NATIONAL POETRY MONTH
Yes, April is National Poetry Month. It's a time to celebrate the beauty and power of the often-overlooked literary gem, the poem.
I'll admit: when I was in high school, and even my first years of college, I didn't "get" poetry. It was only once I started teaching English that I gave poetry the chance that it deserved to win me over. And since my change of attitude, many of my students have been inspired to create meaningful simplicity in verse.
This month's question(s): In honor of the month, what is your favorite poem? Or, who is your favorite poet? Share the favorite poem, or a poem by your favorite bard, and tell why it/he/she is your favorite.
I'll start. Here's a poem that I like by former poet laureate of the United States Billy Collins. I like it because it expresses the struggle I sometimes have with students who aren't able to enjoy a poem because they're too intent on studying it. Enjoy!
by Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
I still haven't quite "gotten" poetry- but I know what I like. Of the few I know, my favorite is "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman. To me, it says a lot about diversity in America and everyone out there working so hard on many different levels. Some are trying find their place, others are just trying to get by. I think the poem reflects a side of "The American Dream" that isn't typically shown.
ReplyDeleteI Hear America Singing
by Walt Whitman
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand
singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or
at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of
the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day--at night the party of young fellows,
robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
~Cory
carivauc@lcc19.navy.mil or
i_is_moody@hotmail.com
I like this one because, believe it or not, it helps me teach chemistry. :-)
ReplyDeleteSmart by Shel Silverstein
from the book "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1974)
My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more then one!
And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three times - I guess he don't know
That three is more then two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickles for my three dimes,
And four is more then three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more then four!
And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head -
Too proud of me to speak!