Share Your Favorite Poem
Do you have a favorite poem?
Last night I read poetry with a friend over dinner. We picked a few books off my shelf: Dorothy Parker, Rumi, and love poems by Pablo Neruda (who was portrayed in the wonderful movie Il Postino.)
One particular poem by Neruda made us laugh out loud:
My ugly love, you’re a messy chestnut.
My beauty, you are pretty as the wind.
Ugly: your mouth is big enough for two mouths.
Beauty: your kisses are fresh as new melons.
Ugly: where did you hide your breasts?
They’re meager, two little scoops of wheat.
I’d much rather see two moons across your chest,
two huge proud towers.
Ugly: not even the sea contains things like your toenails.
Beauty: flower by flower, star by star, wave by wave,
Love, I’ve made an inventory of your body:
My ugly one, I love you for your waist of gold;
my beauty, for the wrinkle on your forehead.
My Love: I love you for your clarity, your dark.
Isn’t that a gem?
So what’s your favorite poem? If you have one, be sure to share it with us in the comments section (or even better - write an original!) And if you need some creative inspiration, I highly recommend attending a poetry slam in your city or town! Or visit Poetry.org. Leave a comment!
God blooms from the shoulder of the elephant who becomes courteous to the ant. —Haifz
I have MANY favorites….here is just one…keep in mind I’ve had about as much luck in love as dear Sylvia herself!!!
Never Try to Trick Me with a Kiss
Never try to trick me with a kiss
Pretending that the birds are here to stay;
The dying man will scoff and scorn at this.
A stone can masquerade where no heart is
And virgins rise where lustful Venus lay:
Never try to trick me with a kiss.
Our noble doctor claims the pain is his,
While stricken patients let him have his say;
The dying man will scoff and scorn at this.
Each virile bachelor dreads paralysis,
The old maid in the gable cries all day:
Never try to trick me with a kiss.
The suave eternal serpents promise bliss
To mortal children longing to be gay;
The dying man will scoff and scorn at this.
Sooner or later something goes amiss;
The singing birds pack up and fly away;
So never try to trick me with a kiss:
The dying man will scoff and scorn at this.
Sylvia Plath
JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought –
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Ok, Here is one of mine
Amazing Love
By
Laurie Henry
Amazing love was sung today as people praised your name
But how amazing is this love I heard in the refrain?
In the presence of the angry crowd did you think of me?
As they accused you falsely, yet did not set you free?
My dear child I faced the mob but I remained in silence
Accusations flung with hate unleashing hearts of violence
“This man’s a god? That can’t be, why that’s blasphemy”
They yelled “Crucify him! Kill him now! Hang him from a tree!”
Their words like arrows sharp, pierced my heart but yet
I did this for a special purpose I never would regret.
For through this act it was your heart I yearned for to pursue
As I stood before the crowd, of course I thought of you.
Amazing love was sung today as people praised your name
But how amazing is this love I heard in the refrain?
With shackled hands you were beaten, spit on, whipped and scourged,
During all this torture, did somehow thoughts of me emerge?
Dear child of mine my hands were shackled but certainly not my heart
For I have been in love with you, long before your start.
Every burning lash absorbed by great love from me to you
My love is everlasting; no scourge could cut right through.
That cross I carried up the hill, a burden that I chose
Was not for me but for your sins to be permanently disposed
Tripping up the hill my pain in no way could eclipse
My love for you, for my child, your name was on my lips.
Amazing love was sung today as people praised your name
But how amazing is this love I heard in the refrain?
Nails pierced your hands, a crown of thorns they ripped across your brow
In this scene, you thought of me? My God, I don’t see how!
Oh dear child my thoughts of you were all that got me through
With each pounding hammer of the nail my love for you just grew.
They raised me up to hang and die in total agony
But in my death I rose again so you could be set free.
Did I think of you up on that cross? Please don’t believe the lies.
I saw your face between my tears. How beautiful your eyes!
I died for you because my dear, I ache for you inside
I love you with all I AM and want you for my bride.
Amazing love was sung today as people praised your name
But how amazing is this love I never could explain.
Your love is so amazing that you would die for me.
Now your bride, I will be, your love has set me free.
Thank you Jesus you set me free!
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.
Bob Dylan
Else - Nice! I like that!
D’Arcy - Good one! If you like Sylvia you’ll looove Dorothy Parker.
Laurie - love the Jabberwocky! Love the cadence and the made-up words. Thanks for sharing your personal poem - it’s really impressive. You’ve done this poetry thing before I see! Thank you…
Lisa - Classic - I’ve heard of this Bob Dylan person, he’s quite good.
Thanks for taking the time to write these out, everyone!
As Noah oft said to his wife as he sat down to dine.
I do not care where the water goes as long as it stays out of the wine.
..this is my dad’s grace. Yes, my family is strange.
Wiggle to the laundromat
Waggle to the sea
Skip to Casa Loma but you can’t catch me.
Actually anything by Denis Lee for that matter.
And anything by Shel Silverstein. In particular the Bagpipe Who Didn’t Say No which is about a turtle who falls in love with a bagpipe that washes up on the beach.
Okay, definitely children’s poetry. I admit it. Adult poetry bores me to tears.
If you get what you want
In your struggle for self
And the world makes you King for a day
Just go to the mirror
And look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.
For it isn’t your Father or Mother or friends
Whom upon you their judgement will pass
The fellow who’s verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.
He’s the person to please
Nevermind all the rest
For he’s with you right up to the end.
And you’ve passed the most difficult, dangerous test
If the man in the glass is your friend.
You may fool the world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass
But your final reward may be heartache or tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.
Urban - Thanks for the Shel Silverstein reminder!
Ann - That is amazing. Truly words to live by. But who wrote it??
Thanks for this. It triggered one of my all time adolescent favorites?Note I did say adolescent.
You love yourself
you think your grand
you go to the movies
you hold your hand
you put your arm
around your waist
and when you get fresh
you slap your face.
Annon.
For the profound impact it’s had on my life, I have to give credit to “The Journey” by Mary Oliver:
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.
Mark–the poem was taught to me in the 6th grade and I never forgot it. Mrs. Maroni was my teacher at the time and she was tough. I was her artist-in-residence as she used to like to call me and this poem was written anonymously. I still love it. I also loved an old poem by the title of what I thought was ‘David’ but when I looked it up online it was different. Story of two young brothers climbing a mt and one fell and was hurt so badly he begged his brother to push him over the edge of the cliff…a real heart-stopper as to what the little brother decided to do in the end. I learned that one in high school I think. Glad you liked it.
Bananas
Bananas are fun Banans are great
if you eat to many you will get a tummy ache.
Bananas are fun
Bananas give you fight
Eat a Banana to day to spice up your life.
When I eat bananas I throw the peel on the street
Then I watch the fun as people fall from their feet.