Do you have a poem memorized that you can say out loud? Do you have a favorite poem? If you are a poetry lover, you probably have a few you can recite. But if you think you don't know a poem, go back to your childhood. What songs or rhymes do you remember?

You may have heard at bedtime, "Hush little baby, don't say a word. Daddy's gonna buy you a mockingbird," or, "Baby's bed's a silver boat, sailing toward the west ... " You may have played "Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker man. Bake me a cake as fast just as you can. Roll it and pat it and mark it with 'B,' and put it in the oven for baby and me!"

Did you ever learn this one? "I never saw a purple cow; I never hope to see one. But I can tell you anyhow, I'd rather see than be one." Do you remember this tongue-twister? "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?"

On the playground there were jump rope rhymes and "who's going to be it?" chants. Poetry is so woven into a child's daily life, sometimes we don't even realize it's there.

Poetry can make us laugh, soothe the soul and show us a new view of the world. Poetry is a way to "paint with words." Here is an image from a poem by Langston Hughes: "Fairies. Out of the dust of dreams / Fairies weave their garments. / Out of the purple and rose of old memories / They make rainbow wings. / No wonder we find them such marvelous things!"

Poems have been circulating in Tompkins County these past four weeks as a lead-up to the Kids' Book Fest, featuring poetry this year, on Saturday, Nov. 14. You can find poems printed out to take home in more than 75 area businesses, schools and libraries (see www.familyreading.org for locations). Pick up poems for every one of your pockets!

Here are some of our favorite collections of poems for young children:

* "My Village: Rhymes from Around the World," collected by Danielle Wright, illustrated by Mique Moriuchi. The featured book at this year's Kids' Book Fest, this collection of poems will go to more than 4,000 children in the TST BOCES district thanks to sponsorship from Time Warner Cable and area schools. The book includes poems for children from 21 countries, written in their native languages and also translated into English.

* "The Dream Keeper and Other Poems," by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Written in 1932, these poems about the African-American experience during that time period still speak to us. The rhythm of the poems is influenced by jazz, spirituals and blues music that were a part of Hughes' life in Harlem.

* "A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems," selected by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Chris Raschka. Concrete poems are written so that the words take the shape of the object or motion that is described in the poem. These poems are visually entertaining!

* "The Llama Who Had No Pajama: 100 Favorite Poems," by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Betty Fraser. Playful, rhyming poems for children on topics such as weather, seasons, animals and insects.