Poetry Friday: “Personal Forest”

First of all, I have to be honest: this poem is unlike any I’ve posted before.  I don’t like the title.

Actually, it’s not that I don’t like it – I just think there’s a better title out there somewhere that I haven’t figured out yet. But the poem itself…pretty happy with it!

I have to thank children’s poet and author Laura Purdie Salas for giving me the inspiration to write this. All month long at her blog, in honor of National Poetry Month, Laura is offering poetry starter videos featuring a different poem from a different poet each day, along with a suggestion about what to write, based on either the subject, style, or a device of the poem.

So this was my response to one of her videos.  The first draft only took me about 15-20 minutes, and the revision process was only another 10 or 12 minutes; usually poems take much longer, but in this case I was quite pleased with the result - which is why I’m sharing it here so soon after writing it!

(I should also thank my mom, whose birthday is today, for raising me in the woods. Were it not for her and dad living on a dirt road, letting me play in the woods, taking care of horses and pigs and goats and chickens and ducks and rabbits, teaching me to respect nature…I wouldn’t be the person I am. For that, I owe them both a debt of gratitude.)

.

It’s much prettier in the summer!

“Personal Forest”

In the woods behind our house,
a little brook burble-bubbles;
it cools my toes
and soothes my soul
and takes away my troubles.

- © 2013, Matt Forrest Esenwine

.

Irene Latham is hosting Poetry Friday today at her blog Live Your Poem, where she finally gets to contribute to her own 2013 Progressive Poem!

This poem started with one blogger April 1 and is travelling from blog to blog, with a different blogger adding a new line to the poem every day. (By the end of the month, we’ll have a completed poem!)  Yours Truly added his line back on April 3, but here’s a complete list of all the participating bloggers:

April 1  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater 2  Joy Acey 3  Matt Forrest Esenwine 4  Jone MacCulloch 5  Doraine Bennett 6  Gayle Krause 7  Janet Fagal 8  Julie Larios 9  Carrie Finison 10  Linda Baie 11  Margaret Simon 12  Linda Kulp 13  Catherine Johnson 14  Heidi Mordhorst 15  Mary Lee Hahn 16  Liz Steinglass 17  Renee LaTulippe 18  Penny Klostermann 19  Irene Latham 20  Buffy Silverman 21  Tabatha Yeatts 22  Laura Shovan 23  Joanna Marple 24  Katya Czaja 25  Diane Mayr 26  Robyn Hood Black 27  Ruth Hersey 28  Laura Purdie Salas 29  Denise Mortensen 30  April Halprin Wayland

Poem in Your Pocket Day

I thought it would be appropriate to publish a short post on National “Poem in Your Pocket Day,” sponsored by the Academy of American Poets.  This is another opportunity for people to find, read, share, and appreciate poetry during national Poetry Month.

Today, I’m sharing something I wrote a couple years ago. This poem was written after reading a Poetry Advocates for Children & Young Adults blog post by Father Goose himself, Charles Ghigna.  He had asked readers to comment on the topic, “What is poetry?”  This is what I came up with…

“A Poem”

A poem has a heartbeat,
A poem has a touch;
One minute it may let you go
Or hold you in its clutch.

A poem’s breath is subtle,
Each tooth a tapered knife.
It laughs and cries
with open eyes;
In short, a poem’s…life!

- © 2011 Matt Forrest Esenwine

Speaking of Charles Ghigna – I hope you’ll plan to visit here this Monday (April 22), for an exclusive interview with Father Goose! We’ll learn how one person manages to write early readers, non-rhyming picture books, adult poetry, and YA novels in verse; why an old 1923 Underwood typewriter means so much to him; and how his wife ‘secretly’ helped him create a book of love poems.

Hands-On Poetry for Kids!

(I debated with myself whether or not to post this today.  After the horrific and cowardly act of terrorism in Boston, Mass. yesterday, I wondered if the light and breezy topic of kids learning to read and write and enjoy poetry seemed a bit out of place. Only living a couple of hours away, I have numerous friends and family in the Boston area, so the tragedy struck especially lose to home for me.

But then I realized: in times like these, giving your kids as much time as you can give them is one of the most important things you can do.  I hope you find something positive in this post, and that you’ll keep the victims of the Boston bombing in your hearts, thoughts, and prayers. Thank you.)

