a month of poems

when April dawns, my heart fills!  the pink moon, a month devoted to the pleasure of poems, my boy’s birth, a poem for my pocket.  here are a few resources that are helping to bring the light and life of poems to our days:

this is a collection, edited by Susan Moger, of 180 poems, one for each of the mandatory school days.  so far we have found some amazing poems–“Birches” by Frost, a couple of Christina Rossetti poems (good for the Hugo fans among us!), and this wonder by Nicki Giovanni!

Winter Poem

once a snowflake fell
on my brow and i loved
it so much and i kissed
it and it was happy and called its cousins
and brothers and a web
of snow engulfed me then
i reached to love them all
and i squeezed them and they became
a spring rain and i stood perfectly
still and was a flower

there are plenty of other collections of poems for students(like Poetry 180 curated by Billy Collins or the collection of Good Poems from The Writer’s Almanac).  this one just happened to be at our wonderful local used bookstore.  it says it’s geared toward students in grades 3-5.  but our 5 year old and 3 year old are getting plenty out of it.

i’ve also started listening to podcasts as i prepare dinner.  it soothes something in me at just the right time of day.  instead of finally sitting down at the table frazzled and tired, i have a bit more composure.  Krista Tippet has interviewed a few poets of late including the editor of Poetry, Christian Wiman and the late Irish poet John O’Donohue.  these shows are well worth your time, and make sure to poke around each show’s page.  there are so many good things, books to read, other shows to listen to, connections to be made.