This was originally posted six years ago, on May 24, 2013 (where does the time go??)…but since the school year is winding down and graduations are ubiquitous these days, I thought a little school-themed poetry might be nice. Plus…I’ve been a little busy lately!
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).
“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.
Looking for more poetry? You’re in luck! Dani is hosting today’s Poetry Friday at Doing the Work That Matters. Head on over and check out all the links!
Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!
Coming July 2, 2019!
You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!
Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers!(Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)
Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!
To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)
When I started this blog way back in 2012, I planned to publish two posts per week, on Tue. and Wed. – but if you’ve been following for the past year or so, you know that Poetry Friday is often the only day of the week I get to post these days.
You see, I’ve been kinda busy…
For one thing, I’ve signed four – yes, 4! – book contracts this year already, and one of those contracts was a 3-book deal with the same publisher! This brings me to a total of SEVEN more books on the way between 2020 – 2022. (And the year isn’t even half over yet!) I’m obviously over the moon at this news, but I’m rather proud of the fact that I’ve been able to accomplish everything I’ve done so far without an agent.
Not for want of trying, certainly…I’ve been submitting to agents as well as editors for years! But for me, publishing has been much, MUCH easier than landing an agent. Who knows – with nine books on my resume and nearly 30 children’s poems published in anthologies, journals, and magazines, perhaps an agent will decide to take a chance on me one these days!
Speaking of poetry…
This past Saturday, I was officially presented with the MacGregor Poetry Prize, coordinated by the Derry Public Library and Robert Frost Farm board of trustees. Derry, New Hampshire Poet Laureate Robert Crawford and finalists Stacy Milbouer and Melissa Juchniewicz joined me at the Coffee Factory in Derry for the award presentation and poetry reading.
My poem, “Stumpfield Pond, 1975” was chosen as the winning poem from over 100 entries in the MacGregor Poetry Contest, now in its second year. In addition to a $250 cash prize, I will get to see my poem displayed publicly at the library. Over the years in radio, I’ve interviewed Charlie Daniels, took Alice Cooper to the movies, and hung out on Def Leppard’s drummer’s tour bus…but nothing is quite like having a poem recognized by the Frost Farm.
Oh, and about that podcast…
(Hanging out with The Writer’s Block crew, from L: Shelley, Yours Truly, Deborah, and Mandra)
I had an opportunity to sit down with the folks at The Writer’s Block Podcast to chat about children’s books, poetry, and inspiration, and you can hear the entire conversation HERE! Of all the episodes they have recorded, from novel writing to character development to working with editors, none up until this point have focused on writing for children, so I’m honored that they asked me to join them. I hope you’ll tune in – and please let them know what you thought! You can also find them on Facebook to keep abreast of what they have planned for future episodes, and check out the United Podcast Network, where you can watch the podcasts on video.
By the way…the newest children’s poetry anthology I’m part of, I Am Someone Else, comes out July 2 from Charlesbridge – but you can pre-order NOW at nearly 30% off the retail price! I couldn’t believe it when I found out…so if thinking about picking up a copy, now’s the time to do it!
Thank you, as always, for coming along on this ride – I wouldn’t be able to continue doing what I’m doing with your support. Lots of people tell me how lucky I am to have gotten to this point having only been in the children’s literature field since 2009 or so then. While I do consider myself fortunate, I explain that luck has nothing to do with it; working hard, writing, revising, and submitting have everything to do with it.
It’s Jane Yolen’s “BIC Rule:” Butt In Chair. Do the work! I always say that whatever I lack in talent I try to make up for in hustle, just like when I’m playing soccer. I may not be the most phenomenal player on the field, but I’m running, passing, and going after the ball with ferocity and tenacity. Same thing applies to writing – and pretty much any other goal one hopes to achieve. Hang in there, keep getting better, and don’t give up!
Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!
Coming July 2, 2019!
You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!
Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers!(Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)
Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!
To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)
If you’ve not had a chance to check out my review of this year’s New England SCBWI Spring Conference, which I posted just a few days ago, I hope you’ll take some time to see what you missed! For more poetry, head on over to Reflections on the Teche, where Margaret Simon is hosting today’s Poetry Friday roundup with some student-written pi-ku! (What’s pi-ku? You’ll have to read her post to find out!)
