My Daily Bread: Famous Poems & Quotations


Every work day, I follow a routine. I drive to work listening to National Public Radio (NPR), stop at a coffee shop, scoot over to school, open my email, and read a famous quote and a poem. Every day.

I cannot tell you how much I look forward to these regular features in my email inbox. I am often inspired with a lesson idea, a purpose for the day, or am either made to smile or get all goosebumpled by something profound that someone else has either said or written. I think that these daily doses of thought have also opened my line of vision to new poets, politicians, and literary figures that I've never read or heard about before. I regularly want to know more about the person behind the quote or poem and will research them further. I have found quite a few new favorite people and poems this way.

Here is the poem I found in my email inbox this morning:

"Snow Day"

Snowing outside,
and the boy in short pants
swings a broom.

He’s at bat
in his room
that’s a park

for the other boy
smaller and kneeling
waiting his turn

for the Sun,
maybe Spring,
whichever comes first.

by Donal Mahoney


I found this poem to be absolutely beautiful in its simplicity and in its powerful imagery. I love poems like this, but doubt that I would've ever stumbled across it, as I'd never heard of the author before and very rarely seek out poems about snow. I conducted some quick research about Donal Mahoney and found out that he is the son of Irish Immigrants and has tons of poems available online.

Here's the quotation I received in my email inbox this morning:

"Inaction saps the vigor of the mind." ~~ Leonardo da Vinci

Not one of my favorites, but it definitely inspired me to get up and start working! Sometimes I save these emails (I have a special folder for both poetry and quotations) and sometimes I delete them. I often refer back to these emails when I'm looking for inspiration or a new author. Either way, I love getting up and driving to work in the morning, anticipating the poetry and words of wisdom that await me in my email inbox!

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