Poetry I Was Never Forced to Read

There was a discussion recently on ReadWritePoem that touched on the poetry we were drawn to (not assigned to) in our earlier years. I had a few. Of course, I also grew up on Shel Silverstein, as was mentioned in the blog.

On that same vein, I was also quite fond of

1. Jack Prelutsky as a kid. His poetry was whimsical, silly and occasionally, kind of scary.

2. I also loved (and occasionally feared) Lewis Carroll. I think I dreamed about the Jabberwoky right up until my 20s. I still practically have The Walrus and the Carpenter memorized, but that may be because The Dark Lord (a.k.a. Benjamin Fisher) frequently recites it at open mics. I also quite loved Father William, who I kind of wish had been my grandparent.

3. I was (and am) a lifelong fan of A.A. Milne. Of course, I grew up on the Pooh stories, but I loved his poetry too. Some favorites are Halfway Down (which I used to say summed up my political stance), The Dormouse and the Doctor, The End, and The Invaders, which is tough to find online, so I'll post it here:

The Invaders

In careless patches through the wood
the clumps of yellow primrose stood,
and sheets of white anemones,
like driven snow against the trees,
had covered up the violet,
but left the blue-bell bluer yet.

Along the narrow carpet ride,
with primroses on either side,
between their shadows and the sun,
the cows came slowly, one by one,
breathing the early morning air
and leaving it still sweeter there.

And one by one, intent upon
their purposes, they followed on
in ordered silence…and were gone.

But all the little wood was still,
as if it waited so, until
some blackbird on an outpost yew,
watching the slow procession through,
lifted his yellow beak at last
to whistle that the line had passed…
then all the wood began to sing
it’s morning anthem to the spring.

-A.A. Milne

I once used that poem in a term paper to describe a Nazi invasion.

4. As I got older, my tastes changed. I went through an Edgar Allen Poe phase, but I never liked The Raven and rather preferred his short stories like The Tell-Tale Heart and The Pit and the Pendulum.

5. I also had a e.e. cummings phase after I discovered a line from one of his poems in a painting I had. The line was "it is most mad and moonly and less it shall unbe" from the poem love is more thicker than forget.

6. I still love Rudyard Kipling and have been reading his Just So Stories to my kids. His poem If was very inspiring to me years ago when I embarked on the career journey that led me to where I am now; and, after re-reading it today, I find the advice is just as sound.

7. And still, one of my all-time favorites is Pattiann Rogers. It's odd to me that I like her work so much, especially since she tends to focus on science. Her poems are said to be "intelligent, highly detailed, exuberant poems that examine the phenomena of science and faith." I have many favorite poems of hers, among them are Nearing Autobiography, A Philosopher of Verbs and Their Godliness Contemplates First Causes, and the deeply erotic Come, Drink Here.

That's just a few. I tend to be too ADD-tastic to settle on any one poet for any particular length of time. Usually, I just love a poem and then skitter over the rest of someone's work until something calls out to me. What say you?