THIS SATURDAY: If you happen to be in New Hampshire, I invite you to join me for a poetry reading and presentation of the MacGregor Poetry Prize, coordinated by the Robert Frost Farm and Derry (NH) Public Library. I’m so honored to be this year’s winner – and looking forward to seeing everyone involved!
Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!
Coming July 2, 2019!
You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!
Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers!(Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)
Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!
To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)
Well, another New England SCBWI Regional Conference has wrapped up, and once again, I’ve brought home impressive amounts of inspiration, enlightenment, and sleep deprivation. Remember when you used to pull all-nighters in college, and now you look back on those days wondering how you ever managed? That’s almost what a conference weekend is like; up at 7am, in bed at 1am, repeat.
In the past, I’ve shared the importance of casting wide nets, what it means to “swallow your heart,” and paying attention to the cost of scallops. This year’s conference was no less inspiring! So here, in no particular order, are a few of the highlights:
Losing one of one’s senses heightens the others. We’ve all heard this, but author Patricia MacLaughlin shared her personal struggle with macular degeneration, which has caused her eyesight to deteriorate to the point where she is now nearly blind. In her estimation, blindness has made her a better writer because, in her words, “I see my childhood better now.
“Value the process, not the product.” – Jane Yolen
Characters are defined by their mistakes. Or, more specifically, says
Yours Truly with Sudipta. I’m the one on the left.
author Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, they are defined by the kinds of mistakes they make. Just like us humans, we make foolish mistakes, rash decisions, and well-thought out plans that go awry. It’s important to think about this when developing your own characters.
“Sometimes we chase the dream and sometimes the dream chases us.” Keynote speaker Ekua Holmes
First drafts are supposed to be terrible. And often are! Saturday morning’s keynote speaker was novelist Lynda Mullaly Hunt, who spoke about honesty in one’s writing and how it doesn’t always come easy – and sometimes drastic measures are necessary to set things aright. She said that she had just completed the final version of her new novel, Shouting at the Rain when she realized she didn’t like it. What did she do? She deleted the entire manuscript, a mere two weeks before it was due! She said she needed to rewrite the entire thing, which she did – because although the deleted version was fine, “who wants a ‘fine’ book?” she said. The new, completely revamped version was what ended up getting published.
“We are not made by our mistakes. We are made by what we do about them” – Lynda Mullaly Hunt (There are those darned mistakes again!)
Seeing my books scroll along on the big screen never gets old. Next year: FOUR books on the ol’ PowerPoint!
Strong picture book manuscripts have specific qualities that editors look for. This goes without saying, of course, but agent Rachel Orr of the Prospect Agency shared a few of the things she looks for in a picture book manuscript: unique voice, fresh story/approach, solid theme, strong marketability, and emotional resonance. I’m definitely keeping these things in mind as I move forward with my projects!
From L: Alex Hinrichs, Heidi E.Y. Stemple, me, Miranda Levin
“Childhood is the pattern from which the man and woman is built.” – Ekua Holmes
Discussing the virtues of rhyming text with an editor is an enlightening experience. I had the opportunity to discuss rhyme with Ripple Grove Press editor Rob Broder, who goes to great lengths on the company’s website to dissuade people from writing bad rhyming text. He sees so much bad rhyme, he tends to stay away from all rhyme completely, and of course, I – as someone who writes primarily in rhyme and sees tons of bad rhymes – couldn’t fault him.
“The things we are ashamed of make for very good writing” – Lynda Mullaly Hunt
There were no Muffins of Deception this year. I know not everyone places as much weight on something like this as I do, but it was a nice change of pace, nonetheless. You see, every year during the continental breakfasts, there are always a few dark muffins waiting patiently for some poor, unsuspecting soul to grab them, thinking they are chocolate; it is only once that individual sits down at their table in the ballroom and takes a bite that they realize these are not delicious chocolate but are, in fact, evil bran. This year, we experienced the freedom that comes from not worrying about such a horrible surprise.
“Making books is a joyful thing. Even the hard parts. Even then.” —Jane Yolen
If I was to share every little piece of wisdom gleaned from this year’s conference, it would take me a week to get this blog post put together, so I’ll wrap it up with my friend Jane’s quote. Making books is, indeed, joyful – the hard parts, and all the parts.
