“Endless Months” is a poem by Amity Doyle, age 11. The poem walks the reader through each season of the year, starting in January and ending in December. Much of the poem is written in the second-person present, though occasionally the speaker also uses the first-person plural present tense.
The nature of the descriptions are varied. Sometimes the “you” of the poem is described doing specific things—delivering flowers to Grandma, or bundled up in the cold. At other times, the writer brings in vivid descriptions of the seasons. Sometimes, the writer plays with the words for the months themselves.
How does this poet play with poetic forms?
Something really interesting about this poem is the fact that it both establishes a clear rule—each stanza is paired with the name of a month—but also doesn’t have much consistency between the stanzas stylistically. This is because in many parts, the poetic form (that is, the overall shape of the poem) mimics content (the things that the poem describes).
January is a couplet:
January-cold winter air swoops through the chimney but can’t
blow out the fire
The first line is almost reminiscent of the wind it describes—long and twisting, eager to go down the chimney. The short second line is reminiscent of a flame—shorter than a chimney, but steadfast and present.
But March is structured very differently:
March makes birds get ready to sing
It makes snow into grass
It makes a hundred nests built for birds
It makes winter to spring to summer to fall
Here, we have an anaphoric repetition of “It makes.” Each line is consistent in length. March represents the space between winter and spring, and as such it’s a long, steady month. Things are changing each day, but it’s a consistent form of change. It’s organized, uniform.
Other stanzas experiment with space in other ways. In June, the writer uses indentation to create the feeling of the breeze that the section describes:
The swimming pool is filled with sunlight
warming the warm air
The breeze feels good, especially when you’re
reading a book in the shade under a hickory tree
By making the beginnings of the lines physically sway, the writer conjures that shady breeze and brings it physically into the space of the poem.
Discussion questions:
- What are some other moments in the poem where form responds to content?
- April starts off with an instruction: “Sing this poem in the showers / and dance around with the flowers which you’re / delivering to Grandma.” Why do you think the writer chose this moment to tell the reader to do something?
- In May, the writer plays with the name of the month by writing “May the look bloom from thou.” Are there other moments where the writer engages in wordplay in the poem?
Endless Months
January
January-cold winter air swoops through the chimney but can’t
blow out the fire
February
Bundled up in your house you lay surrounded
by your needs of warmth
No one can cold you
March
March makes birds get ready to sing
It makes snow into grass
It makes a hundred nests built for birds
It makes winter to spring to summer to fall
April
Sing this poem in the showers
and dance around with the flowers which you’re
delivering to Grandma
May
May the flowers start off
May the luck bloom from thou
May the warmth start on
In May
June
The swimming pool is filled with sunlight
warming the warm air
The breeze feels good, especially when you’re
reading a book in the shade under a hickory tree
July
July is the sweet sticky sound calling the birds and
the humidity healing the trees with green
August
Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot
August’s hot
September
The beginning of fall and the end of summer. Who
could ask for more.
October
Put on your hat, your cloak, your robe, we plead; fall
is in session
November
The harvest on the field looks up to the cold moon
December
The December rain pains down
on the windowsills frozen as ice
cackle cackle cackle! It seems to laugh
No snow today, just frozen rain
Pitter patter
The rain spatters across the ground
Frost evolves and multiplies itself by the minute
As the atoms in the air turn to ice
Katonah, NY
