Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

Casey at the Bat

BY ERNEST LAWRENCE THAYER

A Ballad of the Republic, Sung in the Year 1888

The outlook wasnt brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest 5
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought if only Casey could but get a whack at that
Wed put up even money now with Casey at the bat.
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
10
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Caseys getting to the bat.
But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred, 15
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.
Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

20

There was ease in Caseys manner as he stepped into his place;

There was pride in Caseys bearing and a smile on Caseys face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt twas Casey at the bat.
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt; 25
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Caseys eye, a sneer curled Caseys lip.
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
30
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped
That aint my style, said Casey. Strike one, the umpire said.

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

From the benches, heavy with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
Kill him! Kill the umpire! shouted someone on the stand;
35
And its likely theyd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.
With a smile of Christian charity great Caseys visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, Strike two. 40
Fraud! cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldnt let that ball go by again.
The sneer is gone from Caseys lip, his teeth are clinched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Caseys blow.

45

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, 50
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudvillemighty Casey has struck out.
A Bird, came down the Walk
BY EMILY DICKINSON

That hurried all abroad 10

They looked like frightened Beads, I
thought,
He stirred his Velvet Head. -

A Bird, came down the Walk He did not know I saw He bit an Angle Worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,

Like one in danger, Cautious,

I offered him a Crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers,
15
And rowed him softer Home -

And then, he drank a Dew

5
From a convenient Grass And then hopped sidewise to the
Wall
To let a Beetle pass -

Than Oars divide the Ocean,

Too silver for a seam,
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,
Leap, plashless as they swim
20

He glanced with rapid eyes,

Dust of Snow
BY ROBERT FROST

Shook down on me
The dust of snow

The way a crow

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Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart

A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

Twelfth Song of Thunder [Navajo Tradition]

BY ANONYMOUS
The voice that beautifies the land!
The voice above,
The voice of thunder
Within the dark cloud
Again and again it sounds,
The voice that beautifies the land.
The voice that beautifies the land!
The voice below,
The voice of the grasshopper
Among the plants
Again and again it sounds,
The voice that beautifies the land.

10

The Road Not Taken

BY

ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
3

15

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

And that has made all the difference.

20

Neither Out Far Nor In

Deep

BY

Where did you get such a dirty face,

My darling dirty-faced child?

BY Robert Frost
The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.
As long as it takes to pass
A ship keeps raising its hull;
The wetter ground like glass
Reflects a standing gull.

SHEL SILVERSTEIN

I got it from crawling along in the dirt

And biting two buttons off Jeremys
shirt.
I got it from chewing the roots of a
rose
5
And digging for clams in the yard
with my nose.
I got it from peeking into a dark cave
And painting myself like a Navajo
brave.
I got it from playing with coal in the
bin
And signing my name in cement with
my chin. 10
I got it from rolling around on the rug
And giving the horrible dog a big hug.
I got it from finding a lost silver mine
And eating sweet blackberries right
off the vine.
I got it from ice cream and wrestling
and tears15
And from having more fun than
youve had in years

The land may vary more;

But wherever the truth may be--- 10
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.
They cannot look out far.
They cannot look in deep.
But when was that ever a bar 15
To any watch they keep?

Dirty Face

Everywhere
By Frank Weil Jr.
She's in every crossword
She haunts the radio
she's in my mind, memories blurred
Cant help but chase her shadow

All my life , to her , I'd gravitate

For no one else, i feel the same
She's in the stars, for each an ode
Under the moon I'd weep 10
I think of all the " I love you's " told
And I cry myself to sleep

I feel my heart still palpitate

5
With just the utterance of her name
4

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

But despite all this, its all for naught
15
Because she's everywhere, but here .

She's in every, unoccupied thought

I can't help but to endear

LIFE DOESNT FRIGHTEN ME

By: Maya Angelou
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hail
Life doesnt frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
5
Life doesnt frighten me at all.

Panthers in the park

25
Strangers in the dark
No, they dont frighten me at all.
That new classroom where
Boys pull all my hair
(Kissy little girls
30
With their hair in curls)
They dont frighten me at all.

Mean old Mother Goose

Lions on the loose
They dont frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
10
On my counterpane
That doesnt frighten me at all.
I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I wont cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesnt frighten me at all.

Dont show me frogs and snakes

And listen for my scream,
If Im afraid at all
35
Its only in my dreams.
Ive got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve,
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.
40

15

20
Life doesnt frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all

Tough guys in a fight

All alone at night
Life doesnt frighten me at all.

