The Poetry Foundation

Are you familiar with the Poetry Foundation? If you know poetry for adults, I’m sure you know of their work. They publish POETRY magazine and are committed to fostering a “vigorous presence for poetry in our culture.” Don’t you love that mission? You may have heard of the enormous Lilly grant that morphed the Modern Poetry Association, founded in 1941, into the Poetry Foundation of today. And their web site is a meaty resource of information. In particular, they are creating a lovely CHILDREN’S area that bridges classic and contemporary poetry for young people.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/children.html

Currently, it includes a growing list of “Feature” articles on a variety of topics, a helpful “Essentials” poetry booklist, a regular “Book Pick” poetry book review, and a mini-archive of full text poems for children. This month’s “Book Pick” (by yours truly) features a lovely anthology by the new U.S. Poet Laureate, Donald Hall (also author of the Caldecott award book, OX CART MAN). It’s almost a history of poetry for children, with its chronological collection of American poems and art—but still very accessible for kids today. Check it out.