Thank you for following my journey, and get ready for some big announcements in the months ahead!
From L: Poppy Parfomak, me, Colleen Murphy, Maria Marshall, Vivian KirkfieldFrom Lynda Mullaly Hunt’s keynote address.
Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!
Coming July 2, 2019!
You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!
Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers!(Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)
Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!
To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)
As it turned out, I didn’t need to think about it very long. As I’ve mentioned several times here on the ol’ Triple-R, I’ve been cleaning out my parent’s house – the home I grew up in – and finding all sorts of nostalgic and historical treasures. Mom, who is in her ’80’s, is in the local nursing home and Dad is going to be joining her as soon as a bed opens up, so we’re talking about a good 50+ years of “stuff” their only child needs to sort through. Recently, I discovered a huge pile of photographs inside a dusty old trunk going back to when mom was a baby…as well as poetry!
All these years, and I’d never known Mom wrote poetry when she was young! I knew I’d gotten my sense of humor (and sense of direction) from Dad – but I’d always felt like he was where my creative side had come from, as well. While that’s certainly true, it’s very obvious by the plethora of poems Mom wrote that my penchant for poetry definitely comes from her.
Thanks, Mom!
So back to Mother’s Day. I decided to provide mom with an opportunity she’d never had: being published.
I thought this would be something unique for her, and a chance to allow her to enjoy something she’d never done. When my father was still in the army back in the ’50’s, he had wanted to get into radio, but opted for the more sensible (and much more lucrative) position as a building materials store manager. Many years later when I was working in radio, the station needed a new local talk show host and I suggested Dad, who ended up hosting his own show for about two years.
Now, it was Mom’s turn to shine!
Virginia Gertrude Agnes (Johnson) Esenwine
Incense to the Mind and Dawn
With the dawn I wait
to fill and complete another day,
to touch and wake surrounding things
and have them listen and stay.
The misty light of feeling you have,
the smell of far-away incense
seems to cling to your nostrils, ……….and strangely, your mouth ……….……….and tongue – you
can taste its sensuous lift,
a lift to the mind and the soul;
the body? Sometimes a body changes
with the mind – sensing not an
air of incense upon itself, but
rather feeling a numbing,
senseless type of being.
And too, as the dawn waits
eagerly, to have the sun’s ……….assuring warmth –
where is the warmth of the
body? One’s own flesh?
Is it a true part of the ……….sense, or could it be
long forsaken – gone by –
has it, this warmth and strength,
been snatched from before ……….one’s eyes; or stolen
by vanity one day and
taken some other form, a
form that does not become
us, we who easily scoff
upon other bodies, and also ……….at righteous doings?
I feel and smell the incense
on me, around me – everywhere.
It’s quite strong this time, and ……….burns my eyes and fills
my throat with a heavy dust.
Either breathe deeper and choke ……….your life – or stay,
remain as the dawn, and
have every day one of ……….completeness.
.
Mom was 28 when she wrote this poem, and the most startling thing to me about it is the fact that it’s free verse; Mom has always been a very straight-laced, traditional sort of person, so seeing her writing without care for meter or rhyme makes me feel like I barely know her! And I’m not sure what to make of her sentiments, but it’s an astonishing side of her I’ve never experienced.
I hope you are able to do something nice for your mother this weekend. Liz Steinglass is celebrating the release of her new poetry collection, Soccerverse (Wordsong, 2019) at her blog today, where she’s hosting the complete Poetry Friday roundup!
Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!
Coming July 2, 2019!
You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!
Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers!(Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)
Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!
To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)
First: the (partially) sad news. The company that published Flashlight Night is being sold to another company. The Highlights/Boyds Mills Press family is splitting up, and although it’s disappointing – for the folks who work there as well as for all my friends and fellow writers who have books with them – I’m trying to maintain a positive attitude. This is business, after all, and if this change allows BMP and its imprints to carry on and flourish, then it will have been worth it.
In other, more happy news…
The 2019 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is finally complete! This is an annual event for National Poetry Month that was created by author and poet Irene Latham. Each day throughout April, a different children’s writer/blogger would add a new line until the poem concluded April 30 with Donna at Mainely Write. Donna even put it to music and recorded herself singing it – which is a first!
