Poetry Friday--A Gene Kelly Kind of Day

There are days when the weather is fine and you just feel like dancing. Perhaps today is one of those days for you?

In our children's room we have a poetry collection, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, titled Got Geography! [811.008 GOT]. It is what you'd expect, poems about geography. Poems with titles like, "Mapping the World," "If I Were the Equator," and "Compass." The title of very last poem came as a surprise, "from Lines Written for Gene Kelly to Dance To." What do geography and Gene Kelly have in common?

from Lines Written for Gene Kelly to Dance To
by Carl Sandburg

Why we got geography?
Because we go from place to place. Because the earth used
    to be flat and had four corner, and you could jump off
    from any of the corners.
But now the earth is not flat any more. Now it is round all
    over. Now it is a globe, a ball, round all over, and we
    would all fall off it and tumble away into space if it wasn't
    for the magnetic poles. And when you dance it is the
    North Pole or the South Pole pulling on your feet like
    magnets to keep your feet on the earth.
And that's why we go geography.
And it's nice to have it that way.

Is that fun or what?

Now, you didn't expect this post to end without seeing Gene Kelly dance, did you?



This week's Poetry Friday Round-Up is being held at Wild Rose Reader. Make sure to stop by!