First, if you are not familiar with Poem in My Pocket Day, here are the rules:
1. Find a copy of your favorite poem...or at least one that you like...or has touched you recently...or whatever. Digital is fine, but it's more human if you print a copy or transcribe it by hand.
2. Carry it around in your pocket (at the ready) all day. You shouldn't have to search for it on your phone every time you pull it out.
3. Share your chosen poem with people throughout the day.
4. Relish the poetry of this world!
Now because I probably won't see all of you today, here is my poem for today. This year I chose to honor the late Mary Oliver, a poet I have read more extensively of late. I planned a longer blog post around this poem, and I may yet do it, but for now, here it is:
“What We Want”
 |
| (Taken from https://www.facebook.com/PoetMaryOliver/photos/) |
In a poem
people want
something fancy,
but even more
they want something
inexplicable
made plain,
easy to swallow—
not unlike a suddenly
harmonic passage
in an otherwise
difficult and sometimes dissonant
symphony—
even if it is only
for the moment
of hearing it.
Now do me a favor: take time for poetry today and share with me as well. Post your poem in the comments here or via social media somewhere (#pocketpoem), or send me a message if I won't see you face to face. Happy Poem in Your Pocket day!
I bargained with life for a penny
ReplyDeleteAnd life would pay me no more
However I begged at evening
While counting my scanty store
For life is a just employer
He'll pay you what you ask
But once you set the wages
You must bare the task
I worked for a menial's hire
Only to find dismayed
Any price I would've asked of life
Life would've willingly payed
You introduced me to this poem! I've been sharing it with my students today--my version of the poem, that is, with apologies to Mr. Collins.
ReplyDeleteIntroduction to Poetry--Mrs. Nielsen's version
by Billy Collins (with apologies)
I'll ask [you] to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
[I'll] 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 [you] to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
[Because all other teachers will] want [you] to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
[They'll] begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
[Only you can save the poem!]
I'll post a snippet from one of my favorite Romantic poets: Robert Burns, the Scottish Bard.
ReplyDelete"To a Mouse"
...
But Mousie, thou are no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
...
I think most of mine are still copyrighted BUT I do love Robert Louis Stevenson's children's poetry -- My Shadow, the one about the swing, etc. Also, The Owl and the Pussycat. But for today--
ReplyDeleteAnimal crackers and cocoa to drink,
That is the finest of suppers, I think.
When I'm grown up and can have what I please,
I think I shall always insist upon these.
What do you choose when you're offered a treat,
What do you like best to eat?
Is it waffles and syrup or cinnamon toast?
It's cocoa and animals I love the most!
(Nothing too complicated in my life. :D )