poetry for a 6 year old girl

[meemee]

my dd is really into reading.

the other day i noticed she picked up my poetry book and was immersed in it for quite a while. (Going over to your place, selected by Paul B Janeczko).

so i was going to choose some good poetry for her. any clues? apart from stevensons garden of verses.

here is the tough one. the poems she was excited about was first kiss by jonathan holden, first love by stanley kunitz and grandma chooses her plot at the County Cemetery by Paul Ruffin (she has seen death v. closely). so i was wondering if there were some romantic poems that could be appropriate for dd. she is really, really into romance - love. and she truly gets it (without the sexual aspect of it of course). some of her favourite movies are sleepless in seattle and Just like heaven.

she is a great fan of dr seuss and ogden nash for the rhyme. but i think she is ready to move on to something that makes her think a little. doesnt have to be romance. she does enjoy haiku too.

any suggestions?

[Mama Shifra]

I really like the Robert Frost anthology You Come Too Favorite Poems For Young Readers . Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (illustrated by Susan Jeffers) and Birches (illustrated by Ed Young) are other Robert Frost poems for children. There is also the series "Poetry for Young People", which includes books of poetry from Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou, William Shakespeare, and many more. Stemmer House Publishers also had illustrated books of poetry from other famous authors, similar to the "Poetry for Young People" series.

And of course, there's the classic book of poetry for children: A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.

A Brighter Garden by Tasha Tudor is a book of Emily Dickinson's poetry for children.

[Thalia the Muse]

there are a couple of more recent anthologies for kids that I think are really good:

Talking Like the Rain (beautifully illustrated and includes one of my personal favorites, "Painting the Gate" by May Swenson)
Piping Down the Valleys Wild (just a few woodcuts, so not as pretty a book -- but the poems are incredibly well chosen)

For a romantic poem that's perfect for a kid, especially one who loves haiku (it's not a haiku, but has the same feel), you can't do better than The River-Merchant's Wife by Li Po, translated by Ezra Pound. It's here: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/...-po-pound.html

I also really love A Blessing, by James Wright. http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-blessing/

I love poetry, and you're making me think I need to share more of it with my own daughter!

[DaughterOfKali]

Pm'ing you.