Treat yourself at the end of the year and listen to a poem, such as Al Young reading  "What December Remembers." I appreciate Al Young sharing with us his distillation of California experiences in verse by reading a poem a month all through 2012. His reflections lift me above my immediate concerns; his references comfort me with an intense identity with the people and the land of California.

Knowing time never returns, I try to remember my days by marking the natural rythms and wonders surrounding us. And the march of our days are better accented and appreciated by reading some poems. Among the numerous poetry sites, Poetry Foundation provides direct access to some seasonal poems and holiday poems that are good to explore (and listen to.)

There are volumes and volumes of poetry in the library collections awaiting you. If you would like to  sample poetry that’s rather timeless, then try to look up World poetry : an anthology of verse from antiquity to our time please.

It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2012 –

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
 And never brought to mind?"

 We are happy to announce that we are bringing back our Vineland Poetry Podcast! We have posted seven new poems since our hiatus and we’re not stopping now. Back in April of 2010, we started a weekly podcast where staff members would read a variety of poems for our customer’s listening pleasure. Over two years have passed and we’ve returned with the posting of our 70^thpoem! That’s 70 poems read by our library staff! We have a huge collection of recorded poems from the short and funny to the long and dramatic, including favorites from Poe, Shakespeare, Frost, Dickinson, and more. We’ve also included links to our catalog so you can check out books of poetry from the highlighted author. We hope you’ll visit our page and scroll through our poems to give some of them a listen. Thanks again for listening and we hope you enjoy our Vineland Poetry Podcast! 

Being a parent is hard work! There are joys and tribulations and endless questions about the effectiveness of parenting skills. Well, now in the book To What Miserable Wretches Have I Been Born?, Suzanne Weber gives voice to the little ones who let parents know what they think about the things parents do. Find out their thoughts about that first visit to the doctor or that first trip to see Santa Claus! How do they feel about attending those mommy and me classes or when you decide that they're ready for that big girl or big boy bed. I laughed out loud reading these poems and I'm sure you will too. There is some colorful language so may not appeal to everyone. Here is one poem called "Cry Guide," being read by the author. Enjoy!

For several years, Willow Glen Books hosted a poetry group. As a memorial to this group, editor Pushpa MacFarlane assembled 107 of the poems read over the years, and put them together in the book Remembering: Poems Read at Willow Glen Books: An Anthology. The poems run the gamut from funny to sad, from realistic to romantic, mirroring the human experience. Willow Glen Books was a fixture in the community, and it's fitting that a book like this commemorate the well-loved store. 

But local poetry lovers in need of camaraderie, weep not!  A successor group, Poetry Center San Jose meets at the Willow Glen Library on the third Thursday of the month at 7pm. So if your soul could use a dash of poetry and good fellowship, join in!  Who knows, maybe in time to come, there will be a sequel to "Remembering"! How's "Keep on Remembering" for a title? Willow Glen Library staff members, if you have any more information about this or a related topic which you would like to share with the big wide Internet world, please chime in!  

For a bit more information, here is a San Jose Mercury News article about the book.

Witness by Karen Hesse is a chilling, beautifully written novel set in a small Vermont town.  Told from the point of view of 11 different characters and in free verse, this story relates actual events that occurred after the arrival of the Ku Klux Klan in 1924.  At the heart of the story are Leanora, a 12 year-old African American girl and Esther Hirsh, a 6 year-old Jewish girl whose families are victimized by the Klan.  From these two young girls to the town’s adult citizens, the author has created convincing and distinct voices for each of the 11 characters.  It is fascinating to read about the same events as they are told from these very different points of view and to see changes in attitudes slowly taking place.   

If you enjoy the powerful format of the novel told in poems, you’re in luck because there are many other excellent poem-novels out there. Here are just a few of them:

• All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg. Matt, a Vietnamese boy, is adopted by a loving  American family but experiences a very difficult time in his new home at first. With the cooperation of the school baseball coach and a disabled veteran, Matt begins the process of healing from the pain of his past.

• Kissing Annabel by Stephen Herrick. Sixteen-year-old Jack is an aspiring poet who falls in love with Annabel. Their intense connection soothes Jack’s grief over the loss of his mother seven years earlier.

• Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff.  LaVaughn, a fourteen-year-old determined to earn enough money to go to college, accepts the job of baby-sitting two small children.  LaVaughn soon discovers that the seventeen-year-old single mother needs as much help and nurturing as her two neglected children.  As they help each other out, they  become something like a family.

• Stop Pretending:  What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy by Sonya Sones. Based on the author's own experiences, this intense and brutally honest novel tells the story of an older sister’s mental breakdown and hospitalization and a younger sister who is left behind to cope with a family torn apart by grief, and friends who turn their backs on her.

• Who Killed Mr. Chippendale: A Mystery in Poems by Mel Glenn.  This novel is told from the viewpoint of more than 50 characters, including students, school faculty, police detectives, reporters, drug dealers, neighbors and others.  The poems explore the aftermath of the murder of a high school teacher, Robert Chippendale.

And if you liked these poem-novels, here are even more titles.

April is National Poetry Month! Help your child discover poetry by checking out the library’s children poetry collection. Here are some recommended books to get your child excited about poetry:

Poetry Books

The New Kid on the Block: Poems by Jack Prelutsky

A collection of funny poems about strange creatures and people such as Baloney Belly Billy and the Gloopy Gloopers.

The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (Various Authors)

A varied and complete collection of more than 550 poems by various poets, including Emily Dickinson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Lewis Carroll, Ogden Nash, and Shel Silverstein.

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

This is a masterful collection of humorous poems and drawings by Shel Silverstein that will engage readers.

Learn to Write Poems

Haiku Activities : Asian Arts & Crafts for Creative Kids by Patricia Donegan

Introduces the form of Japanese poetry known as haiku, explores the seven keys to writing haiku, and provides instructions for five haiku projects, including creating haiga, or illustrated haiku.

Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem by Jack Prelutsky

Featuring personal anecdotes and an abundance of information, this is a humorous guide, filled with poetry exercises, ideas, projects, and pointers that teaches readers how to write poetry.

Poem-Making: Ways to Begin Writing Poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston

Introduces the different kinds of poetry and the mechanics of writing poetry, providing an opportunity for the reader to experience the joy of making a poem.

More Ways to Celebrate

Besides reading and writing poems, here are other ways that you and your child can celebrate National Poetry Month, according to Lily Jones and Skila Brown from www.education.com/magazine/article/Celebrate_Poetry:

• Memorize a poem together.
• Write poems about various things and occurrences at home.
• Read a short poem before a family meal, such as breakfast or dinner.
• Take a notebook and go on a walk. Be ready to write a poem or phrases about various things that you or your child would observe.
• Have a poetry slam by inviting other kids or adults over to read poems aloud.

And as always, you can ask a Youth Services Librarian to help you find more poetry resources at your local library branch.