Poetry Friday: Looking back at my first paid poem – has it only been 6 years??

I was recently updating some of my marketing paperwork and was surprised to discover that it has only been 6 years since my very first paid children’s poem was published. Six years!

Now, this comes with a tiny disclaimer: the first paid poem for which I signed a contract was “First Tooth,” which appeared in Lee Bennett Hopkins’ Lullabye & Kisses Sweet (Abrams Appleseed), published in March 2015. My first published paid poem, however, actually appeared just one week earlier, in Carol-Ann Hoyte’s anthology Dear Tomato: An International Crop of Food & Agriculture Poems.

Even though I’m a few months behind, I thought I’d share one of my three poems that Carol-Ann included in her book – a poem that was one of the first children’s poems I ever wrote, waaaay back in 2010.

It came about when I was mowing the lawn one day and started contemplating what I was doing from a child’s perspective. I asked myself questions that a child might ask his or her dad: What are you doing? Why are you cutting the grass? Why don’t you grow flowers like mom?

And this is what happened when the child inside me tried to answer those questions!
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Growing Greens

Mommy grows flowers
She thins them and feeds them.
She prunes them and pots them
and waters and weeds them.

Daddy grows grass.

Mommy grows ivy
and bushes and hedges
that grow by the garden
and over the ledges.

Daddy grows grass.

Mommy grows roses
of all shapes and sizes.
She takes them to fairs
and often wins prizes.

Daddy grows grass.

Well, actually…
sometimes Daddy grows flowers.
Pretty yellow dandelions, that cover the lawn.
.
But Daddy pulls them up

to grow more grass.

– © 2015, Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

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It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that since this poem came out, I’ve had about 35 children’s poems and 4 picture books published – and 8 more books on the way. I’m so grateful to the folks I’ve met along this journey, for befriending me, supporting me, and publishing me!

And speaking of publishing, this really is an anthology of incredible diversity, featuring established poets like former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis and the award-winning Nikki Grimes as well as up-and-comers (at the time) like my friends Charles Waters and Michelle H. Barnes. If you’ve not had the opportunity to pick up a copy Dear Tomato, I hope you will! Where else are you going to find a collection of 34 different writers for just 10 bucks?? As far as bargains go, it’s definitely a heckuva one.

And as far as poetry goes, you can find today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup at Irene Latham’s little home on the web, Live Your Poem!

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I’m now a part of the BOOKROO family!

Create an account to add books to wishlists and be notified of special deals and dates…create custom collections…and discover and follow your favorite authors & illustrators!

Find out more about BOOKROO here!

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Talkabook is setting out to inspire children by connecting them with authors and illustrators! Click here to view my profile and learn more!

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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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Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

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

Click any of the following covers to order!

Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send a comment to the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH requesting my signature and to whom I should make it out. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it, and then they’ll ship it! (Plus, you’ll be supporting your local bookseller – and won’t that make you feel good?)

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Thank you to everyone for your support!

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
  • “A wild romp!” – Parenting NH Magazine
  • “Cute…intriguing…4 out of 5 stars”     – Tulsa Book Review
  • “Rhythmic…funny and informative”     – Unleashing Readers

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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) . Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: “I Am Someone Else” first peek!

As we approach the end of 2018 – and as those of us who celebrated Christmas attempt to get our lives back into their normal rhythm – I thought I’d share a wonderful surprise gift I received just a few days before Christmas. The proof of the spread of my poem in Lee Bennett Hopkins’ new upcoming children’s poetry anthology, I Am Someone Else: Poems About Pretending, arriving July 2, 2019 from Charlesbridge!

What would it be like to be a wizard, a dancer, a veterinarian, a pilot? The book contains 15 poems about not only “who” a child might like to pretend to be – but why. Here’s the proof of my poem’s page, so far…

(click to enlarge) ©2019 Charlesbridge, all rights reserved, reprinted with permission

Once again, I’m honored to be included in a collection that features so many talented, highly-esteemed writers as former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis, Newbery winner Lois Lowry, and many others.

By the way, the annual CYBILS Awards‘ Poetry category shortlist has been officially nailed down, and we’ll be sharing the results soon (Shortlisted titles move on the 2nd Round judges, who will decide the winners in February). For more poetry, head on over to Mainely Write, where my friend Donna Smith has today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup!

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Ordering personalized signed copies online?
Oh, yes, you can!

  

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?)

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Thank you to everyone for your support!

