Poetry Friday: Marilyn Singer’s Favorite Poems

April is National Poetry Month, and we’re celebrating by asking some of our own Lee & Low poets to share their favorite poems with us. Today, poet Marilyn Guest Blogger Singer (A Full Moon is Rising) shares:

Marilyn SingerOne of my favorite poems is by the late Karla Kuskin:  “Write About a Radish…,” which begins:

Write about a radish/Too many people write about the moon.”

I always find it elegant and profound in its simplicity.  To me, it’s about the power and majesty of those things we don’t always notice, those mundane things that deserve our attention as much as more obviously impressive objects.   You can read the entire poem here.

A related poem I love is Naomi Shihab Nye’s “The Traveling Onion,” which lived on my refrigerator for many years.  Its opening lines are:

When I think how far the onion has traveled/ just to enter my stew today, I could kneel and praise/all small forgotten miracles.”

As a poet, I am always appreciative of miracles such as radishes and onions.  Here is the whole poem.

Image from Rainbow Stew

Further Reading:

Lee Bennett Hopkins’ favorite poem

Marilyn Singer on how to read a poem out loud

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