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.)

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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: “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.

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“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!)

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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!

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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?

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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!

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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

The Importance of Doing

While sitting in church this past Sunday, something occurred to me:  “how” we do something is not nearly as important as actually doing it.

Let me explain…

No matter where you go in the world, one of the most – if not the most – important parts of a Christian mass is what is termed the ‘Celebration of the Eucharist,” or, as most people refer to it, receiving Communion. As part of this ceremony, each member of the congregation takes a piece of bread (or, as Catholics call it, a ‘host’) as a symbol of the bread that Jesus Christ shared with his Apostles on the night before he was arrested, and eats it in remembrance of that Last Supper.

But it’s not so simple, you see.

Breaking bread can get complicated

Some Christian religions, like the Catholic faith, perform this ritual during every mass – whether it’s a regular Sunday morning, a wedding, a funeral, a Holy Day of Obligation…you name it. While some Protestant faiths do the same, many only do it on Sunday, or even just one Sunday each month.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, in fact, only do it once a year, during what they call The Memorial, which is their version of an Easter mass.  Yet, although all congregation members are offered the ceremonial bread, only a very select few actually partake of it.

There are other differences, too. Some churchs serve traditional unleavened bread; others prefer leavened.  Some churches only allow the priest to serve it; others allow ordinary folks designated as ‘lay ministers’ to serve it. While one church may require you to stand, another may have you kneel, while another has you sit.

Some churches are quiet during the ceremony; some play music.

No matter how Christians do it, though, the important thing is…they do it.

What’s keeping you from doing?

So as I sat there in the pew, I began thinking about all the variables we encounter
in our lives, and all the roadblocks we put in front of ourselves. When we fall in love, we wonder if we should tell the other person our feelings. After a date, we wonder whether we should call or text the other person back too soon, or not soon enough. We see a job position available that we’d really like to apply for…but we doubt we’re qualified.

Parents worry they don’t spend enough time with their kids. Actors and voice artists question whether we should audition for a gig. Poets agonize over which adjective is best to describe a mountain.

It feels like we all spend so much time debating with ourselves over whether we should do something, or how we should do something…that we end up never doing.

In fact, as I write this post, it’s 10:16pm EST on Monday night, and the reason it’s so late is because I spent the last two days wondering if I should use this idea as a blog post!

“Worry is a misuse of the imagination.” – author Dan Zadra

I’m not sure why so many of us, myself included, come up with so many reasons to not do something we want to do. Perhaps it’s because of fear of failure. Perhaps it’s the fear of the unknown.

Perhaps it’s because maintaining the status quo is also the path of least resistance.

Whatever the reason, it seems to me that there’s a lot more worrying in this world than there is doing. Granted, if you want to skydive, you can’t just go jump out of a plane. If you want to quit your job to spend more time with family, you need to assess your finances. If you want to be an author, you need to learn how to write.  (Although these days, it seems that requirement is sadly becoming less and less necessary)

But if you’re not doing anything to achieve these goals – why worry or complain about your lack of ever reaching them?

“If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?”  -Śāntideva, Buddhist monk

Bottom line: worrying, debating, and stressing are not doing. The Christian churches don’t worry about whether they should sit during Communion or stand, whether they use unleavened bread like Jesus did or a loaf of regular whole wheat, or whether they should do it daily, weekly, or monthly.

They just do it.

Why don’t you? If you want to have a particular career, don’t just talk about it – do something to get yourself there. Parents, leave the dirty bathroom for another day and go outside and play with your kid. Poets, write the damn line about the stupid mountain and then go back and revise.

If you love someone, tell them! It’s time for all of us to get things done!

I, for one, am going to stop worrying, debating, and analyzing every decision I make. And that’s something I know I can do.

Poetry Friday: First of the year!

Welcome to Poetry Friday!

I’m very excited to be hosting the festivities today.  Not only is this the first Poetry Friday roundup of 2013, but it’s also the first time I’ve ever hosted Poetry Friday.

