Green Poetry

In honor of Earth Day and Poetry Month, check out these anthologies of green-minded poems:

	The Earth is Painted Green, A Garden of Poems About Our Planet: This colorfully illustrated volume, arranged in sections focusing on planting, growing, seasons, and the risk to the land, contains poems by both contemporary (Zolotow, McCord, Merriam) and classic (Sandburg, Roethke) poets. Ages 3 and up.
	Other Goose: Recycled Rhymes for Our Fragile Times : 22 new-fangled Mother Goose rhymes with an environmental twist. Jack and Jill “fetch” bottled water because of pollution. Little Miss Muffet chokes on second-hand smoke. The poems are humorous, but the underlying message is one of deep concern for the preservation of our planet. Ages 8 and up.
	River of Words : Young Poets and Artists On the Nature of Things : edited by Pamela Michael. This inspiring volume, a collection of poetry and art from over 100 children ages six to seventeen, is sponsored River of Words, a nonprofit organization that encourages children to learn about the environment by studying local watersheds. Ages 6 and up.
	All the Wild Wonders, Poems of Our Earth: With poems about the sun, trees, water and animals, the 30 poets in this anthology celebrate the beauty of the wild and warn of the danger that threatens the environment. Ages 6 and up.
	The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination: edited by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston. This collection of over 100 poems celebrates both the facts and the mysteries of the natural world. Includes an audio CD featuring readings of 44 poems. Ages 8 and up.
	Mother Earth, Father Sky : edited by Jane Yolen. This diverse collection of 40 nature poems includes works by Christina Rossetti, N. Scott Momaday, the Teton Sioux people and even Jane Yolen herself. The poems are organized into sections titled "Celebrate the Earth," "Sacrifice the Earth" and "Save the Earth." Ages 6 and up.
	Toad By the Road: by Joanne Ryder. In this collection of poems, Ryder traces the life cycle of toads through the seasons. The toads speak for themselves, describing the wonder of catching flies with sticky tongues, molting dead skin, and fooling predators by playing dead. Readers gain a new appreciation for these amazing, but endangered amphibians.

Green Poems for Poetry Month!

Not only is April Earth Month, it's also National Poetry Month. to celebrate, here are a few of my favorite green-minded poems:

The first is painted on my daughter's wall and is our family mantra:

Hurt No Living Thing

Hurt no living thing:

Ladybird, nor butterfly,

Nor moth with dusty wind,

Nor cricket chirping cheerily,

Nor grasshopper so light of leap,

Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,

Nor harmless worms that creep.

-Christina Rossetti

The second perfectly sums up my feelings about plastic, especially plastic toys!

A Prayer for a Carpenter

About most subjects

I am quite elastic,

But I cannot stand

A world of plastic.

Plastic flowers, plastic tables,

Plastic window, plastic door,

Plastic, plastic,

I abhor.

When I die,

And if I'm good,

I pray that heaven

be built of wood.

-Louis Phillips

The third is typical, brilliantly witty Ogden Nash:

Song Of the Open Road

I think that I shall never see,

A billboard lovely as a tree.

Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,

I'll never see a tree at all.

-Odgen Nash

Do you have a favorite poem that celebrates the earth? Leave a comment and tell me about it!

Earth Month Challenge!

In my estimation, April is the greenest month. She's joking, you think, as you look out at the bare trees and brown grass. It may be April 1st, but I'm not fooling. With John Muir's birthday (April 21st), Earth Day (April 22nd), and Arbor Day (April 29th), what other month has so many opportunities to celebrate environmental stewardship?

This year, instead of waiting until Earth Day to think green, my family is designating the entire month of April as Earth Month. Each day, we're going to make conscious decisions to lighten our footprint on the planet. Whether its walking to school, spending an evening without television, or waiting to run an errand until we have several reasons to head in that direction, we're going to try to think of each action we take in terms of how it affects the earth. My hope is that, with practice, some of our deliberate choices will become natural habits.

You can join the Earth Month Challenge too! It's easy. Just commit yourself to making at least one green decision everyday. Better yet, share your earth-friendly ideas by leaving a comment on this blog.

It's April... Think Green!