———————————————————————————————————————

As you probably know by now, this is National Poetry Month, so I’ve been dedicating each of my blog posts to the craft.  Today I wanted to share three ways that kids (and grown-ups, too, for that matter) can enjoy poetry without necessarily realizing they’re learning!

#1) Play with your food

This is a fun and easy project perfect for family gatherings where there will be several kids around, looking for things to do.  Glazed cookies with words written on them can be combined to form sentences…and the fun & learning comes from both the creating and the playing!

You’ll need:

1 box of vanilla wafers
2 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
2 1/2 - 3 Tablespoons water
Food colouring, if desired
Edible marking pens, like FooDoodlers or Wilton FoodWriters

Make a white glaze for the cookies by combining the sugar with 2 1/2 tablespoons of water. If it’s too thick, add a little more until it’s spreading consistency. You don’t want it too thin, though – so be careful. It’s easier to add more water than to add more sugar, so having it a bit on the thick side is preferable - especially if you’re going to add food colouring.

Once the glaze is made, divide it into 2 or 3 bowls, if you plan on colouring it. Add just a little food colouring, as you’ll want to keep the colours light.  Be sure to cover the bowls to keep the glaze from drying out!

Now, frost your vanilla wafers with the glaze and allow to harden (depending on its thickness, this could take 10-15 minutes or more than an hour). Once dry, write words on each of the cookies with the pens!  For the batch of Easter cookies in the photo, I made the nouns pink, verbs yellow, and adjectives blue, just to keep them organized. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to buy the markers, so I used dark food colouring and water with some corn starch to create an edible paint and painted the words on with a fine (clean!) paintbrush.

Kids not only enjoy making these, but they love being able to play with their food…and who can blame them??

#2) Finding found poems

If you don’t know what a ‘found poem’ is, that headline’s grammar may seem a bit off. But found poems are a great way to get children to read their books – or read anything, really – in a totally different way.

A found poem is a poem that one ‘finds’ inside another written work – a poem, a story, a news article, even a catalogue or advertisement. You simply scan the words and lines, searching for an element, a phrase, a theme…by which you can tie together other words and phrases within that written work.

In this case, a child can find found poems inside the books they already read and enjoy! Take, for example, the classic “The Cat in the Hat.”  Pulling lines from pages 1, 2, 8, 11, 40, 54, and 58, I came up with this rather dark and not-too-kid-friendly poem:

The sun did not shine.
I sat there with Sally;
Mother, out of the house.
He should not be here.
Run down the hall,
shut the box,
and he was gone.

Sheesh, I think I just spooked myself with that one. But you get the idea. One never knows what kinds of images or connections can be made by tying together words and phrases that at first seem disparate.

Sometimes the poem you create summarizes the main text; other times, you find yourself heading off in a totally different direction, as I just did.  Even for younger kids, simply searching for and combining similar rhyming words helps them recognize sounds and reinforces spelling. And for someone like me who loves word puzzles and wordplay, it’s a fun exercise!

#3) ‘Nothing’ is really something!

This is a good classroom activity; it’s something I often do when speaking to a class about creative writing, and it invariably impresses half the kids and bums out the other half.  It’s a simple way to show that we never do nothing, and it’s interesting to hear what words come up during this conversation…

Very simply, I ask who in the classroom has ever done nothing. Hands go up. I ask specific children, “So, when you were doing nothing, what were you doing?” Answers range from sleeping (which, of course, is something) to watching TV (which is also something) to being dead (which, while morbid, is incorrect; I explain that if you’re dead, you’re decomposing – so you’re still doing something!).

Once the kids get an idea of where this heading, I write down “Nothing” at the top of the blackboard and have them all do the same on a piece of paper.  I ask the children to shout out words that come to mind when they think of ‘nothing,’ and I write 3 or 4 responses below. I then ask them to give me words that come to mind when they think of these words and write down 2 or 3 words for each of the previous words…and then do the same for each of those words.  It only takes 4 levels of words before you have a good 35-40 words on the blackboard.

I then proudly announce that, the next time they tell their teacher they have ‘nothing’ to write about…take a look at their paper!

As I said, some of the kids think the concept of this ‘word-tree’ is cool. But the ones who are used to trying to get out of doing their work don’t seem to like it as much. Go figure!

“Poetry can be fun…really!”

