Poetry Friday - Gather Round

That's right, poetry Friday is here today. So, bring "the best words in the best order" and gather round for the last installment of Poetry Friday during National Poetry Month.

I'm starting things off this week with a poem by Amy Lowell. It was first published in 1919 in a volume entitled Pictures of the Floating World.

By Messenger
by Amy Lowell

One night
When there was a clear moon,
I sat down
To write a poem
About maple-trees.
But the dazzle of moonlight
In the ink
Blinded me,
And I could only write
What I remembered.
Therefore, on the wrapping of my poem
I have inscribed your name.

This poem and the book it was published in are in the public domain and have been digitized and made available by Google. You can read the entire volume simply by downloading a copy.

The round-up is being done the old-fashioned way this week, so leave me a comment about your post and I'll add poems to the list throughout the day. Happy poetry Friday, all!

The Best Words - Some Well-Known and Little-Known Poems

• At the Blue Rose Girls, Elaine is sharing May Swenson's poem, Analysis of Baseball.

• Stacey at Two Writing Teachers is sharing Ecclesiastes 3.

• Over at A Year of Reading, Mary Lee gives us some simile and metaphor poems written by her students.

• cloudscome at a wrung sponge is sharing Sestina by Elizabeth Bishop.

• Sarah at In Need of Chocolate shares the Robert Louis Stevenson poem The Land of Counterpane.

• At Findings, writer2b shares a post entitled Finding the Keynote, with reflections and poems on pianos.

• Lisa at A little of this, a little of that shares Mending Wall by Robert Frost.

• At Finding Wonderland, TadMack shares George Herbert's Vertue.

• Sara at Read*Write*Believe shares some musings about the logic of beauty and Wallace Stevens' Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.

• Eisha at Seven Imp shares the poem Nesting by Dana Koster.

• Little Willow at bildungsroman shares the poem Dark Knight from Emily the Strange.

• The Old Coot checks in with Spring Goeth All in White by Robert Seymour Bridges.

• Liz in Ink shares the poem Your Catfish Friend by Richard Brautigan.

• Sylvia Vardell at Poetry for Children has seven poems by Janet Wong that reveal the wonder of the writing process.

• At The Well-Read Child, Wes is sharing Love Calls Us to the Things of This World by Richard Wilbur.

• At Charlotte's Library, Charlotte gives us Eeyore's Poem from The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne.

• Becky of Becky's Book Reviews has the Judith Viorst poem, Someday Someone Will Bet That You Can't Name All Fifty States.

• Becky at Farm School shares an anonymous poem and a portion of the foreword from The Macmillan Treasury of Poetry for Children.

• Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy checks in with Poem 126 by Emily Dickinson.

• WATAT's Adrienne shares some very funny autograph poetry.

• Over at Adventures in Daily Living, Suzanne shares A Prayer in Spring by Robert Frost.

• Miss Erin is in today with Shel Silverstein's Forgotten Language.

• Christine from The Simple and the Ordinary is sharing a hodge-podge of poetry that includes The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (Longfellow), Casey at the Bat (Thayer), and Casey's Revenge (Rice).

• Michelle at Scholar's Blog is celebrating Shakespeare's birthday (again!) with Sonnet 104.

• Over at Look Books, Felicity is sharing Edna St. Vincent Millay's The Leaf and the Tree.

• Kelly at Writing and Ruminating gives us Robert Frost's The Rose Family.
  

In the Best Order - Original Poetry

• There are many original poems on color presented as part of this week's poetry stretch results.

• Kelly at Big A little a give us an original poem on spring.

• Greg K. at GottaBook shares an original poem entitled The Talking Cake Blues.

• cloudscome at a wrung sponge wrote and recorded a poem entitled Esperanto: Ode to Green.

• The Reading Zone is sharing an original work entitled Time Atop the World.

• Tiel Aisha Ansari at Knocking From Inside shares her poem entitled The Best Idea, or, Nervous Bride.

• Karen Edmisten shares a cake haiku. Yum!

• Over at just another day of Catholic pondering, Sarah shares a poem written by a friend entitled The Woman in the Wheelchair.

• Becky of Becky Levine's Blog shares a poem her son wrote entitled If Only I Was an Eagle.
  

And Then Some - Book Reviews and Interviews

• I am reviewing a poetry book a day as part of National Poetry Month. This week I wrote two posts about Poetry Between Cultures. See Part 1 and Part 2.

• At Wild Rose Reader, Elaine shares a review of Stella Unleashed: Notes From the Doghouse by Linda Ashman.

• John Mutford of The Book Mine Set reviews Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

• At World of Words, M.F. Atkins shares a poem and brief review of the Carole Boston Weatherford's book Jesse Owens, Fastest Man Alive.

• Linda Kulp at Write Time has an interview with Bobbi Katz.

• Kerry at Shelf Elf has a review of Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham and shares a poem from the book.

• MotherReader is also in with a review of Shark Girl and a poem from the book.

• Jennie at Biblio File shares a review of Andrea Cheng's verse novel, Where the Steps Were, and the Langston Hughes poem that figures prominently in it.

• Susan at Chicken Spaghetti is sharing the thoughts of Dirda (Washington Post book critic) and others on De La Mare.

• Ruth from There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town writes about some of the poetry books in her classroom and shares a Pablo Neruda poem.
  

Topping it Off With Fun!

• Over at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup, Jama is hosting a Mad Poet's Tea Party. Grab your hat and go!

• Alkelda the Gleeful at Saints and Spinnners is singing a song of the week. It's Hey Little Red Bird by Dan Zanes.

• Ms. Mac at Check It Out has postcards with original poems by students just waiting to wing their way to you. Send her a message to receive a postcard in your mailbox.