Moments: "When I was down beside the sea...."

Last night, and almost every night, my boys ask for bedtime stories. I try to oblige them unless it's past their bedtimes or I'm tuckered out. I'm so pleased that when I ask them to bring me a book, either S or B will always bring me A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. I stand there gaping, thinking to myself, "I've succeeded! They love poetry!"

S loves to see what's on the next page...."Read a new one tonight!" And then afterwards we go back to the beginning and flip thru, stopping to read those they love most. We've memorized many of these beautiful verses, and when we come to one of those, they triumphantly say it along with me. I hope these little gems will stay with them into their adult lives to be shared with my grandkids!

We read poetry every day, as well as working on our memory selection. They never balk, and it always surprises me. I've even taken to keeping a book of poetry (100 Best-Loved American Poems) in the car for those inevitable lulls between picking up kids. There is a beauty I never understood about poetry, or at least noticed. Growing up, if I didn't 'get' a poem, I was frustrated. Now I'm ok with the mystery of it, in the same way several people will see the same work of art and come to different conclusions about the artist's muse. My children have taught me this....they love to hear the rhythmic, soothing words. They certainly don't grasp some of the vocabulary, but they are devouring the meter, the lilt, the words themselves. For example, B has a particular favorite poem in our book. He always tells me afterward that he like it so much because of the way I say "apple tart" in the middle. He waits for it to roll off my tongue and grins through the remaining stanza. This would be poetry appreciation at its best, methinks.