That is the message I try to get across to kids – and adults, for that matter. So many people have the impression stuck in their mind that children’s poetry is simple, repetitive, and boring while adult poetry is all big words, incomplete sentences, and baffling subject matter. That’s not true! There’s so much good poetry out there – and so varied – that one is bound to stumble upon a poem(s) that speaks to them.  It’s just a matter of understanding what poetry is, then finding the type of poetry that you like.

Google your favourite topic and the word ‘poetry’ and you just might be surprised at what pops up. “Pizza” + “poetry” yields 9,570,000 results.  “Baseball” and “poetry” yields 40,300,000 results.  And “Love” + poetry” yields 289,000,000 results - but we could have all guessed that would be off the charts. (Speaking of baseball poetry, be sure to check out Ed Decaria’s work at The Hardball Times - good stuff)

I hope you’ll take some time this April – National Poetry Month! – to read a little poetry, write a little poetry, and enjoy the experience as so many of us do!

Remember, Irene Latham’s 2013 ‘Progressive Poem’ (at Live Your Poem) is now halfway completed! This is a poem that started with one blogger April 1 and is travelling from blog to blog each day, with each blogger adding a new line to the poem. (By the end of the month, we’ll have a completed poem!) Here’s the complete list of all of this year’s participating bloggers, including Yours Truly, so you can follow along:

April 1  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater 2  Joy Acey 3  Matt Forrest Esenwine 4  Jone MacCulloch 5  Doraine Bennett 6  Gayle Krause 7  Janet Fagal 8  Julie Larios 9  Carrie Finison 10  Linda Baie 11  Margaret Simon 12  Linda Kulp 13  Catherine Johnson 14  Heidi Mordhorst 15  Mary Lee Hahn 16  Liz Steinglass 17  Renee LaTulippe 18  Penny Klostermann 19  Irene Latham 20  Buffy Silverman 21  Tabatha Yeatts 22  Laura Shovan 23  Joanna Marple 24  Katya Czaja 25  Diane Mayr 26  Robyn Hood Black 27  Ruth Hersey 28  Laura Purdie Salas 29  Denise Mortensen 30  April Halprin Wayland

Poetry Friday: “Lost Spring”

I hope you’re enjoying National Poetry Month! Since it’s been about 6 weeks or so since I posted a poem that was not a children’s poem, I thought I’d share this. I wrote this almost two years ago, but like most poems, it has undergone numerous edits and revisions since that time. I’m pretty sure this is the final version…but then again, I can never be sure of that sort of thing. I should just be quiet.

I decided to record a reading of the poem, but I’ve been fighting allergies all week, so it almost sounds like me.  Of course, if you’re looking for more poetry, there’s plenty of it to go around; Diane Mayr at Random Noodling is hosting today’s  Poetry Friday festivities!

“Lost Spring”

Winter has been hanging on.

Like a corpse
refusing the grave
or bloody barbs deep
in the fish’s gullet
unrelenting
until
irresistible force
pulls life and flesh away,

yes, winter has been hanging on.

Ugly clouds crawl across
late April sky
slow as war machines;
snow again, soon.
Ashen drifts high
to the windows,
beg
for release.

Frigid air breathes heavy
across a landscape sacred
and desolate,
locked in rigor mortis
while barren trees hold frost
covered infants
swaddled
at their tips.

Summer,
they say,
will be here soon.

But winter…

winter has been hanging on.

- © 2013, Matt Forrest Esenwine

.

By the way, Irene Latham’s 2013 ‘Progressive Poem’ (at Live Your Poem) is going strong! It’s a poem that started with one blogger April 1 and is travelling from blog to blog each day, with each blogger adding a new line to the poem. (By the end of the month, we’ll have a completed poem!) Yours Truly added his line back on April 3, but I provide a complete list of all the participating bloggers at the bottom of this post.

Here’s the list of all the participating bloggers in the 2013 Progressive Poem, so you can follow along.

April 1  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater 2  Joy Acey 3  Matt Forrest Esenwine 4  Jone MacCulloch 5  Doraine Bennett 6  Gayle Krause 7  Janet Fagal 8  Julie Larios 9  Carrie Finison 10  Linda Baie 11  Margaret Simon 12  Linda Kulp 13  Catherine Johnson 14  Heidi Mordhorst 15  Mary Lee Hahn 16  Liz Steinglass 17  Renee LaTulippe 18  Penny Klostermann 19  Irene Latham 20  Buffy Silverman 21  Tabatha Yeatts 22  Laura Shovan 23  Joanna Marple 24  Katya Czaja 25  Diane Mayr 26  Robyn Hood Black 27  Ruth Hersey 28  Laura Purdie Salas 29  Denise Mortensen 30  April Halprin Wayland

 

Crime and Poetry: An Unusual Relationship

If you have never heard of “crime poetry,” you’re not alone. It’s a narrow genre, but is gaining in popularity. With April being National Poetry Month, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about this type of poetry and the people who read, write, and publish it.  I couldn’t think of a better person to talk to than editor, publisher, and poet Gerald So.

