To round off Poetry Month, here are a couple of my own.  The first is something I wish for everyone.

      Family

There’s a net ‘neath my tightrope
If ever I fall
Though it’s not very likely to happen at all
‘Cause I’m strong and I’m sure and my balance is good
But everyone stumbles, so maybe I could
And even if sometime I happen to trip
There’s a net ‘neath my tightrope
If ever I slip

                      by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
                      First published in Cricket Magazine, June 2001

This next one is a riddle. If you saw it when it was first published in 2005, you’ll know the answer.  If not, and you can figure it out, I will send an autographed copy of one of my books (your choice) to the first person who sends me the correct answer.  No fair Googling.  🙂

      What Am I?

Alone
I can do little.
I could be a patch of sky,
     a tiger’s eye, a branch of tree,
          some blue of sea.
A matchmaker’s good try will find
there is a perfect match for me,
      or two or four or three.
I’ll fit neatly beside his choice,
and he’ll smile triumphantly
at the picture we make
together.

                    by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
                    First published in Cricket Magazine, February 2005

Even though April has come to an end, I hope you’ll continue to enjoy and share poetry with family and friends throughout the year. 

  Emily Dickinson once said, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”  May you all flip your lids a little. 

[Visit your library and browse the poetry section — Dewey numbers 811 American Poetry, 821 English Poetry, and throughout the 800s is poetry of other nations.]