Park Going to Sleep
by Helen Hoyt
The shadows under the trees
And in the vines by the boat-house
Grow dark,
And the lamps gleam softly.
On the street, far off,
The sound of the cars, rumbling,
Moves drowsily.
The rocks grow dim on the edges of the shore.
The boats with tired prows against the landing
Have fallen asleep heavily:
The monuments sleep
And the trees
And the smooth slow-winding empty paths sleep.
Current Writing Prompt
It's summer here and I often can be found walking, sitting and reading, and taking photos in one of the local parks. Parks large and small are often an escape to nature. It might be a small pocket park in a big city or a huge State or National Park.
For the August issue, we will be seeking poems about parks. There are many poems to consider as examples. I chose a rather obscure poet, Helen Hoyt, who is quite straightforward in her poem, "Park Going to Sleep," about a park entering the night.
For contrast, consider some of these park poems:
The Park by David St. John
A Walk Round the Park by Sandra Lim
In the Park by Maxine Kumin
Central Park, Carousel by Meena Alexander
I also considered using "Dog Park" by Brandon Brown which begins:
I told Alli I really wanted
to write a poem called “Dog Park.”
In bed she’s like you could make it
a New Yorker poem, where you
go to a dog park and then have some
huge epiphany...
There is a collection of 50 poems by 50 different poets writing about a National Park in each of the United States that was part of an NEA grant "Imagine Our Parks with Poems."
Time for you to imagine a park within a poem. A simple summer prompt that might be as light as a cold glass of lemonade, or perhaps you will find there some huge New Yorker epiphany.
Helen Hoyt was born in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1887 and received her AB from Barnard College in 1909. She worked as the associate editor of Poetry magazine and authored several poetry collections, including Poems of Amis (1946); The Name of a Rose (1931); Leaves of Wild Grape (1929); and Apples Here in My Basket (1924).
Her books are difficult to find, but her posthumous collection, Fire Poems, is available. The poems are about fire in all its real and symbolic aspects, and are mainly set in the area of Northern California so devastated by recent fire storms.
Hoyt died in Saint Helena, California in 1972.
The deadline for submissions for the next issue is July 31, 2024.
Please refer to our submission guidelines and look at our archive of 25 years of prompts and poems. Follow our blog about the prompts and poetry.
