Five Poems

I picked up a book of poetry today (gasp!) and I got a kick out of this poem since we live on the first floor. The first line really nabbed me :)

The People Upstairs

The people upstairs all practice ballet.
Their living room is a bowling alley.
Their bedroom is full of conducted tours.
Their radio is louder than yours.
They celebrate weekends all the week.
When they take a shower, your ceilings leak.
They try to get their parties to mix
By supplying their guests with Pogo sticks,
And when their orgy at last abates,
They go to the bathroom on roller skates.
I might love the people upstairs wondrous
If instead of above us, they just lived under us.

Ogden Nash

 I don't think I've ever mentioned our upstairs neighbors. They have actually been very good to us. Louise and Joe are an empty-nester couple and are always bringing toys and treats and balloons for Rose. And I think every time I start to play the piano, they open their slider wide and sit on the patio. Fan club! But we do hear a lot of their activity up there, from footsteps at 4 am to hammering nails for artwork to running the garbage disposal. But to imagine those noises coming from the two of them doing ballet... is too much!!!

This makes me think of how special it was when it rained when I was little. It didn't happen often, but it was always so exciting:

Happiness

John had
Great Big
Waterproof
Boots on;
John had a
Great Big
Waterproof
Hat;
John had a
Great Big
Waterproof
Mackintosh--
And that
(Said John)
Is
That.

A. A. Milne


I think this one about love is pretty funny:

Falling in Love is Like Owning A Dog

First of all, it's a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stopr and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

Taylor Mali


My introduction to this poem was actually a song that I sang once--it had kind of an Irish sound to it and I loved it for all the beautiful imagery and mystery.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee;
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping
     slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket
     sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

William Butler Yeats

I like what "bee-loud glade" does with consonants when you say it out loud. And the rhythms of "midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow" and "linnet's wings". I could not make a place sound so colorful and lovely! And I like the idea of having that place set aside and that I can return there whenever I want to.

And lastly, Jack Prelutsky is so fun.

Today is a very boring day

Today is very boring,
it’s a very boring day,
there is nothing much to look at,
there is nothing much to say,
there’s a peacock on my sneakers,
there’s a penguin on my head,
there’s a dormouse on my doorstep,
I am going back to bed.

Today is very boring,
it is boring through and through,
there is absolutely nothing
that I think I want to do,
I see giants riding rhinos,
and an ogre with a sword,
there’s a dragon blowing smoke rings,
I am positively bored.

Today is very boring,
I can hardly help by yawn,
there’s a flying saucer landing
in the middle of my lawn,
a volcano just erupted
less than half a mile away,
and I think I felt an earthquake,
it’s a very boring day.
 
Jack Prelutsky

It's a regular Sunday and we're headed to church at 1. I remember thinking as a child that Sundays were boring, but now I enjoy the slowness and the chance to refocus my life spiritually, and spend time with family and have Sunday dinner. Really... Sunday dinner!!! Tonight I'm making grilled turkey apple melt sandwiches with fries!