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Poem In Your Pocket Day 4/27/17

4/26/2017

Near the end of National Poetry Month, we celebrate National Poem in Your Pocket Day. This is the perfect way to wrap up the month and to share a favorite poem.

If you don't already have a favorite, please step right this way. If the poems below don't tickle your fancy, there are many, many more online if you search "Poems for kids." We also have two shelves of poetry books in our library, which will be opening soon!

A Balanced Diet

I eat a balanced diet,
I do it day and night--
a pound of brownies on my left,
a pound upon my right.

And filling up my right hand,
with clear and certain heft,
a twelve-ounce bag of jellybeans.
The same is on my left.

A candy cane in one hand,
and likewise in the other.
There are equal sweets on either side,
a big frown from my mother.

I eat a balanced diet,
but my mother disagrees.
I just don't understand it.
She's so darned hard to please!

-- Robert Scotellaro

My Praying Mantis

I once had a mantis as a pet.
A praying mantis, you must not forget,

is the tiger of the insect world,
hungry, fierce and extremely bold;

and if you are an insect, keep away
should a mantis be lurking where you play.

Anyway, my mantis was my very best friend.
He sat on my shoulder, and I did defend

his insect's right to stay with me,
protect him from people's curiouslty;

for they thought it very strange
the way his body was arranged:

For a start his neck was very long,
and his heart-shaped head did not belong

to that thin neck and bulbous abdomen
or toothed arms as strong as ten,

wings which gave hi speed in flight
when he attacked and with delight

grabbed a cockroach for his supper,
tore and ate it with his choppers.

However, one day, Phoebe, the neighbor's cat,
gobbled up my mantis and that was that.

Phoebe licked her lips, seemed satisfied
with a chewed-up mantis in her inside.

I suppose, for a mantis, the moral to the story
is, look out for cats or you'll be sorry.

-- John Lyons

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LitHop 2017, Saturday, April 29

4/25/2017

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Last year Fresno held our first LitHop, launched by our city's Poet Laureate, Lee Herrick. This Saturday, April 29, he launches the second, with multiple venues and authors. See the times and places here.

Note that the stars by the descriptions show that the event has been designated: SUITABLE FOR ALL-AGES (DETERMINED BY READING ORGANIZERS).

Here's the one I most want to go to.

Ghost Songs & Border Crossings (the star didn't copy, but there is one for this event)
3:00 p.m. | Mia Cuppa Caffè | feat. Tim Z. Hernandez, Mas Masumoto, Nikiko Masumoto, Kerry Klein

“Ghost Songs and Border Crossings” will lift up stories of the Central Valley from recently published works. Each of the themes of the title will be woven throughout three movements as the contributors present their work through interdisciplinary storytelling. Across different identities and places, the stories share in the spirit of longing for healing and the power of memory. The audience will be invited to experience the written word through sounds of memory, touch, and ritual.

Of course, there's also this: HEADLINE FEATURE EVENT: GARY SOTO at 7:00 p.m. at Fresno City College, in the Old Administration Building Auditorium.

Take a look at the events offered this Saturday. This is a small selection of the authors we have here in the Valley - what calls to you?

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Poem In Your Pocket Day 4/27/17

LitHop 2017, Saturday, April 29

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