while visions of scarecrows danced in my head....

I was looking for books for a fall/scarecrow display this morning. Rather than sit in my office, I like to peruse the shelves, meeting old friends and finding new ones. I skimmed folktales and science before heading off to poetry. “A nice anthology,” I thought, “full of leaves and scarecrows, with an attractive cover.” Didn’t find what I was looking for. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Doesn’t mean we don’t own such a book. Just means that it wasn't there when I looked. Did find a book of Robert Frost’s poetry selected and illustrated for children. I was drawn to Birches. "So was I once a swinger of birches. And so I dream of going back to be." A wonderful thought for a rainy day when there is an alert for NYC's subways and children are abandoned in the street by murderers and nightclubs are being blown up. Who wouldn't rather be a child and frightened only in fun by James Whitcomb Riley's Little Orphant Annie ?

I love browsing through poetry and always wish I did it more often. When my boys are a little older and we don’t have the mad breakfast-in-the-car dash to the sitter’s, I look forward to the ritual of a poem a day to be read at breakfast. What better way to start the day than with nourishment for the soul as well as for the body? Give us bread but give us roses.