Today's Poem - Thursday

So, we missed a day yesterday - no poem of the day for Wed. The kids are in back-to-school mode, and between meeting new teachers, getting new sneakers, and a few last minute summer adventures, we forgot to read our daily poem yesterday.

But no matter, because today was a new day, a new day ready to march forward with our preschool poetry curriculum. The hands-down favorite poem so far has been Emily Dickinson's "I'm Nobody." Molly must recite it 2 or 3 times a day - emphasis on the "shhh, don't tell anyone they'll vanish us!," which clearly is an improvement on the original "banish us." So I decided to give the people what they want, and read them one of Em-D's oldest standards:

A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad,--
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, splashless, as they swim.

This poem was another clear winner, with both girls really enjoying acting out the poem, and there was also the added benefit of being able to work in an etiquette lesson in line 8, when we demonstrated how the bird "let a bettle pass." I'm guessing that bird does not live in New York City!!!!! :) LOL!!

Today's Poem - Tuesday

Today I read my daughters Molly (almost 4) and Kelly (almost 2) one of my favorite poems. It is by Emily Dickinson:

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know!

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one's name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

Molly thought it was pretty great, so now I'm inspired to read some poetry every day.

When I looked the poem up online to cut-n-paste it here, I found an alternate version as well:

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there's a pair of us?
Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!

How dreary – to be – Somebody!
How public – like a Frog –
To tell one's name – the livelong June –
To an admiring Bog!

Maybe this will be tomorrow's poem...