Today is Poetry Friday and Christmas is coming soon. There are Christmas poems that everyone expects to hear this time of year. The most popular would be Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas". Who can't forget: "'Twas the night before Christmas/When all through the house/Not a creature was stirring/Not even a mouse".

Let's be adventurous and talk about Christmas poems that aren't as well known. While reading poetry by the famous Beat author Jack Kerouac, I saw part of his long poem "Old Angel Midnight" had words shaped like a Christmas tree. It's not your average sentimental Christmas poem:

Excerpt from Old Angel Midnight
by Jack Kerouac

         54.

        peep
       peep the
      bird tear the
    sad bird drop heart
  the dawn has slung
 he aw arrow drape

  to sissyfoo & made eastpink
dink the dimple solstice men

[read the rest in Jack Kerouac's book Scattered Poems]

Ted Kooser (remember him?) publishes a column called American Life in Poetry. The latest column has a poem written by Conrad Hilberry about Christmas night. It's pretty clever to write about Christmas after the gifts and celebrating.

Christmas Night
by Conrad Hilberry

Let midnight gather up the wind
and the cry of tires on bitter snow.
Let midnight call the cold dogs home,
sleet in their fur--last one can blow
[read the rest here]

Coming Next Time: Unpublishable poems.

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