Roses are Red, Violets are Blue

April is National Poetry Month too!

Okay, okay — this little rhyme won’t win a Pulitzer prize.  But maybe, just maybe, it’ll get you to come into the library and check out a book of poetry; you might just find some old favorites you’ve forgotten and discover some new ones along the way.

The children’s collection has some beautiful books — often illustrating just one poem, so they’re very appealling to both young and old alike. Try Shel Silverstein’s classic A Light in the Attic, filled with whimsical, playful, clever (and very funny) word play, or Paul Janecsko’s A Kick in the Head, a delightful, laugh-out-loud introduction to poetry forms.  Both will have you bouncin’ to the beat!

And, if you’ve never read Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, what better time than now?  Set in a fictional Midwestern village in central Illinois along the Spoon River (which isn’t all that far from here), it tells the stories of “the dead sleeping on the hill” who awaken and tell the truth about their lives. Although written in 1915, the themes are universal and heartfelt.

If you don’t find something on the display shelf, just check out the 811’s for a treasure chest of American poetry.