March 29, 2024

A Poem a Day Video for National Poetry Month 2020

April sure hasn’t turned out like our calendars hoped, has it? One of the things I’m lamenting is the number of poetry readings I had scheduled, and which are now cancelled. Instead, I decided to spread a bit of poetry love by reading a poem a day in videos I’ve posted to Facebook (a few are posted to YouTube as well, as you’ll see indicated below). The Facebook videos are public, so as long as you have an account, you should be able to view them.

I’ve chosen a mix of classic and contemporary poems. Many days, I include in the comments some ways you might use the poem as inspiration for your own writing. The selections that younger students may especially like are indicated “Good (or adaptable) for any age,” because adults may like them, too!

Also, if you’re interested in a longer video, my daughter Kelsey Wells and I share my own poetry, some old-time tunes and a crankie in this Facebook Live video. We had audio issues for about the first 3 minutes, so things don’t get started until about the 3:15 mark.

I hope you find something here you enjoy!

  1. Hope is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson (no video yet – I didn’t get inspired until day 2!)
  2. “Talks to Wildflowers” by Bobbi Buchanan – Adaptable for any age
  3. “i thank you God for most this amazing” by E.E. Cummings
  4. “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” by Edward Lear – Good for any age
  5. “The Best Thing in the World” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (plus accordion books – fun to make for almost any age)
  6. “Any Dog” by Dana Wildsmith
  7. “Favorite Poems” by Steve West
  8. “Praise for Wrigley Field” by Sandra Marchetti
  9. “Untold Story” by me, Kory Wells
  10. “Mud Pies” by Michael Williams
  11. “The Swing” by Robert Louis Stevenson – Good for any age
  12. “In Time of Silver Rain” by Langston Hughes
  13. “Jonquils” by James Applewhite
  14. “Sunrise 115” by Allison Boyd Justus
  15. “Burley Coulter’s Song for Kate Helen Branch” by Wendell Berry (with music by Turnip the Beet)
    This video is also on YouTube
  16. “How to Hear Music with Your Whole Body” by TJ Jarrett
  17. “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
  18. “The Country” by Billy Collins
  19. “Haiku, Late Summer (A Prayer)” by Karen Craigo
  20. “This Is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams – plus “This Is Just to Say” by Joyce Sidman – Adaptable for any age
  21. “I’m Telling You Now” by Joyce Sidman – Adaptable for any age
  22. “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” by Wendell Berry for Earth Day
  23. “24” by Barbara E. Young – Adaptable for any age
  24. “Don’t Go Into the Library” by Alberto RiosAdaptable for any age
    This video is also on YouTube
  25. “Lonesome Boy Blues” by Kenneth Patchen – with a bonus reading, because it was a dark and rainy day, of “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost
  26. “I Want to Be Eighty-Five” by Irene Latham – Adaptable for any age
    This video is also on YouTube
  27. “On Keeping Quiet” by Pablo Neruda
  28. “The Talk in Floyd County” by Bill Brown
  29. “Fireflies” by Cecilia Woloch
    This video is also on YouTube
  30. “The Bridge Builder” by Will Allen Dromgoole