Robert B. Parker’s Spenser stoked So’s interest in crime fiction and poetry in 1993, while So was a student at Hofstra University.  He helped found Hofstra’s literary magazine, Font, earned his M.A. in Creative Writing from Queens College/CUNY, and taught English at Hofstra for six years before turning to writing full time.

Gerald So, “The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly” editor

A member of the Academy of American Poets, his poems have appeared in Nerve Cowboy, Barbaric Yawp, Defenestration, Yellow Mama, Gutter Eloquence Magazine, and other provocatively-named venues.  So has served as Short Mystery Fiction Society president (2008-’10) and Thrilling Detective fiction editor (2001-’09). After developing the online crime poetry journal, The Lineup, he published an ebook of his own poetry, We Might Have.

His personal blog is My Life Called So.

Gerald, before we talk specifically about what  your blog series, The 5-2, is all about, can you please describe the genre of “crime poetry?”

In 2006, my friend Anthony Rainone wrote an article for Mystery Scene Magazine #99, “Raven in a Trenchcoat: Hardboiled and Noir Poetry,” examining classic and contemporary poetry through the lens of crime. Crime poetry is not a new genre to my mind, but a way of reading with an eye to the wrongdoing and transgression that has fueled much poetry.

Some of those literary journals in which you’ve been published have some pretty – uhh, ‘interesting’ – titles.  (For those who don’t know, ‘defenestration’ is the act of throwing someone out of a window.)  What do you say to people who question the literary value of this type of genre, or claim it’s glorifying violence?

I have no intent to glorify violence or sensationalize crime. Anyone who reads my work or what I accept for The 5-2 will see that much of it reacts to crime, often ultimately condemning it. Crime is simply a subject that interests me in fiction and poetry. It may be taboo to some, but to others, that forbidden air is all the more reason to explore it, to tap into something that hasn’t been tapped.

Defenestration, by the way, is a humor magazine that has nothing to do with throwing people out windows. They just like the sound of the word.

Whew, thanks for clearing that up! 

Now, you were a fiction editor at Thrilling Detective magazine in 2007 when author A.E. Roman suggested you combine your love of poetry with the drama of the crime stories you were editing; what type of poetry had you been writing up until then? And what did you think of the idea of combining poetry and crime?

Disappointment was and is a common theme in my poetry. I often choose to face it with humor so as not to be consumed by it, but I can easily relate to what victims of crime, or sometimes criminals themselves, feel. So when Roman approached me, I could see the concept growing into something. If I got in on it, I could ensure that the material didn’t glorify crime, as I said, but simply witnessed crime.

Speaking of crime and poetry, Edgar Allan Poe was certainly a pioneer in melding beautiful words and imagery with horrific scenes and action…would you say he helped create the genre of “crime poetry?”

Definitely, just as he pioneered detective fiction. His poetry and others’ in the same vein intrigue me because, unlike fiction, it isn’t necessarily made-up.

You mentioned ‘others’…what poets do you feel helped develop this genre, and who would you say are the best, or your favorites?

That’s tough to answer because I see crime in all periods of poetry when I look for it. There have always been poets whose only recourse from being wronged was to write. Recently, I think of Sharon Olds, who has written many poems about her abusive father. On a different note, in the final issue of The Lineup, I reprinted “Prayer for the Man Who Mugged My Father, 72″, in which Charles Harper Webb reminisces about his loving father and imagines taking revenge on his assailant. The material is all there, needing only to be organized into a genre.

The eBook that was created, The Lineup: Poems on Crime, was published the following year; what was the reception to it? 

The Lineup was an annual print chapbook series. I’ve only recently converted the back issues to eBooks. It was well thought of in the crime fiction community. I would have loved for it to make more inroads, but printing on demand was too expensive to publish as frequently as we wanted or distribute copies in the quantities we wanted.

