Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A Poem A Day, Week One

A Supermarket in California - Allen Ginsberg (Tuesday)
This poem starts, "What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman. . ." In college I wrote a poem honoring Ginsberg that started, "What thoughts I have of you tonight, Allen Ginsberg. . ."


What I Learned Today - Billy Collins (Wednesday)
"no matter what the size the aquarium of one's learning,
another colored pebble can always be dropped in."
I snatched this book on my way out the door, knowing I wouldn't be home again to search more leisurely. I would have titled this blog "Another Colored Pebble" if I'd read this 16 months ago.


Warning - Jenny Joseph (Thursday)
If you know this poem, you probably know it by its first line: "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple." A few months ago I was in a diner with friends and a nearby ten-top was filled with women at least in their late '60s wearing purple pajamas and red hats. How cool is that?)


You Came Too - Nikki Giovanni (Friday)
If there were a poem about how I met Zirpu, this would be it.


Phenomenal Woman - Maya Angelou (Saturday)
I had the opportunity to read this at a party honoring two friends who are marrying different men in a couple weeks. At the end of the party, someone said that she's always loved that poem since she first heard it in middle school. I wish I had heard it - and internalized it - in middle school.


The Gnashlycrumb Tinies - Edward Gorey (Sunday)
Zirpu purchased this at our favorite bookstore today and I read it to him in the car. Written in couplets, I read the first line and most of the second for each letter and he filled in the last word. We laughed as I showed him the illustrations at stop signs.


Limited - Carl Sandburg (Monday)
Where are we going, and how are we getting there? Sandburg tells us, gently.

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