Poetry Friday: 2018 Progressive Poem audio and “Dinosaur” winners!

On May 4, 2018May 3, 2018 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry25 Comments

Well, would you take a look at that calendar!

Ah, yes…May 4th. And although Star Wars has nothing to do with poetry, dinosaurs, or flashlights, it has everything to do with my Geek roots (note the capitalization) and my love of science fiction – so I couldn’t let the day go by without wishing you salutations of the season. (And yes, I’m looking forward to the Ron Howard-directed “Solo,” due in theatres this year!)

Now, then, where where we? Oh, yes…

The 2018 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem!

A little seed’s adventure is complete…the 2018 Progressive Poem has wrapped up! Each day over the course of April (National Poetry Month), 30 different writers/bloggers added a line to the poem, and early this week, it all came to an end.

Here’s my annual recorded version of the poem, followed by the text so you can follow along, if you’d like…

Sorry about that giant cranium, by the way – I have no control over the size of the photo! (But it’s a reasonable facsimile of the real thing, in case you’re wondering)

Poet’s Jasmine, Blooming Lovely

Nestled in her cozy bed, a seed stretched.
Oh, what wonderful dreams she’d had!

Blooming in midnight moonlight, dancing with
the pulse of a thousand stars, sweet Jasmine
invented a game.

“Moon?” she called across warm honeyed air.
“I’m sad you’re alone; come join Owl and me.
We’re feasting on stardrops, we’ll share them with you.”

“Come find me,” Moon called, hiding behind a cloud.

Secure in gentle talons’ embrace, Jasmine rose
and set. She split, twining up Owl’s toes, pale
moonbeams sliding in between, Whoosh, Jasmine goes.
Owl flew Jasmine between clouds and moon to Lee’s party!
Moon, that wily bright balloon, was NOT alone.
……………………………………………………Jas grinned,

………………………………………………………….stretched,

………………………………………………………………..reached,

……………………………………………………………………..wrapped

…………………………………………………………………….a new,

………………………………………….. around ………tender
…………………………………………………………rootlet

a trellis Sky held out to her, made of braided wind and song.
Her green melody line twisted and clung.

Because she was twining poet’s jasmine, she
wiggled a wink back at Moon, and began her poem.
Her whispered words floated on a puff of wind,
filled with light and starsong. “Revelers, lean in –
let’s add to this merriment a game that grows
wordgifts for Lee. He’s a man who knows
selection, collection, and wisely advising
these dreamers, word-weavers, and friends.”

Jas enfolded Moon-Sky-Owl into the cup of her petals,
lifted new greens to the warming rays of spring. Sun
smeared the horizon with colour, as Jasmine stretched.
She felt powerful. She felt fresh. She bloomed and took a breath
and filled the earth with a fragrance all her own.
.

To see how the poem came to be, check out the following posts:

April
1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
2 Jane at Raincity Librarian
3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Jan at bookseedstudio
6 Irene at Live Your Poem
7 Linda at TeacherDance
8 Janet F. at LiveYour Poem
9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink
13 Linda at A Word Edgewise
14 Heidi at my juicy little universe
15 Donna at Mainely Write
16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle
17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town
18 Christie at Wonderingand Wandering
19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
20 Linda at Write Time
21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
23 Amy at The Poem Farm
24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
28 Kat at Kat’sWhiskers
29 April at Teaching Authors
30 Doraine at Dori Reads

Care to read Progressive Poems from past years? Click HERE!

========================================================

WINNERS, we have WINNERS!

I have TWO names to announce today – each of whom has won a personally-signed copy of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books)!

One person was selected at random for sharing the news about the book’s release; out of all the folks who commented on the original Book Birthday blog post, shared it, Tweeted about it, etc., only one name could be chosen…and that was…

KIMBERLY HUTMACHER!!

Congratulations, Kimberly – and thank you so much for your support!

Our second winner took advantage of a writing challenge I call “Poetry…Cubed!” If you’ve ever seen “Chopped!” on The Food Network, this is the same premise, applied to poetry:

Use 3 images as inspiration to write a poem.
.
Include a reference to all three images in the poem.
.
Email your poem to me so I can share them throughout the month. Out of all poems submitted, one writer is chosen at random! And that winner is…

JOYCE RAY!!

Congratulations, Joyce, and thanks for participating! As I always remind folks, this little poetry contest is about participation, not perfection – so please continue to #WriteLikeNoOneIsReading!

My friend Brenda Davis Harsham is hosting this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at her blog, Friendly Fairy Tales – where she is sharing a springtime haiku in addition to all of today’s poetry links.

=========================================================

“DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR” is now available everywhere!

