April: National Poetry Month!

Halfway Down the Stairs
A. A. Milne

Halfway down the stairs
Is a stair where I sit:
There isn't any other stair quite like it.
I'm not at the bottom,
I'm not at the top:
So this is the stair where I always stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up, and isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery, it isn't in the town:
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head:
"It isn't really anywhere! It's somewhere else instead!"





Flowery. Stuffy. Obscure. That's how I used to view poetry. But after two and a half decades of reading verse to my family, everything from nursery rhymes to Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson to Yates, A. A. Milne (still my favorite!) to Shelley, my opinion has completely changed. So much of poetry, especially that written for children, is just rollicking good fun, while other pieces offer inspiration or help you take a fresh look at something. So in honor of this month, I'm going to occasionally post whimsical pieces that our family has enjoyed. The one above is one of Ben's favorites.