Louis MacNeice was an Irish poet and playwright who lived from 1907 to 1963. He attended Oxford and went on to lecture at the University of Birmingham and then taught Greek at the University of London. After that, he joined the BBC as a staff writer and producer. His poetry “is characterized by its familiar, sometimes humorous tone and its integration of contemporary ideas and images.” He died young at only fifty-five. The Junes were free and full, driving through tiny Roads, the mudguards brushing the cowparsley, Through fields of mustard and under boldly embattled Mays and chestnuts Or between beeches verdurous and voluptuous Or where broom and gorse beflagged…

I picked up this book…somewhere recently. I think off the free book rack at the library? I really don’t know but I am pleased I have it. Ogden Nash’s poetry is silly and fun and just what is needed to brighten a day. I laughed at his description of a rainy vacation. Rainy vacations Try people's patience. To expect rain in the autumn Experience has tautumn, And rain in the spring and winter Makes no stories for the printer, But rain on summer colonies Breeds misdemeanors and felonies. Summer cottages are meant just to sleep in, Not to huddle all day in a heap in, And whether at sea level…

Lilacs are one of my very favorite spring flowers. When we moved last month my lilac bushes were just starting to bloom and I was sad to miss them. Alice Persons wrote today’s lovely poem about the joy of lilacs. Persons is an American poet who lives in Maine. She started writing poetry in the early 1980s but then stopped while she was in law school. Her first volume of poetry was published in 2003. She also cofounded Moon Pie Press in 2003 and has run it on her own since 2006. It has published more than 40 volumes of poetry from a wide variety of poets. A guaranteed miracle,…