Poetry Friday--X.J. Kennedy

X.J. Kennedy and me at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival.

X.J. Kennedy appeared at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival two weekends ago. I have long been a fan of his, and his wife Dorothy's, Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry, which, as a librarian, I have recommended for years.

I looked up his bio and found that he was born in August 1929, which makes him nearly 82. To someone my age, that's not quite prehistoric, but to a high school freshman or sophomore it surely is! Kennedy's performance at the festival's "Student Day of Poetry" was far from prehistoric, though! His humor made the reading a success.

Kennedy set a poem to the music of an old-fashioned song and sang it in front of the several hundred students. Imagine that--teens whose favorites singers are likely to be Lady Gaga or Will.i.am, enjoying an old guy's song! And imagine standing up in front of a crowd singing! I give Kennedy a lot of credit!

He also conducted a workshop for the kids, "Telling a Story in Poetry." Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the workshop as I was a volunteer whose job was directing foot traffic. :-(

The following day, Kennedy was at the main festival for a reading with the Light Brigade, which read a variety of light verse. Much of Kennedy's contribution came from Peeping Tom's Cabin: Comic Verse 1928-2008 [BOA Editions, 2007]. After the reading he signed a copy for me and we had our photo taken.

The book's title surprised me since, as mentioned above, I knew that Kennedy had been born in 1929. The book's "Sort of an Introduction" explains

True, I wasn't born until 1929 and didn't print any verse until 1956; but like the ancient Chinese, I reckon that your age begins at the moment of your conception, almost a year before you emerged. Right away, a fertilized egg starts gestating poems.

Holy cows, I wonder what his mother ate during her pregnancy since most of the poems in the collection are, shall I say, a bit naughty!

Here's one that's suitable for a general audience:

The Cow's Vengeance

Obligingly, the mild cow lets us quaff
The milk that she'd intended for her calf,
But takes revenge: in every pint she packs
A heavy cream to trigger heart attacks.

For this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up you'll have to head over to Heidi's blog, my juicy little universe. An abundance of delightful poetry links awaits to start off your Memorial Day holiday weekend!