• 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
• Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017
• Positive reviews from Horn Book, School Library Connection, Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and Shelf-Awareness
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  • “Rollicking rhyme!” – Booklist
  • “A wild romp!” – Parenting NH Magazine
  • “Cute…intriguing…4 out of 5 stars”     – Tulsa Book Review
  • “Rhythmic…funny and informative”     – Unleashing Readers

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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)

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Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: “OMTB” Blog Tour AND a father-daughter collaboration!

By now, you’ve probably heard about Kenn Nesbitt’s new children’s poetry anthology, One Minute Till Bedtime (Little, Brown for Young Readers). It has received numerous positive reviews like THIS ONE and THIS ONE and THIS ONE and was also selected by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the best children’s books of 2016!

I’m very proud to be one of more than 130 poets included in the book, and today, many of the contributors are taking part in a blog tour! (That’s why, in case you’re wondering, I’m sharing my Poetry Friday post a day early!)

But this blog tour is a little different; rather than sharing the poem(s) we have included in the book, we are sharing poems that were submitted, but not selected! You see, when Kenn asked us to send him our poems, we had no idea which ones he’d chooses and which ones he’d pass on…so it seemed like a waste not to give those poems that didn’t make the cut their own opportunity to shine.

Back on Nov. 4, I shared one of my poems that didn’t make it – and today I have another. This one is a lullaby of sorts that I wrote back in the mid-’90’s, before I was even making an effort to become published, but which I have sung for each of my 4 kids, right before bed. The rhyming isn’t perfect, but they all love it – so to me, it’s perfect the way it is.

Little Lullaby

Time to go to sleep,
time to go to sleep.
No more time to play,
no more time to eat.

Time to let your dreams
carry you away,
so rest your weary eyes –
tomorrow’s another day.

– © 1994, Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

If you’d like to check out all the other poems from all the other folks taking part in this blog tour, head on over to Jackie Hosking’s blog and you’ll find several poems and all the links to the other blog posts.

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As for Friday itself, that is the day I get to share a new poem with the readers of Penny Parker Klostermann’s blog, as part of her ongoing series, “A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt” – an opportunity for two family members to collaborate on a picture and an accompanying poem.

I’ve already had the pleasure of writing poems based on drawings by my two youngest children, and now I get to share a poem I wrote based on something by one of their two older sisters!

I hope you’ll take a trip over to Penny’s blog to see it…and be sure to also visit Bridget Magee’s Wee Words for Wee Ones for today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup!

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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 twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

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Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: “The Best of Today’s Little Ditty!”

If you have spent any amount of time enjoying Poetry Friday, you have probably come across the blog of my friend and fellow writer, Michelle H. Barnes, Today’s Little Ditty. What started out as a forum to share her work soon turned into a showcase of interviews, repository of writing advice, and a community of folks sharing their own work.

And today, it becomes a book!

I’m very happy to announce the publication of Michelle’s The Best of Today’s Little Ditty, 2014-2015 – a collection of 75 poems by 55 different folks who have visited her site and contributed poetry over the past 2 years.

I encourage you to visit her website today and find out more about the book and how to get a copy! And in the meantime, I’ll share one of my poems you’ll find inside…this one from a challenge from the inimitable Lee Bennett Hopkins to write a poem about a formative moment in my younger life:

…I write her name in my notebook.

I’m not sure why.
What is it about her eyes,
her lips,
that makes me think
she’s smiling at me
even when she’s turned away?
I write her name in my notebook.
I’m not sure why.
What is it about violets and – is that vanilla? –
that make a girl smell so nice?
I don’t even like vanilla, but still…
I write her name in my notebook.
I’m not sure why.
Why do I crane my neck to watch
as she walks away, yet hide
my face
when she sees me
watching?
What would she say,
what would she do,
if only she knew…

– © 2015 Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

(And by the way, HUGE congratulations to Lee for being the newest inductee into the Florida Artists’ Hall of Fame! This was just announced yesterday, and all of us in the children’s poetry community are thrilled!)

Congratulations again, Michelle…on the book, of course, as well as on your blog’s huge success! And speaking of poetry blogs, please stop by Brenda Davis Harsham’s little home on the web, Friendly Fairy Tales, for today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup!

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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 twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

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Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: “One Minute Till Bedtime” countdown!

As you may have read in previous posts, I’m thrilled to be a part of Kenn Nesbitt’s new children’s poetry anthology, One Minute Till Bedtime (Little, Brown for Young Readers), which hits bookshelves a mere THREE DAYS from now, this Monday, Nov. 1. (The following week, I’ll be holding a couple of signings at local bookstores in my home state of New Hampshire, so please check out my Facebook page for the Event details!)