So now The 5-2 has taken The Lineup’s place…why? How are the two different, and how is your approach to The 5-2 different?

When I closed shop at The Lineup, I still wanted to provide an outlet for crime poetry. A blog lets me publish more frequently, keeping the concept in the public eye and including accompanying audio/video.

On The Lineup, I worked with three co-editors on each issue, each having equal say in the selection of poetry. We had as good a working relationship as you can hope. With The 5-2, it’s just me and occasional guests editing a week at a time. The Lineup accepted new and previously published poetry to establish the concept. The 5-2 accepts only original work.

By the way, why “5-2?” In police code, that could be anything from a missing person to a domestic disturbance to a fire alarm, depending on what town and state you live in.

The name refers to the fifty-two original poems published on the site each year, but the echoes of police code and precinct jargon are intentional, too.

Finally, what do you think surprises readers unfamiliar with crime poetry the most? And what are your plans for The 5-2 for this year?

Readers are often surprised how well they can relate to the material. Not everyone is into poetry at first, but everyone can unfortunately relate to crime, to feeling hurt, betrayed, violated. I have no grand plan except to pick poems that move me each week for as long as I can.

Well, thanks for taking the time to shed some light on this unusual poetic genre, Gerald…and best wishes with The 5-2!

Thank you for your interest, your voice talent, and your poetry.

#########

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that our nation’s Children’s Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, had a poem included in The 5-2…and a really good one it is, too:

PAWNSHOP ON ALAMEDA, DOWNTOWN L.A.

Pat tells me he’s not sure what inspired the poem, although says it could have had something to do with his recurring thoughts about the LA riots from several years ago, or possibly that he was thinking of his daughter, who attended USC, in Watts.

#########

NOTE:  All month long for National Poetry Month, all sales proceeds of Gerald’s eBooks will be donated to the nonprofit American Academy of Poets to support poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry. 

If you’d like to learn more about Gerald’s blog and books, click any of the graphics – they’re all linked to his site.  And if you don’t want to miss any posts here at ‘Triple-R’, be sure to subscribe!

Poetry Friday: “Watch Me!”

Like so many of my poems, this one was inspired by one of my kids. My 3-year-old, to be precise.

You see, ever since he figured out how to walk, he’s been dancing.

Check that. He was gettin’ down with his bad self even before he could walk. He’d be lying in his playpen or feeding chair, just chilling out…when all of a sudden he’d hear music and start wriggling and kicking and laughing.

Now that he’s 3 and can actually cut a rug, he’s a riot to watch. And when he starts singing along to what he’s dancing to…well, he brings the house down. A real song and dance man, that one. This one’s for you, Little Dude.

Not the best pic in the world…but here’s the little guy from Halloween 2012, in full chimney sweep regalia, recreating his favourite scene from ‘Mary Poppins!’ Dick Van Dyke’s got nothin’ on this kid.

.

“Watch Me!”

I’m the world’s greatest dancer – I dance all day long
To a couple of beats or a ten-minute song,
To a light little rhythm or rock-heavy beat;
It’s amazing, the things I can do with my feet!

I can shimmy and spin, I can swing and sashay,
I can turn, step, and pivot – then shuffle away.
I can fox-trot and mambo, and jitterbug, too!
There is simply no dance that is too hard to do.

I can two-step and twist, I can boogie and bop,
I can tango and tap, I can hustle and hop,
I can rumba and samba and break, lock, and pop;
No, I’ll never be, EVER be able to stop!

I can dance dawn til dusk, and from dusk til it’s dawn,
I can dance in the kitchen or out on the lawn;
I’ve the speed of a cheetah, the grace of a swan –
And I’m even way better when the music’s turned on.

- © 2013 Matt Forrest Esenwine

For all of today’s Poetry Friday happenings, stop by Robyn Hood Black’s blog, Read, Write, Howl!

The 2013 ‘Progressive Poem!’

April is National Poetry Month, and I’m pleased to be participating in Irene Latham’s 2013 ‘Progressive Poem’ at Live Your Poem - a poem that started with one blogger April 1 and will travel from blog to blog each day, with each blogger adding a new line to the poem. (By the end of the month, we’ll have a completed poem!)

Yesterday’s tagged poet was Joy Acey – and today, I get to add the third line:

When you listen to your footsteps  (Amy VanDerwater)

the words become music and  (Joy Acey)

the rhythm that you’re rapping gets your fingers tapping, too.  (Yours Truly!)