I started the poem off with a couple of found lines from songs, and everyone taking part maintained that premise…using pieces of song lyrics to construct our poem. However, it occurred to me that something was missing: a title! Usually, someone somewhere along the line creates a title, but that didn’t happen this year. So it’s my sincere hope the Progressive Poem crew doesn’t mind me capping off the poem:
Finding Summer (The 2019 Progressive Poem)
Endless summer; I can see for miles…
Fun, fun, fun – and the whole world smiles.
No time for school- just time to play,
we swim the laughin’ sea each and every day.
You had only to rise, lean from your window,
the curtain opens on a portrait of today.
Kodachrome greens, dazzling blue,
it’s the chance of a lifetime,
make it last forever–ready? Set? Let’s Go!
Come, we’ll take a walk, the sun is shining down
Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eyes
Tomorrow’s here. It’s called today.
Gonna get me a piece o’ the sky.
I wanna fly like an eagle, to the sea
and there’s a tiger in my veins.
Oh won’t you come with me waltzing the waves, ………………………………diving the deep?
It’s not easy to know
less than one minute old
we’re closer now than light years to go
To the land where the honey runs
…we can be anyone we want to be…
There’s no stopping curiosity.
What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing
Looking for a sign of life
You’re simply the best
Hold my hand and we’ll be free
Have faith in you and the things you do
Multiply life by the power of two.
Let’s sway — under the moonlight, ………………………………this serious moonlight And free we’ll be – we’re diving in! Gonna take a chance on summer!
Sorry about that giant head – I can’t control the size of the image! If you’re interested, here’s a list of all the poem’s line sources:
L1 The Who, ‘I Can See for Miles’/The Beach Boys, ‘Endless Summer’ L2 The Beach Boys, ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’/Dean Martin, ‘When You’re Smiling’ L3 The Jamies, ‘Summertime, Summertime’ L4 The Doors, Summer’s Almost Gone’/Led Zeppelin ‘Good Times, Bad Times’ L5 Ray Bradbury, “Dandelion Wine” L6 Joni Mitchell, “Chelsea Morning” L7 Paul Simon, “Kodachrome,” “Dazzling Blue” L8 Dan Fogelberg, “Run for the Roses” L9 Spice Girls, “Wannabe”/Will Smith, “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” L10 The Beatles, “Good Day Sunshine” L11 The Carpenters, “Top of the World” L12 Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Underneath the Lovely London Sky” from Mary Poppins Returns L13 Carole King, “Hi-de-ho (That Old Sweet Roll)” L14 Steve Miller, “Fly Like An Eagle” L15 Don Felder, “Wild Life” L16 Nowleen Leeroy, “Song of the Sea” (lullaby) L17 Sara Bareilles, “She Used to Be Mine” from WAITRESS L18 Stevie Wonder, “Isn’t She Lovely” L19 R.E.M., “Find the River” L20 Carole King, “Way Over Yonder” L21 Mint Juleps, “Groovin” by the Young Rascals L22 Jack Johnson, “Upside Down” L23 Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson) “Rainbow Connection” from the Muppet Movie L24 The Foo Fighters, “Learning to Fly” L25 Tina Turner, “The Best” L26 The Partridge Family, “Summer Days” L27 The Pointer Sister’s, “We Are Family” L28 Indigo Girls, “Power of Two”
L29 David Bowie, “Let’s Dance”
If you’d like to see how the progressive Poem – umm, well…”progressed,” you can check out the following links!
Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!
Coming July 2, 2019!
You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!
Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers!(Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)
Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!
To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)
The Pillsbury Free Library in Warner, NH is hosting two events this Sat. night. One is the opening of an art exhibit at 6:30pm entitled The Road Not Taken, featuring works by three artists inspired by the poetry of New Hampshire’s own Robert Frost.
Another reason why this week has been so exciting for me is because I just learned a few days ago that I am the recipient of the MacGregor Poetry Prize, coordinated by the Derry (NH) Public Library and the Robert Frost Farm board of trustees! In addition to a cash prize, my poem “Stumpfield Pond, 1975” will be put on display at the library, I’ll be joined by the other finalists at the library for a public reading, and – best of all – I will be a featured poet as part of the Frost Farm’s summer reading series.
