a single breath." Through the sky we don't see the earth as a whole but beyond the sky is the whole earth. The third stanza has a great structure shift in order to give what it is saying more power. Clouds that cover the sky get moved by the wind and it opens up to show the sun. Then she uses the image of how the human body is put together in order for us to see splitting of the clouds in revealing the sky. The beauty in how she portrays and the sky and the way she uses formatting to add emotion is great. The sky really is beautiful. ♥

This poem was written for the students of the Bethel, Middle School in Bethel, Alaska in February of 1975.