Attitude Shaping and Shifting: Poetry Meditation and Memorization

Poetry memorization is not as popular in this generation as it has been in past ones. Other than the memorization that comes with remembering song lyrics and a few lines from Dr. Seuss I think it has almost ceased to exist. I’m kind of ambivalent about this… in fact I hesitate to write about it here… and now that I’ve started I’m not sure which direction to take. Clearly, it’s not my deal.

Still I think poems have been great shapers of perspective in the past and can be re-harnessed in this and future generations. I mentioned Dr. Seuss. I think his lines from Horton have actually enhanced a decision or choice on occasion. I hear them over and over in my head just as I did as a kindergartener on Captain Kangaroo some 45 years ago…

“I meant what I said
And I said what I meant,
An Elephant faithful,
One hundred percent.”

I memorized a short one some time my early twenties. It comes to mind now and then when I am frustrated about some circumstance going on in my life.

Two men in jail
Standing behind bars,
One saw mud
The other saw stars

This short one serves as kind a kind of inspirational warning encouraging us all to play a bigger game in life:

Some men die by shrapnel
And some go down in flames,
But most men perish inch by inch,
Playing little games.

When I moved away from home for a short time, this one seemed to resonate with my heart:

Grieve not for me,
who am about to start
a new adventure.
Eager I stand,
and ready to depart,
me and my reckless, pioneering heart!


I keep a few longer ones on file, but have never gotten around to memorizing them. Like I said, it’s not my deal. But if you think it might be yours, give it a shot. Stick an inspirational verse on a 3x5 card and carry it around with you to look at through out odd moments of the day.