I remember loving nursery rhymes – I think because they rhymed. Most were silly and didn’t mean much other than the rhyming words. I tried my hand at poetry at a very young age. Hey, my rhymes weren’t so off the wall as Mother Goose. That must have been my first introduction to poetry.
I remember discovering free verse
and gradually introduced to limericks and haikus. I read the Childcraft book 1 more than any of
them.
In time I turned to black poetry and found I
loved Phillis Wheatley, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes – especially
Langston Hughes. I could not read enough
of his poetry and would later read anything written by him or about him.
In high school I took a creative
writing class and contributed to the school publication called
Expressions. I treasured those books for
a long time. I am certain that I brought
them into my marriage but don’t know if they ever made it to West Valley or
Oregon. I have my doubts. I had tried to introduce Jenna to my love of
poetry, but she didn’t seem interested – although she did enjoy Dr. Seuss and
loved nonsense poems.
She is currently taking an English
class which at this moment in time have poetry themed assignments. It has triggered many memories of the poetry
I used to love but somehow became bored with as it hasn’t been in my repertoire
for a while now. I don’t remember when I
had stopped reading or writing. Probably
after I got married. We’ve lived in this
state for over five years. For the first
time since we’ve been in Oregon I find myself missing the collection I once
had. I would like to share some of those
written by my classmates and peers – but alas, they have become part of
yesteryear never to return.
