Rowan's favorite poems
"Giving Potatoes" Adrian Mitchell
"maggie and millie and mollie and may" e. e. cummings
"Jabberwocky" Lewis Carroll
I love hearing him recite snatches of them. He memorizes entire picture books, so this is no surprise - but it still gives me an extra lift. See: http://instagram.com/p/d7B1pfAdfh/
I like to read him some other poems, too, but they don't quite have the silly, catchy rhymes:
"You're" Sylvia Plath
"The Red Wheelbarrow" & "This is just to say" William Carlos Williams
"You Begin" Margaret Atwood
I kept deciding to read poetry again, and finally checked a Mary Oliver book out of the library. Then Rowan came in while I was reading it and I shared a poem with him - I don't recall which - and subsequently requested more poems. I am not pretending he's interested in poetry so much as in getting mama's attention, but I will take it and treasure it (and post about it so I'll remember in 10 years).
And his interest is helping me get back in, with such nice timing - fall, tea, a stressful time at work. The caffeine is kicking in and Seth's making pancakes and I'm feeling alright. You know?
Please suggest more poetry that I can share with Ro if you have ideas. I'm going to check out Billy Collins. So many of the poems deal with adult issues - even "Giving Potatoes" goes above Ro's head, and that's ok, but I won't be reading him a lot more Plath or Atwood or, say "The Death of the Ball-Turret Gunner" just now. I am reading him some Robert Frost too but so far it's not as catchy.
I am excited to delve back into the female poets on my own - their poems suddenly have new meaning, almost 20 years, marriage and a kid later. I always liked Atwood and Plath, but it's different, better now.