Inside PBS Blog

As long as it's April, we here at PBS Engage will continue to celebrate National Poetry Month. In keeping with the month-long celebration, we invited Brigid Sullivan, the Executive Producer of Poetry Everywhere, to answer your questions. You can read her responses below.

If you haven't seen the 24 poetry films included in the Poetry Everywhere series, you can watch them all on the series website (including my favorite, Jane Hirshfield reading her poem "For What Binds Us"). It might even inspire you to write some poetry.

How is content chosen for the Poetry Everywhere site? Amy

WGBH works closely with our partner, filmmaker David Grubin, and The Poetry Foundation to offer a diverse range of poetic voices as well as to present a variety of formats. We were fortunate to film readings at The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, North America's largest poetry festival.  At the Festival, we captured former US Poet Laureates Billy Collins and Ted Kooser, as well as Pulitzer Prize winner Stanley Kunitz, among many others. We also selected archival footage of Robert Frost reading his classic "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening," and we created an animated rendering of an Emily Dickinson poem.  Celebrities interested in participating--including Mary Louise-Parker, Tony Kushner, and Wynton Marsalis - shared their favorite poems.  In addition to preserving poetry as an art form, we want to make poetry a visceral and accessible experience for as many people as possible.  

Why did you choose Garrison Keillor to participate, other than his shared love of poetry? Janet

Garrison really wanted to support the project, and his being the series' narrator is a perfect fit.  He's a beloved presence on public radio with The Writer's Almanac and A Prairie Home Companion, a trusted authority on poetry, and he has a rich, familiar voice.  His enthusiasm for poetry is well-documented in his anthologies Good Poems and Good Poems for Hard Times. Garrison provides context and guidance for viewers and eases them into appreciating the serendipity of Poetry Everywhere segments.

Do you think Twitter and the popularity of text messaging is bringing about an increased interest in short forms of poetry like Haiku and Tanka?  Teague

Yes. The discipline of a limit on words or characters forces the writer to make choices and be precise about meaning, which all fixed forms of poetry- from haikus to sestinas- require. Moreover, I think the emergence of new social media makes poetry easier to share and to access. It's exciting for writers and readers to be able to pass along a poem quickly.

What kind of impact is Poetry Everywhere having on social  networks? Mike

In the MySpace poetry community, we've been posting our favorites, celebrating the classics, reading poetry aloud on Blog Talk Radio and just loving the fact that poetry is alive and well. We've also created our own forum on Facebook for people to share their favorite poems and feedback about the project. The Poetry Everywhere website features all 24 videos as well as a collection of original, animated interpretations of contemporary poems created by students of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Visitors to Poetry Everywhere on the Web can link to the Poetry Foundation to read the full texts of featured poems and biographies of the poets, and to further explore the entire genre.

My son is in pre-school now and although they have lots of toys, I feel like his classroom doesn't have enough poetry books for early readers to enjoy. Can you suggest some good poetry books or authors I can donate to his pre-school? Something other than nursery rhymes, please! Sarah (via e-mail)

Here's a long list - some new and some old - of personal favorites:

• "Bronzeville Boys and Girls" by Gwendolyn Brooks with new illustrations by Faith Ringgold
• "Moon, Have You Met My Mother? The Collected Poems of Karla Kuskin"
• "The Llama Who Had No Pajama: 100 Favorite Poems" by Mary Ann Hoberman
• "Grump," by Janet S. Wong
• "The Kingfisher Book of Children's Poetry" selected by Michael Rosen
• "Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant: And Other Poems" by Jack Prelutsky
• "The Genie in the Jar" by Nikki Giovanni
• "Poems to Dream Together / Poemas para Sonar Juntos" by Francisco X. Alarcon, in English and Spanish
• "The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems" edited by Donald Hall
• "Charlie Parker Played Be Bop" by Chris Raschka
• "The Looking Book" by Mary Ann Hoberman
• "Winter Eyes" by Douglas Florian
• "A Pocketful of Poems" by Nikki Grimes
• "The Bookworm's Feast" by J. Patrick Lewis
• "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," by Bill Martin Jr.
• "A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children" by Caroline Kennedy
• "Me I Am!" by Jack Prelutsky
• "The Pig in the Spigot" by Richard Wilbur
• "A Child's Calendar" by John Updike
• "Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry," selected by X.J. and Dorothy M. Kennedy
• "Happy to Be Nappy" by bell hooks
• "The 20th Century Children's Poetry Treasury," selected by Jack Prelutsky
• "Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude" by Jonah Winter
• "Mites to Mastodons: A Book of Animal Poems" by Maxine Kumin
• "Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems" by Joyce Sidman
• "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" by Jane Yolen
• "Little Tree" by e.e. Cummings
• "Nobody Here but Me" by Judith Viorst,
• "Good Sports: Rhymes about Running, Jumping, Throwing, and More" by Jack Prelutsky
• "Poetry Speaks to Children" (Book & CD) by Elise Paschen

Also, check out the Poetry Foundation's new video series; "Children's Poet Laureate Presents" with Mary Ann Hoberman.

You can find additional resources from PBS Parents and PBS KIDS to help children read and write poetry.

Also, check out the Poetry Foundation's new video series; "Children's Poet Laureate Presents" with Mary Ann Hoberman.

You can find additional resources from PBS Parents and PBS KIDS to help children read and write poetry.

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