Category Archives: Favorite Poem

Law, Like Love
by W.H. Auden

When I was in graduate school at the University of Washington, I had the rather thrilling experience of taking a poetry criticism course from the great poet David Wagoner, who today is 85 years old and, thankfully, still teaching.  During our course, he frequently expressed the importance to the heart and mind of memorizing poetry. Sometime in the first week of class,  after some students had begun to bicker about the meaning of the law, he sat back in his chair and began to recite Auden’s poem, only whispering at first, and then building with an intensity and tenderness that took our breath away (He later told us that he had done the same thing while sitting on a rather important and volatile philosophy panel about the nature of the law). Whether it was that childlike nursery rhyme cadence or the gentle, humble turn at its end, the poem silenced us and moved me in an inexplicably visceral way.  I went on to memorize it, and I recite it regularly to keep it on my tongue. Auden’s stunning truth has now worked its way into my very heartbeat, just like my teacher said it would.

Sarah Shotwell, Writer
San Jose

Law, Like Love

Law, say the gardeners, is the sun,
Law is the one
All gardeners obey
To-morrow, yesterday, to-day.

Law is the wisdom of the old,
The impotent grandfathers feebly scold;
The grandchildren put out a treble tongue,
Law is the senses of the young.

Law, says the priest with a priestly look,
Expounding to an unpriestly people,
Law is the words in my priestly book,
Law is my pulpit and my steeple.

Law, says the judge as he looks down his nose,
Speaking clearly and most severely,
Law is as I’ve told you before,
Law is as you know I suppose,
Law is but let me explain it once more,
Law is The Law.

Yet law-abiding scholars write:
Law is neither wrong nor right,
Law is only crimes
Punished by places and by times,
Law is the clothes men wear
Anytime, anywhere,
Law is Good morning and Good night.

Others say, Law is our Fate;
Others say, Law is our State;
Others say, others say
Law is no more,
Law has gone away. Continue reading →

Phenomenal Woman
by Maya Angelou

I like this poem because it is celebrates women in a positive light.  The poem demonstrates the theme of feminine power. Not only does Maya Angelou illustrate women as powerful human beings, she praises the physical and emotional characteristics women have.  Through her words, Maya Angelou brings about the theme of why women are lovable and amazing!

Kendall Romo
17 years old, Student at Presentation High School
Milpitas

School Prayer
by Diane Ackerman

Thank you for the opportunity to share one of my favorite poems (I can’t name just one favorite). Many years ago I posted the following poem at my desk. It helps me to remember to deflect hate and destruction with love and compassion – towards humanity, the animal world, and the environment.

R. C. Nemer
Sunnyvale

School Prayer

In the name of the daybreak
and the eyelids of morning
and the wayfaring moon
and the night when it departs,

I swear I will not dishonor
my soul with hatred,
but offer myself humbly
as a guardian of nature,
as a healer of misery,
as a messenger of wonder,
as an architect of peace.

In the name of the sun and its mirrors
and the day that embraces it
and the cloud veils drawn over it
and the uttermost night
and the male and the female
and the plants bursting with seed
and the crowning seasons
of the firefly and the apple,

I will honor all life
—wherever and in whatever form
it may dwell—on Earth my home,
and in the mansions of the stars.

Diane Ackerman