I love this book! What a great way to start a review, I love being able to start a review that way. Thank you Janet Cameron Hoult for writing Body Parts: A Collection of Poems About Aging
I thought this book was written with an older audience in mind after all I am only 29 years old. 29 YEARS OLD!! OMG I AM GOING TO BE 30 THIS YEAR!! On second thought this book is perfect for me and anyone else who can feel the years creeping up on them. Whether you are 25 or 85 each little thing (is you hair thinning?, your vision not what it used to be?) triggers something inside you, the knowledge that you are aging. Each poem in Body Parts looks at those little ups and downs that nature bestows upon us as we age.
I really empathized with the aging process. The poems in Body Parts helped me realize even though I'm not really THAT old aging is happening, it is a process and I should embrace it for what it is while living each day to it's fullest.
Book Review - Body Parts: A Collection of Poems About Aging by Janet Cameron Hoult
Great Poetry Reading Day
Today is Great Poetry Reading Day so for your enjoyment here are a few I consider great.
If life were but a dream, my Love,
And death the waking time;
If day had not a beam, my Love,
And night had not a rhyme, --
A barren, barren world were this
Without one saving gleam;
I'd only ask that with a kiss
You'd wake me from the dream.
If dreaming were the sum of days,
And loving were the bane;
If battling for a wreath of bays
Could soothe a heart in pain, --
I'd scorn the meed of battle's might,
All other aims above
I'd choose the human's higher right,
To suffer and to love!
City Trees by Edna St. Vincent Millay
The trees along this city street,
Save for the traffic and the trains,
Would make a sound as thin and sweet
As trees in country lanes.
And people standing in their shade
Out of a shower, undoubtedly
Would hear such music as is made
Upon a country tree.
Oh, little leaves that are so dumb
Against the shrieking city air,
I watch you when the wind has come,—
I know what sound is there.
National Poetry Month
It is National Poetry Month! To celebrate I am going to share some of my favorite poetry with you, my readers all month long! Now I would love to say I will share poetry every day but then I will inevitably miss a day then I will feel bad and then it will all fall apart so I will say this I will share a poem with you every possible day that I can or remember to do so.
To start I am going to share a short and sweet poem from my favorite poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Poetry
In writing about Shel Silverstein the other day I was reminded of some poems that I wrote not too long ago with a Shel Silverstein twist to them. If you have every read his work you will see the resemblance but these are all my own so I hope you all enjoy them.
I'm going to Rome
with a garden gnome
he's quick on his feet
it's really quite neat
to watch him dance around
in the foam.
From the fountain, you know.
I Ate It
I wrote a poem
that's stuck in my nose
how it got there
I'm sure, no one knows
I asked for a tissue
my Mother said "No"
so I guess it will stay there
forever.
Currently "Reading":
Magazine - National Geographic Kids (in the bathroom to my little one)
Book - My Story: A Photographic Essay of Life With Multiple Sclerosis
one day I will finish this oneAudio - The art of happiness by the Dhali Llama
Children's Classics - 5 minutes for books
This month's 5 minutes for books Children's Classics carnival post theme is Poetry. There is no arguing that when it comes to classic children's poetry Shel Silverstein rises right to the top of the pile. I remember when my younger sister who did not even like to read brought Where the Sidewalk Ends home from her elementary school one day. She had checked it out of the library and spent a good bit of time reading it, as a matter of fact I think she kept it till it was overdue she liked it so much. Being the older sister I typically ignored her but when she stopped looking at it and left it laying ont he table I picked it up. I was already an avid reader at the time so 
I devoured it from cover to cover.
I loved the book and so went on to read all of his books, everything I ever read by him got two thumbs up, way up. When I grew up was only when I found out all about Shel Silverstein's background. He was a writer for Playboy. He wrote some of the great classic songs that we all know, Johnny Cash's A Boy Named Sue and The Cover of the Rolling Stone performed by Dr. Hook to name just a couple.
I found this interview on wikipedia, the answers to these questions are a perfect example of why I love him and his poems.
Question: "Why do you have a beard?"
Shel: "I don't have a beard. It's just the light; it plays funny tricks."
Question: "How do you think your present image as world traveler, bawdy singer, etc. combines with your image as a writer of children's books?"
Shel: "I don't think about my image."
Question: "Do you admit that your songs and drawings have a certain amount of vulgarity in them?"
Shel: "No, but I hope they have a certain amount of realism in them."
Question: "Do you shave your head for effect or to be different, or to strike back at the long-haired styles of today?
Shel: "I don't explain my head."
—Shel Silverstein (1965) from the album I'm So Good That I Don't Have to Brag.
Currently "Reading":
Magazine - National Geographic Kids
Book - A Year in the Merde
Audio - The Art of Happiness by the Dhali Llama