.

It’s interesting to consider how this poem is already developing.  Amy’s first line could have gone in several different directions – an introspective, quiet poem; a spooky, Halloween-type poem; a fun, music-related poem like the one in which Joy got us headed; or any one of a number of other possibilities!

.

Likewise, having the 3rd line, I could have set a tone for free verse, I could have used imagery like steps, shoes, boots, floors, etc., or I could create a lyrical line to carry the musicality of the poem’s theme forward – which is what I did.  Hopefully this won’t make it too difficult for the poets who follow…but surprise and creativity is what this is all about, right?

.

Tomorrow, Jone MacCulloch will add to what the three of us have written, the next blogger will add the 5th line, and so on. Here’s a list of all the participating bloggers, so you can follow along!

.

April
1  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
2  Joy Acey
3  Matt Forrest Esenwine
4  Jone MacCulloch
5  Doraine Bennett
6  Gayle Krause
7  Janet Fagal
8  Julie Larios
9  Carrie Finison
10  Linda Baie
11  Margaret Simon
12  Linda Kulp
13  Catherine Johnson
14  Heidi Mordhorst
15  Mary Lee Hahn
16  Liz Steinglass
17  Renee LaTulippe
18  Penny Klostermann
19  Irene Latham
20  Buffy Silverman
21  Tabatha Yeatts
22  Laura Shovan
23  Joanna Marple
24  Katya Czaja
25  Diane Mayr
26  Robyn Hood Black
27  Ruth Hersey
28  Laura Purdie Salas
29  Denise Mortensen
30  April Halprin Wayland

A Sad Way to Begin National Poetry Month

In honour of National Poetry Month, I’m planning on featuring poetry in all of my April blog posts (each Tue. and Fri.).  I’ll be spotlighting a different poem of mine each friday for Poetry Friday, as I always do, but each Tuesday I’ll also have some poetry news or information to share.

I had some fun plans for today. I was going to offer some ideas about how you can get kids involved in enjoying and creating poetry, involving books and cookies and magazines and scissors…but all that will have to wait.

New Hampshire has lost its poet laureate.

Walter E. Butts (Sept. 12, 1944 – March 31, 2013)

Butts succumbed to his battle with cancer on Easter Sunday at the age of 68.

He spent most of his life in the northeast, living in New York for years, organizing poetry readings and open mics, before moving to Boston, Mass. and then eventually to NH, where he was most recently professor of English at Hesser College.  He also taught a low-residency Creative Writing Program at Goddard College in Vermont.

Butts was a prolific poet, publishing eleven books and chapbooks.  The most recent is Cathedral of Nervous Horses, a collection of new and collected poems from previous books, which was published last September by Hobblebush Books of Milford, NH. His poems were also featured in numerous independent literary journals, as well, like The Atlanta Review, The Saranac Review, and The Fourth River.

Of life and death, family and friends

Butts drew inspiration from his memories growing up in the small town of Le Roy, New York:  the deaths of his parents, the questionable friends he hung out with, and the gritty yet beautiful scenes of a working-class community all figure prominently in his work. Take, for instance, his recounting of the loss of three family members and the touching honesty with which he tells the story, in “Inheritence,” from The Required Dance (Igneus Press, 1990). After noting that he was only eight years old when his uncle died and nine when the family dog was buried…he jumps ahead ten years and recalls the sight of his father lying on the floor, too weak to get up. It was at this point, he tells us, he was truly afraid:

I watched him at the hospital,
his frail body curled
like a fetus, and realized
he was going back, and I wanted
to take hold of those shrunken hands
and lead him there myself.

(© Walter E. Butts)

But like he so often did, he did not dwell on the negatives of the difficulties associated with these sad moments; instead, he would look for a positive way to continue on. In this case, after describing the emotional pain and turmoil his mother went through dealing with his father’s death, he concludes the poem with the realization that, “I understood, I was now the man she loved.”

Cathedral of Nervous Horses: New & Selected Poems (Hobblebush Books, 2012)

Upon receiving the poet laureate nomination almost exactly 4 years ago, Butts said, “I really believe that poetry, in many, many ways, is the literary form that we
have that is closest to expressing the human condition, the human spirit.” (New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, March, 2009) 

I encourage you to pick up a copy of Cathedral.  While some of the poems are new, most are from previously-published collections, so it is a great introduction to Butts’ work.  His term as our state’s poet laureate was to continue until 2014; there has been no word on whether someone will be chosen to fill the vacancy.

