This blog hop is open to blogs that primarily feature book reviews of literary fiction, classic literature, and general literary discussionThis week's question is
What is your favorite poem and why?
Oh, Literary Blog Hop, we were getting along so well!
The fact is that I read almost no adult poetry. I'm an elementary school teacher, so I do read lots of kids poetry, but not much for the over 10 set. It's not that I dislike poetry, or find it boring or difficult to understand. When I hear people read their poetry out loud I usually enjoy it, and I will occasionally run across poems that I love through random encounters. But sitting down and reading a book of poems is just not my thing. I think it has more to do with their relative brevity than anything else. I don't read short stories as a general rule either. I guess I prefer the longer, overarching narrative, with lots of plot to keep me busy.
Now, my favorite children's poems are easy to identify. Shel Silverstein's "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out", and "Life Doesn't Frighten Me At All" by Maya Angelou.
The Silverstein poem is actually one that I read as a child myself, so we have a long-term relationship. The title explains the events of the poem pretty well, but it is the disgusting imagery that I love:
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs," Life Doesn't Frighten Me At All" is a wonderfully empowering poem for children, and in my head when I read it I can hear Maya Angelou's strong beautiful voice. I tried to choose my favorite few lines to share, but I love it all so that I didn't want to break it apart:
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold french fries and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hail
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don’t frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn’t frighten me at all.
I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won’t cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Tough guys in a fight
All alone at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don’t frighten me at all.
That new classroom where
Boys pull all my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don’t frighten me at all.
Don’t show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.
I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve,
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
While I don't seek out adult poetry, I do occasionally stumble upon it (through no fault of my own), so I'm not completely ignorant of poetry in the 20th/21st century. "Phenomenal Woman", also by Maya Angelou is another one of my favorites. One poem that I discovered by accident that I love is "Stream of Life" by Rabindranath Tagore. It was used during a Sunday morning service by the minister of the Unitarian Universalist church I was attending:
| The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow. I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Even though I teach Eighth graders, I always use the Silverstein poem to teach hyperbole. It's a poem that both the kids and I enjoy, even though it's young for them, and makes the point really well.
ReplyDeleteOn the Ning Nang Nong
ReplyDeleteOn the Ning Nang Nong
Where the cows go bong
And the monkeys all say BOO!
There's a Nong Nang Ning
Where the trees go ping
And the tea pots Jibber Jabber Joo
On the Nong Ning Nang
All the mice go CLANG!
And you just can't catch 'em when they do
So it's Ning Nang Nong
cows go Bong
Nong Nang Ning
trees go ping
Nong Ning Nang
the mice go clang
What a noisy place to belong
is the Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong
Bump!
Things that go "bump!" in the night
should not really give one a fright
it's the hole in each ear
that lets in the fear
that, And the absence of light
Both by Spike Milligan
Loved your childrens poetry, so responded with some favourites of my own
Thanks.
Parrish
I love that Ning Nang Nong poem! I'm going to steal that to use with my class!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about acquiring poems through spontaneity rather than sitting down and reading a book of them. I can't do it either, though I've tried a few times. I only seem successful with poets like Silverstein. Nice choices by the way!
ReplyDeleteYou shared three so beautiful works!
ReplyDeleteBeing a poet, I can’t imagine my life without poetry. I live and breath it. I have loved to read a lot of poets and poetry over the years and still find something new every day. I have gone through phases liking, poets, and moving over to the the next. So many yet to read.
Here is my Literary Blog Hop post!
I read more children's poetry than adult poetry too, simply because I'm reading it to my kiddos. We love Silverstein too.
ReplyDeleteJack Prelutsky was a favorite with my daughters growing up. Some brilliant person gave them one of his books, and it was love, love, love.
ReplyDeleteThat Shel Silverstein poem would be awesome for kids to perform! It's great to get them motivated to read poetry if it can be a readers theatre or done with actions :)
ReplyDeleteI love Shel Silverstein's poetry.... read the books over and over when the kids were little!
ReplyDeleteLove Shel Silverstein. Love Jack Prelutsky. Never knew about Maya Angelou. We're hoping to do a little Poem in My Pocket event in April, so I need to start seeking out poems.
ReplyDeleteBilly Collins is Shel Silverstein for grownups, I think. He's delightful and thoughtful.
Here's my post: http://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2010/12/literary-blog-hop-favorite-poem.html
You could use this one with your students at school.
Hi Heather, NingNangNong Was the first poem my daughter could recite in its entirety. It came from a book, the complete book of childrens poems by spike milligan & I used to read it at bedtime. Glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteParrish.