Learning By Heart
A poem is not just
The sum of its parts.
The number of lines
Where its metaphors are.It’s not about digging
For meaning in stanzas.
It’s a secret between us.
There are no wrong answers.It’s not some sort of test
A code to be cracked.
More a spell for a dreamer
Or a musical map.It just wants to be loved
Not to fill you with dread
Let it flow like a river
Through the space in your head.Let it sing you to sleep
Hear its echoes in stars.
Find one piece you can keep
Learn the rest with your heart …Sue Hardy-Dawson
Poetry is hugely important to me
It has always been
From writing a play
Made up of Alan Ahlberg’s poems
From the ever wonderful
Please Mrs Butler
In junior school
From reciting poems that I loved
In school assemblies
As a child and a teacher
From having a poem published
In an anthology as a young tween
From being a brooding 14 year old
On holiday on the lochs
And in the hills of Scotland
Writing everything I heard
I saw and felt
Making friends and family laugh
With rhyming poems
Writing a poem for my Nan’s funeral
Choosing poems for our wedding
The children’s christenings
Tilda’s funeral
Writing pages and pages of poetry
As an outpouring of grief
When Matilda died
Writing my blog
As poetry
I have always loved language
I love to play with words
I love rhythm and rhyme
Reading aloud
I love to recite and perform
It is something that I now
Encourage my own children to do
We read poetry most days
We write poetry together
We listen to poems
Performed by their authors
And by actors
Poetry is a comfort for me
It is a creative release for me
It is something that comes
Easily to me
And so helps me be me
Reading the newly published
The Big Amazing Poetry Book
Made me smile
52 weeks of poetry
From 52 brilliant poets
Poems I know well
Poems I fell in love with
At first reading
Poets I recognise
Poets I feel the need
To now read
Everything they have ever written
Poems that feel like being reunited
With an old friend
Poems I hear in my head
In the voices of my teachers
In my own different voices
From different points in the past
This is a wonderful collections of poems
For children to read and hear
To inspire children to write poetry
Of their own
In his foreword
Roger McGough
Beautifully introduces
This galaxy of poems
To be read
To be heard
To be learned by heart
To recite
For readers of all ages
To add their own verses
Find their own voices
This big book
This brilliant book
Is a celebration of
Imagination
These poems
By famous poets of the past
And famous poets of the future
Have been collated to be
Shared
Who will you share a poem with today?
I am going to be reading
Some of my favourites
From this collection
With my little people
Some of those favourites are
The Sound Collector
Make Friends With A Tree
Let No One Steal Your Dreams
Sea Shoals See Shows on the Sea Bed
93 Per Cent Stardust
Start Now
Quietly Remarkable
See It Like A Poet
Seasick
This or That
A Nest Full Of Stars
The Mermaid’s Garden
Cats
I am so grateful for this book
Pages packed with poetry
With facts and feelings
Imagery and imaginings
This book will make your heart sing
It will give your soul wings
A perfect pick me up
A gorgeous gift
The Big Amazing Poetry Book
Take A Poem
Why not take a poem
Wherever you go?
Pop it in your pocket
Nobody will knowTake it to your classroom
Stick it on the wall
Tell them all about it
Read it in the hallTake it to the bathroom
Tuck it up in bed
Take the time to learn it
Keep it in your headTake it for a day trip
Take it on a train
Fold it as a hat
When it starts to rainTake it to a river
Fold it as a boat
Pop it on the water
Hope that it will floatTake it to a hilltop
Fold it as a plane
Throw it up skywards
Time and time againTake it to a post box
Send it anywhere
Out into the world
With tender loving careJames Carter