To say I’m honored, stunned, and flabbergasted are all understatements!
My father and I used to go fishing all the time when I was younger, and Stumpfield Pond in Hopkinton, NH was a favorite fishing spot. (Even today, I enjoy bringing my kids here!) So about three years ago, I thought I’d write a poem about fishing with my dad, early sunshine just barely waking up the morning, and give it to him as a Father’s Day gift. He loved it – but little did I know it would be this well-received by so many others!
Stumpfield Pond, 1975
His son at his side, Dad slips
old pea-green fiberglass into mirror water,
skillfully slicing the placid surface;
ripples race from either side of the bow,
curling and folding upon themselves.
Sand-worn hull grinds on gravel
like thunder in sunshine, unexpected…
Looking for more poetry? Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy is hosting Poetry Friday today with a grey-sweatshirt kind of spring day. (You’ll have to read her poem to understand!) Oh, and many thanks to everyone who entered to win a free copy of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (POW! Kids Books, 2018) a couple of weeks ago! In honor of Dinosaur‘s one-year birthday, everyone who left a comment was entered in the drawing…
and the winner is…
Yvona Fast!!
Congratulations, Yvona…your book is on its way! Thank you so much for all your support.
The 2019 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is starting to wind down! Each day this month, a different writer/ blogger has added a new line until the poem concludes April 30. You can follow along at these sites:
Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!
Coming July 2, 2019!
You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!
Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers!(Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)
Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!
To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)
I was doing research on haiku and other forms of Japanese poetry recently when I came upon the sedoka – a very, very early poetic form. Although the sedoka is rarely seen these days, it’s been around since Japan was still using Chinese characters in their written language! I had played around with the form a few years ago,but had forgotten about it until now – so I’m grateful for this ‘accidental’ inspiration.
Rather than getting into a long explanation of what a sedoka is, I invite you to visit THIS LINK to learn more. Simply put, a sedoka is made up of two tercets (3-line stanzas) which ‘converse’ with each other; that is, the first sets up a scene and the second responds to it by connecting the reader to an emotion. In this way, a sedoka is sort of a cross between a haiku and senryu – although both of those forms are much, much more recent creations than the sedoka.
The form intrigued me, not only because of this blending of nature with human emotion, but because it allows the writer a bit more room to work than a haiku or senryu. (The sedoka has a syllable count of 5-7-7, which is similar to these, but because Japanese “syllables” are not the same as those in the English language, one need not adhere strictly to this rule)
So after some thought, some scribbling, and more than a revision or two, I present my first sedoka:
(click to enlarge)
Probably not the best sedoka ever written – certainly not on par with Kakinomoto Hitomaro, the Master of the sedoka – but I’m happy with it as a first try!
Looking for more poetry? My friend Amy at The Poem Farm is hosting Poetry Friday today! And if you’ve not yet entered my drawing for a free copy of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (POW! Kids Books, 2018), be sure to check out this past Tuesday’s post! I’m celebrating Dinosaur‘s one-year birthday with a look at the most common questions we get from kids and teachers, so I hope you’ll leave a comment to be entered!
The 2019 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem continues! Each day during April (National Poetry Month), a different writer/ blogger adds a new line to the poem until it concludes April 30. You can follow along at the sites listed below.
Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!
Coming July 2, 2019!
You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!
Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers!(Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)
Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!
To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)
Deb, illustrator Louie Chin, and I all thought that it might be fun to share with you some of the questions we receive when doing school visits and book signings. We shared our most common questions with each other…then answered them all! So here we go:
What’s your favorite Dinosaur?
LOUIE: My favorite dinosaur is the T-Rex! I even spent some time at KidLitTV in New York City and shared my process for drawing a T-Rex just like the one in the book – so if you’ve got kids who want to learn, I hope they’ll check out the ReadySetDraw! video.