The book is comprised of short, 60-second(ish) long poems for kids – and parents, too, of course! – to add some poetry to the end of their day, after the kids have been read to and are tucked in bed. Additionally, the illustrations by New York Times illustrator Christoph Niemann are simultaneously dreamlike yet grounded, whimsical yet introspective.

I’m stunned, honestly, to find myself sharing anthology pages with folks like Kenn, J. Patrick Lewis, Jane Yolen, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Nikki Grimes, Charles Ghigna, David Harrison, Jack Prelutsky, Lemony Snicket, Margarita Engle, Marilyn Singer, and over 100 others. So I hope you enjoy my little contribution:

(click to enlarge)

For more poetry links and fun – and a few other samples from inside covers of One Minute Till Bedtime – please visit Linda Baie at Teacher Dance for today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup!

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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 twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

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Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: “Coming to Terms” (LGBT Pride Month)

The following poem was first published in the anthology Trigger Warning: Poetry Saved My Life (Swimming with Elephants Publications, 2014), and following its publication I shared it here on this blog. Even though I rarely re-post poems, I felt this would be appropriate in this case, in recognition of President Obama’s recent proclamation of June being Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

You see, about 25 years ago, a very close friend of mine went through an extremely difficult time in his life…and it nearly destroyed him. Fortunately, he found support from his friends and therapy from writing poetry:

Coming to Terms

He had to keep quiet.

No one could know of his love, no –
infatuation – for the tall, dark beauty
with whom he shared daily smiles. His thoughts
were his, yet quickly
he became their slave; not uncommon,
of course, as we all succumb
to that numbness, once, at least,
but for his own sake

he had to keep quiet.
None could know, not even
Dark Beauty, who
had no inkling of an unthinkable
courtship, but simply smiled back
as acquaintances do
until one day, in a burst of emotion and discovery,
every passionate detail of his desire
came pouring forth from every pore
in an unintended self-
immolation of love and pain.

The revelation
and cloud of rejection suffocated
and he wished it would
deaden the nerves that allowed him to feel
every word hurled
from Dark Beauty, friends,
parents, the world.
Endless days spent scared and crying
bled into pill-filled nights
that led not to quiet slumber but to weeks
and months
in the ward, safe and distressed. Alone

in his room, with pen
firm between heart and forefinger, line
by line he began to sort through love,
loss, dejection,
reflection
and the realization
he had been lying to himself, thinking

he had to keep quiet.

© 2014 Matt Forrest Esenwine, from Trigger Warning: Poetry Saved My Life (Swimming with Elephants Publications, 2014), all rights reserved

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Jone MacCulloch is hosting Poetry Friday today at Check it Out, so for all of today’s links and fun, be sure to…check it out!

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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!
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To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right!  (I usually only post twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

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Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: National Cereal Day!

Almost exactly one year ago, the children’s poetry anthology The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books) was released. In it, one can find my poem about National Cereal Day, which is coming up on Monday, March 7…so of course, I had to share it with you again!

Picky Eater

I love my Fruit Loops,
love my Trix,
love Cheerios
and even Kix.
I also like
my Apple Jacks –
but please don’t give me
Sugar Smacks,
or stars or squares or flakes
you’ve found –
I only eat, you see,
what’s round.

– © 2015 Matt Forrest Esenwine and Pomelo Books, all rights reserved

I was quite humbled that Kirkus singled out this poem in their review of the book last year. And if you’d like to see what a 14-year-old student decided to do with the poem, check out Sylvia Vardell’s video HERE – it’s quite fun watching someone recite something that you wrote!

I also need to congratulate the winner of a new book!

Earlier this month, I interviewed Irene Latham and reviewed her new children’s poetry collection, When the Sun Shines on Antarctica: And Other Poems from the Frozen Continent (Millbrook Press). Everyone who left a comment or re-tweeted the post was entered to win a signed copy of the book…and out of all those names, only one would be drawn at random and proclaimed the WINNER! And that person is…

Robyn Hood Black!

Congratulations, Robyn! I’m sure you’re going to love it. Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by my little corner of the blogosphere and entered the contest.

But wait, there’s more! (poetry, that is) For all of today’s Poetry Friday posts, please visit Linda Baie at Teacher Dance! And happy early spring, everyone…don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead next weekend, as Daylight Savings Time begins!

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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 twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)

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Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: We missed National Cereal Day!

It’s been so crazy around here lately – between book releases, manuscript revisions, and the #MMPoetry March Madness competition – that I completely spaced on this most awesome of holidays!

The reason I’m celebrating is because I have a poem included in the newest Poetry Friday Anthology, The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations, which is due out in just a few weeks, and the poem is about National Cereal Day – which was last Saturday, March 7.

