So is this going to be a blog wherein I just post poems by other people?

Possibly.

But I just have to share this Billy Collins poem featured in today's Writer's Almanac. I spent all last night, tossing and turning because I couldn't remember the name of the tree I planted in the backyard a few summers ago--even though I planted it in the memory of a friend who loved this variety and even though it is a stunningly common tree and even though I have known the name of this tree for ALL MY LIFE. No wonder this poem speaks to me.

Forgetfulness

by Billy Collins

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

List poems

Last night at the bookstore I shelved a children's book called FALLING DOWN THE PAGE: A BOOK OF LIST POEMS (edited by Georgia Heard). I especially liked this one by the wonderful Kathi Applet called "Test Day."

It's never about the things I know:

Where the old turtle hid her eggs
How many homeruns my brother hit last season
My mom's favorite colors--violet and pink
That chocolate chip cookies need vanilla
The year my grandfather fought in the war
The year he didn't come back
That my great-great-aunt learned to drive she she was 68
What time the moon rose last night
And what time it set this morning
How the thunder scares my ginger-striped cat
Why the neighbor's hound howls at stars
Where the grackle built her nest
What to put in my dad's cup of coffee . . .

It's never about the things I know.

Okay. I wanna hear. What are the things YOU know about?