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DEB: Deinocheirus used to be my favorite (anyone with a talent like balancing a spoon on your nose has to be awesome!) but I have a new favorite now: Zuul! Never heard of him? It’s a newly-discovered species! With a cool name, a shovel for a mouth, and a wrecking-ball tail, I can’t resist! (Besides, it’s easy to pronounce)
MATT: I have two favorites; one is in the book, the other isn’t. I love Therezinosaurus because he’s so unusual – with the longest claws of any dinosaur (up to 3 feet!), a giant pelvis designed for prolonged sitting (you can’t make this up), a bird-like beak, his skeleton has been described as being “assembled by a drunken sailor who got quite confused.” My other favorite is Quetzalcoatlus, one of the largest flying creatures of all time. Approximately the same size as a small Cessna aircraft and named after the Aztec serpent god, Quetzalcoatlus is just too cool for words!
(click to enlarge)
How long does it take to write/illustrate a picture book or poem?
DEB: I’ve never had a poem published, so that I don’t know. If I could write a poem worthy of being published, it would probably take me 50 years. For a picture book, anywhere from 6 months to many years. The original idea for Don’t Ask A Dinosaur sprouted in 1997, except the animals were current day creatures such as porcupine, moose and elephant.
MATT: I always respond by saying, “as long as it takes” – which is honestly NOT a cop-out answer! Dinosaur went through 20 revisions before we started sending the manuscript out to potential publishers, yet a board book I have coming out next year was written in one evening, revised a few times, and was accepted. You just can’t ever tell!
LOUIE: It takes a long time to illustrate a picture book. From the first sketches to the finished artwork, it can take almost half a year!
How did you decide which dinosaurs to include?
Some of Louie’s early sketches!
DEB: When I exchanged contemporary animals for dinosaurs, I picked ones that were fairly common and had strange attributes. Matt, the dinosaur buff, dug around for the weirdest ones, some of which were recent discoveries.
MATT: We wanted a good mix of dinos – some well-known favorites, some brand-new species – but they all needed exceptional, distinguishing characteristics. There were several dinosaurs and early reptiles we initially included that didn’t make the final cut, like Anchicertops, Spinosaurus, Microraptor, Archelon, and a few others.
Was it hard working together? Were there any problems?
LOUIE: Working together was easy!
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DEB: I also found it easy to work with someone – that someone being Matt – because feedback was fairly quick and to the point. The only problem was when Matt’s enthusiasm for the latest and coolest dinosaur bubbled over late at night and he had to wait until morning for my opinion. At least, I imagine that’s what happened.
MATT: Actually, I think the only “problem” (if you can call it that) was that by the 17th or 18 revision, we both started over-thinking things and began adding in lines or rhymes that we’d previously taken out – ha! Once a writer gets to that point, you know it’s time to give it a rest.
How involved were you with the illustrations?
DEB: I think our situation was fairly unusual. The editor sought our opinion on illustrative styles.
MATT: We did have a bit of a say as to how things were going, but Louie pretty much did his own thing, and we were very happy with it!
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LOUIE: There wasn’t a lot of communication directly. Most of it was relayed through the editor.
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No, Lioplurodon is not really a dinosaur, by definition – but he was just too fun to leave out! (click to enlarge)
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Why are there are no flying dinosaurs in the book?
DEB: Good question! Matt, what do you have to say?
MATT: Technically, the flying reptiles known as pterosaurs (including my buddy, Quetzalcoatlus) were not true dinosaurs. Neither was Lioplurodon, either – but somehow he managed to stay. I’m guessing it’s because he was making cake, and everyone loves cake.
What’s the most memorable question you’ve been asked?
LOUIE: I can’t recall a question that stood out, but it’s a lot of fun hearing all the dinosaur facts and stories from the children.
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DEB: After reading to a bunch of four-year-olds, I asked, “Does anyone have a question for me?”
Child #1: “I have a crystal.”
Child #2: “I do, too!”
Child #3: “Me, too.”
MATT: When I’m speaking at schools, I usually mention that being a kid is way more fun than being a grown-up because people ask kids questions like, “what’s your favorite dinosaur?” but no one ever asks ME that – it’s like they don’t even care! A student will invariably shout out, “Well, what’s YOUR favorite dinosaur??” To which I respond my thanking him/her and announcing Quetzalcoatlus. (and you know what? There’s always at least one student who goes, “YESSS!!”)
Now that the book is out, do you have any questions about it?
DEB: I want to know, how do all those dinosaurs fit inside a house?
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MATT: I’m wondering if those dinosaurs that were outside, like Ankylosaurus and Argentinosaurus, ever got any cake.
