I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths and completing the writing exercises from cover to cover of this fabulous book that inspires all types of poetry. Today’s form is a Poem to the People, which challenges writers to write a poem to three to five people, with each address constituting one section of the poem, as if in monologue.
Poems to the People Who Read to Me
I
You read from Tibor Gergely's
Great Big Book of Bedtime Stories
"A Day in the Jungle"
over and over
at bedtime
because it was my favorite
II
You read The Boxcar Children
after recess
from your rocking chair
inspiring me to read more
to find my own fork
to be resourceful
on my own
III
Oh, but when you read Charlotte's Web
my world stopped.
And it hasn't been the same since.
Children hold on to things
tighter than their parents think they will
White said of that barn swing.
IV
Wait. Jamie dies in A Taste of Blackberries?
Children don't die of bee stings.
But there you were, Doris Buchanan Smith,
reading it in our library at school
right there in the story pit rocking chair.
A tough reality about life and death.
V
Hey there, Audible narrators,
you are amazing!
You're always there for the ride!
Common Threads 