Make mine banana cream.

Happy Pi Day, poets and friends! I’ve got a slice of something special for you today.

To help celebrate the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month, I’m giving away a signed ARC of THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY. The giveaway starts today and ends on April 1.

You’ll find details and giveaway instructions at Goodreads.

What would the Emerson Elementary 5th graders  be reading on Pi Day? How about my friend Jean Meyers’ poem, “I Prefer Pi”?

I PREFER PI

Oh pi, we celebrate you,
you, discovered by Greek mathematicians,
you, come down to us through the centuries,
unchanged, unchangeable.

Without you, pi,
how would we get through fifth grade math?
Or how could we make crop circles?
Or those things the New Englanders call rotaries?
Without you, would cookies be round?
Would we have wedding rings?

You look so sturdy there, pi,
with your two firm legs
and the little table across the top.
You are just the right spot, pi,
for afternoon tea, served with —
of course, my favorite —
raspberry pie.

by Jean Meyers, from You Are Here Too
All rights reserved.

(Some of you will see a little joke at the end of the poem, but it was written and published long before Raspberry Pi came on the scene.)