Life doesnt frighten me at all.

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

Romeo and Juliet PROLOGUE
By William Shakespeare

Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
5
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
10
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Dreams

The Homework Machine

By Langston Hughes

Shel Silverstein
The Homework Machine,
Oh, the Homework Machine,
Most perfect
contraption that's ever been seen.
Just put in your homework, then drop in a dime, 5
Snap on the switch, and in ten seconds' time,
Your homework comes out, quick and clean as can
be.
Here it is 'nine plus four?' and the answer is 'three.'
Three?
Oh me . . .
10
I guess it's not as perfect
As I thought it would be.

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
5
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Sarah Cynthia Slyvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out
by Shel Silverstein
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown Bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese. 10
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel, 15

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout

Would not take the garbage out!
She'd scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams,
And though her daddy would scream and
shout, 5
She simply would not take the garbage out.
6

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered toast,
Grisly bits of beefy roasts... 20
The garbage rolled down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall...
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney, 25
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard, 30
Cold French fries and rancid meat,

Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.

At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away, 35
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Slylvia Stout said,
'Ok, I'll take the garbage out!'
But then, of course, it was too late...
The garbage reached across the state, 40
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot right now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
45
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out!

Ladies First
By Shel Silverstein

Pamela Purse yelled, 'Ladies first,'

Pushing in front of the ice cream line.
Pamela Purse yelled, 'Ladies first,'
Grabbing the ketchup at dinnertime.
Climbing on the morning bus
5
She'd shove right by all of us
And there'd be a tiff or a fight or a fuss
When Pamela Purse yelled, 'Ladies first.'
Pamela Purse screamed, 'Ladies first,'
When we went off on our jungle trip.
10
Pamela Purse said her thirst was worse
And guzzled our water, every sip.
And when we got grabbed by that wild savage band,
Who tied us together and made us all stand
In a long line in front of the King of the land15
A cannibal known as Fry-'Em-Up Dan,
Who sat on his throne in a bib so grand
With a lick of his lips and a fork in his hand,
As he tried to decide who'd be first in the panFrom back of the line, in that shrill voice of hers, 20
Pamela Purse yelled, 'Ladies first.'
Tahquamenon Falls

Water rushing,
gushing,

By Denise Rodgers

pushing

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

past the limits of the edge.

Water flowing, swiftly whooshing,

Water barrels off the ledge, 5

whipping up the bottom sludge,

always whisking, always pushing 15

to the river down below,

makes the water look like fudge,

growling with a freight train's roar,

always rushing, never slow,

till it falls right past the islands,

wildly rushes out some more.

gives it just another try and

with a mild and calming quiver, 20

You could harness all the power 10

it becomes a simple river.

It's amazing if you spy it;

as it flashes hour by hour

and will never, ever stop,

all that noise and then the

Quiet.

thickly loaded from the top.

Smart
By Shel Silverstein
My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more than one!
And then I took the quarters
5
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes-- I guess he didn't know
That three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see 10
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,15
And five is more than four!
And I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head-Too proud of me to speak!
20

And I Have You

Nikki Giovanni

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

Rain has drops
Sun has shine
Moon has beams
That make you mine

Winter has Spring

Stockings feet
Pepper has mint 15
To make it sweet

Rivers have banks 5

Sands for shores
Hearts have heartbeats
That make me yours

Teachers have lessons

Soup du jour
Lawyers sue bad folks
Doctors cure
20

Needles have eyes

Though pins may prick 10
Elmer has glue
To make things stick

All and all

This much is true
You have me
And I have you

Yesterday
By Paul McCarthy and John Lennon
Yesterday,
all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday 5
Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly
Why she had to go
I don't know 10
she wouldnt say
I said something wrong,
now I long
for yesterday
Yesterday,

15

love was such an easy game to play

Now I need a place to hide away
Oh, I believe in yesterday

Mother to Son
BY

Life for me aint been no crystal

stair.
Its had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
5

LANGSTON HUGHES

Well, son, Ill tell you:

9

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

And places with no carpet on the
floor
Bare.
But all the time
Ise been a-climbin on,
And reachin landins,
10
And turnin corners,
And sometimes goin in the dark
Where there aint been no light.

So boy, dont you turn back.

Dont you set down on the steps
15
Cause you finds its kinder hard.
Dont you fall now
For Ise still goin, honey,
Ise still climbin,
And life for me aint been no
crystal stair.

