Adult Quote for Doodling Inspiration: 

“A Patch of Old Snow”

Robert Frost

There's a patch of old snow in a corner
     That I should have guessed
Was a blow-away paper the rain
     Had brought to rest.

It is speckled with grime as if
     Small print overspread it,
The news of a day I’ve forgotten—
     If I ever read it.

Youth Poem for Doodling Inspiration:

"Earth Day"

Jane Yolan

I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.
Each blade of grass,
Each honey tree,
Each bit of mud,
And stick and stone
Is blood and muscle,
Skin and bone.

And just as I
Need every bit
Of me to make
My body fit,
So Earth needs
Grass and stone and tree
And things that grow here
Naturally.

That’s why we
Celebrate this day.
That’s why across
The world we say:
As long as life,
As dear, as free,
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me. 

Adult Quote for Doodling Inspiration: 

“Lighthouse Keeping”

Kay Ryan 

Seas pleat
winds keen 
fogs deepen 
ships lean no 
doubt, and 
the lighthouse 
keeper keeps 
a light for 
those left out. 
It is intimate 
and remote both 
for the keeper 
and those afloat. 

Youth Poem for Doodling Inspiration:

"Daddy Fell into the Pond"

Alfred Noyes 

Everyone grumbled. The sky was grey.
We had nothing to do and nothing to say.
We were nearing the end of a dismal day,
And there seemed to be nothing beyond, THEN
Daddy fell into the pond!

And everyone's face grew merry and bright,
And Timothy danced for sheer delight.
"Give me the camera, quick, oh quick!
He's crawling out of the duckweed." Click!

Then the gardener suddenly slapped his knee,
And doubled up, shaking silently,
And the ducks all quacked as if they were daft
And it sounded as if the old drake laughed.

O' there wasn't a thing that didn't respond WHEN
Daddy fell into the pond!

Enjoy a short audio file from a major Torres-Garcia MoMA exhibition, about Torres-Garcia’s toys:

CLICK HERE to listen

The story behind Play Mountain within the larger context of Noguchi's practice is told in this fascinating episode of 99% Invisible, a podcast devoted to design: 

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Adult Quote for Doodling Inspiration: 

“The Peace of Wild Things”

Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Youth Poem for Doodling Inspiration:

"Waiting at the Window"

A.A. Milne

 

These are my two drops of rain
Waiting on the window-pane

I am waiting here to see
Which the winning one will be.

Both of them have different names.
One is John and one is James.

All the best and all the worst
Comes from which of them is first.

James had just begun to ooze.
He's the one I want to lose.

John is waiting to begin.
He's the one I want to win.

James is going slowly on.
Something sort of sticks to John.

John is moving off at last.
James is going pretty fast.

John is rushing down the pane.
James is going slow again.

James has met a sort of smear.
John is getting very near.

Is he going fast enough?
(James has found a piece of fluff.)

John has hurried quickly by.
(James was talking to a fly.)

John is there, and John has won!
Look told you! Here's the sun!

Adult Quote for Doodling Inspiration: 

“Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place”

Terry Tempest Williams 

I pray to the birds.
I pray to the birds because
I believe they will carry the messages of my heart upward.
I pray to them because I believe in their existence,
the way their songs begin and end each day,
the invocations and benedictions of earth.
I pray to the birds because they remind me of what I love
rather than what I fear.
And at the end of my prayers,
they teach me how to listen.

Youth Poem for Doodling Inspiration:

"Now who is this knocking at Cottontail's door?"

Beatrix Potter

Now who is this knocking at Cottontail's door?
Tap tappit! Tap tappit!
She heard it before!
And when she peeps out
there is nobody there.
But a present of carrots
put down on the stair.

Adult Quote for Doodling Inspiration: 

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul."

—Emily Dickinson

Youth Poem for Doodling Inspiration:

Shadow Wash

I've never washed my shadow out
In all the time I've had it.
It was absolutely filthy I suppose,
And so today I peeled it off
The wall where it was leaning
And stuck it in the washtub
With the clothes.
I put in soap and bleach and stuff,
I let it soak for hours,
I wrung it out and hung it out to dry,
And whoever would have thunk
That it would have gone and shrunk
For now it's so much
Littler than I.

—Shel Silverstein