Otherwise

I love this poem.

I wouldn't be King for a hundred pounds

Supposedly Queen Elizabeth II memorized this A. A. Milne poem as a child: "They're Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace."

It makes me want to get a book that includes it and read it to Kelly, so that when we eventually take her to London, she'll feel already a part of it.

Twin Cities

I either took a writing class from or went to a reading by Carol Muske-Dukes when I was studying in Minnesota. She has a poem called "Twin Cities" in the new New Yorker.

I bet the convent school her friend was expelled from was Vis.

Such as we were we gave ourselves outright

As preparations coalesce for Barack Obama's inauguration, people are remembering inaugurals past.

Art JFK's inauguration, Robert Frost was set to read a poem he wrote for the event, but apparently the sun was glinting off his pages and so at the last minute he pulled a switcheroo and recited one of his other poems by heart.

That poem was "The Gift Outright," which at least one senior at my high school quoted in their yearbook entry (not everyone quotes "Freebird!") It has always stuck with me. I hope some words from the Obama inaugural live as long and mean as much.

"Something we were withholding made us weak.
Until we found out that it was ourselves,
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright"

Gentler things

I think I found this poem in an Ask Metafilter response a week or so ago.

It's just beautiful, and reading it is very calming.

LMNOP

Remember in creative writing class when you would get to write poems in shapes of the topic, or in some other fun form?

Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinksky wrote a poem, "A B C," in which each word begins with the next letter of the alphabet. Very cool.

Archie Andrews, Archie Andrews, wherefore art thou, Archie Andrews?

I love this: Poetry sent in by readers of Archie comics in the 1960s.

Don't miss the first one, where the writer chastises a boy for having long hair, questions his gender, and tells him to get a haircut. GASP! Outta the car, long hair! Seems that not all kids in the era of love and peace were very live-and-let-live.

Also, some of these kids weren't even trying. This doesn't rhyme!

"Then comes Reggie, himself he admires,
He plays dirty tricks and is the king of the admirers."

What?? End one line with "admires" and one with "admirers"? Did you get torn away from your masterpiece because your mom was calling you?

My word

The same English poet coined both the term "gone with the wind" and the term "days of wine and roses."

The same poem that "gone with the wind" came from also inspired the wonderful song "Always True To You, Darling, In My Fashion," from "Kiss Me, Kate." A song which is now stuck in my head, natch.

But trust the hours

A very neat poem I found via this wedding Weblog.

Apparently it may be intended to dissuade young people from suicide, but there are many cool ways to read it, I think.