April is National Poetry Month

Back in my reading specialist days, when I shared a room with two other Title I teachers, my co-worker Michelle Dunn dreamed up an idea for National Poetry Month that involved teachers and students reading a poem on the intercom every morning at the end of the morning school-wide announcements, and teachers posting their favorite poems outside the door of their classrooms. My doorway posting was a poem from Lu-Yu: 

The clouds above us join and separate;
The breeze in the courtyard leaves and return.
Life is like that, so why not relax?
Who can stop us from celebrating?

Schools are one of the last bastions of poetry, both written and spoken, and teaching in an elementary school inspired me  to writer a collection of poetry for kids. While I'm no Shel Silverstein, I have my moments. So in honor of the month, the kids, and the teachers, here are five poems from my 2010 poetry book, The Delicious Chocolate Donut (And Other Off-Kilter Poems). Lu-Yu, eat your heart out.