I’ll confess I don’t read a lot of poetry. So when a co-worker asked if I wanted to join her new poetry club, I dithered.

I’ve never even been in a book club. I don’t like being told what to read.

But at least poetry is short.

It turned out to be an evening of pure pleasure- five women, a plate of bruschetta, a bottle of prosecco and a shared love of words.

We each brought some poetry to read. Some had written their own. One woman was a real, live, published poet.

What did I bring? Just about the only poetry I had at hand - my kids’. Hurray for Shel Silverstein!

And guess what? I found a Silverstein poem in one that is now my Manifesto for Life. 

How many, how much

How many slams in an old screen door?
Depends how loud you shut it.
How many slices in a bread?
Depends how thin you cut it.
How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live ‘em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give ‘em.

From A light in the Attic (Poems and drawings by Shel Silverstein, published 1981

Like flour, this poem is all-purpose.  It applies to life with two preschoolers. It applies to the twilight zone of coming in to work everyday at a company in bankruptcy. And last weekend, I even sent it to a cousin who got married in Melbourne, Aust. (Substitute “husband” or “wife” for friend and voila! it’s a Manifesto for Marriage too).

For anything more, I have to turn to more literary minds. Apparently, it’s national poetry month and here’s a fabulous link to videos of readings I stole off Sherry’s Facebook page. (Thanks, Sherry!)

Who’s your fave poet for kids? For yourself?

This entry was posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 7:46 am and is filed under Family Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.