For Many Years, I Thought A Poem

Instead Of Trying To Come Up And Pontificate On What Literature Is, You Need To Talk With Children, To Teachers, And Make Sure They Get Poetry In The Curriculum Early.

I Was Appointed Poet Laureate. It Came Totally Out Of The Blue Because Most Poet Laureates Had Been Considerably Older Than I. It Was Not Something That I Even Had Begun To Dream About!

Going To The Library Was The One Place We Got To Go Without Asking For Permission. And They Let Us Choose What We Wanted To Read. It Was A Feeling Of Having A Book Be Mine Entirely.

The First Book: Go Ahead, It Won't Bite. Well... Maybe A Little. More A Nip, Like. A Tingle. It's Pleasurable, Really. You See, It Keeps On Opening. You May Fall In. Sure, It's Hard To Get Started; Remember Learning To Use Knife And Fork? Dig In: You'll Never Reach Bottom. It's Not Like It's The End Of The World -- Just The World As You Think You Know It.

Everybody Who's Anybody Longs To Be A Tree.