A monthlong celebration of poetry

April is National Poetry Month, a monthlong, national celebration of poetry established by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. To mark the occasion, Tinian English teacher Joseph B. Connolly submitted the following poems for publication:
Seven sonnets on mirth: From birth to *dearth

THE BIRTH OF MIRTH

Come eat us, come eat us, cried the cannibals
Komoidia! Comedy! cried the Cretan crowds
Send in the clowns, birds,and some funny animals
Forget for a while those burial shrouds

Done eatin, done eatin, growled greedy guts
Echoing inside the bowels of the earth
Dunedin, Dunedin, laughed the Kiwi klutz
From the North Pole to the South Pole sounds of mirth

Puffing Krakatoan cloves east of Java
Knee deep in Norwegian fjords covered with snow
Out of chute number nine in Casper, Wyoming
Laughter and comedy hot as fresh lava
Jokes and jingles, nutty rhymes began to flow
New parodies of ‘Roaming in the Gloaming’

DOWN TO EARTH MIRTH

Much have I reveled in the realm of mirth
Many a good chuckle and chortle had
Rolling with laughter around on the ground
As joke follows joker none of them bad

Mouth running fast on this tangent and that
Never dull days without yuckety yuk
Rubbing the belly of Ho-Tei the fat
More silly quack quacks from Dulcie the duck

When hit in the face with thrown cussword pies
Seasons of slapstick took over my life
Wiping the meringue of mirth from my eyes
I took many rounds of ribs from my wife
Teasing me about things she knew I despised
With puns thick enough to cut with a knife

THE GIRTH OF MIRTH

Mirth hurled many times around the world
Up the Yangtze where Shanghai’s Bund is
Past the United Nations flags all unfurled
To Dublin where Wilde wrote ‘De Profundis’

Fat men famous for their rotundity
Jovial, conniving and high fiving
All belly laugh with great profundity
Drinking Two Buck Chuck, jumping and jiving

Shaking like Santa’s bowl full of jelly
Happiness dominates their attitude
Rolling over laughing from top to bottom
Dancing with more jiggles in their belly
Leeway given plenty of gratitude
This time around mirth finally gottem

THE FIRTH OF MIRTH

No albatross necklace to strangle joy
As ships homeward bound drop heavy anchor
Six months aboard a Gulf oil tanker
Bouncing down the gangplank comes sailor boy

Tough guys on the dock have themselves a laugh
While a gaggle of geese honk directions
To golden eggs a few miles away
Near changes promised before elections

Smiling surfers paddle to a buoy
Life guards crack jokes with those beached on the shore
Mallards wade in muck with mute merriment
Having just flown in from East St. Louis
No one can say say this trip has been a bore
Joking and jerking around, days well spent

MONKEYS OF MIRTH

Mocking ourselves and then mocking all fools
Road rage daily in a commuter rush
Plying tactics learned in jungle gym schools
High jinks emotions pour out in a gush

Choice after choice we make without thinking
Like flowers blooming too early in Spring
Growth strong enough so smiles stop sinking
In the swing, delighting doing our own thing

Rocking and rolling, riddling with a goof
Laughing about what might have been, could be
Fools on a hill and fiddlers on a roof
Sure as shootin bout what should always be

Jesters back then and now crowning a jerk
Kings of funny things take our mind off work

IN THE MOUNTAINS OF MIRTH

Happy with all these for more mirth I cry
In the high desert a beautiful morn
Taking a real quick cold dip in a stream
Assured the picnic will have some sweet corn
Some fresh cooked fry bread at its table place
Some ladies show up proudly trumpeted
Hiding imperfections with make up base
Their tattooed biceps all barbell pumpeted
Artsy tie dyed T-shirts on our backs
Fat jolly old timers having our fill
Not bothered yet by stomach gas attacks
As freedom of thought enables good will
Happy with all these for more mirth I will stay
Till death comes in these mountains where we play

