Look for Me-Ted Kooser

I apologize for slacking this past week, I had poems selected to share and didn’t have them drafted the way I should have. I rarely ever slack like that during National Poetry Month so I am posting twice today to end on a strong note. This poem is by U.S Poet Laureate Ted Looser and he shared it in celebration of his 87th birthday. 

Look for me under the hood

of that old Chevrolet settled in weeds
at the end of the pasture.

I’m the radiator that spent its years
bolted in front of an engine
shoving me forward into the wind.

Whatever was in me in those days
has mostly leaked away,
but my cap’s still screwed on tight
and I know the names of all these
tattered moths and broken grasshoppers
the rest of you’ve forgotten.

Happy National Poetry Month!!!

It’s April again which is National Poetry Month. It’s one of my favorite months, not just because I am a poet, but because I’ve always been a fan of poetry. 

In the years since I found out about National Poetry Month, I’ve always had lists of how I plan to celebrate and I usually never accomplish them. I always want to do a lot but don’t plan ahead or enough in advance which seems to be the case against in 2017. 

 So this year, I am doing something simple. I’m scaling it all the way back to enjoying and supporting the art form. In that vein, I will still be sharing poetry all month but these are my major plans for NPM in 2017:

Read More Poetry!

Buy More Poetry!

Support a poetic event!

Does anyone have plans for National Poetry Month? Any exciting events that you plan to participate in or attend? 

A Bit of Spring in a Poem

If you are a follower of the blog then you know that I am not really a sonnet type of poet however there are exceptions. This aptly named piece by Alice-Dunbar-Nelson is one of them. I discovered this poem on the amazing poets.org site and for some reason, probably because it is a beautifully classical example of poetry it stayed with me. I am sharing this in honor of National Poetry Month as a reminder of how great poetry can be and as a symbol of how words can be evocative of life. I hope that wherever you are it’s a beautiful spring day and that the poem conjures memories of “sweet real things” for you.

Sonnet

I had no thought of violets of late,
The wild, shy kind that spring beneath your feet
In wistful April days, when lovers mate
And wander through the fields in raptures sweet.
The thought of violets meant florists’ shops,
And bows and pins, and perfumed papers fine;
And garish lights, and mincing little fops
And cabarets and songs, and deadening wine.
So far from sweet real things my thoughts had strayed,
I had forgot wide fields, and clear brown streams;
The perfect loveliness that God has made, –
Wild violets shy and Heaven-mounting dreams.
And now—unwittingly, you’ve made me dream
Of violets, and my soul’s forgotten gleam.

-Alice Dunbar-Nelson