Celebrate Poetry Month With a Classic by Darlene Beck Jacobson

 As poet extraordinaire IRENE LATHAM reminded us earlier this month, April is NATIONAL POETRY MONTH. While I do not consider myself a poet, I enjoy reading it and finding great books of poetry that I can recommend to children. 

I am also reminded of one very special book of poetry from my own childhood that has occupied a space on my shelf since I purchased it back in 1970.

 

A. A. Milne, creator of the beloved characters Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and the other creatures of the Hundred Acre Woods, wrote this charming collection of poems in 1924. 

They delighted me with their whimsy, curiosity, and sweet wonder when I first discovered them. And they continue to delight me today.

 

 

Like all good books of poetry, there is one that stood out to me and became my favorite.

 

 

 

HALFWAY DOWN  

Halfway down the stairs

Is a stair where I sit.

There isn't any

Other stair

Quite like

It.

I'm not at the bottom,

I'm not at the top;

So this is the stair 

Where

I always

Stop.

 

Halfway up the stairs                                                  Illustration by Ernest H. Shepard  

Isn't up,

And isn't down.

It isn't in the nursery,

It isn't in the town.

And all sorts of funny thoughts

Run round my head:

"It isn't really 

Anywhere! 

It's somewhere else

Instead!" 

If that doesn't capture the amazing "wonderings" of childhood, I don't know what does.

 

Darlene Beck Jacobson loves sitting halfway down, thinking about important things like why rainbows have all the colors, what would happen if people had wings and could fly, and why strawberries taste the sweetest right after it rains.