THE DEARTH OF MIRTH

The poetry of mirth is never dead
When rodeo clowns cavort in the sun
Honey bees buzz around a sticky bun
And a be bop boom box beats in your head

Aristophanes flicks frogs off his boot
A chorale of mimes in mute mockery shout
‘Zip a dee doo dah’ in case there’s any doubt
Pirouettes and pratfalls make their point moot

The poetry of mirth hollers out its song
To a melting snowman in a March front yard
As a zephyr wind blows winter blues away
Jonquils and ‘Johnny-jump-ups’ can do no wrong
Mardi Gras brouhaha parades big tubs of lard
Right past hilarity towards April Fool’s Day

*yes, it is “dearth,” meaning scarcity or lack.

A haiku in your pocket

As we come toward the end of April, past William Shakespeare’s birthday, my thoughts turn toward some poets readers might find interesting.

In no particular order, check out recent U.S. poet laureates Kay Ryan and Billy Collins. Check out American cowboy poets Gail Steiger and his grandpa Gail Gardner, Baxter Black, Wylie Gustafson, and Don Edwards.

Don’t miss American women poets Emily Dickinson (read a biography of her life), Edna St. Vincent Millay, Shirley Parker, Nikki Giovanni, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and of course Maya Angelou. Irish poets William Butler Yeats, Seamus Heaney, and Gabriel Rosenstock come to mind from over the pond and from the old sod. Spanish poets Lorca, Neruda, Borjes, and Jose Marti will give you a flavor of contemporary Spanish writers. Chinese Tang Dynasty poets Li Po, Tu Fu; Ch’u Yuan (2nd century A.D.), and the late Ming Dynasty poet Ch’en Tzu-lung will reach out and touch you from their ancient perspectives.

For 21st century poets some of my personal favorites are Dr. Seuss, Ai Ling Lee, Spoonie Gee, and Joey Connolly.
Who’s the best? Get expressed! It is you baby, all the time! You are what’s takin’ place!

You’re the queen of outer space, you’re the king of everything, since time began, you what am!

Write, read, and enjoy some poetry today.

‘”Get your motor runnin’, get out on the highway, looki’n for adventure, whatever comes your way”—Born to Be Wild.

HAIKU IN YOUR POCKET?
for Thursday
“poem in your pocket day”
for sures day

HAIKU IN YOUR HEAD?
POEM IN YOUR POCKET DAY – NOT DEAD
HASH TAG FRIENDS INSTEAD
not sure whether to send an elegy or rune
send a Tweet or some kind of Twitter
it need not be bling or glitter
perhaps publish in the Saipan Tribune
silence all that cell phone clamor
try and get them to read a paper
skip some social media glamor
experience a legit mind shaper

HAIKU IN YOUR POCKET?
NEED NOT SHOCK IT
OFF LIKE A ROCKET
look in some book – save face
join the intelligent human race
let your dreams reach into space
far from negativity
defy all that relativity
grovel with reality

HAIKU IN YOUR BRAIN?
CAN’T REALLY COMPLAIN
NEED NEVER WANE
can’t come up with a rhyme
try one some other time
listen to church bells chime
as the ancient poet asked
for whom the bell tolls?
it tolls for thee, and me

HAIKU COMING OUT?
SIMPLE TWIST AND SHOUT
IT’S WHAT LIFE IS ABOUT
now in the mood for
a little more metaphor
say that’s right for sure
how about a simple poem
write of love and happy home
just let your thoughts roam

HAIKU IN YOUR MIND?
THREE LINES TO GET BEHIND
STAND THE TESTS OF TIME
‘get up and boogie’
‘boogaloo down Broadway’
skip what naysayers say
don’t let them have their way
get down on your knees and pray
it is another bright and shining day
hip hip hooray! hip hip hooray!

HAIKU GETTING THROUGH?
YOU NOW KNOW WHAT TO DO
WRITE ONE. YOU CAN TOO.

(Joseph B. Connolly)