(I only started this blog 5 months ago – so I hope I don’t screw things up!)

If you have something you’d like to share, just leave your link(s) in the Comments section below, and I’ll update the blog throughout the day.

For my part, I’m sharing my newest poem, which I wrote four nights ago.  As I mentioned in Tuesday’s post, I’m currently working on a follow-up to my winter-themed children’s poetry collection – an autumn-themed poetry collection – and this, I think, will most likely be the first poem of that book.  Seems to make sense, considering the subject!  Hope you like it…and be sure to check out all the other fantastic poetry at the links below…

First Day in the Cafeteria

They could have served us burgers.
They could have served us fries.
They could have served us mac ‘n cheese
or deep-fried chicken thighs.

They could have served cold pizza
or greasy beef pot pies,
so why oh why – our first day back -
do we get “Chef’s Surprise??”

- © 2013 Matt Forrest Esenwine

For more poetic ways to kick off your New Year, please visit these fine folks:

• If you’d like like to get the year kicked off in good shape, David L. Harrison suggests you read Jane Heitman’s poem, “Counting Down the Hours.”
• Catherine Johnson shares two original Month of Poetry poems.
• For the new year, Steve Patterson offers a poem about a little turtle, huge determination, and a new life.
• I’d like to welcome Lesley Fletcher to Poetry Friday!  Lesley is sharing a poem written at a car dealership, titled “The Flame.”
• Another new visitor to Poetry Friday is San Lin Tun, who wishes everyone a “Happy New Year.”
• Charles Ghigna shares his “New Year’s Resolutions” at The FATHER GOOSE Blog.
• Laura Purdie Salas has a roundup of the CYBILS Finalists in the Poetry Category.
• Gabrielle Pendergast also spotlights the CYBILS Poetry Finalists, and provides info on VerseDay, a year long blog fest celebrating all things verse! All the info is at her blog, Angelhorn.
• Speaking of the CYBILS, Irene Latham is giving away some CYBILS poetry book packs!
• Violet Nesdoly’s poem for this week is a tongue-in-cheek look at her own “Fiscal Crisis.”
• At A Teaching Life, Tara has a very fitting poem about “Burning the Old Year” by Naomi Shihab Nye.
• Jeff Barger has written a haiku titled “Killing Me With Kindness” at his blog, NC Teacher Stuff.
• At Gathering Books, Myra shares a favourite poem of hers…Derek Walcott’s, “Love after Love.”
• Laura Shovan is posting poem #4 in her poetry postcard/birthday project at Author Amok. This is one for American history buffs. Both the new poem, “Thick Skinned,” and the postcard refer to the Civil War battle between two ironclad ships, the Merrimack and the Monitor.
• Tamera Will Wissinger is also joining us for the first time today!  She just recently began a new online journal called The Writer’s Whimsy, and her contribution is called “Put On Your (Fishing) Poetry Hat.
• At Random Noodling, Diane has a poem by Edward Hirsch, which celebrates Georgia O’Keeffe, “Evening Star.”
• Kurious Kitty finds connections in a poem by David Ferry.
• KK’s Kwotes continues New Year’s celebrations with a song written by Peggy Seeger.
• Margaret continues to work on writing poems to her father’s artwork at Reflections on the Teche.
• They’re at the midpoint in THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY with a “toothless” poem by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.
• At Growing Wild, Liz Steinglass shares an original poem about a cat named Houdini who likes to escape from Grandma’s visitors.
• They’re celebrating their 7th year of blogging at A Year of Reading with seven days of giveback-giveaway. The book they’re giving away today, to one lucky commenter, is FORGIVE ME, I MEANT TO DO IT.
• Karen Edmiston is in this week with T.S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi.”
• At Teacher Dance, Linda has a poem tribute for the Cybil’s finalists announced this week.
• Carlie is sharing an original poem on her blog, Twinkling Along, all about adopting an orphaned flower in her hour of catastrophe.
• Tabatha Yeats’ post today is about the Library of Congress’s Lyric Poetry Corridor, plus she shares a poem by Tennyson. (She also posted international HP book covers yesterday!)
• At Read, Write, Howl, Robyn Hood Black has been busy this week:  shes in with a Joyce Sidman poem and a link to her interview with her for Poetry at Play, as well as a link to a post on verse novels, featuring some of our shining PF poets.
• Susan Thomsen is featuring a photographed excerpt of a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks, from New York’s Library Way, at her blog, Chicken Spaghetti.
• At Poetry for Kids Joy, Joy Acey has poem about nonverbal communication this week with “Pinkie Promise.”
• Be sure to visit The Write Sisters for a short poem titled, “Dark Birds.”
• Joyce Ray is sharing a winter haiku at Musings.
• At Supratentorial, Alice is sharing the book poem, “If I Never Forever Endeavor” by Holly Meade.
• Matt Goodfellow shares an original poem, “New Yah Prayer.”
• At Wild Rose Reader, Elaine has a “forgotten” poem that she wrote years ago.  It’s a mask poem titled “Dinosaur Egg.”
• Mother Reader offers another in her series of songs as poetry, “Little Talks.”
• Ralph Fletcher has started blogging, and he joins us this week with a poem from one of his books, “Relatively Speaking: Poems About Family.”
• At On Point, Lorie Ann Grover has an original haiku for the new year, “Celebrate.”
• Carol Wilcox shares a dog poem by Mary Oliver at Carol’s Corner and also provides a link to the Warrior Canine Connection, an organization that raises service dogs for veterans and has a brand new litter of yellow lab puppies.
• At Booktalking, Anastasia is sharing a CYBILS Poetry nominee: “The Year Comes Round: Haiku through the Seasons” by Sid Farrar (Author) and Ilse Plume (Illustrator).
• Amy has a villanelle titled “I Understand” today at The Poem Farm.
• Haiti Ruth is in with “The End and the Beginning,” by Wisława Szymborska.
• At Writing and Ruminating, Kelly Ramsdell Fineman shares an original sonnet, “Lessons I Wish I Could Share With My Teenage Daughter.”
• And Perogyo brings us a review of the book, “Noisy Poems for a Busy Day” at her blog Perogies and Gyoza!

