Random Acts of Poetry Day

Today is Random Acts of Poetry Day! I think poetry often gets a bad rap as people remember poetry for being inaccessible and difficult to understand. People remember having to memorize poetry in school or trying to study poetry to understand what the poet what truly trying to say.

Many kids flock to Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky for their silly, nonsensical poetry, but somewhere along the line, kids start pushing poetry away and by the time people become adults, they’ve pushed poetry out of their realm of reading possibilities.

One my favorite poetry books in recent years is called When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Julie Morstad. It has fairly short poems about the seasons – with each poem’s title being a specific date. It works well for me because I live in an area of this country that has four distinct seasons. Plus, you can’t go wrong with the adorable illustrations that match each poem.

My favorite poem in the book occurs in August:

If you want to be sure
That you are nothing more than small
Stand at the edge of the ocean
Looking out

I absolutely love water in all forms – creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes and the ocean and this poem completely connected with me! Reminding me that I am a small part of a much larger world out there.

So, take some time today to read a poem, borrow a book of poetry from the library, or find something online! Enjoy!