Poet and anthologist Myra Cohn Livingston was born August 17, 1926. Here’s a list of SOME of the books she edited or wrote before her death in August, 1996.

4-Way Stop, and Other Poems (ISBN: 0689500408)
Abraham Lincoln : A Man for All the People A Ballad (ISBN: 0823410498)
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral : Poems About Small Things (ISBN: 0060230096)
B Is for Baby : An Alphabet of Verses (ISBN: 0689809506)
Birthday Poems (ISBN: 0823407837)
Calendar (ISBN: 0823417255)
Call Down the Moon : Poems of Music (ISBN: 0689804164)
Cat Poems (ISBN: 0823406318)
Celebrations (ISBN: 0823405508)
The Child As Poet : Myth or Reality (ISBN: 0876752873)
Christmas Poems (ISBN: 0823405087)
A Circle of Seasons (ISBN: 0823404528)
Climb into the Bell Tower : Essays on Poetry (ISBN: 0064461009)
Come Away (ISBN: 0689304285)
Dilly Dilly Piccalilli : Poems for the Very Young (ISBN: 0689504667)
Dog Poems (ISBN: 0823407764)
Easter Poems (ISBN: 082340546X)
Festivals (ISBN: 0823412172)
Flights of Fancy : And Other Poems (ISBN: 0689506139)
Halloween Poems (ISBN: 0823407624)
Higgledy-Piggledy Verses and Pictures (ISBN: 0689504071)
How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear! : Edward Lear’s Selected Works (ISBN: 0823404625)
I Am Writing a Poem About…a Game of Poetry : Edited by Myra Cohn Livingston (ISBN: 068981156X)
I Like You, If You Like Me : Poems of Friendship (ISBN: 068950408X)
I Never Told : And Other Poems (ISBN: 0689505442)
If You Ever Meet a Whale (ISBN: 0823409406)
If the Owl Calls Again : A Collection of Owl Poems (ISBN: 0689505019)
Keep on Singing : A Ballad of Marian Anderson (ISBN: 0823410986)
Let Freedom Ring : A Ballad of Martin Luther King, Jr. (ISBN: 0823409570)
Light and Shadow (ISBN: 0823409317)
Listen, Children, Listen; An Anthology of Poems for the Very Young. : An Anthology of Poems for the Very Young (ISBN: 0152455701)
A Lollygag of Limericks (ISBN: 0689501048)
Lots of Limericks (ISBN: 0689505310)
The Malibu and Other Poems (ISBN: 0689303084)
Monkey Puzzle and Other Poems (ISBN: 0689503105)
My Head Is Red and Other Riddle Rhymes (ISBN: 082340806X)
New Year’s Poems (ISBN: 0823406415)
O Frabjous Day : Poetry for Holidays and Special Occasions (ISBN: 0689500769)
O Sliver of Liver (ISBN: 0689501331)
One Little Room, an Everywhere : Poems of Love (ISBN: 0689500327)
Poem-Making : Ways to Begin Writing Poetry (ISBN: 0060240199)
Poems for Brothers, Poems for Sisters (ISBN: 0823408612)
Poems for Fathers (ISBN: 0823407292)
Poems for Grandmothers (ISBN: 0823408302)
Poems for Jewish Holidays (ISBN: 0823406067)
Poems for Mothers (ISBN: 0823406784)
Poems of Christmas (ISBN: 0689501803)
Poems of Lewis Carroll (ISBN: 0690045409)
Remembering : And Other Poems (ISBN: 0689504896)
Riddle-Me Rhymes (ISBN: 0689506023)
Roll Along : Poems on Wheels (ISBN: 068950585X)
Sea Songs (ISBN: 0823405915)
Sky Songs (ISBN: 0823405028)
A Song I Sang to You (ISBN: 0152771050)
Space Songs (ISBN: 082340675X)
Speak Roughly to Your Little Boy; A Collection of Parodies and Burlesques, Together With the Original Poems, Chosen and Annotated for Young People. (ISBN: 0152778594)
Thanksgiving Poems (ISBN: 0823405702)
There Was a Place and Other Poems (ISBN: 0689504640)
These Small Stones (ISBN: 006024013X)
A Time to Talk : Poems of Friendship (ISBN: 0689505582)
Tune Beyond Us a Collection of Poetry (ISBN: 0152910980)
Up in the Air (ISBN: 0823407365)
Valentine Poems (ISBN: 0823405877)
The Way Things Are, and Other Poems (ISBN: 0689500084)
What a Wonderful Bird the Frog Are : An Assortment of Humorous Poetry and Verse (ISBN: 0152954007)
Why Am I Grown So Cold? : Poems of the Unknowable (ISBN: 0689502427)
Worlds I Know : And Other Poems (ISBN: 0689503326)

As a descriptor, prolific doesn’t quite seem big enough, does it? Ms. Livingston’s poems tend to be deceptively simple and accessible, but they stick. For example:

I Don’t Know Why
by Myra Cohn Livingston

I don’t know why
the sky is blue
or why the raindrops splatter through

or why the grass
is wet with dew . . . do you?

I don’t know why
the sun is round
or why a seed grows
in the ground

or why the thunder
makes a sound . . . do you?

I don’t know why
the clouds are white
or why the moon
shines very bright

or why the air
turns black at night…..do you?

Teacher resources on Myra Cohn Livingston.
The Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry.

Poetry Friday Roundup is at Kelly Fineman’s LiveJournal blog today.