2012 – Looking back

I’m writing this on New Year’s Eve, to be published on New Year’s Day – so I’m not sure if this is my final post of 2012 or my first post of 2013.  I guess it doesn’t matter, really…the important thing is the fact that I’m still posting at all!

When I started this blog in August, I honestly had no idea if I’d be able to keep it going.  I was a voiceover artist, writer of poetry, unpublished children’s author, and dad; what could I add to the plethora of information out there on the web?  I doubted I had enough to say that enough other people would care to read.  I was determined, however, to try to make a small mark on the world.

I was shocked when I discovered the world was willing to be marked.

Just the stats, ma’am…

Now, before I get too far, let me say that, although this post is about my blog, it’s really about you.  After all, you could be watching TV, reading a book, plotting a scheme to get back at your no-good boss for not giving you that holiday bonus you were expecting…you could be doing a lot of things right now besides reading this blog.  But you are reading it – and because of that, I have something to write about!

You see, the statistician folks at WordPress.com emailed me an annual report for this blog, and as I read through it, certain things jumped out.  One was the fact that this blog received 3000 views over the course of the year – which may not seem like a lot to many of the more experienced bloggers out there, but considering I only started 5 months ago, 3000 is a pretty good number to me.

It was also interesting to learn that the post that received the most views was one of my first: The Stand-Up Comedy Rule That Can Make You a Better Writer, from August 13.  I’m still getting views of that post as recently as a couple of weeks ago.  The second-most-viewed post was on the blog’s busiest day of the year: September 28.  That was the day I shared “The Grossest Poem Ever,”  The irony of this lies in the fact that it was not necessarily one of my best or favourite poems, but one that drew considerable responses.  It was hard keeping up with the comments that day!