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LOUIE: I’d like to know what other wild things other dinosaurs not in the book would do, if they were invited to a birthday!
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READY TO WIN A FREE COPY??
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Just leave a comment below, and you’ll be entered to win! I’ll announce the winner on Poetry Friday, April 26, so you’ve got a week and a half to tell your friends and ask them to enter, too. Good luck…and thank you for your support!
The 2019 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem continues! Each day during April (National Poetry Month), a different writer/ blogger adds a new line to the poem until it concludes April 30. You can follow along at the sites listed below.
Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!
Coming July 2, 2019!
You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!
Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers!(Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)
Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!
To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)
It’s been a busy couple of months for me, with manuscripts getting written and revised, conversations with editors, manuscripts being again…I’ve even started two new projects I hadn’t planned. (I love it when that happens!) Something else that’s been keeping me busy is preparing for a poetry reading in Warner, NH two weeks from this Sat. night!
As part of National Poetry Month, the Pillsbury Free Library is hosting two events. One is The Road Not Taken art exhibit featuring works by three Derry, NH artists (where Frost lived a number of years) inspired by the poetry of New Hampshire’s own Robert Frost. (And yes, other states claim him as their own, but we’re not going there!)
Doors will open at 6:30pm, to allow attendees to view the pieces before the second event begins at 7pm: a poetry reading with two poets from the Granite State, Deborah Brown and L.R. Berger, and Yours Truly.
I’m truly honored to be a part of an event with such highly-esteemed writers as Deborah and L.R. We’ll each spend about 20 minutes or so reading and discussing our poetry, and time will be available for questions afterward. So today, I thought I’d dust off my very first published children’s poem – which is more of a YA poem – which I’ll be reading.
This poem was first published on the Young Adult Review Network (YARN) in 2012, and it will always be special to me because the editors liked it so much, they nominated it for a Pushcart Prize. As I was looking through my past poems, deciding which ones to share on the 27th, I realized I had never shared this particular poem here! So I thought today would be the perfect day to do so:
Apple Stealing
Moonglow; steadfast, unwitting
cohort,
lights autumn evening
orchard shadows,
while three devious figures skulk
quietly between
Macs
and Cortlands.
Grey watercolor brushstrokes soften
the edges;
forms flow
one into the next;
our eyes unreliable,
texture, …..distance, …..…..perspective
give way to guesswork
and guile.
Crickets, night birds
knowingly
talk amongst themselves, voyeurs
in anticipation
watching us
from their posts;
fighting
our fears, we dismiss
guilt,
ready our bags, …..plan our attack,
and move in, deftly
selecting our prizes.
Suddenly, a rustling –
massive darkness looms
before us, behind, in front, beside
the trees;
bags dropped, we stop
cold, eyes straining, hearts
racing faster, faster
than stone-heavy legs.
Our criminality
laid bare, devil creature
raises its head in frightful judgment…
and bites
If you’re in the New Hampshire area April 27, I hope you’ll stop by! You can click HERE for the Facebook Event page for more info…and for more poetry, please visit Live Your Poem, where my friend Irene Latham is hosting Poetry Friday with an assortment of poems she’s been writing as part of her Artspeak project!
NEXT WEEK: I’ll be celebrating the ONE-YEAR anniversary of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (POW! Kids Books, 2018) on Wed., April 17 – with a chance for you to win a copy of the book!
Speaking of Irene…her annual Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is rocking and rolling along! Each day during April, a different writer/ blogger adds a new line to the poem until it concludes April 30. You can follow along at the sites listed below…
Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!
Coming July 2, 2019!
You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!
Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers!(Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)
Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!
To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)
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).
Looking for more poetry? You’re in luck! Dani is hosting today’s Poetry Friday at Doing the Work That Matters. Head on over and check out all the links!
Coming July 2, 2019!
Thank you to everyone for your support!
and Melissa Juchniewicz joined me at the Coffee Factory in Derry for the award presentation and poetry reading.
positive attitude. This is business, after all, and if this change allows BMP and its imprints to carry on and flourish, then it will have been worth it.
Looking for more poetry? Carol Varsalona at 
If you’re in the New Hampshire area April 27, I hope you’ll stop by! You can click 
