May 1: "Children," Endless Summer Vacation, "School Playground"

Billy Collins and a movie trailer . . .

Children

by:  Billy Collins

There's a new movie out

titled Children.

I don't know

what it's about

but I like the voice

on the radio

when it says:

"Children:  now playing everywhere."

There is something truly joyful about seeing children play.  Kids don't have the self-awareness to worry over what other people think about them.  It's what's in front of their faces that counts, not what's behind or ahead.  They are creatures of the present.

I think the world would be a much better place if everyone adopted this way of existing.  Me?  I'm constantly worried about what's coming around the corner.  Maybe that's simply a byproduct of getting older.  Instead of endless summer vacation, there's work and health problems and bills.  College loans.  Mortgages.  Car payments.  I'm not saying that planning for the future is a bad thing.  In fact, it's necessary.  But, when all you're doing is saving your money for the future, you're just going to end up a rich corpse.  

Poetry depends upon living in the present.  Paying attention.  That's why kids are such natural poets.  Each moment of the day is an adventure, and, for young people, those moments stretch out like Lake Superior.  No shore or beach in sight.  Just endless blue.  I have difficulty cultivating that youthful, live-in-the-present perspective.  When I'm in the fever of writing, I can tap into it.  

Most of the time, however, Saint Marty just catches glimpses from a distance, like when he watched his son and daughter from the playground's chain link fence. 

School Playground

by:  Martin Achatz

Those days on

swings, slides, monkey bars

with other kids,

they taught me a lot

about poetry--

like how to get 

sweaty, wild words

to stand in a single-file line

without pushing or kicking.

My two best poems