Perhaps one of the most surprising, meaningful, and thought-provoking stats was the sheer magnitude of scope the internet allows poor little unknown writers like me.  WordPress.com’s report provides a world map highlighting each country from which my blog received a visitor, and how many visitors there were.  While most views came from the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., I learned my blog was also being visited by folks from countries as diverse as India, Peru, Russia, Spain, Japan, Brazil, New Zealand, Kyrgyzstan, and all three Scandinavian countries (wonder if they were searching for my Pepparkakor recipe?).

People from a total of 63 countries, popping into my little home on the web.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.

“Tying together poetry, parenting, and advertising in a neat little package”

That was the goal and theme I set for myself when I began this blog 5 months ago.  I think I’ve covered a lot of ground, too, touching on everything from radio drama and childhood to dog breeding and minimalist art…along with plenty of poetry.

2012 has been a big, busy year for me, too:

- I left fulltime employment in July to work from my home studio and be a stay-at-home dad to my son who just turned 3

- I completed the manuscript for my winter-themed collection of children’s poetry, which is now in the hands of one of the top children’s poetry editors in the country (still waiting to hear what she thinks!)

- Thanks to Steven Withrow and Poetry Advocates for Children and Young Adults (PACYA), I had the opportunity to interview children’s poets Lee Bennett Hopkins and J. Patrick Lewis

- The Young Adult Review Network (YARN) published several of my poems in their online journal

- And my wife and I gained a new member of the family - Rosie our puppy - in addition to finding out we’re expecting!

All this, plus I’m in the process of writing my follow-up book, an autumn-themed collection, in case the winter-themed collection gets picked up.  (What can I say, I’m an optimist.  A very busy, sleepless optimist)

I’m honoured and touched that you have been a part of this.  I hope you’ll continue stopping by and leaving your comments and sharing this blog with others.  There are bigger, fancier, more extensive blogs out there, so believe me when I tell you that I truly appreciate your support and look forward to sharing 2013 with you.  I have some fun, exciting things planned – including hosting Poetry Friday THIS Friday – so stay tuned!

If you’re interested, feel free to click here to see the complete report...and have a safe, prosperous, and VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I wish you all the success and joy you can stand!

Poetry Friday: Christmas cookies – and “Christmas Cookies”

For today’s edition of Poetry Friday, I had first thought I would simply refer folks to the adult poem I posted this past Tuesday.  It then occurred to me that, although I’m proud of the poem and the reasons for its inspiration, it might be a bit too depressing to lead into the joyous Christmas weekend.  Nothing against depression, mind you – poets like me thrive on it, of course - but I’m not the kind of morose individual who is constantly in a state of perpetual melancholy, so I decided a swing in the opposite direction for today might be appropos.

Around here, I do most of the baking; doubly-so this time of year.  My wife is a great cook, but she knows that if I weren’t doing what I’m doing, I’d probably be a chef somewhere.  Or a sous-chef.  Or a line cook.  Or just prepping salads at Ho-Jo’s.  Fact is, I love to cook, so the holidays give me all the reasons in the world to go overboard in the kitchen.

In the past two weeks, I’ve made 3 gallons of chili, a batch of homemade ham and potato cream soup, 5 different types of muffins, 6 different types of cookies, and a pumpkin-rum swirled cheesecake with a gingersnap-pecan crust.

This is all in addition to normal day-to-day cooking.

Did I mention I love this time of year??

Anyway, I thought I’d share a recipe for a traditional Swedish spice cookie called pepparkakor…along with a poem about Christmas cookies.  First, the recipe…these are cookies I bake every year, and although the recipe should make about 4 dozen cookies (depending on how big your cookie cutters are), I usually have to make two batches because I give so many away!

If you like gingersnaps, you’ll love these.

