If you’re new to the blog head over to my blog post – New Year’s Resolutions and A Poem a Day; this will tell you more about A Poem a Day and how it began for me and our family back at the end of 2021. It will also show you some of the poetry books we enjoy and free online poetry resources. We’re excited for our year of poetry for 2024. Here’s A Poem A Day in January.
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For this blog post I’ll be sharing where I’m finding my poetry reads for the day. There will be poems for littles, poems for teens and poems for you. Enjoy! If you’re looking for Wintery inspiration you’ll still find lots to love in January on my December collection – A Poem A Day in December for the Family.
Poetry for All
I hope to give you inspiration for where to find poetry. As much as I can I will try and share with you where you can access the poems I’ve read for free as well as which books they came from so you can request them from the library or purchase your own copy. For me I love to hear the poet read their own poems so I’ll try and add links to these. I would love you to share in comments any poetry you have been enjoying.
I’m very much inspired by the seasons when I read so although there will be an eclectic mix of poetry and poets the poems will often be seasonal. I hope to add more of my daily poetry reads for each month in 2024.
A Poem a Day in January
Welcome New Year – let the poetry begin!
For 2024 I’ve purchased a new poetry spine for us to us daily. My daughter adores the Nosy Crow anthologies and we purchased the latest addition for her for Christmas – A Whale of a Time.
It’s an exceptional collection of funny poems – one for each day of the year. This is going to be our main poetry book for 2024 and add in others along the way.
Poetry Inspiration for January
I Am the Seed that Grew the Tree
The Garden Year by Sara Coleridge from I Am the Seed that Grew the Tree published by Nosy Crow is a wonderful read. It’s another one of the Nosy Crow a poem a day book. You can find the poem online here. A beautiful way to start the year but also return to at the start of each month.
Classic Nursery Rhymes
Cupboard Cat illustrated by Jackie Morris in her book Classic Nursery Rhymes published by Otter-Barry Books. It’s a rhyme I’ve not heard before.
Nursery Rhymes for Feminist Times
What Are Little Girls Made of? by Jeanne Willis and illustrated by Isabelle Follath from the book Nursery Rhymes for Feminist Times published by Nosy Crow.
Definitely in need of this one after reading classic rhymes yesterday. It’s a brilliant selection turning classics on their head.
I Am A Poetato
Queen Bee by John Hegley from the book I Am A Poetato published by Otter-Barry Books. The poems that I love in this one pack a punch. Queen Bee is hilarious.
Mouse’s Wood
Mouse’s Wood by Alice Melvin and published by Thames and Hudson. It’s not strictly a poetry book but each spread has a four line verse for a month of the year. It’s one of the most stunning books I’ve seen with beautiful flaps and cut outs.
Shine, Star, Shine!
Shine, Star, Shine! by Dom Conlon and illustrated sublimely by Anastasia Izlesou and published by Graffeg. A poem as a picture book. If you haven’t yet discovered Dom’s work you really must – it’s wow!
Bridgette Tales
Bath by Bridgette. You can find Bridgette’s poem on her website here. I love lots of her poetry – it’s certainly a website to keep an eye on as she updates the site regularly with new work. I love one of her most recent additions – you can find it here.
Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright!
Mother Doesn’t Want A Dog by Judith Viorst from the fabulous anthology by Nosy Crow – Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright! There’s an animal poem for every day of the year. Although this one is actually from the 10th January – we like to shift around a little. Certainly one for all the family and you can find the poem online here.
A Year of Nature Poems
January by Joseph Coelho from A Year of Nature Poems. It’s published by Wide Eyed, and illustrated by Kelly Louise Judd. It gives you a poem for each month of the year. If you’ve been with me for my December collection you’ll have seen this beauty before. You can see Joseph recite his poem below.
Razzmatazz
A Poem’s Plea by Roger Stevens from his book Razzmatazz. Published by Otter Barry Books and illustrated by Mike Smith. I reached for this book today as they’re a collection that always make me smile. The poem is of a little poem pleading to not just be stuck on a page but be read aloud – it’s a poem that speaks directly to you as a reader.
I attended a lovely Nikki Gamble Just Imagine session when Razzmatazz was launched. A fabulous way to spend an hour.
And Everything Will Be Glad to See You
Keep a Poem in Your Pocket by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers from the epic anthology And Everything Will Be Glad to See You from Nosy Crow. Poems curated by Ella Risbridger and illustrated by Anna Shepeta. It’s a collection of poems written by girls and women only.
It was yesterday’s poem that swayed me towards reading another poem about poems. While looking for where you’d be able to read the poem I discovered that the 30th April is Keep a Poem in Your Pocket Day. I must remember to come back to this poem in April! You can find the poem written here and performed here.
