Dear Graduates: of life, men, and the problem with experience

This past Sunday was a busy day. Not only was it Father’s Day, but it was also the day of my youngest daughter’s high school graduation.

As I thought about my hopes and dreams for her, I couldn’t help but reflect upon the hopes and dreams I had for myself at that age, and the hopes and dreams my father probably had for his only son. When you’re 18 and graduating, the questions abound. Should I go to college? Should I work? If I go to college, what should I study? If I go to work, what will I do? Should I do what my parents want, or what I want?

In considering all these thoughts, worries, and concerns, something occurred to me:

Maturity changes everything.

Looking back over my post-high school years, I realize now what I did right and where I went wrong. I can also see multiple instances where there was no right or wrong. Life experience may be great, but it’s also a problem.

They say experience is the greatest teacher; unfortunately, it’s all on-the-job training.  You don’t get a probationary period. You don’t get a chance to learn the ropes, then go out and live your life.  We’re all in the position of tackling the world with only as much information and experience as we have at that moment – and it is only after we fail or succeed that we get our report card.  No matter how much we think we know – we never know what we need to know until after the fact.

Life is a perpetual game of trial-and-error, and I doubt most graduates realize how many ‘errors’ they will end up accumulating over the long haul. This very realization is, itself, one of the blessings of maturity.  Once we accept the fact that we don’t know everything, that we will likely fail as often (if not more) than we succeed, and that we need the knowledge, experience, and support of others to get us through…life becomes easier. And harder.

You see, maturity is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you see things more clearly and understand better how life and the world operate, which allows you to move forward with wisdom and confidence. On the other hand, you see all your past mistakes with laser-pinpoint accuracy - and although it’s helpful, it’s sometimes painful to watch.

The man I’ll never be

I should probably know more about men than I do, considering I call myself one. I don’t know if they have the same doubts, hopes, fears, and insecurities I have…but I’m sure I’m not the only one who believes:

I’ll never be the man my kids think I am, I’ll never be the man my wife deserves,
and I’ll never be the man my father is.

I think it is due to personal inadequacies I have created, based upon the standards I have set for myself…and again, I wonder if other men share this concern. I don’t think I’m a bad person, but could I do better? Could I spend more time with the kids, teach them more, listen to them more? Could I do more for my wife, help her more, support her more? Could I be a harder worker, better-skilled, more involved with the community?

Certainly.

And it’s not like I don’t try to improve myself in these areas. I just keep falling short of those pesky standards I was talking about. Maybe it’s the perfectionist in me, but I doubt I’ll ever reach them. I’m willing to accept that. But it won’t keep me from trying.

The big surprise awaiting graduates

Taking into account the experience, wisdom, and surprises that come with the blessing/curse of maturity, my recognition of past failings, and my desire to constantly improve myself, I felt it’s important that graduates know one important thing. Whether they go to college or go to work, stay at home or move away, get married or stay single, there is one truth that is universal. It surprised me years ago, and it still surprises unsuspecting young people.

Ready, graduates? Here it is:

Life is harder than you realize.

Are you surprised? No? Well, you should be. If you don’t think it’s hard, just wait. And if you think it’s hard already, it’s actually harder. I’m not trying to scare you or anything – just helping you to be prepared, based on years of life experience and >ahem< maturity.

Life is fun, life is sad, life is exciting, life is boring, life is anything you make it out to be and will take you anywhere you want to go – but it’s up to you to do the driving. Sometimes, life is, indeed, easy. It will often be hard, too. That should never keep you from enjoying it and getting the most out of it.   Hard work can be enjoyable and rewarding, and so is life. Just remember that

Life is harder than you realize.

If you want to do something you think is difficult, do it anyway. Can’t do it? Figure out a way. Never accept impossibility as an option. The best things in life might be free, but the most rewarding ones usually don’t come without a great deal of work, sweat, and perseverance.

Are you ready for what’s ahead?