This is going to be another busy weekend, with TWO APPEARANCES in Massachusetts tomorrow:

Sat., May 5, 10am: Barnes & Noble, Burlington, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and Flashlight Night reading/signing
Sat., May 5, 1pm: Barnes & Noble, Nashua, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and Flashlight Night reading/signing
Sat., May 12, 11am: Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Wed., May 15, 12pm: Concord Hospital Gift Shop, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People signing
Sat., May 19, 11:30am-3pm: Barnes & Noble, Salem, NH, National Storytime at 11am, followed by Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., June 2, 1-3pm: Books-A-Million, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing

=========================================================

The Dinosaur Tour blog tour continues all month and into May! My thanks to all these bloggers for their support:

April 6:       Michelle H. Barnes (Interview w/month-long writing prompt & GIVEAWAY!)
April 8:       Kate Narita (Book trailer & activity sheet spotlight)
April 11:     Deborah Kalb (Interview w/Matt & Deb)
April 13:     Yours Truly! (Interview w/illustrator Louie Chin)
April 16:     KidLit Exchange (Blog post re: process of illustration)
April 17:     Momma’s Bacon (DAAD review)
April 17: Yours Truly! (DAAD book birthday news AND GIVEAWAY!)
April 18:     Bonnie Ferrante (DAAD review)
April 19: KidLit Exchange (DAAD review)
April 19:     Brenda Davis Harsham (DAAD micro review)
April 25:     Bonnie Ferrante (Interview w/Matt & Deb)
May 2:        Unleashing Readers (DAAD review)
May 30:   Bookseedstudio (DAAD review/interview)

=========================================================

Purchasing personalized signed copies ONLINE? Yes, it’s true!

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new way to purchase personalized signed copies of not only Flashlight Night, but ANY of my books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

I’ve teamed up with the good folks MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH to present an option for people who would love to have a signed copy of one of my books but don’t live anywhere near me. MainStreet BookEnds has ALL but one of my books available for ordering…and the best part is, you can get them personalized!

Just log onto my website and click the cover of whichever book you want, and they will get it to me to sign and send it off to you. 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?)

=========================================================

Thank you so much to all the librarians, bloggers, and parents who are still discovering “Flashlight Night!”

NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
KIRKUS Starred review!
Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017!
“Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers

=========================================================

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, Pinterest, and SoundCloud!

National Poetry Month: Only FOUR DAYS left to enter “Poetry Cubed #5” and “Dinosaur” Giveaway!

On April 27, 2018April 27, 2018 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry12 Comments

Before we get to today’s poems, I want to encourage you to check out this past Tuesday’s post, in which I shared some 5th grade student poetry from a middle school in Redditch, England! For kids who have been struggling with literacy learning, I was so happy to learn how much they dove into this writing project, following a Skype visit I had with them earlier this year.

They should be very proud of themselves – not only for the writing itself, but for being willing to share their work with all my readers!

I also need to remind you that you only have FOUR DAYS left to enter my Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books) giveaway!

To celebrate the release of my newest picture book, I wanted to offer several opportunities to win copies. One way to win a copy of DAAD, signed by both me and my co-author, Deborah Bruss, is to simply share the news!

Comment on THIS POST
Share THIS POST via Facebook or Twitter
Share my interview with illustrator Louie Chin
Share the book trailer and activity sheets featured at Kate Narita’s blog
Do all four!

.
Each one of these counts as an entry, which means you could have as many as four entries…and if you add in the other 2 contests, that’s SIX different opportunities to win THREE copies! Just be sure to tag me when you share these links, so I can count you. I’ll draw ONE NAME at the end of the month. Good luck, and thank you!

Today, I have more “Poetry Cubed!” poems to share – and each one of them is also an opportunity to win!

If you’ve ever seen “Chopped!” on The Food Network, you know that chefs try to outdo each other by creating dishes using specific and sometimes rather strange ingredients. So for this contest, I’ve taken the premise of the TV show and applied it to poetry! Here’s how it works:

Use the 3 images below as inspiration to write a poem. (1 poem, to the 3rd power – “cubed!”)
.
The poem can be any form, any genre, any number of lines, rhyming or not. Most importantly, remember: #WriteLikeNoOneIsReading! This is about having fun and being creative!
.
Include a reference to all three images in the one poem – either via concrete imagery or something more abstract. (And since this is poetry we’re talking about, we play fast and loose with this rule!)
.
Email your poem to me at Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com and I’ll share them here throughout the month. Out of all poems submitted, one writer will be chosen at random to receive a personally-signed copy of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!

Here are the three images (click on any to enlarge):

Today we have two more poems to share:
.

untitled cherita

after the celebration

birthday gifts sorted
thank-you cards await

in a shadowy corner
he shines his new lampe de poche
“Merci, Mémé!” he whispers

.
haiku

dark birthday surprise
clawed hand steers my shoulder-
saved by a light beam

This time, instead of very different imagery, we have two poems both playing with the contract of light and dark – and both make specific references to birthdays. (By the way, a ‘cherita’ is a poem consisting of 1 line, then 2 lines, then 3 lines, and is usually narrative. Find out more about the form HERE)

One final poem – not at all like these! – from another reader who preferred to remain anonymous:

untitled

Hold the light; hands
scaly
and ancient search
dry earth
one more day

– anonymous

I’ll continue taking entries until the end of the month – which is THIS MONDAY – so send in your poems to Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com! Good luck!

