National Poetry Month

Poetry should... should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance.  ~John Keats

Each year the month of April is set aside as National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate poets and their craft. Various events are held throughout the month by the Academy of American Poets and other poetry organizations.  The Academy has a website here where you can find information on poets, their poetry, and ways to celebrate this month.

I found one of my favorite poems on the above site--Spring and Fall by Gerard Manley Hopkins.  Hopkins was an English poet of the Victorian era. His experimental explorations in prosody (especially sprung rhythm) and his use of imagery established him as a daring innovator in a period of largely traditional verse.

Spring and Fall
by Gerard Manley Hopkins
to a young child Márgarét, áre you gríeving Over Goldengrove unleaving? Leáves, like the things of man, you With your fresh thoughts care for, can you? Ah! ás the heart grows older It will come to such sights colder By and by, nor spare a sigh Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie; And yet you will weep and know why. Now no matter, child, the name: Sórrow's spríngs áre the same. Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed What heart heard of, ghost guessed: It ís the blight man was born for, It is Margaret you mourn for.

I encourage you to check out The Academy of American Poets website, Poetry.org, and find a poem that speaks to you.

Knitting and Poetry

No photos of FOs or WIPs today. I have been working on most of my projects on a daily basis, alternating from one to the other, but it is slow going when you have 5 in progress! However, today I have a Japanese haiku to share that pretty much sums up my recent knitting habits.

One more stitch...

One more row...

Ah..? It's dawn.

This and other knitting-themed Japanese haiku poems can be found on this site. I linked to it from another larger collection of knitting-themed poems, quotes, and legends that can be found here.

And here is a picture that I can definitely relate to. Who's been peeping in my craft room late at night?

I found it on this site which has many more knitting images. The prevalence of knitting on the internet, in all its aspects--tutorials, online yarn shops, blogs devoted to knitting, online knitting communities--is indeed wonderful. We are out there and the world is taking notice.

Summer in Arizona

The thirsty earth frowns

At the sun's scorching embrace;

Monsoons will bring smiles.

My haiku above was inspired by a post of Robyn's the other day and the recent comments of local weatherpersons about the approaching monsoon season in Arizona. Technically they should be referred to as monsoon thunderstorms and the season is usually from July through September, but the timing is more dependent upon the dewpoint than the calendar. As the weather heats up here in the Southwest and the landscape turns dry and brown, we begin to long for the rainy season. More information on this interesting meteorological phenomena can be found at this Arizona State University website.

Poem In Your Pocket

April is National Poetry Month (NPM) and tomorrow has been designated the first national Poem In Your Pocket Day. As stated by the sponsors of NPM, The Academy of American Poets, on their website: "The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends on April 17."


The poem I've selected to carry in my pocket tomorrow is Sonnet 98 from William Shakespeare:




From you have I been absent in the spring...

From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in everything,
That heavy Saturn laughed and leaped with him,
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odor and in hue,
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew.
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seemed it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.

You can find a poem to carry in your pocket tomorrow on The Academy of American Poets website: http://www.poets.org/index.php. This wonderful resource has thousands of poems for every occasion, biographies of poets, essays on poetry, as well as weekly features.

Number Sixty-One

I woke up this morning, old in years, but young at heart;

And what's most important, anyway;

Mind over matter, or the other way around?

I guess I should stay in today and act my age,

But I don't want to. . .

I'm going out and have some fun!

Happy Birthday to Me!

When I Can't Sleep

Every woman I know has told me that she frequently has trouble sleeping--much more often it seems than the men I know do. It used to be that I would lay in my bed, tossing and turning, and getting wider and wider awake when I was experiencing one of these manic times. However, now I get up and go into my craft room (also the computer room and a guest bedroom, in case the thoughts of a room dedicated to crafting makes you jealous) and pick up the needles or a crochet hook. Below is a little poem I wrote to express how comforting this practice has become for me:

Knit Therapy

The rhythmic click of the needles quiets the strident voices in my mind;

The soft feel of the fibers slipping through my fingers calms my jangled nerves;

The yarn’s vibrant colors refresh my jaded senses like rain in summer;

The slowly growing object on my needles gives my life a new purpose.

I am really trying to let go of the hectic habits that the working world created in me and become a calmer more relaxed person in my retirement. Knitting and crocheting are helping me to accomplish this goal.