Hope Flies With Feathers Like A Winged Unicorn
Today I bought The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems. I am blown away by this work, by this publishing house (community) and by the artist (and compiler) Jackie Morris. When I grow up I want them to publish and illustrate my children's book.
Before the official start of the book there are two introductory poems. And after it ends there is one more exquisite piece of poetry tucked inside the back cover.
A Book
By Emily Dickinsonu
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
i
k
k
The Paintbox
by E V Rieu'
by E V Rieu'
li
Cobalt and umber and ultramarine,
Ivory black and emerald green -
What shall I paint to give pleasure to you?''
m
Paint for me somebody utterly new.''
I have painted you tigers in crimson and white.
''The colours were good and you painted alright.
''I have painted the cook and a camel in blue
And a panther in purple.' 'You painted them true.
l
Now mix me a colour that nobody knows,
And paint me a country where nobody goes,
And put in it people a little like you,
Watching a unicorn drinking the dew.'
Dreams
j
By Langston Hughs
jh
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 11:48 PM
2 Comments:
Poems often make me cry. I don't know why. (inadvertent rhyme!) It's not always the emotional bang of the narrative; it's just the beauty of words, the way they send you -- singly or in novel combinations -- out of your mind and into the world ... it overwhelms me.
The anthology looks good. I own a wonderful anthology of poems supposedly for young people; actually it's a pretty sophisticated collection. It is called "That Dark Other Mountain" after a poem by Robert Francis included therein; I can't find it anywhere online. Garrison Keillor also published a really nice anthology of poems called, appropriately, "Good Poems."
Now I wish I had time to sit down and read poems for a while...
Poems, I think, can cut really deep - it's a type of communication that, like any good art form, cuts to the chase of true emotion. This has been a recurring discussion in the class I'm taking, style versus content.
One of our readings was Wallace Stevens' Blackbird poem, which doesn't so much do it for me, but most of the students and the teacher are blown away by the sounds of his words, even while not knowing what he is literally saying.
There are a lot of good anthologies, maybe in some ways better than this one. This book caught my eye because it was new and colorful and in FAO Schwartz. (Although it is also very good.)
Good Poems is good. There's a sequel called Good Poems for Hard Times. They're from Keillor's Writer's Almanac, which some like minded friends subscribe to, and I've been meaning to - but for now catch as catch can (did I just say catch as catch can?).
Keillor and Bily Collins are on the same page in terms of favoring accesable poetry. Collins has two nice anthologies called Poetry 180 and 180 more. (The number 180 is so that one can be used for each day of the school year).
There's a cool poetry anthology that I discovered recently that's put together so that the pages peel out and you can put a page in your pocket. I write about it here:
http://rabbifleischmann.blogspot.com/2009/07/heart-convulsive-learns.html
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