Poetry Month Tag -- My Own Answers

I've suddenly realized that I never filled out my own tag for my own Poetry Month Celebration!  Well, I've got a few days to spare, so I guess I'm not exactly late.  Here goes.

What are some poems you like?

"Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams" by Kenneth Koch (which is funnier if you have read WCW's "This is Just to Say"), "Acquainted with the Night" by Robert Frost, "Fog" by Carl Sandburg, "Hush'd be the Camps Today" by Walt Whitman, "The Hollow Men" by T. S. Eliot, "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, "The Man from Snowy River" by A. B. "Banjo" Patterson, "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning... those are the first ones that pop into my head.

What are some poems you dislike?

I am not a huge fan of the poems of Emily Dickinson or e. e. cummings, though some of their stuff I do like okay.Are there any poets whose work you especially enjoy?  If so, who are they?

Kenneth Koch, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes, and Robert Browning are my top favorites.

Do you write poetry?

Not as much as I did when in college and my early 20s.  But once in a while, I still jot one down.Have you ever memorized a poem?

Goodness me, yes!  When I was really little, I memorized all of "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore, and also "Eletelephony" by Laura Elizabeth Richards.  I still know all of the latter, but not the former anymore, alas.  I've memorized other favorite poems over the years too, including two I mentioned above, "Acquainted with the Night" by Robert Frost and "Hush'd be the Camps Today" by Walt Whitman.  I know several other Robert Frost poems too, including "Nothing Gold Can Stay," which I love because of the role it plays in The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton.  And one of these days, I'll finish memorizing "The Man from Snowy River" too -- that one has such a delicious cadence to it that it's very easy to memorize.  I know a lot of Shakespeare too, mostly Hamlet of course, like the whole "To be or not to be" soliloquy.

Do you prefer poetry that rhymes and had a strict meter, or free verse?  Or do you like both?

I like both.  Rhyming poetry is easier to memorize, though.

Do you have any particular poetry movements you're fond of?  (Beat poets, Romanticism, Fireside poets, etc?)(If you haven't got any idea what I'm talking about, that's fine!  You can check out this list for more info, if you want to.)

Well, on a whole I am NOT fond of the Romantics.  Or the Beat poets.  Most of my favorite poets are from the 20th century, but not associated with any particular movements.

"Wishes, Lies, and Dreams" by Kenneth Koch

I fell in love with Kenneth Koch's poetry during my sophomore year of college.  A few years later, my parents gave me this book for Christmas, and I read it once, then set it aside.  But now that I am homeschooling my kids, I pulled it out again to see if maybe I could put some of his advice to work. Plus, April is National Poetry Month, so I felt sort of obligated to read something poetry-oriented.

The book is based on Koch's experience teaching grade school kids how to write poetry back in the '70s.  He explains the different things that he found worked well or worked badly, and he also includes a LOT of the poems written by the kids he taught.  They're exuberant and imaginative, not stilted or hesitant.

Koch found that most kids have an aptitude for writing poetry if you don't try to make them adhere to things like rhyme and meter, which tend to overwhelm and squelch them.  Instead he would give them a subject (wishes, lies, dreams, colors, sounds...) and a bit of form (start every line with "I wish" or include a color in every line, etc), and the kids would take it from there.

I helped my kids (ages 3 and 5) write  poetry on the subject of wishes last Friday, and they loved it!  In fact, my 5-year-old asked me to help him write a poem about recycling yesterday.  I'd say Koch's ideas work :-)

Also, if you're not a kid, but you're looking for a jump-start to your own poetry writing, his ideas work really well for adults too.