I have to admit…as much as I try to be healthy, I’m still a kid at heart, so my favourite cereals are the ones I’m not supposed to eat. Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops, and any Monster cereal that I come across are destined for my pantry. And when someone decided to make Lucky Charms with CHOCOLATE and someone else put MARSHMALLOWS in Fruit Loops…well, let me just say I wanted to shake their hands.

But what ever happened to my old favourites? Those great, long-lost bits of corn meal and sugar that are woven into my memory and are a part of the fabric that IS Matt Forrest Esenwine?? (And I’m not using hyperbole – with all those preservatives, they really ARE part of the fabric of my body at this point)

I’m talking about KaBoom; Quisp; Moonstones; Grins and Smiles and Giggles and Laughs; Q-bert (yes, the video-game hero had his own cereal!); Oreo-O’s; and the venerable Donutz!! Can I get a holla?!?

OK, well, before I go too far with the reminiscing, I’d like to share the poem I wrote that DIDN’T make it into the PFA for Celebrations. After all, once the book comes out, you’ll see which one did make it…so this is like the free toy surprise inside the box! Hope you like it:

Cereal Legend

Little Horatio Magellan Crunch
never knew what was going to happen…
one day, he would sail the seas
and all the world would call him, “Cap’n.”

– © Matt Forrest Esenwine, 2014

And yes, that’s Cap’n Crunch’s real name! I don’t make stuff up, you know. I felt I should contribute something connected to my home state (the cereal was developed by a New Hampshire resident), but alas, it didn’t make the cut. And to be honest, I never even really liked Cap’n Crunch when I was young. Even as an 8- or 9-year-old, I knew there was something just plain wrong with the texture.

I used to LOVE these…oh, Hoots, wither hast though gonest?

So what were YOUR favourite cereals as a kid? Pebbles? Super Sugar Smacks? Honeycomb? (remember Strawberry Honeycomb?) How about those lost classics like King Vitamin, with the creepy-looking dude on the box…or Baron Von RedBerry – a Monster-cereal knockoff that I still wish they’d bring back? I’d love to hear your comments, below.

For today’s complete Poetry Friday round-up, please visit Laura Shovan at Author Amok, and please be sure to check out the Madness that is the #MMPoetry competition over at Ed DeCaria’s place, Think Kid, Think! I lost in the first round, but it’s still a lot of fun and the competition continues throughout the month.

Be watching for the PFA for Celebrations, and I’ll be sharing more poems that didn’t make it in in the next couple weeks!

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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 twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)  Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: “Dear Tomato” anthology is available now!

I am thrilled to be able to finally say I am a published children’s author! Three poems of mine were selected for inclusion in Carol-Ann Hoyte‘s new children’s anthology, Dear Tomato: An International Crop of Food and Agriculture Poems – and it officially went on sale on Amazon this past Monday!

Dear Tomato… features over 50 poems by 34 poets from around the globe. The poems vary greatly in form and style – some are structured forms, some are free verse, some are humorous, others are a little more serious – but they all share an agricultural theme.

And while Carol-Ann worked at sorting through and editing all the poems, her collaborator, photographer Norie Wasserman, provided the black-and-white photographs that accompany the text.

Speaking of text…here’s one of the three poems I contributed:

Fair is Fair
(a lesson in Fair Trade)

Mother’s coffee,
Father’s tea,
Sister’s cocoa…
all might be
a farmer’s only
chance to give
his family
a chance to live.

– © 2015, Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

I hope you’ll pick up a copy! Although it’s only available via Amazon right now, it should be more widely available within the next month or two.

By the way, I need to make you aware of two other brand-new books due out very soon:

Laura Purdie Salas’ third and final edition of her “…Can Be…” series, titled A Rock Can Be… (Millbrook Press) comes out this weekend! It hits bookshelves this Sunday, March 1, and you can read my complete review of it HERE.

The very first children’s book I was contacted to be part of comes out this Tuesday, March 3! Lullaby & Kisses Sweet is a board book anthology for young children, 0-5 years, and I couldn’t be happier about working with the wonderful and highly esteemed Lee Bennett Hopkins. For Tuesday’s blog post, I’ll be sharing more info about the book, my page from it, and a short interview with Lee – so be sure to stop back then!

But wait – there’s more!

I also want to let you know about this year’s March Madness Poetry 2015 Competition! Once again, Ed DeCaria at Think Kid, Think has put together this annual friendly event which not only stimulates the minds and creative juices of those of us taking part – but helps to bring a little poetic excitement to the classroom, as well!

