There once was a man...

In addition to being April Fool's day, today is also the beginning of National Poety Month -- our annual celebrations of "poetry and its vital place in American culture". While I'm neither a poet, nor a great student of poetry, I've developed an affinity for the month. National Poetry Month is a recent phenomenon, having only been started in 1996 and my association started the following year, but more on that later.
This year, to help initiate my blog, I plan to share a poem a day for the month of April. These are just poems that I’ve bumped into. There is no claim, expressed or implied, of great literature or erudition, but neither will there be excessive occurrences of Hermits or towns in Massachusetts. A few of the poems even have some relationship to IT.
Today’s poem is called “Disobedience” by A.A. Milne , the creator of Winnie the Pooh. While I grew up with a number of his poems, I learned this one only recently. Our elementary school has a “mother reader” program where parent volunteers come in and read to the class and I was lucky enough to land a stint on April 1 for my daughter’s fourth grade class. We had some good discussion about the poem, its language, and subject matter. We also had fun with several other books and knock-knock and elephant jokes.
Enjoy.