NPM: Poetry from the Desk Drawer

Back in January, Becky at Farm School posted on Poetry Friday about a special poetry anthology, compiled by Alice Roosevelt Longworth and her brother Theodore (”Ted Jr.”) Roosevelt (1887-1944) and published in 1937. She made it sound so special that I had to see if I could find a copy at the library. My library system actually didn’t have The Desk Drawer Anthology, but they ordered it for me from afar (North Harris County College Learning Resource Center).

These are mostly the kinds of poems that one member of my family in particular despises: some sentimental stories and proverbial sentiments, classic poets such as Dickinson, Holmes, Longfellow, and Whitman. The emphasis is on American poems and poets. A radio host back in 1937 announced the anthology on his program and invited people to send in their favorites; they sent in so many favorites that Mr. Roosevelt and his sister had to cull it from 40,000 entries down to a few hundred published poems. Here are a couple that I particularly liked:

City Rain by Lola Mallatt

Behind this mist of whispering soft lace,
This silver silk, so silently let fall,
I think the city wears a dreaming face,
And wishes not to stir or wake at all.

There is no earth tonight–no heavens–nothing
But thin blown rain, and rows of lamps, gold-furred,
And quiet people going up and down
In shining coats, with faces sweetly blurred.

Men by Dorothy E. Reid

I like men.
They stride about,
They reach in their pockets
And pull things out;

They look important,
They rock on their toes,
They lose all their buttons
Off of their clothes;

They throw away pipes,
They find them again.
Men are queer creatures;
I like men.

Poet of the day: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (Go here for a Celebration of Longfellow.)
Poetry activity for today: Find a poem that someone in your family clipped from a magazine or a newspaper and kept. D your grandparents have a favorite poem? Do you have a favorite poem in your wallet or purse or taped to your wall or mirror? If not, you should.

6 thoughts on “NPM: Poetry from the Desk Drawer

  1. Off-late, I have come to realise that authors and poets of the 20th century had a far greater imagination than those of the twenty-first. Some of the greatest writers of that era for me are JRR Tolkien, who wrote the spell-binding and valiant series of fantasy books called Lord of the Rings and CS Lewis who created a whole new world with his series- The Chronicles of Narnia. Theyre creativity and brilliance continue to astonish me till date and no wonder their writing have been put to reel.
    In fact, Disney and Walden are coming up with the latest Narnia movie-Prince Caspian, this May 16th. It promises to be awesome by the looks of the trailer!!

  2. It’s an interesting collection, isn’t it, Sherry? There’s a lot of chaff, but I liked two things in particular, aside from the story of how the anthology came about. First, there are some very good poems that haven’t often made it into 20th/21st century anthologies. And too, it’s a remarkable window on the poetry enjoyed by “average Americans” of the time. It would be interesting to see what people would send in nowadays — and just how many would contribute.

  3. I would agree with that certain member of your family when it comes to Whitman and Dickinson. I have been making my way through the Oxford Book of American Poetry, and have gotten bogged down on those two. Competely different in style, but I dislike them equally.

  4. That’s funny. I don’t care for Whitman at all. He seems very self-centered and self-celebratory, if that’s a word.

    But I like Emily Dickinson very much, partly because her poems are short. I like short and pithy.

  5. Sherry – that is my take on Whitman as well! I was just telling my friend that everything of his I’ve read so far is “look how wonderful I am, how wonderful my body is, how wonderful my feelings are, etc.”

    I have read a few of Dickinson’s poems that I like – one about books, the nobody one you posted before – but the ones I like are few and far between, although I’ve slogged through almost all of hers so far, some in the Oxford book and another in a collection of her work.

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