Poetry Friday: Back on the soccer field after 20 months!

I haven’t gotten as much writing done this week as I’d hoped – but I’ve certainly been kicking a soccer ball around more than I have in the past year and a half!

This week, my two indoor soccer leagues (a Men’s Over-30 team and an Adult Co-Ed team) both began their new 12-week sessions, and I’ve found myself organizing both of them – contacting folks who might want to play, figuring out costs, managing schedules – but considering we haven’t played since March 2020 when Covid shut everything down, I didn’t mind one bit!

So to celebrate, I thought I’d share a few soccer poems for today! First up, my contribution to Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s Poems are Teachers: How Studying Poetry Strengthens Writing in All Genres (Heinemann, 2018), a book designed to help educators both teach poetry and how poetic tools, forms, and devices can be used to improve and strengthen writing in all genres. (click the cover, below, for more info or click HERE to read my interview with Amy about the book)

^{Image © 2018, Heinemann, all rights reserved}

I actually wrote that poem on the way to – and then on the way home – from an indoor soccer game! On the Men’s team, I play on the field but I’m the goalkeeper for the Co-Ed team, so I love being able to watch the field from different perspectives – and it helped me create this poem.

Next up is something from my friend Liz Steinglass’ poetry collection, Soccerverse: Poems about Soccer (Wordsong, 2019), a wonderful and expertly-written book of poems and the perfect gift for that young soccer fan in your life:

^{Energetic wordplay, fun imagery, and lively illustrations – I love this spread! (Click to enlarge)}

The third book I want to feature today is by my friend and Once Upon Another Time collaborator, Charles Ghigna! Back in 2008 he wrote Score!: 50 Poems to Motivate and Inspire (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2008) and inside you’ll find this:

Soccer

The long kick comes
and out of the pack
the midfielder rises,

his eyes on the ball,
his forehead set like a fist
ready to punch it home.

© 2008 Charles Ghigna, all rights reserved

For today’s complete Poetry Friday round up, be sure to visit Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading, where she responded to a poetic challenge by writing about my former hometown, St. Albans, VT, where she reently vacationed!

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I continue adding to my “Wit & Wordplay” videos ! These videos were created for parents and educators (along with their kids) to learn how to write poetry, appreciate it, and have fun with it. From alliteration and iambs to free verse and spine poetry, I’m pretty sure there’s something in these videos you’ll find surprising! You can view them all on my YouTube channel, and if you have young kids looking for something to keep busy with, I also have several downloadable activity sheets at my website.

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You can purchase personally-signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Astra Young Readers, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly EVERY book or anthology I’ve been part of!

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^{rriving Nov. 30, 2021! Pre-order now!}

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FLASHLIGHT NIGHT:

• NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
• KIRKUS Starred review!
• Kansas NEA Reading Circle Recommended Books!
• “Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers
• Finalist, 2019 New Hampshire Literary Awards
• Positive reviews from Horn Book, School Library Connection, School Library Connection, Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and Shelf-Awareness!

DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR:

• “Rollicking rhyme!” – Booklist
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