Did you know it was National Poetry Month?
I didn’t realize it until a few days ago.
I enjoy poetry, but, it needs to be read aloud to be fully enjoyed, don’t you agree?
I did not like the poetry poster for this year’s celebration. This one is of a dress of Emily Dickenson’s. I rather liked it instead and since I control the keyboard, here it is for you to see.It is a poster from 2005. Information can be had at www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41
Do you like poetry?
What kind of poetry?
Do you have a favorite poet or poem?
I read the poem below in Tongue and Cheek’s post at www.willows95988.typepad.com/. I had not heard it before and there it was, early Sunday morning, in a lovely posting. It really called to me. I sat here at my desk, a little stem of bleeding hearts from our emerging garden dangling in a vase, the quiet of the morning surrounding me, and I read it aloud. I think it is a hymn. Hymns and songs are really poems put to music. This one moved me today and I thought I would share it with you. So, without wasting any more of your time and in observance of National Poetry Month, I’ll borrow from Corey this touching poem.
I Remember You as Loving Me
Deep the joy of being together in one heart
and for me that’s just where it is.
All I ask of you is forever to remember me as loving you.
All I ask of you is forever to remember me as loving you.
As we make our way through all the joys and pain,
can we sense our younger, truer selves?
Someone will be calling you to be there for a while.
Can you hear the cry from deep within?
Laughter, joy and presence: the only gifts you are.
Have you time? I’d like to be with you.
Persons come into the fiber of our lives,
and then their shadow fades and disappears.
All I ask of you is forever to remember me as loving you.
written by Gregory Norbert, Weston Priory.
What a nice poem. The only one I remember, is one I live by. I remember it from High School and don’t know who wrote it. ” I’d rather be a has been, then a might of been by far, for a has might of been has never been, but a has been was once an are.”
That sounds vaguely familiar, Sharon. You should google it and see if you can find who wrote it. You can just type in the first six or seven words or so.
I really liked the poem. Today is the anniversary of my dad’s passing and I think I was receptive to these nice words because of the day.
I love poetry. I found some of my Rod Mckuen books as we cleaned out the old trailer and another one from College called “Tender Boughs”. Jennifer latched on to it. I can’t name a favorite poet. I love so many from Kipling to Robert Frost, and from Tolkein to Dr. Seuss. My Dad used to say ” I was a poet and didn’t know it. My feet show it. They’re Longfellows.”
Oh, wow, I remember Rod Mckuen as well as Tender Boughs. I am sure I have both in a box somewhere. Rob Mckuen steered a lot of to writing free verse, didn’t he? My dad said the same thing, except the Longfellow part.
Guess what I just found looking for something else? Twelve Years of Christmas by Rod McKuen. I gave it to Tom for Christmas in 1969. There isn’t very much we throw out. The one I remember the most is Listen to the Warm. Back to the boxes in the basement to see if I can find the picture I was looking for.
Twelve Years of Christmas was one that I found. Remember the LP records? The Sea was my favorite, you could hear the sounds of the ocean behind Rod’s recitation. AAAhhh….weren’t we romantic?
I remember The Sea and something by Jaques Brel that Rod recorded. When you go away? The sad thing is, we probably still have the albums. Yeah, we were pretty romantic. We probably still are or we wouldn’t be up late at night emailing about it. (still haven’t found what I was looking for – oh well)
In an effort to improve my understanding and appreciation of poetry I recently purchased “The Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis” to keep on my bedside table and glance through from time to time. I did the same with a thick volume of W.B. Yeats, but it proved to be too daunting for me and I gave it to Anton – who is actually reading it! He “gets” poetry far more than I do. Bravo Elmhurst school system!
I have the Kennedy-Onassis book as well, good intentions. I love Robert Frost, thanks to my high school American Lit teacher who had some wonderful tape recordings of Frost and of Sandburg reading their poems. Yeats – ah, that is a challenging read.
I remember Anton pouring over poetry in the Chocolate Moon and thinking how wonderful that a teenage lad liked poetry so much.
A few years ago Tom gave me a book called Poetry Speaks with CD recordings of the poems. Everyone from Tennyson to Gwendolyn Brooks. I should pull it out and listen.
I did google it, Thanks for the idea, but they said it was a Milton Berle Quote, that started with” I’d rather be a could be if I cannot be an are, because a could be is a maybe reaching for a star”, then the part that I remember finishes it. Maybe is was old Milton and not school that left an impression on my mind.
Uncle Miltie probably got it from his mother, who heard it in school. I bet you heard it in school. Wherever you heard it from doesn’t matter as much as that you did and that it made an impression on you. I’m glad you shared it.