National Poetry Month: Selection #7

Our founder and chairman, The Honorable Jud Ashman from the City of Gaithersburg, helps us mark the end of National Poetry Month with one of his favorite poems:

Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

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?

National Poetry Month: Selection #4

The poem below was read at a colleague's friend's wedding. It's a beautiful sentiment for the start of any marriage.

I Like You (by Sandol Stoddard Warburg)

I like you and I know why.
I like you because you are a good person to like.
I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it's special
And you remember it a long, long time.
You say, "Remember when you told me something special?"
And both of us remember

Keep reading.

National Poetry Month: Selection #3

A favorite of many committee members is "THE OTHER MAN IS ALWAYS FRENCH" by GBF featured author Richard Peabody. This is a poem that made the rounds through many of our inboxes! Definitely hit the link and keep reading.

THE OTHER MAN IS ALWAYS FRENCH

The other woman can be
a blonde or a redhead
but the other man
is always French.

He dresses better
than I ever will.

Read on.

National Poetry Month: Selection #2

In 1929, E.B. White, perhaps best known for "Charlotte's Web," sent his new wife a poem he had written.

"Natural History"

The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unwinds a thread of his devising;
A thin, premeditated rig
To use in rising.

To read the rest of this poem, go to NPR's website and scroll to the bottom of the page.

National Poetry Month: Selection #1

In honor of National Poetry Month we asked some of our committee members to suggest favorite poems. In our first installment, we share with you all two links of famous poets reading their own work.

Listen to Robert Frost reading "The Road Not Taken."

Listen to Dylan Thomas reading "Do not go gentle into that good night."

What "classic" poems do you find yourself reading over and over again?

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.