April was a great poetry month here at Gottabook (I say with bias but also factually). How great? Here's what showed up during 30 Poets/30 Days: Douglas Florian - Bigfoot April Halprin Wayland - Tender Charles Waters - Watery Blue Ceiling Carmen T. Bernier-Grand - La Alancia David L. Harrison - Toothy Grin (Kit Fox) Adam Rex - 47 Jane Yolen - Escaping Bonn Charles Ghigna - Be Still Kenn Nesbitt - Dizzy Dottie's Dog Salon Liz Garton Scanlon - Look Around Bob Raczka - Squirrel Ellen Hopkins - Country Kids Exist on Their Own Planet Lee Bennett Hopkins - Spring Rebecca Kai Dotlich - Missing Lin ..read more

STILL by Greg Pincus We still our cities, still our schools. We still and watch with shock. We still our bodies, still our minds. We still… and we take stock. We still have earth beneath our feet. We still have sky above. We still have art and friends and joy. We still have hope and love. We feel the world still spinning round - Each night still yields to day. We still don’t know the path ahead…. Still - we’ll find our way. ©Greg Pincus. All rights reserved. Today's poem wraps up this year's edition of 30 Poets/30 Days. I offer up another big thank you to Bonnie Adamson for making me tw ..read more

Unvarnished Healing  John 9:1-41  by Nikki Grimes There are those who insist  gifts of speaking in tongues  and heavenly healing  belong to yesteryear,  when Holy Spirit movement stories  flowed from that old time religion.  But were those mighty works of God  merely once-upon-a-time?  According to John, Jesus spoke of  the "we" of this work,  a ministry calling  with no timelines, deadlines,  or time limits implied.  I heal, you heal, he/she/we heal  whenever God moves through  prayer and the laying on of h ..read more

THE POEM I WOULD WRITE The poem I would write if I remembered it would be about you It was there this morning in the grey light it snuck in under the barely-open hatch finding me beneath the covers finding me enough to turn me in my sleep push my dream aside so that I thought – while groggy as the slow roll of the boat -- this will be my poem for today It will be about you And there it was my poem about you:   beautiful and poetic succinct with a knowing depth We shared our moment the poem and I until, content in my new knowledge I pulled the covers up went back to sleep whil ..read more

Another school dream (this time with a spider)  I  drop  into a dream —      down      through my      classroom ceiling      and land           plop!      in my      moonlit      chair.      I      stare      at my      fingers           tracing      ..read more

A Quivering of Wings by Georgia Heard In the beginning, small poems lay still and silent inside your hearts. If you listened carefully, you might have heard  the quivering of wings. Then, from the corner of your eye, you spied a flutter or two – poems slowly unfolding, delicate silken wings. Poems began to appear everywhere. Rainbow wings sailing, hovering over desks, hanging from the ceiling, tips of noses, tops of heads. It was difficult to get any work done! Now, your butterfly poems  fly free. You fold words into memory. Poems:  small butterflies raised, watched, let loo ..read more

Our Teacher Was the Greatest by Darren Sardelli Our teacher was the greatest. The best we’ve ever had. We thought she was incredible, bodacious, cool, and rad. She used to give us lollipops and cupcakes every day, but best of all she never gave a grade below an A. Our teacher was amazing. The coolest in the school. She never gave detention when a student broke a rule. She posted all the answers on the board before a test, and even though she lost her job, we still think she’s the best! Copyright © Darren Sardelli (All Rights Reserved) It's a pleasure to welcome Darren Sardelli h ..read more

Go Fish Jump in Duck Under Mask on Blow bubbles out your snorkel Flutter kick with webbed feet Gaze at turtles, sharks – look, a whale! A bathtub can be As big As the deep blue sea ©Nancy Bo Flood. All rights reserved. I am going to go to the tub tonight, I tell you, and see if I can experience what Nancy Bo Flood imagines. I love the whole idea of there being huge worlds contained where we wouldn't expect them... and where it's up to us to find them. While I've mentioned many poets and their books this month, this time I want to encourage you to pre-order Nancy Bo Flood's newest book, I ..read more

Quarantine  Maybe a dozen times  or more each day--I’ve never counted--  the train rolls by, the whistle blows.  The cat in the afternoon sun  raises her sleepy head,  swipes her whiskers with her paw.  Were I to walk  beside those tracks,  that whistle might lift me  right out of my shoes,  a worn-out pair of joggers,  leave them there for  some wanderer to find  and wonder  where I went,  into air so blue  it might ache—  But I’ve lived nearby  for such a long time—years—  (not counting ..read more

SEAGULL COMMENTS  Yesterday was—                                         flap— flap— flap like crazy. Headwinds from here to there, Headwinds everywhere. Yet, today—                                          glide— soar— glide lazy. Tailwinds and thermals from there to here — all I have to do is steer.  ©Kristine O'Connell George. All rights reserved.  I ..read more