On the Second February’s Poems
Happy Leap Year! Happy Leap Day!
Happy February! Happy Groundhog Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day! Happy winter vacation!
I tried to fill this month with love poems, but wasn’t always successful. However, I have to say that I got a surprising reaction to Pablo Neruda from the students–they loved him! I think it has to do with the fact that his love poetry is of the “I love you, you’re sexy” in-your-face kind. In fact, one girl from my first period class came back at the end of the day to ask for the print-out of the Neruda poem, because she wanted to put it in her notebook. Success! And that’s my plan with this undertaking: to win these people over, one poem, one student at a time. Obviously, I must incorporate more Pablo Neruda into these poem-a-day adventures, so if there are any out there that are personal faves, I hope people will let me know.
I threw in two Shakespeare sonnets this month, precisely because the poet Jenny Doughty thought I should. I tell the kids he wrote them all for me, but then we broke up after the prom.
Oh, and there were still some cold wintery poems in there, because winter’s not letting go of us until March.
So. Here they all are:
February 1, Wednesday: William Shakespeare, Sonnet 141
Barbara Hamby
February 2, Thursday: Barbara Hamby, “Caliban Passes His Driving Test on the Ninth Try”
February 3, Friday: Dawn Potter, “Night Sledding”
February 6, Monday: Jane Kenyon, “Dry Winter”
February 7, Tuesday: Mike Bove, “My Renaissance”
February 8, Wednesday: Dorianne Laux, “Enough Music”
February 9, Thursday: Marge Piercy, “February Ground”
Marge Piercy
February 10, Friday: Maxine Kumin, “Down East News Item”
February 13, Monday: Laure-anne Bosselaar, “Unable to Find”
February 14, Tuesday: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43
February 15, Wednesday: William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116
February 16, Thursday: Pablo Neruda, “Love Sonnet XVII”
February 17, Friday: Winter Carnival Day–no classes
February 20-24, vacation!
February 27, Monday: Faith Shearin, “Three Dog Night”
Stephen Dobyns
February 28, Tuesday: Lord Byron, “She Walks in Beauty”
February 29, Wednesday: Stephen Dobyns, “Pursuit“
- Posted in: Poetry ♦ Reading
- Tagged: Barbara Hamby, Dawn Potter, Dorianne Laux, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Jane Kenyon, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Marge Piercy, Maxine Kumin, Mike Bove, William Shakespeare
I always love reading your monthly poems. Some of the links don’t seem to work this time, though….
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