Poetry

I was first exposed to poetry when my Dad bought a huge book of children's poems at a garage sale. I, for the life of me, cannot remember the name of the book nor can I find it, but when I was a little kid my dad would read me a poem from it every night before bed and when I finally learned how to read, I read it religiously. The book became so worn that the cover almost fell off. I also took pleasure in drawing my own personal illustrations next to the poems I liked in red ink. It was about this time that I decided to put away my plastic toy medical kit and dreams of becoming a Doctor and trade them for my dream of becoming a poet.
In third grade my teacher, Mrs. Barber, would let us come up to the front of the class everyday and recite poems we had written or memorized. I can remember the first poem I ever recited in front of the class

A robin read breast in a cage,
puts all heaven in a rage.
A dove wounded in the wing,
doth make the cherubs cease to sing.
And he who shall hurt the little wren,
shall never be beloved by men.

After a while I decided to stop memorizing poetry and start writing my own. The problem was I had no idea how to write it. So Mrs. Barber taught me how to write haikus, simple poems consisting of three lines, the first line with five syllables, the second line with seven syllables and the third line with five syllables. I fondly remember taking no greater pleasure than in writing haikus for hours in my blue spiral notebook. Today, the notebook is under my bed and I occasionally like to look back at my old poems and remember my dreams of becoming a poet.

I guess you could say I cheated and wrote about two experiences, one with my old book of poems and the other in my third grade writing class. But the truth is without that book of poems I would never have had any interest in poems, or perhaps even writing in general. Both experiences allowed me to enjoy and appreciate poetry today. I look back on them fondly and recognize that they not only introduced me to the world of poetry, but to the world of reading and writing as well.