Poetry Friday: “Summer Frost”

Funny how poems sometimes materialize from the oddest of circumstances.

Four years ago, when my wife and I were discussing possible names for our baby – who was due right at the very end of 2009 – several winter-related names popped up. Since we didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl, Noel/Noelle, Crystal, Winter, Merry, and Janvier (French for ‘January’) all came up as potentials, although we didn’t like any of those enough to put on our “list.”

One name, however, stuck: Frost. We thought Phoebe Frost would make a beautiful name for a girl born in the winter; plus, my wife noted that it would also be apropos because of my fondness for the poetry of Robert Frost.  (Being the comic book geek that I am, a reference to Emma Frost was a cool little bonus)

Fast forward to last month.  We were again discussing baby names, this time for our little bundle of joy who is due to arrive this August.  Since we had a little boy 3 1/2 years ago, we had to start from scratch with the boy names.  The girl names, however, were all fair game – but I questioned if the name Frost would work, considering the time of year he or she will be born.  One name my wife suggested was Summer Rose; when I countered with Summer Frost, a light went on. Those two words stuck in my head and refused to leave until I had written this.

“Summer Frost” may be off the baby name list, but it’s finally on paper…a poem four years in the making. For all of today’s Poetry Friday posts, please visit Ed DeCaria at Think Kid, Think!

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“Summer Frost”

It was unexpected.

Deep, deep in July, all humid, torrid,

when blushing Brandywines, full and ripe

hang heavy, tearing from their vines

and dragonflies dart between empty rows

where sunflowers were to grow (thank the crows),

a killing came. Subtle death

settled lightly, gently wresting life and breath

swiftly, softly, barely touching –

but with such a thing

as a summer frost

it should not

be unexpected.

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- © 2013, Matt Forrest Esenwine

Poetry Friday: What kept me busy during National Poetry Month

I know, I know…National Poetry Month ended more than two Fridays ago. But between editing interviews, attending the NESCBWI conference, taking care of my 3-year-old, AND trying to make a living as a voice artist, things are bound to slip through the cracks.

Today, I’m pulling a few of the poems I wrote during the month of April out of the cracks! I don’t normally share more than one poem each Friday, but these are all fairly short – and since they were written not just during National Poetry Month, but because of National Poetry Month - I figured posting them together made sense.  The first two were written from poetry writing prompts posted by Laura Purdie Salas at her blog, Writing the World for Kids and the last one was actually the first one I wrote, just as the month had begun.

For all the Poetry Friday links, please visit Anastasia Suen!

The Snail and the Sloth

A snail and a sloth
decided to race,
so each one set out
at his usual pace.
Friends rooted them on
with great fanfare and cheers,
and we should have a winner
in a…
…couple…

…………………o  f…

……………………………..…y     e     a     r     s……

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Last Page

I may not have an exposition
To try to pull you in,
I really can’t do much to keep
The plot from wearing thin,
I have no thrilling denouement
To quench your growing thirst,
But I am proud that I’m the one
You want to turn to first.

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Changing of the Guards

Scarecrow guards
his harvest gourds,
a touch of sadness on his face;
once the wreath
and holly’s hung,
the snowman comes to take his place.

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- all poems © 2013, Matt Forrest Esenwine

Poetry Friday: “Wildflowers, for Jane”

Today is the first day of the annual New England SCBWI Conference in Springfield, Mass., and that’s where I’ll be most of this weekend – so if I don’t reply to your comments or chat on Facebook or Twitter much, it’ll be because I’m busy stuffin’ my brain.  The other reason I mention the conference is because today’s poem would not have turned out the way it did, had I not gone to the 2012 conference.

You see, last year I had the pleasure of meeting the one and only Jane Yolen.  We chatted about poetry, the conference workshops, and books, and I came away from our two separate conversations with some unexpected inspiration!

For months, I had been struggling with an idea for a poem that just would not gel.  I wanted to write something about wildflowers – lady slippers, in particular – but nothing worked.  Then a few days after I had gotten home from the conference, I came upon a poem of Jane’s that had just been published, titled “Tenth Avenue Highline.”  Even though it had nothing to do with wildflowers, it triggered something and I came up with the closing stanza.  Then the opening stanza.  And after a few days of working at it, I had finished the first draft!

It’s gone through several revisions since then, of course – but I’m pretty happy with it. Some folks have noted it has an old-fashioned sort of feel to it, which was my intention. I liked the idea of a pretty outdoor scene in the old countryside, almost like something out of American folklore, if that makes sense.

By the way, I was going to title it simply, “Wildflowers,” but I thought I should add ‘for Jane’ to the title, to give credit where credit was due…and fortunately, Jane liked it!  I hope you do, too.  And for all the Poetry Friday happenings, be sure to visit Liz Steinglass’ blog!

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“Wildflowers, for Jane“

Lilies of the Valley hang
Like silent little bells
That neither sang nor ever rang
Of welcomes and farewells.

Red clover, small and softly sweet,
Stands proud despite its size;
White daisies, with their nectar-treat,
Court bees and butterflies.

The Queen Anne’s Lace is in its place,
The buttercups are set,
A pitcher plant provides a vase –
And woeful fly’s regret.

While milkweed, with its many mates,
Sways nobly to and fro,
One tender Lady Slipper waits
For one fair, dainty toe.

- © 2012, Matt Forrest Esenwine

Poetry Friday: “The Gnat and the Gnu”

Have you ever had one of those times where you think you’re being totally original, only to discover your ‘uniqueness’ has all been done before?

Yeah…this is one of those times.

