A Novel Approach To Poetry

Hungry for Poetry

By Ralph Fletcher

First I saw him chew

a tender Japanese haiku.

He ate a foot-long sonnet

with mustard seed spread upon it.

He downed a bag of ripe cinquains

while walking in the pouring rain.

He gulped an epic, chomped an ode,

wolfed a couplet to cure his cold.

He munched so many limericks,

they made him absolutely sick.

He tried a plate of fresh free verse;

but all that did was make things worse.

He took some onomatopoeia

to cure a case of diarrhea.

He ate a poem of sixteen lines,

and after that he felt just fine.

The start of National Poetry month seemed like  good time to take advantage of unusual park activity. Along a meandering two mile paved walk through the park sculptures and cell phone poetry have been set up for viewing and listening.  At each sculpture you stop, dial a set number and listen to a brief description of how the sculpture was made and a narration of a poem. This was the first stop

   

A Norwegian Hut

Second stop listening to a poetry reading while overlooking the lake 

I do hope the park changes the sculptures and readings from time to time to encourage repeated visits by people. It's a great concept.

Pippa’s Song

by Robert Browning

The year’s at the spring

And day’s at the morn;

Morning’s at seven;

The hillside’s dew-pearled;

The lark’s on the wing;

The snail’s on the thorn:

God’s in his heaven-

All’s right in the world!