POETRY FRIDAY

Welcome to the Poetry Friday Roundup!

Welcome to Denver!

It's been a crazy summer here.

After several years of drought, this summer
we have had lots and lots and lots of rain.

I haven't set up the hose to water even once!

OK, maybe to water the flowers on the porch, but that's all. 

This is what my neighborhood looked like last night, as captured by drivers
tweeting photos into CBS News.

This is at 14th and Kearney, about ten blocks south of my house
almost exactly 24 hours ago. 

City Park, where I often walk my dog.
There is a lake at the park, but this isn't it.

After the storm…

And now for a little poetry. This week, I checked out Billy Collins' book, AIMLESS LOVE, from the Denver Public Library. I read lots of adult poetry, usually what people post on Poetry Friday, and then others that I hunt down after I read what people post. I don't very often check out book of adult poetry, and I'm thinking I need to do it a little more often. One of my favorite poems from AIMLESS LOVE is "The Trouble with Poetry."

"The Trouble With Poetry"  

The trouble with poetry, I realized
as I walked along a beach one night--
cold Florida sand under my bare feet,
a show of stars in the sky-- 

the trouble with poetry is
that it encourages the writing of more poetry,
more guppies crowding the fish tank,
more baby rabbits
hopping out of their mothers into the dewy grass. 

And how will it ever end?
unless the day finally arrives
when we have compared everything in the world
to everything else in the world,
and there is nothing left to do
but quietly close our notebooks
and sit with our hands folded on our desks. 

You can read the rest of the poem here.

And here is Billy Collins reading "The Trouble with Poetry."

I look forward to your poems multiplying like guppies and rabbits in the grass. Leave your link in the comments below and I will roundup the poems throughout the day.