The Poetry is the Thing April 19, 2013
Posted by Julie in Audio, Musically Inclined, Thoughtful Ramblings.Tags: Current Events, Music & Lyrics, Musically Inclined, Poetry
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I was reading a review of a new CD, A Wonder Working Stone, we are adding to the collection and a quote from one of the songs struck me: “Get over your tiny self/Because all days will end in joy.” The artist is Alasdair Roberts and although he started out recording traditional Scottish folk music, this is a album of mainly original compositions.
photo credit: Alex Woodward
I haven’t even listened to the music yet, but already love his poetry.
As I was flipping through the lyrics to find the song the review quote was from, again I was struck by his words in “Song Composed in December,” especially with recent events in Boston and other evils perpetrated by human beings against humanity.
Song Composed in December
This song’s made in anger, this song’s made in love
Where the croak of the hawk meets the coo of the dove
Where minstrelsy’s slander and rhyme turns to rage
To make a song about the renovation of the age
Woe to those who celebrate the taking up of violence
And woe to those who perpetrate delusions of their sirelands
Who’d fight for no reason with sword or with firebrand
Be they reiver in the border or raider in the highland
And joy to those who celebrate the breaking up of weapons
Who take a stand to raise a hand against oncoming slaughter
And joy to those who strive to give a voice to those with none
The fosterer of errant son and sire of wild daughter
And joy to those who’d use their songs as clues to find their clan
But woe to those who’d use them to enslave their fellow man
From open moor where kestrels soar on wings of beauty
To cloisters where vestals bear their palms of beauty
To waterfall tumbling, cascading and purling
To the flowery machair where the echo mocks the yellow yorlin
From forest deep where numens peep from every oaken bole
To city streets where people seek completion of the soul
For everyone with double bond of suffering to thole
I will sow a seed of honesty upon the bluebell knoll
There’s a little more to the song (including some Welsh rap!) than I am including in this post, but I will leave you to discover more of his words – and music- on your own.
— Julie
Is that a poem in your pocket? April 9, 2012
Posted by carol in Thoughtful Ramblings.Tags: Poetry
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In case you haven’t heard, April is National Poetry Month! National Poetry Month is a national celebration of poetry established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. The goal is to widen attention to the art of poetry. The hope to increase the visibility and availability of poetry in popular culture while acknowledging and celebrating poetry’s ability to sustain itself in the many places where it is practiced and appreciated.
You can help celebrate National Poetry Month by reading your favorite poems, learning more about the craft, or exploring new poems and poets at www.poets.org.
For more fun, participate in ”Poem in Your Pocket Day” on Thursday, April 26, 2012! Pick your favorite verse and carry it with you to share with family and friends. 
While I’ll be sure to choose another for that day, I’ll leave one of my very favorite springtime poems here for you to enjoy!
~Carol
By E. E. Cummings1894–1962
Daffodils April 15, 2011
Posted by Dori in Uncategorized.Tags: Poetry
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I read an article by Connie Schultz in The Plain Dealer the other day reminding me that it’s National Poetry Month and then saw another about where to go see the daffodils in Cleveland. Thus, the inspiration for sharing the lovely poem”Daffodils” by William Wordsworth:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee:
A Poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
~ Dori
April is National Poetry Month April 21, 2008
Posted by Emma in Non-Fiction.Tags: Add new tag, Poetry
comments closed Since its first observance in 1996, National Poetry Month has paid honor to the legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets and the place of poetry in our culture. Ohio is fortunate that there are many talented poets who call or who have called Ohio their home.(http://www.ohioana.org/features/lists/poetslist.pdf) Rocky River Public Library subscribes to the Muse, the quarterly journal of “The Lit: Cleveland’s Literary Center” (http://www.the-lit.org/). This literary organization (formerly called “The Poets’ and Writers’ League of Greater Cleveland”) promotes writers and their work in northeast Ohio and invites aspiring poets and others to submit their works for possible publication. Anybody interested? ~Emma
