Poetry Friday

Awhile back, our friend Bill shared this ode to the spell checker from The Journal of Irreproducible Results:

Candidate for a Pullet Surprise
Jerrold H. Zar

I have a spelling checker,
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.

Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it's weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when eye rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o'er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.

(click here for the rest of the poem)


The best poems are often ones that are given to us, for whatever reason. In that spirit, I give to you a few of my favorite places to find poetry on the Internet:

FOR KIDS AND TEACHERS
The Children's Poetry Archive. The idea behind this site is that poetry "lives in the sound of the words, the voice of the poet...The poetry archive is a place where everyone can listen to poetry." Mostly obscure children's poets (plus a couple of dead guys), but a work in progress with a good mission. Go listen.

GigglePoetry. Funny poems for kids. You can read and rate (the funniness) of poems, go to poetry class, have poetry fun, do poetry theater, and enter contests. Sections for teachers.

Magnetic Poetry Online for kids. There are four different kids' kits: the basic kids' kit, first words, best friends, and storymaker. Sections for teachers and lots of kits to help adults get in touch with their dog/cat/horse-loving genius Shakespearean Muse.

FOR POETRY LOVERS
The Favorite Poem Project. This one fascinates me. People nominated their favorite poems, and this is where you can read the favorites and/or watch videos of the nominator talking about why the poem is their favorite and reading it. This was a project of former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky.

Poetry 180. A poem a day for high school students, intended to be read over the PA system. This was a project of former Poet Laureate Billy Collins.

While we're on the subject of Poet Laureates (Poets Laureate?), Donald Hall is the current Poet Laureate. His project? Dunno.

PoetryFoundation. A huge archive of poems sortable by poem, poet, audio/visuals, articles, and children's.

AND MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE DAILY (NOT JUST FRIDAY) POETRY FIX COMES FROM...
The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor. You can hear this on public radio, listen via the web, subscribe to the daily email, or subscribe to the podcast.