And by the way, if your personal situation is nice and stress-free, what about your neighbor’s? Are they struggling with some sort of problems? There’s probably something you could do to lighten their load. No, I don’t mean just offering them money or food. That’s easy. I mean taking some time to get to know them and actually lending a real helping hand. Being a true neighbor. True, that might be hard to do, but then again…

Life is harder than you realize.

If life is not hard, then you’re either extremely lucky, or you’re doing it wrong.

So be careful out there.

Poetry Friday: “More Than We Are”

Where does the time go? One minute your kids are starting kindergarten and the next thing you know, they’re heading off to prom and graduation and the rest of their life.

Whew, that was quick.

My youngest daughter, Katherine, is graduating high school this weekend, so there was no question for me as to what poem I should share today.  Katherine is a very talented young woman, whose photography has graced more than a few blog posts here. She was selected as a New Hampshire Scholar for her above-average course load while in high school, and I’m very proud of her.

I wrote this a little over a year ago – and although it’s not really ‘about’ her, the message was created with her, her older sisters, and all young people in mind.

(Good grief, I just used the phrase “young people.” That makes me think I might not be one of them anymore.)

Anyhoo…for all of today’s Poetry Friday festivities, visit Margaret at Reflections on the Teche!

“More Than We Are (for Katherine)”

An astronaut’s an astronaut,
But may be someone’s dad
Who takes his daughter fishing
When she feels a little sad.
A banker is a banker
But might be a mom, as well,
Who shows her son the alphabet
And helps him learn to spell.

A teacher is a teacher
But could be a singer, too;
The janitor at school may wish
He ran the local zoo.
His son might be a doctor
Who is saving someone’s life;
The lady at the store today
Might be the doctor’s wife.

Each homeless person on the street,
Each writer of a song,
Each boy or girl you chance to meet
Has somewhere they belong.
There’s always more than what we see,
And as we learn and grow,
We’re all more than we seem to be –

And you’re more than you know.

.

- © 2012, Matt Forrest Esenwine

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Poetry Friday: “My Book Report”

I thought I’d go waaaaay back in time for today’s post – back to the fall of 2000!

This is one of the first few children’s poems I ever wrote (I started writing for children in ’99, I believe), but when I read it today, it doesn’t feel that old, if that makes sense.  Sometimes when you’re developing a skill - whether it’s writing, singing, painting, whatever – you can tell the older, unskilled work from the newer, more polished stuff.  Personally, I can tell it’s not new…but I’m not embarrassed by it, either (and yes, there are plenty of poems that will never see the light of day for that very reason).

Since the school year is winding down and graduations are ubiquitous these days, I thought a little school-themed poetry might be nice. Hope you like it! And for all of today’s Poetry Friday offerings – including some delicious Mango Bread and a poem by Lesléa Newman – visit Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup!

“Book Report”

My teacher said I have to write
a book report for class -
at least one hundred-fifty words,
or else I will not pass.

So here I sit with pen in hand
and nothing in my mind;
if I don’t get this handed in
I’ll be in quite a bind.

There must be some creative way
I can begin the text:
I know my name, I know the date,
I don’t know what comes next.

Come on, now, brain, you’ve got to think
and help me get this done!
It’s due tomorrow morning, and
I’ve not even begun!

But wait – that’s it – I’ve got it now!
I know just what I need!
The first thing that I’ll have to do…
is find a book to read.

- © 2000, Matt Forrest Esenwine

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: “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

“The Next Big Thing!”

Back at the beginning of the year, I talked about how excited I was to be wrapping up my first 5 months of this blog.  Then just a couple of weeks ago, I told you about the Liebster Award that had been passed along to me. Now, I’m excited to be part of something new:

Many thanks to my friend, children’s author and poet Joyce Ray, for inviting me to participate in the online literary blog called THE NEXT BIG THING!

If you’ve not heard of THE NEXT BIG THING, it’s a sort of “chain blog” consisting of a series of questions about works-in-progress and not-yet-published titles. Many national and international writers have participated in it; Joyce did last week, and now it’s my turn!