On a happier note, because it is National Poetry Month, I’m pleased to be participating in Irene Latham’s 2013 ‘Progressive Poem’ at Live Your Poem - a poem that started with one blogger April 1 and will travel from blog to blog each day, with each blogger adding a new line to the poem. (By the end of the month, we’ll have a completed poem!)

Today’s tagged poet is Joy Acey - and I’ll be adding the third line to the poem tomorrow, April 3 – so please check back, and follow along with all the bloggers!

April
1  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
2  Joy Acey
3  Matt Forrest Esenwine
4  Jone MacCulloch
5  Doraine Bennett
6  Gayle Krause
7  Janet Fagal
8  Julie Larios
9  Carrie Finison
10  Linda Baie
11  Margaret Simon
12  Linda Kulp
13  Catherine Johnson
14  Heidi Mordhorst
15  Mary Lee Hahn
16  Liz Steinglass
17  Renee LaTulippe
18  Penny Klostermann
19  Irene Latham
20  Buffy Silverman
21  Tabatha Yeatts
22  Laura Shovan
23  Joanna Marple
24  Katya Czaja
25  Diane Mayr
26  Robyn Hood Black
27  Ruth Hersey
28  Laura Purdie Salas
29  Denise Mortensen
30  April Halprin Wayland

Poetry Friday: “Crocus”

I’m guessing this will be the last poem I feature from my winter-themed collection of children’s poetry; with April (National Poetry Month!) just around the corner, winter is definitely behind us.

I wrote this last year, specifically because I wanted a poem that would serve as an appropriate end to my manuscript.  Aside from the fact that the collection is all about winter, I organized the poems chronologically, starting with one about trees losing their leaves, moving on to the holidays, through January and February, and finally concluding with the promise of spring. I thought a crocus would be the perfect image for the two competing seasons, considering it often grows through snow…so I hope you like it!

Mary Lee and Franki at A Year of Reading are today’s Poetry Friday hostesses – so pop on over and see what else is happening in the kidlitosphere!

“Crocus”

When winter’s winds are on the wane
And sunshine warms young April days,
When snow gives way to slushy rain
The crocus springs anew.

While crouching ‘neath the frosty crust,
On tender bended stem it prays
To fend off one more crushing gust
And melt the frozen dew.

- © 2013 Matt Forrest Esenwine

By the way, speaking of National Poetry Month, I’ll be participating in Irene Latham’s 2013 ‘Progressive Poem’ at Live Your Poem.  No, it has nothing to do with politics – it’s a poem that will start with one blogger on April 1 (Amy Ludwig VanDerwater) and travel from blog to blog each day, with each blogger adding a new line to the poem. By the end of the month, we’ll have a completed poem!  (I’ll be adding the third line to the poem on April 3 – so please check back, and follow along with all the bloggers!)

I’ll also be featuring poetry in all of my April blog posts (each Tue. and Fri.), so I hope you’ll join me.  Remember, if you subscribe to this blog you’ll always be notified when a new post has made made!

After years of hard work, it’s time to cut corners

Why is it some folks feel that advertising is simple stuff?

I subscribe to a number of blogs, news feeds, and online groups, and recently came across a question an author had posted, which made me pull the last few remaining hairs on my head completely out of ther folicles. This person had a new book coming out, so had asked a college student to produce the trailer (commercial) for it – and was wondering what the going rate was.

I’m not mentioning the author’s name, because it’s irrelevant to my point; the person is actually very good and has published numerous books already. But there were so many things wrong with the question I didn’t know how or where to begin my answer.

So many questions, so little patience…

My first thought was, why even ask a college student to do something this important? Assuming we’re talking about a traditional, 19- to 22-year-old student, what skills could they possibly possess to be able to market a book effectively?  Other than knowing how to stick video images together and add audio, what do they bring to the table? Does this person understand what a USP* is? Does he/she know the five things every commercial should create – attention, interest, connection, desire, action? Has he/she even written a commercial before?

Then I started thinking about other aspects of the question. Why would you ask an amateur to produce a commercial…then ask around to find out what a rate should be? Do college students even have standardized rates?? Why not ask some professionals what their rates are?

And why not have a professional do it, anyway?

