National Poetry Month, Day 30

What a great month it’s been! I wanted to close out my National Poetry Month posts with a classic. Have a great day, everyone. And remember: You ARE a poet. You just don’t know it. xox **************************** Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s…

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National Poetry Month, Day 29

May we all write such an omelet…and know such love. ********************** I Wrote A Good Omelet by Nikki Giovanni I wrote a good omelet…and ate a hot poem… after loving you Buttoned my car…and drove my coat home…in the rain… after loving you I goed on red…and stopped on green…floating somewhere in between… being here and being there… after…

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National Poetry Month, Day 27

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Gashlycrumb Tinies, by Edward Gorey. Beauty in a subversive alphabet…if The Wonderland Alphabet could be credited to anyone other than Lewis Carroll, it would be Edward Gorey. * * * Tweet

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National Poetry Month, Day 26

I wrote this poem in the back of a catalog during a particularly grueling “buy session” while working at A Certain Book Wholesaler. It was raining that day…and I guess I was feeling poetic. “Escapist” is also available on Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/17762865-escapist **************************** Escapist by Alethea Kontis She tells him things He already knows The world beyond my ears Turns…

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National Poetry Month, Day 25

Some cultures do not see a Man in the Moon…they see a rabbit. This is my poem based on one of the Chinese legends of the Rabbit in the Moon. (Also available on Wattpad – click here.) ************************** The Rabbit in the Moon Alethea Kontis Once upon a time I was a rabbit in the world of men Flesh…

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National Poetry Month, Day 24

In the wake of World Book Night, please enjoy some fun poetry from The Wonderland Alphabet! *********************** A A is for Alice, a curious girl Who fell very far through a hole in the world She followed a clock-watching rabbit, you see To a land full of wonder, and madness, and tea. * J I do not fear the…

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National Poetry Month, Day 23

In honor of Shakespeare’s birthday today (and World Book Night tonight!), here is my favorite sonnet. SONNET 130 My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses…

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National Poetry Month, Day 22

Because I was such an avid reader and lover of poetry as a child, I did not discover Shel Silverstein until my friends started passing around copies of Where the Sidewalk Ends at school. I enjoyed Silverstein’s prose and fun approach to poetry, but he wasn’t as groundbreaking for me as he was for some. I mean…he’s not Ogden…

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National Poetry Month, Day 20

My response to “Tears of the Hollow Men,” written after a personal family issue…and a dream about a monk who wrote a poem describing the shifting of a cloud from an eagle to an angel. ********************************* Tears of the Hollow Men Alethea Kontis (1994) Blue clouds at sunset With silver-pink lining Free as an eagle On the wind shining…

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National Poetry Month, Day 19

I never read Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, but I knew very well who The Guy was. When I discovered this poem in my twelfth grade textbook, I fell in love so hard I even wrote a poem of my own in response (I’ll post that tomorrow). I stole that textbook. **************************** The Hollow Men T.S. Eliot Mistah Kurtz—he dead….

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