In Sweden, animal shapes are often used, but I use whatever I’m in the mood for.  Pepparkakor are so simple to make, they’re a great cookie to bake with your kids; you almost can’t screw them up!  In fact, my 2-year-old loves to help me cook, and it takes a small army and an act of Congress to get him away from the batter long enough for me to cut them out.

Ingredients
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter (salted or unsalted), softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (dark or light)
1/4 cup molasses (dark corn syrup will do, but molasses is better)
1 T. each ground cinnamon and ground ginger
2 t. ground nutmeg
2 t. ground cloves
and heck – while you’re at it, throw in some allspice, if you’ve got it!
1 t. baking soda
1 T. orange zest (optional)
2 T. cream or milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white chocolate, for decorating

Directions
In a large bowl, beat all ingredients – except the cream and flour – together with an electric mixer.
On low speed, mix in the cream, then flour, just until well blended (dough should be slightly crumbly, but even-coloured).
Wrap dough and chill until firm enough to roll, at least 30 minutes, but can also be stored overnight.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
On a lightly-floured surface, roll dough out in small batches to about an 1/8-inch thickness and cut using cookie cutters.
Place at least an inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets (this is where I LOVE parchment paper) and bake 5-7 minutes, depending on their size, until firm.
Let rest for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
To decorate, simply melt the white chocolate in the microwave or double-boiler and dip portions of the top of each cookie; top with sprinkles, if you’d like.
Let stand at room temp to harden, and enjoy!

So there’s my traditional Swedish Christmas cookie, direct from the old country.

(Full disclosure: like many Americans, I’m a mutt: Swedish, German, Scottish, and English – with a weeeeeee bit of French you’d have to travel back nearly 300 years to get to.  So although the ‘old country’ is Sweden today, it might be a different country tomorrow.)

On to the poetry…

Unlike the other poems I post here, that have been revised, edited, revised, critiqued, revised, revised, revised, revised…this is only a second draft.  I don’t think it flows as well as it could, and I’m not sure if the last line has the punch of a typical poem of mine, so it probably has plenty of work ahead of itself – but considering the occasion, it was the obvious one to feature.  Hope you like it (such as it is), and be sure to pop over to My Juicy Little Universe for all the Poetry Friday offerings!

Christmas Cookies

When Christmastime is getting close,
We grab the cookie sheets
And dad and I start baking
My favourite kinds of treats!

We fill our bowls with flour and eggs,
We mix and stir and beat;
I try to hide the little bites
Of batter that I eat.

We cut out shapes of every kind
And cover them with sprinkles;
I make a tree of red and green
With one big star that twinkles.

Then put the cookies in the oven,
Let them slowly bake…
Before they’re done, I’m asking dad
What others we can make!

- © 2012 Matt Forrest Esenwine

Merry Christmas!

“Where Will You Be?”

I’ve been avoiding making any comments online about the Sandy Hook school tragedy because I figured there was not much more that I could add to the discussion.  Everyone is shocked.  Everyone is sad.  Everyone is asking ‘why’…so I left it alone and kept my thoughts to myself.
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But then late Sunday night, I sat down in front of my computer and started banging out words…and somehow a poem was created.  It’s one of those that just sort of wrote itself – and I thought I’d share it for today’s post.  This was inspired by the events that unfolded not only in Connecticut, but also in China, where a man wielding a knife wounded 22 school children that same day.

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Hopefully, each of you who reads the poem will take away a little something different from it.
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Where Will You Be?

When dusk falls,
where will you be?
Each morning
on my own,
waking,
I barely stand.
For, if alone
now
as I am
always, every day,
so I shall remain –
waiting, watching, crying.
Faith faltering,
the sad miracle of hope
leaves me
a barren soul
swollen
like a bloated belly.

Do you hear me?   Can you see?

Like a bloated belly
swollen,
a barren soul
leaves me
the sad miracle of hope:
faith faltering,
waiting, watching, crying.
So I shall remain
always, every day,
as I am
now.
For, if alone
I barely stand
waking
on my own
each morning…
where will you be
when dusk falls?

