Sunday, December 12, 2021

Everyone Sang: A Poem for every Feeling by William Sieghart illustrated by Emily Sutton




Blurb: The right poem at the right moment can feel like a magic charm. And whether you want to make your heart lighter, or the world seem brighter  - whether you want to lift yourself out of a bad mood, or to calm your thoughts after a busy day - this is the book to turn to.

This is the third absolutely stunning poetry anthology I have added to my shelves in recent times.




In this book you will find 170 pages of poems by well known poets such as Maya Angelou, Roger McGough, Lemn Sissay, Jackie Kay, Carol Ann Duffy, Joseph Coelho, Kae Tempest, W.B. Yeats, Christina Rossetti and Emily Dickinson, and many others. The poems are divided into four sections:
  • Poems to inspire you
  • Poems to make you smile
  • Poems to move you
  • Poems to calm and connect you

You can see a few pages inside Everyone Sang on the Walker Books UK web site. Here are a couple of poems from Everyone Sang that touched my heart:

Give yourself a Hug by Grace Nichols

Give yourself a hug,
When you feel unloved

Give yourself a hug,
When people put on airs
to make you feel a bug

Give yourself a hug
When everyone seems to give you
a cold shoulder shrug.

Give yourself a hug –
A big, big hug

And keep on singing…
‘Only one in a million like me,
Only one in a million-billion-thrillion-zillion
like me.’

Make Ordinary come Alive by William Martin

Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is a way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.


Don't go into the library by Alberto Rios (Source Poets.org)

The library is dangerous—
Don’t go in. If you do

You know what will happen.
It’s like a pet store or a bakery—

Every single time you’ll come out of there
Holding something in your arms.

Those novels with their big eyes.
And those no-nonsense, all muscle

Greyhounds and Dobermans,
All non-fiction and business,

Cuddly when they’re young,
But then the first page is turned.

The doughnut scent of it all, knowledge,
The aroma of coffee being made

In all those books, something for everyone,
The deli offerings of civilization itself.

The library is the book of books,
Its concrete and wood and glass covers

Keeping within them the very big,
Very long story of everything.

The library is dangerous, full
Of answers. If you go inside,

You may not come out
The same person who went in.

I have previously talked about other books illustrated by Emily Sutton.






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