Knoxville Tennessee
Nikki Giovanni

I always like summer

Best
you can eat fresh corn
From daddy's garden
And okra
5
And greens
And cabbage
And lots of
Barbeque
And buttermilk
10
And homemade ice-cream
At the church picnic
And listen to
Gospel music
Outside
15
At the church
Homecoming
And go to the mountains with
Your grandmother
And go barefooted
20
And be warm
All the time
Not only when you go to bed
And sleep
Harlem
10

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

BY LANGSTON HUGHES
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore
And then run?
5
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load. 10
Or does it explode?

Arithmetic
Carl Sandburg

Arithmetic is where numbers fly

like pigeons in and out of your head.
Arithmetic tells you how many you lose or win
if you know how many you had before you lost or won.
Arithmetic is seven eleven all good children go to heaven - or five six bundle of
sticks. 5
Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head to your hand
to your pencil to your paper till you get the answer.
Arithmetic is where the answer is right and
everything is nice and you can look out of the window and see the blue sky
or the answer is wrong and you have to start all over and try again
10
and see how it comes out this time.
If you take a number and double it and double it again
and double it a few more times, the number gets bigger and bigger
and goes higher and higher
and only arithmetic can tell you what the number is when you decide to quit
doubling.
15
Arithmetic is where you have to multiply
and you carry the multiplication table in your head
and hope you won't lose it.
If you have two animal crackers, one good and one bad,
and you eat one and a striped zebra with streaks all over him eats the other,
20
how many animal crackers will you have if somebody offers you five six seven
and you say No no no and you say Nay nay nay and you say Nix nix nix?
If you ask your mother for one fried egg for breakfast
and she gives you two fried eggs and you eat both of them,
who is better in arithmetic, you or your mother?

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Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

The Bat
Theodore Roethke
By day the bat is cousin to the mouse.
He likes the attic of an aging house.
His fingers make a hat about his head.
His pulse beat is so slow we think him dead.
He loops in crazy figures half the night
5
Among the trees that face the corner light.
But when he brushes up against a screen,
We are afraid of what our eyes have seen:
For something is amiss or out of place
When mice with wings can wear a human face.
[in Just-]
E. E. CUMMINGS

in Justspring
when the world is mudluscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles

far

and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful

10

the strange
old balloonman whistles
far
and
wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

12

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

15

it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan
far
and
wee

whistles

20

To Young ReadersGwendolyn Brooks

Good books are
bandages
and voyages
and linkages to light;
are keys and hammers,
ripe redeemers,
dials and bells and
healing hallelujah.

Good books are good nutrition.

A reader is a guest 10
nourished, by riches of the Feast
to lift, to launch, and to applaud the world.

Dinner TogetherDiana Rivera

footed steps
down
down
in a perfectly straight
line
all the way
down
to the floor
then back up
the same line

Sitting by the barbecue

waiting for sausages and hotdogs
blue-gray smoke the same color
of the sky
I see a tiny spider5
walking down from the sky with
tiny six13

10

15

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

rising from one cloud
up to another,
a liver speck
glistening
at its mouth,
20
climbing the invisible ladder.

I, Too
LANGSTON HUGHES

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
5

And eat well,

And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
Ill be at the table
When company comes.
Nobodyll dare
Say to me,
Eat in the kitchen,
Then.

10

Besides,
15
Theyll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed
I, too, am America.

Daydreamers
Eloise Greenfield
Daydreamers...

the daydreamers,
20
letting the world dizzy itself
without them.

holding their bodies still

for a time
letting the world turn around them

Scenes passing through their minds

make no sound
glide from hiding places
25
promenade and return
silently

while their dreams hopscotch, 5

doubledutch, dance,
thoughts rollerskate,
crisscross,
bump into hope and wishes.

the children watch their memories

with spirit-eyes
seeing more than they saw before 30

Dreamers
10
thinking up new ways,
looking toward new days,

feeling more
or maybe less
than they felt the time before
reaching with spirit-hands
to touch the dreams
drawn from their yesterdays.

planning new tries,

asking new whys.
Before long,
15
hands will start to move again,
eyes turn outward,
bodies shift for action,
but for this moment they are still,

35

They will not be the same

after this growing time,
this dreaming.
In their stillness they have moved
Forward
40

they are
14

Poems for Poetry Scrapbook

This dreaming has made them
new.

toward womanhood
toward manhood.

15