During a critique group meeting in 2010, a fellow member had written a short rhyming PB manuscript about a fly and a gnat.  It was a cute story, and the word ‘gnat’ got stuck in my head.  After a week or so of mulling ideas over, I wrote the first draft of this poem. I revised it, revised it, and revised it some more. And the day before I planned to bring it to the critique group, I discovered…

Shel Silverstein had written a poem with a nearly identical title.

>sigh<

Now, I don’t think I’d ever seen his poem before (of course, anything’s possible, with my memory being what it is) so my heart sank, knowing a title like this would be a tough sell to an agent or editor.  I read Shel’s poem, which you can find HERE, and was relieved that is really wasn’t similar to mine at all – but still, titles are important things, and I’d be mortified to think that someone might read my poem and get the impression I was trying to rip him off.

And no, ‘mortified’ is not too strong a word.

I never want someone to read my material and think I’m trying to ‘be’ someone else. Not only do I want to be my own person as a writer and poet, but I take pains to try not to write similarly to anyone else, for that very reason.  So, having said this…I present to you:

The Gnat & The Gnu

Gnat said, “Hey there, what’s up, Gnu?”
Gnu said, “not much— how ‘bout you?”
Gnat sighed, “Nothing, kinda blue.”
Gnu asked, “Something I can do?”

Gnat said, “No, just wish I knew
why I’m small - not big, like you.
I have no horns, and no fur, too;
no one wants me at the zoo.
Nothing special, nothing new,
just a gnat without a clue
how to feel and what to do.
Oh, I wish I was a Gnu.”

Gnu thought hard, then said, “It’s true
I’m large, but all I do is chew;
never sprouted wings and flew,
never bathed in morning dew,
just grazed on grass and grew and grew.
Things I do are pretty few,
but I’m glad that I’m a Gnu –
so I’ll be me, and you be you.”

Satisfied, Gnat bid ‘adieu,’
happy he was not a Gnu;
And as he flew away, the Gnu
watched longingly

and Gnu…felt blue.

- © 2010, Matt Forrest Esenwine

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Not only is Laura Purdie Salas is hosting Poetry Friday today, but all month long she has been providing video ‘poem starters’ – suggestions to get your brain working!  So be sure to visit her blog and check out all of today’s Poetry Friday offerings as well as all her terrific ideas for creating poetry!

Irene Latham’s 2013 Progressive Poem is winding down!  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 next Tuesday, April 30, we’ll have a completed poem!)  Here’s a complete 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

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.)

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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

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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

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

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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

 

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!

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!

Poetry Friday: “Irony”

If you’ve been following the #MMPoetry March Madness competition at Ed DeCaria’s website, www.ThinkKidThink.com, then you know some of the insanely difficult words that the poets (a.k.a. the ‘authletes’) are being required to write poems with:  periphery, deleterious, anthropomorphization, and many others.

My poem from last week, featuring the word verjuice, failed to garner enough votes to push me into the second round…but it hasn’t stopped me from encouraging folks to continue visiting Ed’s site and reading and voting on each new round of poems. And there have been some terrific ones, too!

But as I thought about the polysyllabic poetic predicaments my fellow poets had gotten themselves into, I remembered this poem of mine that I wrote about a year ago…with polysyllablism to spare! Hope you like it. Be sure to visit Greg Pincus at Gotta Book for all the Poetry Friday happenings!

Irony

My teacher said we had to write a poem using couplets.
I thought about it for a while, and used the word ‘quintuplets.’

But then she said my poem didn’t have alliteration.
So I came up with, “creaky, crusty, crabby ol’ crustacean.”

She gave it back to me because it wasn’t metaphorical.
I told the crazy bat my characters were allegorical.

“But where’s the simile?” she asked. “It needs some more revision.”
(I wished I could have turned her off, like dad’s old television)

Her eyes got red, she glared at me – and said it wasn’t metrical.
I stared right back and stated every iamb’s academical.

I turned it in and waited for my grade with apprehension.
For all that work, I got an ‘A’!

I also got detention.

- © 2013 Matt Forrest Esenwine

Poetry Friday: #MMPoetry is underway!

Rather than read today’s poem here, I’m kindly requesting that you head over to the #MMPoetry competition hosted by Ed DeCaria at Think, Kid Think! to read it there.

Why? Because the March Madness Poetry (#MMPoetry) competition just got underway this week, and all the participants would love for you to see what’s going on!  64 competitors from around the globe (Yours Truly included) have been given words ranked according to their difficulty and are charged with creating children’s poems using those words.

For instance, my randomly-assigned word was a#14 seed, so it was pretty tough: “verjuice.” (in case you’re a normal person who’s never heard that word before, it refers to the liquid that comes from fermented grapes and apples, from the French, vert jus)  My competitor, the lovely and talented Robyn Hood Black, received a word seeded #3: “awry.”

We each had only 36 hours to create a children’s poem using our word. You can read both of our poems HERE and vote for your favourite!  You can also search the scoreboard (or click HERE) and see all the other poems written for this tournament and vote on those, as well. Some of the words are ridiculously hard, too – like meretricious, flaccid, and anthropomorphication.  Yes, you read that correctly. Some poor souls had to put those words in children’s poems. And they all did a marvelous job, too!

One caveat, though: the polls close at around 9:40pm – that’s tonight, Fri. March 15!  After that, the poems will still be available to read, but you won’t be able to vote on them. Whoever wins move on to the Second round!

And once you finish reading those 64 poems…if you still crave even MORE poetry… Jone MacCulloch at Check it Out has even more, as today’s Poetry Friday hostess!