Poetry - Reciting poems

Flora - A girl's garden - Robert Frost A neighbor of mine in the village Likes to tell how one spring When she was a girl on the farm, she did A childlike thing. One day she asked her father To give her a garden plot To plant and tend and reap herself, And he said, "Why not?" In casting about for a corner He thought of an idle bit Of walled-off ground where a shop had stood, And he said, "Just it." And he said, "That ought to make you An ideal one-girl farm, And give you a chance to put some strength On your slim-jim arm." It was not enough of a garden Her father said, to plow; So she had to work it all by hand, But she don't mind now. She wheeled the dung in a wheelbarrow Along a stretch of road; But she always ran away and left Her not-nice load, And hid from anyone passing. And then she begged the seed. She says she thinks she planted one Of all things but weed. A hill each of potatoes, Radishes, lettuce, peas, Tomatoes, beets, beans, pumpkins, corn, And even fruit trees. And yes, she has long mistrusted That a cider-apple In bearing there today is hers, Or at least may be. Her crop was a miscellany When all was said and done, A little bit of everything, A great deal of none. Now when she sees in the village How village things go, Just when it seems to come in right, She says, "I know! "It's as when I was a farmer..." Oh never by way of advice! And she never sins by telling the tale To the same person twice. Tien Ho - The Christmas Letter We’d All Like To Receive - Tom Mulhern The Christmas Letter We’d All Like To Receive By Tom Mulhern It’s time again to send you this chronicle of our year A listing of accomplishments which you can’t wait to hear! Little Jimmy thrilled us all by passing second grade After being held back twice, this time he had it made! He also is now potty-trained, which means we’re diaper-free! And he only wets the bed at night, occasionally Big sister Jen continues to show a real flair for the arts With new tattoos and piercings on all major body parts Her boyfriend has dropped out of school and Jen will follow soon They have exciting days ahead with her baby due in June! Husband Bob is the same old teddy bear that he has always been He really doesn’t seem changed at all by five years in the pen And I am just as busy as a busy gal can be Keeping up with all the shows on reality TV! There’s lots more we could tell you but we wouldn’t want to boast We bet your year was just as good, or at least almost. Selena Vi - Snowday - Billy Collins Today we woke up to a revolution of snow, its white flag waving over everything, the landscape vanished, not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness, and beyond these windows the government buildings smothered, schools and libraries buried, the post office lost under the noiseless drift, the paths of trains softly blocked, the world fallen under this falling. In a while I will put on some boots and step out like someone walking in water, and the dog will porpoise through the drifts, and I will shake a laden branch, sending a cold shower down on us both. But for now I am a willing prisoner in this house, a sympathizer with the anarchic cause of snow. I will make a pot of tea and listen to the plastic radio on the counter, as glad as anyone to hear the news that the Kiddie Corner School is closed, the Ding-Dong School, closed, the All Aboard Children's School, closed, the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed, along with -- some will be delighted to hear -- the Toadstool School, the Little School, Little Sparrows Nursery School, Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School, the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed, and -- clap your hands -- the Peanuts Play School. So this is where the children hide all day, These are the nests where they letter and draw, where they put on their bright miniature jackets, all darting and climbing and sliding, all but the few girls whispering by the fence. And now I am listening hard in the grandiose silence of the snow, trying to hear what those three girls are plotting, what riot is afoot, which small queen is about to be brought down.