Poem of the Week Transforms...

into Poem of the Month. You may have noticed that the weekly poems are not happening. That is because I felt like I needed to stop kicking poems out the door so quickly. I am moving into the "quality not quantity" phase of my poetic journey. So, after three years and three months of weekly poems, I am cutting back. I hope quality really does go up. We'll see. So far, all that has happened is that I have temporarily stopped writing. I have been very busy with other things in life, so I am not too worried. Not yet. My three years of discipline have taught me to think like a poet, so even when I am not writing, I am writing. At least, I think I am writing. We'll see. In the meantime, please enjoy the monthly poem, and feel free to delve into the last three years to see what is there...

I am heading to Germany today for two weeks. If the June 1 poem does not have a German theme, I will be very surprised! -- Lisa

Poem for May

iPads for Tots

“These toys are neat. The children love them.” –a preschool teacher in Milwaukee

On the topic of becoming real,
the plush toys know. This incipient state
is just around the corner of free will,
deep in the heart of the nursery, late.
When the child has nothing more than the dark,
dream’s door, and a velveteen friend to hold.
Today we let our charming gadgets speak
and push the child forward in a world
longing for buds on trees and imagination.
That fertile place, that hatch where iPads
may first have slipped to conscious thought. Don’t shun
these sparkly tools, these harbingers, these fads.
Let new be new, but let’s maintain the old, the frayed.
From the ragged edge comes love, human-made.

Lisa Vihos