Poetry Tuesday – Celebrating National Poetry Month

As you may know, April is National Poetry Month. Many people mock it. See comments made here. Some comment on how a national poetry month may actually deter people from wanting to read poetry. See article here.

Still, I think it is a good reminder to make poetry a part of your life. The people behind poets.org suggest 30 ways to celebrate National Poetry Month. See here.

Two of my favorite suggestions are (1) to memorize a poem and (2) to start a commonplace book.

Memorize a Poem
The following are the only two poems that I can currently recite from memory in their entirety:

“The Walrus and the Carpenter” by Lewis Carroll

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings.”

“Lazy Jane” by Shel Silverstein

Lazy
lazy
lazy
lazy
lazy
lazy
Jane.
She
wants
a
drink
of
water
so
she
waits
and
waits
and
waits
and
waits
and
waits
for
it
to
rain.

See the accompanying drawing by Shel Silverstein here.

Start a Commonplace Book
According to poets.org, a commonplace book is one in which a reader copies their favorite poems and quotations into notebooks to form their own personal anthologies. I’m starting this today (and you should too)!

Buy Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass or Where the Sidewalk Ends at Amazon.com.

You May Also Like:

1. Poetry Tuesday – Poetry Daily Meme
2. Poetry Tuesday
3. Poetry Tuesday – Mary Oliver

Tagged as: Poetry