National Poetry Month: Selection #6

How can we honor National Poetry Month without recognizing some of our favorite, fun children's poets.

Poets like Shel Silverstein

Sick
"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
Keep reading.


Or Jack Prelutsky

As Soon as Fred Gets Out of Bed
As soon as Fred gets out of bed,
his underwear goes on his head.
His mother laughs, "Don't put it there,
a head's no place for underwear!"
Keep reading.


Or Sandra Boynton.

What children's poets do you love?

GBF Author Q&A with... Poet Linda Pastan

This is the first in a series of Q&As with authors that will be featured at the Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 21.

Name: Linda Pastan
Books: 13 volumes of poetry, most recently "Traveling Light."

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Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere / Anywhere

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Read!!!!

What are you reading right now?
Though I am always reading poetry, I also read about a novel a week. In between more serious books, I read good mysteries -- they are like eating sorbet between courses to cleanse the palette. At the moment I am reading "Silence Of The Grave" by Arnaldur Indridason.

What's your favorite opening line from a book? "There is a certain shade of red brick -- a dark, almost melodious red, sombre and riddled with blue -- that is my childhood in St. Louis." -- From "First Love and Other Sorrows" by Harold Brodkey (Before I became a serious poet, I wrote short stories and loved Brodkey's -- almost knew them by heart!)

Read more about Linda Pastan on the Gaithersburg Book Festival website or poets.org.

So there you have it. A sneak peak into what inspires and appeals to a former Poet Laureate of Maryland.

Stay tuned for more Q&As from other featured authors.