Tag: poem

National Poetry Month: April 22nd (Happy Earth Day!)

April 22, 2012

Having Intended to Merely Pick on an Oil Company, the Poem Goes Awry by Bob Hicok

Never before have I so resembled British Petroleum.
They–it?–are concerned about the environment.
I–it?–am concerned about the environment.
They–him?–convey their concern through commercials,
in which a man talks softly about the importance
of the Earth.  I–doodad?–convey my concern
through poems, in which my fingers type softly
about the importance of the Earth.  They–oligarchs?–
have painted their slogans green.  I–ineffectual
left-leaning emotional black hole of a self-semaphore?–
recycle.  Isn’t a corporation technically a person Continue reading “National Poetry Month: April 22nd (Happy Earth Day!)” →

National Poetry Month: April 21st

April 21, 2012

Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Glory be to God for dappled things–
  For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
    For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
  Landscape plotted and pieced–fold, fallow, and plough;
    And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
  Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
    With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
                 Praise him.
.

This poem was selected by Martha M. (Children’s Services)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 20th

April 20, 2012

“What horror to awake at night” by Lorine Niedecker

What horror to awake at night
And in the dimness see the light.
        Time is white
        mosquitoes bite
I’ve spent my life on nothing.
.
The thought that stings.  How are you, Nothing,
Sitting around with Something’s wife.
        Buzz and burn
        is all I learn
I’ve spent my life on nothing.
.
I’m pillowed and padded, pale and puffing
Lifting household stuffing–
        carpets, dishes
        benches, fishes
I’ve spent my life in nothing.

This poem was selected by Rick K. (Children’s Librarian)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 19th

April 19, 2012

Angels by Katha Pollitt

They thought the job would be more musical:
Rainbows and trumpets.  They’d burst
through clouds of marble streaked with flame
.
and offer blinding demonstrations
of the ontological proof of God.
People would look up and say “Ineffable!”
.
Instead, they swooped through the mall
calling Ashley? Pammy?
fished Mrs. Baines’ wedding ring from the drain again, Continue reading “National Poetry Month: April 19th” →

National Poetry Month: April 16th

April 16, 2012

“I Am Not I” by Juan Ramon Jimenez

I am not I.
                 I am this one
walking beside me whom I do not see,
whom at times I manage to visit,
and whom at other times I forget;
who remains calm and silent while I talk,
and forgives, gently, when I hate,
who walks where I am not,
who will remain standing when I die.

This poem was selected by Russell J. (Readers’ Services)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 15th

April 15, 2012

Living in Sin by Adrienne Rich

She had thought the studio would keep itself;
no dust upon the furniture of love.
Half heresy, to wish the taps less vocal,
the panes relieved of grime.  A plate of pears,
a piano with a Persian shawl, a cat
stalking the picturesque amusing mouse
had risen at his urging.
Not that at five each separate stair would writhe
under the milkman’s tramp; that morning light
so coldly would delineate the scraps
of last night’s cheese and three sepulchral bottles;
that on the kitchen shelf among the saucers
a pair of beetle-eyes would fix her own–
envoy from some village in the moldings…
Meanwhile, he, with a yawn,
sounded a dozen notes upon the keyboard,
declared it out of tune, shrugged at the mirror,
rubbed his beard, went out for cigarettes;
while she, jeered by the minor demons,
pulled back the sheets and made the bed and found
a towel to dust the table-top,
and let the coffee-pot boil over on the stove.
By evening she was back in love again,
though not so wholly but throughout the night
she woke sometimes to feel the daylight coming
like a relentless milkman up the stairs.

This poem was selected by Lesley W. (Head of Adult Services)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 13th

April 13, 2012

Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
                                                                                        .
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair.  The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought if only Casey could but get a whack at that–
We’d put up even money now with Casey at the bat. Continue reading “National Poetry Month: April 13th” →

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