Friday, February 11, 2011

The Wizard of Menlo Park

Today, Poetry on Parade celebrates the birthday of New Jersey scientist and inventor Thomas Edison. At Lafayette, we learn about Thomas Edison and visit his laboratory at the Thomas Edison National Historic Site.  We also imagine what life would be like without his inventions: no recorded music, no movies, no radio... no light bulbs! In cartoons, a light bulb indicates a bright idea.  In real life, when we suddenly understand something, we say that we have a light bulb moment.  Hey look... an idiom! Today's poem, from Lives: Poems about Famous Americans, celebrates Thomas Edison's light bulb moment: 


 American Wizard

A shout
rang out
in Menlo Park
one New Year's Eve

as people
stepped down
from the train
into dark

and he pulled
the switch--

a flood of light
lit up the night!

What marvelous lamps
without gas
or flame!

The people cheered
Thomas Edison's name
and his marvel
that turned dusk
into
day.

--Lawrence Schimel


In 1983, Congress declared Thomas Edison's birthday National Inventor's Day: a day to  honor the human creative spirit and to celebrate inventors and their inventions. With Biography Banners and Wax Museum projects, Lafayette certainly explores the LMC biography collection.  Hmm... writing a poem about your biography subject sounds like a brilliant idea-- a real light bulb moment!

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