Poetry Friday

It's Banned Books week, so I thought I'd share a poem that is frequently banned, Allen Ginsberg's Howl.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night

Read the rest here.

Here's a video with Ginsburg reading his own work:



Leave a comment on this post, and I'll update the roundup throughout the day. Thanks for celebrating poetry with us!

The 9 AM Roundup:


Ruth from There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town shares a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay


Andromedra from a wrung sponge shares a terza rima by Jacqueline Osherow


Sara from Read Write Believe shares an original poem and wonders why more poetry isn't banned.


Diane at Random Noodling shares an original Illustrated Poehistry


The Write Sisters are celebrating Blog for your Breasts Day by sharing a poem by Alicia Suskin Ostriker

Heidi shares some David Bowie lyrics to illustrate her rock-and-roll teaching style.


Sally from A Castle in the Sky shares a poem by Tomas Transtromer, the bookies favorite for winning the Nobel


The Stenhouse Blog has an original poem by Shirley McPhillips


Ben from The Small Nouns shares a poem by Jane Kenyon and how he uses it to teach repitition

The Noon Update:

Charles has two blogs, and two poems at Bald Ego he shares an original written for his son. 


And at Father Goose he shares an original tardy excuse for teachers.


Elaine at Wild Rose Reader shares an original about cotton candy.


The Blue Rose Girls have a video of Shel Silverstein performing one of his poems.


Barbara from Boreal Owl has 3 of her poems in Danse Macabre that she's linked to!


Janet from All About the Books with Janet Squires tells us about a book of Halloween-themed nonsense poetry.

The 10 pm Round Up (with the morning people I missed due to a spam filter issue. **blushes and hides behind her hands**)


Franki from A Year of Reading shares two reviews of poetry books for kids.

Priya from Book Crumbs shares an original poem about autumn.


Anastasia from Picture Book of the Day shares When Lulu Went to the Zoo.


David from Fomagrams shares an original about a jazz musician.


Linda from Write Time shares a book about a dog's eye view of a White House Christmas.


Tabatha from The Opposite of Indifference tells us about the Poetry City Marathon Anthology that we're all invited to submit work to!


Laura from Writing the World for Kids shares an original found poem.


Laura also has the 15 Words or Less poetry!


Author Amok has an interview with Mary Amato about her new book with lots of poetry extras.


Shelley shares a series of poems telling a story about the dust bowl.

Late Night Additions:

Amy from The Poem Farm shares a poem by the late Donald Graves. 

I hope I got everyone! If I didn't or if there are late entries, I'll add them tomorrow!