Oh, that’s right…because anyone can write and produce a commercial.

I know, I know, everyone’s on a budget

If a professionally-produced book trailer is going to cost you a thousand dollars and you’re paying for it out of your own pocket…then I completely understand why cost is so important. Believe me, I’m a voice actor/copy writer and father of four who’s been struggling for years to get a book of children’s poetry published; I’m constantly living on a tight budget. Money is always a concern of mine.

I get it.

But think about this:  if your book was written by a professional, edited by a professional, proofed by a professional, illustrated by a professional, agented by a professional, and published by professionals – why entrust the advertising and marketing of it to the lowest bidder? We’re talking about the final step in the long, arduous process of publication…and you’re going to cut corners now?

That’s like an NBA team putting their third string in during the last two minutes of a championship game because heck, they put so much time and effort into the first 46 minutes, the last two minutes really don’t matter.

The ‘Instantaneous Expert’ phenomenon

I’ve worked with numerous businesses over the years, from car dealers to restaurants to mortgage brokers to strip clubs.  Some actually trusted me to write and produce an effective spot for them. (Spots are commercials, in radio jargon) They would tell me to go ahead and do my job because I was the professional. I loved those clients.

Others, unfortunately, would suddenly and mysteriously become radio advertising gurus, even though they had never advertised on radio before. Upon signing a contract to run their very first basic 13-week schedule ever, these business owners miraculously understood all the nuances of copy writing. They would tell me how to start the commercial, they would tell me how to write the commercial, they would tell me the ten million different pieces of information that just had to be included in the commercial.

And, given enough time to write, re-write, re-write, and re-write…I would present them with a highly ineffective commercial. Because the customer is always right, even when they’re wrong.

I hate admitting that, to be honest; I’m a perfectionist with a disdain for mediocrity, let alone outright failure. But working as a production director for a large company, I was in no position to excuse myself and walk away from the deal. These days, working for myself, I have the latitude to be able to do that, if I feel it’s necessary.

“Make it wildly creative!  Then again, don’t!”

I recall one commercial in particular that was supposed to be fresh and unique, a bold departure from what the client had been running for years. They wanted something that would immediately stand out from the pack. Something funny, ear-catching, different. A campaign of two or three different spots that all worked together, that they could create some buzz with.

It took awhile, but I came up with three different scripts. Because they utilized multiple voices and sound effects, I went ahead and produced all three so the client would be able to hear – and hopefully better understand – the commercials instead of just reading the scripts. I was quite proud of them.

The client, however, thought they were too creative; could I edit them down and include this, that, and this other thing in the script?

Uhh…ok.

So I rewrote the scripts. They were still too ‘confusing,’ according to the client. Oh, and could I add this and this to the script, as well?

After four rewrites, we were left with a bland, over-stuffed, one-voice commercial – very similar to many of the forgettable spots you hear on the radio and nothing at all like what had been initially requested. And it was approved.  Ironically, the client kept the catch phrase I had created for their original commercial.  This, of course, was pointless, because the catch phrase had everything to do with the original commercial’s concept and nothing to do with the one we were left with.

Advertising. Anyone can do it.

If anyone can do it, let me do your job

If you’re a car dealer, I doubt you’ll let me try to sell your vehicles without training. If you own a restaurant, you’re not going to ask a copy writer to cook your food (although you could ask me, since I’ve done that before). If you value your skills as a plumber, lawyer, book author, or widget salesman, why devalue the skills of others? If your rationale is, ‘anyone can write a commercial’ or ‘how hard can it be?’ then you are seriously underestimating the value of advertising.

Now, don’t start thinking that I’m trying to push my own particular service here. Yes, I write copy. I’ve written hundreds of commercials over 25+ years. And I have voiced and produced probably thousands of radio commercials during that time, as well…so I do know a little something about this.  But I don’t produce videos. I know how to write for video, I have voiced videos…but I don’t produce ‘em. So I’m not trying to get anyone to hire me to produce their TV commercial or book or movie trailer.

As a matter of fact, I’m going to need to find someone to produce a video demo for me this year – basically, a series of clips of commercials and videos that showcase my voice to prospective clients – and a college student is the LAST person I’ll ask to do it for me.

This is my life’s work we’re talking about, and it’s worth more than what a college student can offer…no matter what their rate.

.

* USP = Unique Selling Proposition! Learn more in THIS POST.