Poetry Friday: Library Poetry, Poets, and July Visits

Although I do buy books regularly, I am also a frequent visitor to the library. At the end of June, I borrowed a stack of books from our tiny local library branch.

I was in search of a few classics to offer to read along with my overseas tutee. There, I came up short. Her school had assigned her to read, “Mercury Pictures Presents” by Anthony Marra, so I ordered that to come from a bigger branch. Have any of you read it? It seems like it will be an interesting read.

Two poetry books I borrowed were by Jeff Moss and Ogden Nash, both written for kids. The Jeff Moss book, “Bone Poems” (1997) I read immediately. Moss’s poems make me laugh and laughter is good for the soul, isn’t it?!

Moss, as you might know him, was a lyricist and rose to fame writing Sesame Street songs. I own “The Butterfly Jar by Moss” (1989) and contributed to “Free to be a Family” by Marlo Thomas, which I also own. Both copies were from my mother’s classroom collection.

You can read more about Moss on the Poetry Foundation Page, here.

The Odgen Nash book was okay. I haven’t spent much time with it. I also got out a book by Leo Tolstoy to look for examples of fables for my student’s edification.

Aside from enjoying the Moss book and appreciating his talents. I’ll be returning the books to the library today.

I’ll be reading more about Ogden Nash and you can too, here.

His works will be copyrighted until 2041, fifty years past his death in 1971. He wrote over 500 poems and a lot of it is light verse which I tend to enjoy.

I try not to share anything still under copyright, but you can easily read these author’s works if you visit their Poetry Foundation.org pages, which I’ve linked for you.

July Visits

Our July has been busy. Our boys were here, one with his significant other, for the July 4th holiday. They all arrived on the 3rd and stayed until Saturday or Sunday. Although the weather wasn’t great, we still enjoyed each other’s company.

Then, this week we had two couples on different dates that we have been friends with since our kids were freshmen in high school together. One couple came this past Friday through Sunday and the other Tuesday to Wednesday. It was fun catching up.

The weather was also more enjoyable and we were able to hike and kayak with them.

Lastly, I want to publically thank Joanne Emery who purchased copies of the Picture Perfect Anthology off this blog for her use. She has hopeful plans to get the book added to her school’s book fair in the fall. Thank you, Joanne! I would be delighted if this book ends up on school shelves or in student’s hands – it is the intended audience.

Thus, if anyone else has similar desires, please let me know so I can stock enough books. Again, my copies of the books are coming from KDP. I do not suggest ordering from Ingram Spark as the pages are not as vibrant. Feel free to contact me about ordering books/copies at a bulk rate.

There are still some available here.

I’ve enjoyed the summer swap as well and look forward to sending out my next swap soon! Thanks to Tabatha who took the time to organize this fun and satisfying exchange!

Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Margaret Simon on her blog, Reflections on the Teche. This came as a surprise as I looked up who was hosting since I missed the last two weeks. I started a poem for Margaret yesterday, my soon-to-be swap-mate for the third round in the summer poetry swap. I do believe in serendipity and this just solidifies that feeling. Be sure to visit Margaret’s page to participate or just read some great poetry.

Thanks for hosting, Margaret!