What’s that? You’d like your classroom to join in the Madness? Then find out more and sign up today! The insanity begins soon, so be sure to follow Ed and his blog on Twitter or Facebook – or just stay close here, as I’ll be providing updates throughout the month!

Whew, I’m worn out! That’s it for now. Writer/poet/blogger Heidi Mordhorst is hosting Poetry Friday at her blog, My Juicy Little Universe, so head on over for all of today’s poetic links and info!

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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 twice a week – on Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day)  Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

Poetry Friday: “Coming to Terms,” CYBILS Awards, and a Wandering Wildebeest

Jama Rattigan is hosting Poetry Friday today, and if anyone knows how to create a crowd using food, it’s Jama! She has croissants and chocolate and candied rose petals and raspberry-litchi pate and…well, you’ll just have to stop by and try some.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I announced that a new anthology titled, Trigger Warning: Poetry Saved My Life, had just been made available for sale. I was looking forward to seeing it because I was one of the folks whose poetry had been selected for inclusion…and today, I’ll be sharing that poem here!

More on that in just a little bit…

First, I need to let you know the 9th Annual CYBILS Awards nominations are now OPEN!

The CYBILS, as they are called, are the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards, and are announced in February of each year. Two rounds of judges will narrow down all the nominated books for a variety of categories, and will decide which they feel are the best of the best.

But before they can whittle down the list…they need a list! That’s where you come in. Just click visit the CYBILS nominations page and let the judges know which of this year’s books for children and young adults you feel deserve some special recognition. As you’ll see, there are lots of categories, from early readers to young adult speculative fiction to my favourite, poetry!

(We already have some FANTASTIC poetry collections, too – which is going to make this even harder then normal!)

So make sure you log on and get your favourite book nominated – and I’ll keep you posted here about what’s happening!

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Speaking of poetry collections, I just received my copy of Irene Latham’s Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Watering Hole yesterday, and it’s as wonderful as I had suspected. Many thanks to Irene as well as to last year’s CYBILS Poetry Award winner, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater for sending it to me – I was lucky enough to be the winner of a giveaway Amy hosted, and I read the book as soon as I opened up the box!

The book contains 15 poems of varying styles – some rhyming, some free verse, some light-hearted, some more serious – all about the various creatures that come to visit a watering hole on the African grasslands. Irene spotlights meerkats, rhinos, lionesses, and black mambas, to name a few, but I think my two favourites are the ones Irene opens and closes with, “To All the Beasts Who Enter Here” and “Says Nightjar to the Stars,” respectively.

Anna Wadham’s illustrations perfectly complement the playful, spontaneous, and stoic nature of the beasts, too – and of Irene’s text. If you haven’t considered picking this up yet, I recommend you do!

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Now, then…to my poem! I have to thank award-winning slam poet Zachary Kluckman, the anthologist of Trigger Warning: Poetry Saved My Life, for selecting this poem for inclusion.  When I first read what type of book he was putting together and the subject matter – literally, how poetry can save someone’s life – I knew exactly what I was going to write about.

About 25 years ago, a very close friend of mine went through an extremely difficult time in his life…and it nearly destroyed him. Fortunately, he found support from his friends and therapy from writing poetry. I hope you like it.  I’ve posted audio of my reading of the poem below (sorry about the big head – I can’t do anything about it!) and of course, if you’d like to read more about how poetry can save lives, be sure to pick up a copy of the book, on sale now!

Coming to Terms

He had to keep quiet.

No one could know of his love, no –
infatuation – for the tall, dark beauty
with whom he shared daily smiles. His thoughts
were his, yet quickly
he became their slave; not uncommon,
of course, as we all succumb
to that numbness, once, at least,
but for his own sake

he had to keep quiet.
None could know, not even
Dark Beauty, who
had no inkling of an unthinkable
courtship, but simply smiled back
as acquaintances do
until one day, in a burst of emotion and discovery,
every passionate detail of his desire
came pouring forth from every pore
in an unintended self-immolation of love and pain.

The revelation
and cloud of rejection suffocated
and he wished it would
deaden the nerves that allowed him to feel
every word hurled
from Dark Beauty, friends,
parents, the world.
Endless days spent scared and crying
bled into pill-filled nights
that led not to quiet slumber but to weeks
and months
in the ward, safe and distressed. Alone

in his room, with pen
firm between heart and forefinger, line
by line he began to sort through love,
loss, dejection,
reflection
and the realization
he had been lying to himself, thinking

he had to keep quiet.

© Matt Forrest Esenwine, from Trigger Warning: Poetry Saved My Life (Swimming with Elephants Publications, 2014)

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