- © 2012 Matt Forrest Esenwine

Poetry Friday: some hard acts to follow…

If you’ve been following Poetry at Play (the website/blog for Poetry Advocates for Children & Young Adults), you’ve recently had the opportunity to read some remarkable poetry from some of the luminaries in the world of children’s literature.

Poet, author, and film producer Steven Withrow, who founded PACYA last year, has been featuring a different poet each week.  The series kicked off August 2 with a fantastic new poem, “Instructions Found After the Flood,” by U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis, from the new poetry anthology, The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry, due out in September.  Jane Yolen followed with a “Summer Sijo,” by which David L. Harrison was then inspired to write ”The Acrobat”…and last week, Kate Coombs offered up “Code Name Lizard,” from her book Earth Bones.

So where is this all leading?

Strangely…to me!

I’m still trying to figure out how I ended up being the 5th person in this series – these are, indeed, some very tough acts to follow – but I do hope you like it.  Like last week’s post, this is part of the manuscript for my winter-themed collection, which I’m still working on.  Here’s the link:  http://poetryatplay.org/

And here’s the link for all the other folks who are taking part in Poetry Friday today:  http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

Poetry Friday: “Private Snowfall”

“Hold on, there, Matt!  It’s not even Labor Day yet, don’t rush the season!  What the @#*! are you doing?? ”

Sorry.

I’ve had winter on my mind quite a bit lately; not because I necessarily miss the freezing cold temperatures, tear-duct-stinging winds, or thick, heavy blizzards that cause everyone to either slow down to a snail’s pace while driving, or come to a complete stop when they drive off the road into an embankment.

On the contrary, I love summer.

I love the sun beating down on me, whether I’m working in the garden, cutting trees for firewood, or lying on the beach.  I love the fact that there is rarely a summer rain shower that is too cold to enjoy running around in.  And I love the fact that women’s clothing becomes more and more optional the higher the mercury rises.

(Hey, I’m just a guy.  Sue me.)

“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”

You know how people love to say that?  With me, I’ll take either or both.  It’s not that I dislike the other seasons – but spring is muddy, fall means wearing layers, and winter brings freezing cold temperatures, tear-duct-stinging winds, and– well, you know.

So imagine my surprise when I discovered I was in the process of writing a winter-themed poetry collection!

To those who don’t consider themselves writers, it would seem impossible to write something, yet not realize you’re writing it.  To those of us who do consider ourselves writers, it happens way too often.

In this particular case, I was simply looking for a common theme to some of the children’s poems I had already written, when I started realizing how many had to do with winter.  Usually, I write poems first, then figure out what to do with them afterward; but I wanted to create a more tightly-focused manuscript than the loose-knit ‘generic children’s poetry’ collection I had already assembled.  Once I counted a half-dozen winter-related pieces sitting there waiting to be published, I figured I’d best get cracking and give these poems some brothers and sisters.

Hot off the press…

Unlike the previous children’s poems I’ve posted here, which were written one, four, and 10 years ago, this is my most recent one.  And when I say ‘recent,’ I mean I just completed it a few days ago – it’s very new.

I like to say, the ‘think’ is still wet.

It’s a bit different from the other poems of mine you’ve read, but I like to write in all sorts of styles and forms; it not only keeps things interesting for the reader, but it keeps a writer sharp when they force themselves out of their comfort zone (more on that in a later blog post).

So far, I’m happy with the way things have been going, too – I think I’ve written a half-dozen new poems just in the past couple of months!

Apparently, summer loves me, too.

Private Snowfall

School bus,
morning
window seat,
peering through the frosted glass,

winter world
is waking up;
signs and streetlights quickly pass.

Index finger’s
steady nail
carves a path through icy land,

leaves behind
a scrawling trail,

little flurry
in my hand.

-Matt Forrest Esenwine