The Thing About Children's Poetry
Lately (as in the last six months or so) I've been really into poetry. Reading poetry, writing poetry, thinking in rhyme and all that. I tend to write two at a time and only one is any good, but that's kind of besides the point of this post. What I've noticed recently (as in the past couple of days) is how easy it is to find poetry that you don't even know is there.
Today I was sorting through books trying to get rid of some so I have room for more interesting ones and I realized that I have two decent sized books of poetry that I never even thought of. I've also re-discovered a favorite poet from my childhood. The only poetry I really knew as a child was by Shel Silverstein, who wrote the Giving Tree. Re-reading the two books I have of his I see that between the funny poems about jumping rope and lazy little girls are some universal sediments that apply to adults as much as, or more than, to children.
Some of my favorites:
Ricky was the "L" but he's home with the flu,
Lizzie, our "O," had some homework to do,
Mitchell, "E" prob'ly got lost on the way,
So I'm all of love that could make it today.
All the woulda-coulda-shouldas
Layin' in the sun,
Talkin' 'bout the things
They woulda-coulda-shoulda done...
But those woulda-coulda-shouldas
All ran away and hid
From the one little did.
Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child, listen to the DON'TS
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS, the IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES. Then listen close to me
Anything can happen child. ANYTHING can be.
-Shel Silverstein
Today I was sorting through books trying to get rid of some so I have room for more interesting ones and I realized that I have two decent sized books of poetry that I never even thought of. I've also re-discovered a favorite poet from my childhood. The only poetry I really knew as a child was by Shel Silverstein, who wrote the Giving Tree. Re-reading the two books I have of his I see that between the funny poems about jumping rope and lazy little girls are some universal sediments that apply to adults as much as, or more than, to children.
Some of my favorites:
Ricky was the "L" but he's home with the flu,
Lizzie, our "O," had some homework to do,
Mitchell, "E" prob'ly got lost on the way,
So I'm all of love that could make it today.
All the woulda-coulda-shouldas
Layin' in the sun,
Talkin' 'bout the things
They woulda-coulda-shoulda done...
But those woulda-coulda-shouldas
All ran away and hid
From the one little did.
Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child, listen to the DON'TS
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS, the IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES. Then listen close to me
Anything can happen child. ANYTHING can be.
-Shel Silverstein