Yesterday, I received a rather special poetry anthology. A WORLD FULL OF POEMS is a luxuriously sturdy hardcover book, intent on enchanting early readers and listeners. It is the kind of poetry book that someone, perhaps an aunt or grandparent, would ceremoniously give you when you are young. It will faithfully serve you snippets of pleasure, wise philosophies and the joys of wordplay until you are old enough to gift it to a child or grandchild of your very own.
Towards the back is a whole section of Science and Art poems! However, the Science Rhyme “Peace by Piece” is an environmental poem, so appears closer to the heart of the book (on page 83) in the section on Cities, Towns and Travel – next to another Australian contributor, Sally Murphy.
Most of the 153 poems are fairly short. Many are created in rhyming verse, but not all. Set out in large print, it yearns to encourage new readers to take the plunge. Published by Dorling Kindersley (DK) in Great Britain, the collection was selected by Dr Sylvia Vardell (of Poetry Friday book fame in USA). It includes some classics (such as “The Crocodile” by Lewis Carroll & “The Moon” by Robert Louis Stevenson), familiar favourites (including Kenn Nesbitt, Jack Prelutsky & Michael Rosen) and many others that provoke a tingle of delight.
My favourite discovery was on page 45 in the Feelings category:
Don’t Be Scared by Carol Ann Duffy
The dark is only a blanket
for the moon to put on her bed.The dark is a private cinema
for the movie dreams in your head.The dark is a little black dress
to show off the sequin stars.The dark is the wooden hole
behind the strings of happy guitars.The dark is a jeweller’s velvet cloth
where children sleep like pearls.The dark is a spool of film
to photograph boys and girls,so smile in your sleep in the dark.
Don’t be scared.
The source of each poem is acknowledged in tiny print at the back of the book. There, I discovered that three of the poems were first found on Australian Children’s Poetry. That’s how “Peace by Piece” was chosen for this book, along with James Aitchison’s “Ratty Writing” and J R Poulter’s “Dive into a Book”. This endearing anthology is full of friends, whichever way we look at it!