"I want my poems to be entertaining - dramatic language recited in character by a performer to an audience."

-- Brod Bagert

...about Brod's poetry

As you enter the world of Brod Bagert's poetry, get ready for a broad variety of form and style. For Brod the audience is the driving force.

"I write my poems to entertain an audience, so when the audience changes the poems change. For kindergarteners I tend to use chanting, repetitious heroic couplets. For third graders I like ballad stanzas with a strong story line. For eighth graders, free verse shifting in an out of rhyme to match tone and content."

Audience is also the force that drives the "voice" of the poem. Brod says "the idea of voice is simple; it's like writing lines for an actor in a movie. Sometimes I write in my own voice, but most of the time I write in the voice of the audience for whom the poem is intended. In a poem for kindergartners, the person talking in the poem is a kindergartner. In a poem for sixth graders, I write in a sixth-grader voice."

When you hear Brod talk about poetry, you'll notice that he's always comparing poetry to music. That's because Brod believes that the sound of words is as important to poetry as the sound of the notes is to music.

This sound thing is one of Brod's favorite ideas. If you want to tease him, act real serious and ask him, "Do you think it's a good idea to recite poems out loud?" Then sit back and watch as Brod boils over with enthusiasm and talks for the next three hours:

"Poetry is like music, everything begins with sound.

To understand poems, RECITE POEMS OUT LOUD.

To become a poetry lover, RECITE POEMS OUT LOUD.

To learn to write poetry, RECITE POEMS OUT LOUD.

To develop voice as a writer, RECITE POEMS OUT LOUD.

To develop personal eloquence, RECITE POEMS OUT LOUD.

To woo the person you love, RECITE THE POEMS OUT LOUD.

To rear strong children, RECITE POEMS OUT LOUD.

To solve the problems of the world, RECITE POEMS OUT LOUD."

...about Brod's life

Brod was born on November 22, 1947 and raised in the City of New Orleans, where he studied the classics in Latin and Greek, wrestled and boxed to vent adolescent angst, fell in love with and married his high-school sweetheart, practiced law, served in public office, and reared four children that are the joy of his life.

Brod has written poetry his whole life. He started in third grade with a poem for his mother. He wrote a few poems in high school then picked up the pace in college because "GIRLS LOVE POETRY!" During his lawyer days, Brod wrote fewer and fewer poems. Then one of his children asked him to write a poem for her to perform in her school elocution program, and that was the beginning of a flood of poetry. In 1992, Brod closed his twenty-one year law practice and became a fulltime poet.

Brod loves to entertain audiences with poetry. He tours some thirty weeks a year, and has visited Asia, Europe, South America, and just about every nitch and cranny of the good ole USA. He has written 15 books of poetry for children and adults.

Check out "What's New?" for updates about new books and other Brod Bagert stuff!