From: Kathleen O'Dell <klaloch>
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 08:56:10 -0700

Of course! I'm all for agreeing to disagree. But there's an issue here that interests me: how can we urge teachers or librarians to expose children to "true" poetry when "true" poetry is so difficult to define? The author of example poem, J. Allyn Rosser, has quite a resume:

"She has taught at the Universities of Houston and Michigan, and now lives in Athens, Ohio where she teaches in the creative writing program of Ohio University.? Her first book, Bright Moves, won the Morse Poetry Prize and was published by Northeastern University Press in 1990.? She is this year the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts."

In addition, she is admired by poets as diverse as Rodney Jones and Billy Collins. Poet David Wojahn says that Rosser shows "a maturity of vision and a hard-won clarity that is more often seen in the writing of poets twice her age," and that "J. Allyn Rosser is one of the most distinctive poets of her generation.?

It's true that Rosser and others at Poetry Daily don't write specifically for children, and that we might more easily find fine, accessible poetry for children elsewhere. My point is, no one was spoiled by wide reading. In fact, an open mind is more apt to become an informed one. And if wide readers acquire broader tastes along the way, so much the better for poetry!

Best, Kathleen O'Dell
(poetry fan)
Received on Mon 18 Apr 2005 10:56:10 AM CDT