I Love All Gravity Defiers by Lillian Morrison

1. I Love All Gravity Defiers by Lillian Morrison

2. The vaulter suspended on a slender pole hangs in the air before his fall.

3. The trapeze artist tumbles through space in split-second rescues from the abyss. Photo by John Lund

4. Kids on swings pumping to the sky in a pendulum of pleasure,fly.

5. Ski-jumpers, speed-propelled, extended in flight loop down to land upright.

6. Hail gravity defiers, jumpers, broad and high and all non-jumpers who will not drop, who try.

7. Somersaulters on the trampoline,

8. battered boxers up at the count of nine

9. Springboard athletes jackknifing as they dive

10. and people who stand straight and stay alive

11. The vaulter suspended on a slender pole hangs in the air before his fall. The trapeze artist tumbles through space in split-second rescues from the abyss. Kids on swings pumping to the sky in a pendulum of pleasure, fly. Ski-jumpers, speed-propelled, extended in flight loop down to land upright. Hail gravity defiers, jumpers, broad and high and all non-jumpers who will not drop, who try. Somersaulters on the trampoline, battered boxers up at the count of nine Springboard athletes jackknifing as they dive and people who stand straight and stay alive

12. Lillian Morrison Biography & Notes As a girl, Lillian Morrison developed an interest for poetry when she began to play rhyming games with her friends such as jump rope and patty cake. This interest developed into a desire to become a poetry writer, and eventually to specialize in children's poetry written in order to engage young people by appealing to their interests. In her quest for knowledge, she sought after and achieved several degrees at various learning institutes. She earned one of her bachelor's degrees at Rutgers University in New Jersey and then another at Columbia University in New York.After the transfer to New York, Lillian must have enjoyed the area because she spent the remainder of her years there. She is most noted for getting started by working at the New York Public Library as a young adult librarian. After gaining some experience as a librarian, she moved up the ranks as coordinator of Young Adult Services which seems appropriate considering her reputation for connecting seemingly effortlessly with youth attempting to learn and engage in the basics of poetry. It is for this reason that she was the recipient of the American Library Association's Grolier Award in 1987 for her contributions to stimulating the interests of young people through reading. In life, she was particularly interested in folk rhymes, outdoor sports, dance, jazz and film. She would collect playground chants and autograph album inscriptions. In describing her interests and inspirations, she said, "I love rhythms, the body movement implicit in poetry, explicit in sports--I am drawn to athletes, dancers, drummers, jazz musicians, who transcend misery and frustration and symbolize for us something joyous, ordered, and possible in life."She spent nearly fifty years working at the New York Public Library and, during this time, also served as a lecturer at the schools where she developed her education, Rutgers and Columbia Universities. http://www.gips.org/assets/files/Walnut/Biographies/ Lillian%20Morrison.pdf