It’s A Funny Old World
The Chasm by Nigel Tetley from his collection It’s a Funny Old World. This is another collection of poetry from Nigel that’s designed for teens. I’m a bug fan of Nigel’s poetry – you can find my review of this collection here.
Selfies with Komodos
A Plea from the Rescue Centre for Mythical Beasts by Brian Moses. This collection of poems, Selfies with Komodos, by Brian illustrated by Ed Boxall was kindly sent for me to review by publisher Otter Barry Books. It’s publishing on the 19th January 2023.
I’ve picked out this poem from the collection as it’s oodles of fun and sparked lots of discussion with my little one after we read it together. Read or listen to it here. It’s a wonderful collection of poetry and you can find my review here.
Wild! Rhymes That Roar
Komodo Dragon by Graham Denton in Wild! Rhymes That Roar a collection of poems chosen by James Carter and Graham. No surprise after yesterday’s book title that we went for one about the Komodo Dragons. Each lines starts with ‘Here be…’ and it would be a great one to have a go at writing your own version about another animal. My daughter loves the cover of this book!
Choose Love
Choose Love from the collection Choose Love by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Petr Horáček published by Graffeg. This is the first poem in the book that sets the scene for everything that follows. I’ll be reviewing this collection in full shortly, but so far it’s a wow collection of poems that must be read. Choose Love.
The Star Whale
Nicola and Petr have collaborated on another incredible poetry collection; very different to Choose Love. We went along to an event by Nicola and Petr for the sublime The Star Whale in October 2023. Click on the image to find out more about any of the books.
It’s a marvellous collection of illustrated poems. I love that when you go to events such as these you find out a little more about the authors and illustrators and how the book came to fruition. I’m always a little disappointed when I hear that some authors and illustrators work in total isolation from each other. When author and illustrator come together – this is where the magic happens!
The Star Whale is based on the sketch book illustrations of Petr. When Nicola and Petr were travelling together Nicola asked about Petr’s sketch book. Nicola then wrote the poems inspired by Petr’s sketches. Once Nicola had composed the poems Petr then went back and re-illustrated adding in influences from Nicola’s words. How amazing. It’s a wonderful poetry book and the first book that has inspired my daughter to write her own poetry.
Flower Fairies of the Winter
The Song of the Snowdrop Fairy – A slight cheat as I did read this one in December too. My daughter spotted the first signs of Spring on her way to school this week (2023) and took a photo for me. She knows how much I love them. Flower Fairies of the Winter is such a lovely book along with the rest of the seasonal flower fairies.
Daydreams and Jellybeans
Weeping Willow by Alex Wharton and illustrated by Katy Riddell, published by Firefly Press from the collection Daydreams and Jellybeans. What a fun title! When you read poetry do you start from the beginning or dive in wherever you fancy? For me it depends upon the collection. For this book I dived in and found Weeping Willow.
I stumbled upon this one as I was captured by the title and the illustration of the weeping willow. I’ve always adored willow trees and Alex’s words truly resonate with my feelings on willow trees. Such a beautiful poem.
Night Music – another poem from Daydreams and Jellybeans. I’m reading lots from this book as we got it from the library and will have to return it soon. It would make a perfect poem to explore the sounds of nighttime and to explore making your own sounds of night.
Yapping Away
The Reading Journey from Yapping Away written by Joshua Seigal, illustrated by Sarah Horne and published by Bloomsbury.
I love poems about the wonder and awe of books and the magical journey that they take you on. Here’s the poem below. I’ll be returning to this one also as it’s another library book.
Sunrise
Each Friday I get a new poem arrive in my email inbox from Pan Macmillan. You can sign up to their newsletter at the bottom of this page here. This week The Art of Being Kind’ arrived by Ella Wheeler Wilcox from the edited collection from Susie Gibbs – Sunrise Poems to Kick-Start Your Day. It’s a beautiful, short and sweet poem showing how kindness can be the antidote of sadness.
I hope you find a little poetry inspiration in this post – A Poem a Day for January. I’d love to hear what you thought if you read from any of these sources. Do let me know any recommendations you have.
I love this! I have a book of fairy-themed poems that I’m going to start reading in the spring (because spring is where the book begins, then goes through all the seasons). 🙂 I requested a winter poem a day book at the library, but they have not yet purchased it and I don’t know if they will.
Thank you. Ow I’d love to know the title of the fairy-themed book that you have. My daughter and I love anything fairy based. Often with libraries two or more people need to request – anyone you know who would request for you too?