Miracles: Poems by Children of the English-speaking World is a 1966 poetry anthology by Richard Lewis. [1]
It contains 200 of the 3,000 poems by children that Lewis collected on a 1964-1966 "world tour" of the English-speaking world. [2]
It includes poetry from the United States, New Zealand, Kenya, Uganda, Canada, England, Australia, India, and the Philippines.
In 1966, the book's contents were promoted in The New York Times. [2]
It was published by Simon & Schuster in 1966. [1]
In 1967, the book and two of its poems were detailed in the December 1967 Horn Book Magazine, reprinted with permission by Simon & Schuster. [3] This clipping was collected and digitized by the United States Department of Education. [3]
The 1970 experimental song "Miracles" in transcendental album First Moog Quartet likely honors the book; it contains multiple instances of spoken-word poetry. The song includes a musical round of "My Brain". [4]
In particular, the Annabel Laurance poem "My Brain" has been discussed and quoted by musicians, poets, and psychologists for over 50 years. [5] [6] These include composer Gershon Kingsley, psychedelic band Perth County Conspiracy, poet Louis Dudek, and pscyhoanalyst Peter Levine.
When Richard had finished the three thousand poems...[he] chose 200 of the dew- bubbliest...and put them in a book we all can lift, grownups as well as children, and called this book what? "Miracles"! ... In Uganda a child knew her imagination: "I have a little brain Tucked safely in my head And another little brain Which is in the air instead."