Collections, I and II

I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.
~J.G. Ballard

Welcome! Glad you could make it. The Opposite of Indifference is hosting two collections today— one is a compilation of poems that take place in imaginary places and the other is the Poetry Friday round-up. Please leave your link in the comments!

Has anyone brought any historical poems? My son is taking part in the first annual U.S. History Bee on April 25th. It's the brainchild of David Madden, who was a 19-day champion on Jeopardy. Madden also founded the National History Bee and National History Bowl, which will be taking place this weekend (and my son is doing those as well!). Lots of poetry and history for us today.

A while back, I began writing poems about fictional lands using entries from The Dictionary of Imaginary Places as prompts. I collected those poems, plus ones by other poets in this collection:

THE DIRECTORY OF IMAGINARY POEMS

* Alice at Seventeen: Like a Blind Child by Darcy Cummings
* Alzuna by Alfred Noyes
* An Epilogue to the Above By Duchess of Newcastle Margaret Cavendish
* Atlantis by Tabatha Yeatts
* Atlas by Carol Ann Duffy
* Bibliotherapy by Linda Baie
* Eldorado By Edgar Allan Poe
* Fairy-Land By Edgar Allan Poe
* Geppetto in the Whale by Tabatha Yeatts
* Inside the Chocolate Factory by Irene Latham
* Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
* Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
* from Laon and Cythna; or The Revolution of the Golden City By Percy Bysshe Shelley
* Máel Dúin, Seafarer of the Atlantic by Diane Mayr
* Medusa by Louise Bogan
* Morte d'Arthur By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
* On the Island of the Fay by Tabatha Yeatts
* O.O.U. by Tabatha Yeatts
* Peter Rabbit by Laura Shovan
* Puff the Magic Dragon by Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow
* The Agamemnon Rag By Jack Conway
* The Division of Poetic Licensing by Tabatha Yeatts
* The Gardener of Tanje Palace by Tabatha Yeatts
* The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll
* The Sea of Frozen Words by Tabatha Yeatts
* The Sugar-Plum Tree by Eugene Field
* The Theater for Cloud Repair by Sandra J. Lindow
* The Valley of Unrest By Edgar Allan Poe
* The Well o’ the World’s End by Ethna Carbery (Anna MacManus)
* Waiting On Hogwarts by Tabatha Yeatts
* We Pay Our Fare in Apples Here by Megan Arkenberg

Some housekeeping notes:
I'll be running a Summer Poem Swap again -- let me know if you want in! Also, I am clearly technologically-challenged, based on what happened when I added a blog roll this week. I went through and got everyone's blog info, which then all got erased. It took me a while to figure out that I was only allowed to save one blog at a time, and by that point, I was pretty tired of doing it over again. If you aren't on the roll but would like to be, email me and I'll add you.

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* At Today's Little Ditty, it's Michelle's turn to host the Progressive Poem.
* Joy shares an original rondelet and a poem for two voices.
* At TeachingAuthors, April is deconstructing her poem HOW TO READ A POEM ALOUD.
* On April's Poetry Month blog, she compares writing a book to taking a challenging walk.
* Laura Shovan is continuing her series on "Source Poems" with her friend Ann Bracken, a Maryland poet. This post is for grown-ups, as it deals with poetry's power to help heal depression.
* Matt is sharing two things: a short interview he posted earlier this week with crime poetry editor/poet Gerald So and a poem that arrived unexpectedly in the mail yesterday!
* At Random Noodling, Diane has a poem about Boston's swan boats.
* Kurious Kitty has a poem by Celia Thaxter.
* KK's Kwote is by Paul L. Thomas.
* Buffy offers two versions of a poem inspired by Laura Salas' 15-word-or-less prompt.
* At Hope is the Word, Amy reviews Tour America by Diane Siebert.
* Violet offers Magnolia haiku, a collection of three haiku.
* Donna is all about the letter V today with a villanelle called "the giVer riVer."
* At TeacherDance, Linda is sharing a children's book of poems and stories from a long while ago, and a spring poem in it from a Norwegian poet new to her.
* Robyn is in with a Happy 450th BDay to the Bard (it was Wed.), and his Sonnet 98.
* At NC Teacher Stuff, Jeff is talking about cinquains.
* Myra brings us Margarita Engle's "The Lightning Dreamer" which is based on the life story narrative of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Cuba's Greatest Abolitionist.
* Julieanne reminds me of the Poetry Monster as she shares an adorable poem "of apology" for her first Poetry Friday post.
* Greg has poems by Julie Larios and George Ella Lyon. This week, he's also shared poetry by J. Patrick Lewis, Georgia Heard, Nikki Giovanni, Charles R. Smith, Jr., Janet Wong, Heidi Mordhorst, an original, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, Jane Yolen, Brod Bagert, Arnold Adoff, and David L. Harrison!
* Four of B.J. Lee's poems are being featured by artist Jaeda Renae.
* Mary Lee is visiting Victoria Falls for her Our Wonderful World National Poetry Month project.
* At The Poem Farm, Amy has Poem #25 in the Thrift Store series: "Duck and Doll" - a free verse poem about friendship.
* Renee is sharing her post on Sylvia Plath's "Daddy," which is part of Laura Shovan's source poem series.
* Tara offers The Evening is Tranquil, and Dawn is a Thousand Miles Away by Charles Wright.
* Irene reviews a new book of poems titled A POND FULL OF INK, which totally reminds her of Shel Silverstein. :)
* Heidi's National Poetry Month journey takes her close to home today, with poems by her kindergarteners!
* Anastasia brings us a STEM haiku.
* Liz is still working on her poem a day project for April. This week she's posted poems about the mailbox, the sidewalk, the earth, and one reason the outside world is a refuge for me.
* JoAnn has an original shape poem and tips for creating shape poems, and she is also giving away a copy of Write a Poem Step by Step.
* At POETRY TIME, Charles posts about a classroom visit he did and shares other nuggets of goodness.
* Ruth at There's No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town gives us a review of Irene Latham's book, plus a poem her daughter wrote about her a few years ago.
* Laura Purdie Salas shares a riddle-ku, which she's wriiting daily for Poetry Month.
* Becky is celebrating Jack Prelutsky.
* Margaret is in with a pantoum that took her in an unexpected direction.
* At Bildungsroman, we have PIGEON by Carl Sandburg.
* Birthday girl Karen Edmisten brings us Teaching Mavis to Ride a Bike by Faith Shearin.
* Janet Squires has Joyce Sidman's Meow Ruff at All About the Books.
* Tricia has what I didn't know I was missing: Lines Written for Gene Kelly to Dance To by Carl Sandburg.
* TeacherPoet Jen Ward brings us an original poem called Fallen.
* At Wild Rose Reader, Elaine shares an original poem about the Megalodon which she wrote as a definition of the prehistoric shark.
* MsMac has some haiku poems from second grade.
* From Deo Writer, NaPoWriMo Day 26: Making Up for Lost Time.