The nice thing about THE NEXT BIG THING is that it not only provides some extra visibility for the bloggers taking part, but more importantly, it gives readers a glimpse into the working life of a writer. Part of the fun is tagging someone else, so stay tuned to learn who I’ll be tagging at the end of this post!  Some of these questions require some deep thought, so I’ll do my best to answer them…

What is the working title of your book?

“Anticipation: Poems for a Winter’s Night”

Where did the idea come from for the book?

As someone who writes a lot of children’s poetry, one day I noticed I had written 5 or 6 poems about winter…so it occurred to me they should probably be organized into their own collection.  This was in May 2012.  So I decided to try to get the manuscript completed (written, edited, revised, finalized) by September. As it turned out, I was done by Oct. – so I wasn’t too far off!

What genre does your book fall under?

Children’s poetry.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Ha! Not sure this question fits, since the book is comprised of 23 poems…but since many are written in first-person, I’d say we could get Sofia Vergara to portray the school bus driver, Adriana Lima to portray the teacher, and Miranda Lambert to portray the person I ask to keep me warm outside.  Of course, this is all assuming my wife won’t mind…so I’m really going out on a limb here.

But hey, it’s Hollywood!

What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book?

“A funny, touching, and magical look at the coldest – yet warmest – season of all.”

Y’know, I just thought that up this minute. I kinda like it!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Hard to say, as I edit poems as I go along; I revisit them, revise them, place them in the manuscript, rearrange them in the manuscript, edit them again, rearrange them again, blah, blah.  The first draft was probably done by late September, then it was just a matter of tweaking a few things here and there.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

It’s very difficult – if not extremely egotistical – for me to compare a manuscript by an unpublished author to books written by some of the best children’s poets in America. So I do this hesitantly and with a great amount humility…but as it’s a winter-themed poetry collection, I’d say it’s similar in tone to Jack Prelutsky’s It’s Snowing! It’s Snowing (2006, Greenwillow) and Douglas Florian’s Winter Eyes (1999, Greenwillow), although the number of silly or funny poems in mine outnumbers theirs.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I wish I knew! I always tell people how much I hate winter – the shovelling, the snow-blowing, the slickness of roads, the ice on your driveway, the cold temperatures, etc., etc. – and yet, it was not a difficult manuscript to put together. I’ve already come up with another two or three winter poems since I finished it, and I haven’t even been trying!  Perhaps I like winter more than I realized. I absolutely love Christmas, so that might have something to do with it.

What else about your book might pique a reader’s interest?

I think the diversity of poems. Not only is there a good balance of funny-to-quiet poems, but I used a number of various forms: there’s a villanelle, cinquain, triolet, haiku, tanka, and a couple others, in addition to more conventional forms. One minute you’re laughing about my Valentine’s Day dilemma with Beulah Buford, and the next, you’re sitting quietly by yourself in a school bus on a winter morning, scratching at the frosty window.  I really like the fact that each poem sort of has its own ‘feel.’

When and how will it be published?

Funny, I ask m yself that same question all…the…time.  Being an as-yet-unpublished author (other than having various adult poems published in independent journals over the years), it’s been an uphill climb trying to get my other manuscripts accepted. I’ve only sent this manuscript to one editor so far, who I want to give first-refusal. If she decides to pass, then I’ll let all the other publishing houses and literary agencies fight over the rights and I’ll eventually sign a six-book deal and movie rights with the highest bidder.  At least, that’s how I imagine things will happen.

WHO’S NEXT?

It is my honor to tag and introduce to you Catherine Johnson, who is also currently working on a manuscript…

Catherine is a British ex-pat living in Canada with her family. She writes picture books and poetry and has several poems published, and was a British champion twice in Tae Kwon-Do.  (How cool is that??)  She blogs at
http://catherinemjohnson.wordpress.com
…so be sure to stop by, and learn about her “NEXT BIG THING!”

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!

“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