Most of us played on a swing set when we were little kids. When I was a child, playing pretend was a popular pastime in my play group of friends. We often pretended we were travelers into outer space while swooping up to blast off as “space invaders,” then plummeting back down as we landed on Mars using my swing set in the side yard as our space vehicle. Back and forth, legs pumping wildly, we swung higher and higher; the girls dangling our waist-length ponytails down to the ground on the nadir of our descent, the boys threatening to leap out on the upswing.
This trip down memory lane began earlier this week when my 8-year old grandson left a message on my answering machine telling me that he had just read “A Child’s Garden of Verses” by Robert Louis Stevenson, and he wanted me to get a copy from the library for him. Did he get it? You bet! Flipping through the book, I ran across one of my favorite poems from childhood:
"The Swing" by Robert Louis Stevenson
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside--
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown--
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
An appreciation of poetry begins for different people at different times in life. For my tough, soccer-playing grandson, it began at age 8 when he read a book at school. In Hampton Roads, there are many, many places where poetry is read, appreciated, and applauded. One of those is Russell Memorial Library, 2808 Taylor Road, in the Western Branch section of Chesapeake.
This past spring we enjoyed the 18th Annual Chesapeake Poetry Festival at the library. The first night of the festival, “An Evening with the Poets,” featured nationally renowned poets Tim Seibles and Jon Pineda.
The next night featured YOU! Open Mic Night, hosted by Billie Montgomery/Cook, was fantastic, as always, and brought out many of the local poets who shared and appreciated each other’s poetry.
Open Mic Nights have always been great fun, a time when anyone can read or perform material suitable for a family audience, and know that they will be warmly received and supported. With that in mind, we are beginning a quarterly open mic night at Russell Memorial Library hosted by local author, poet, and spoken word performer Nathan Richardson.
Nathan is the founder of Spiritual Concepts Publishing. He is the current editor in chief of the popular E-News letter "Something to Do/about nothing." Be sure to visit his Meet Up page at http://www.meetup.com/PoetryProsePizza/.
Please join other poetry lovers at the library on Friday, July 9, at 7:00 PM for Poetry, Prose, and Pizza! Open Mic Night. No need to register, no fee to pay; just come and share your poetry and enjoy the camaraderie of poetry lovers.
Look forward, too, to the next edition of “Skipping Stones,” a compilation of poetry by local poets being published this summer. It is edited by Pete Freas, founder of Chesapeake Bay Poets. Pete maintains a poetry website (http://www.chesbaypoets.org/ which includes an interactive Poetry Map of Hampton Roads), edits A Line in Time (a weekly online poetry newsletter), and publishes "Skipping Stones."
That’s all for now. Keep swinging! See you next time at the Poets’ Corner!
Verse Voice
