Tomorrow morning I’m going to visit Fieldston, the high school I attended. I was graciously invited by poet Michael Morse who is also a teacher at Fieldston (See Verse Daily for one of Michael’s excellent poems.) Michael asked me to participate in a National Poetry Month assembly at the school where students and teachers will read short lyric poems and briefly explain why they chose a particular poem.

Here is my short list:

“God’s World,� by Edna St. Vincent Millay
“You Begin," by Margaret Atwood
"Spelling," by Magaret Atwood
"It's Late Here How Light is Late Once You've Fallen," by Katie Ford
Probably my favorite single (shortish) poem is “A Man Meets a Woman on the Street� by Randall Jarrell but it’s a bit too long and I can’t read that without choking up.

It's interesting that these are the poems I am considering reading at the assembly. If I were going to sit down and read one of my favorite books it wouldn't be one of the books in which these poems appear (except perhaps Katie Ford's book, Deposition). Millay, Atwood, and Jarrell are not poets I routinely recommend to students. On the other hand, I can't imagine reading a selection from Lyn Hejinian, Leslie Scalapino, David Antin, Brenda Hillman, Wayne Koestenbaum, D.A. Powell or many of the other books that have been vitally important to me. I'm more likely to find a selection from James Schuyler, Alice Notley, David Trinidad, or Jorie Graham, but even these did not make the final list of candidates for assembly. I think it is fair to say that just as there are great songs you really DON'T want to hear when you're in labor, there are favorite poems not right for some circumstances and less favorite poems that perfectly fit the time and place. Audience matters.