The incredibly talented (and very busy!) Irene Latham is hosting today’s Poetry Friday roundup at her blog, Live Your Poem – where she also shares poetry and answers questions about her contributions to this year’s ARTSPEAK! project.

=========================================================

The Dinosaur Tour blog tour continues all month and into May! My thanks to all these bloggers for their support:

=========================================================

“DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR”
is now available everywhere!

This is going to be a busy weekend, with THREE APPEARANCES over two days – including a wild DOUBLE DINO DAY tomorrow, with author Sara Levine:

Sat., April 28, 10:30am: Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing (with Sara Levine, Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones reading/signing)
Sat., April 28, 2pm: Barnes & Noble, Framingham, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur reading/signing (with Sara Levine, Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones reading/signing)
Sun., April 29, 2pm: MainStreet BookEnds, Warner, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur, School People, and Flashlight Night reading/signing and discussion
Sat., May 5, 10am: Barnes & Noble, Burlington, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., May 5, 1pm: Barnes & Noble, Nashua, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and Flashlight Night reading/signing
Sat., May 12, 11am: Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Wed., May 15, 12pm: Concord Hospital Gift Shop, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People signing
Sat., May 19, 11:30am-3pm: Barnes & Noble, Salem, NH, National Storytime at 11am, followed by Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., June 2, 1-3pm: Books-A-Million, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing

=========================================================

The 2018 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem!

A little seed is on an adventure…the 2018 Progressive Poem is underway! Here’s the list of all the writers/bloggers participating, so you can follow along:

April 1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
2 Jane at Raincity Librarian
3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Jan at bookseedstudio
6 Irene at Live Your Poem
7 Linda at TeacherDance
8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink
13 Linda at A Word Edgewise
14 Heidi at my juicy little universe
15 Donna at Mainely Write
16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle
17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town
18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering
19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
20 Linda at Write Time
21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
23 Amy at The Poem Farm
24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
28 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
29 April at Teaching Authors
30 Doraine at Dori Reads

=========================================================

Thank you so much to all the librarians, bloggers, and parents who are still discovering “Flashlight Night!”

NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
KIRKUS Starred review!
Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017!
“Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers

=========================================================

Purchasing personalized signed copies ONLINE? Yes, it’s true!

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new way to purchase personalized signed copies of not only Flashlight Night, but ANY of my books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

=========================================================

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!

National Poetry Month/Poetry Friday: More “Poetry Cubed!” #5 entries, and a chance to win!

On April 20, 2018April 23, 2018 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry20 Comments

The rumors are true! The news isn’t fake!
The dinos are loose, and they can’t bake a cake!

Ok, well, that’s not actually part of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books) – but the couplet just popped into my head as I was putting this post together, so I felt obligated to include it.

But yes, it IS, indeed, true that my second picture book is now in stores everywhere!

If you’d like to win a copy signed by both me and my co-author, Deborah Bruss, be sure to check out this past Tuesday’s post, where you have FOUR chances to win! Today, I have more “Poetry Cubed!” poems to share – and each one of them is also an opportunity for someone to win a signed copy!

Use the 3 images below as inspiration to write a poem. (1 poem, to the 3rd power – “cubed!”)
.
The poem can be any form, any genre, any number of lines, rhyming or not. Most importantly, remember: #WriteLikeNoOneIsReading! This is about having fun and being creative!
.
Include a reference to all three images in the one poem – either via concrete imagery or something more abstract. (And since this is poetry we’re talking about, we play fast and loose with this rule!)
.
Email your poem to me at Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com and I’ll share them here throughout the month. Out of all poems submitted, one writer will be chosen at random to receive a personally-signed copy of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!

Here are the three images (click on any to enlarge):

Today we have two more poems to share:
.

Spring Is What You Make It

It was an awesome birthday party
despite the April storm.
Perhaps because the lights went out,
we made foolish fun,
pretending retro times of pre-electric,
but we still didn’t miss the outhouse
with the creaky door.
Most guests brought out the sleighs
and harnessed the horses,
picked up others who had neither.
The sleighs skimmed over the roads
with daring, hoping this recent storm
had laid enough inches needed
for a holiday sleigh ride.
The lure of sleigh bells
kept us searching for more lanterns,
lighting them for the guests
who put the horses in the barn,
stomped their way across the yard,
up the stairs of the porch.
Cups of cider warmed them,
and from the fact that so many came,
and in a winter wonderland,
we were warmed by their gusto.
I thought I would have a surprise,
like a spectacular dinosaur cake or
an adventure video game that returns
to that dino age (like Jurassic Park).
But this time traveling really happened,
and now that I’m ten,
I’ll ask for snow again for my birthday next year.

(NOTE: Many areas of the country – including Linda’s and mine – have been hit with April snowstorms, which makes one wonder if the definition of “spring” got changed and no one told us)

.
senryu

birth, death, in-between
happiness and pain, you find
a light of millions

– Anonymous

Once again, two vastly different approaches and imagery to three very simple pictures. Gosh, I love this contest! (And in case you’re wondering, we have a friend who prefers not to attach name to text; hence, the lack of identification)

There is less than a week and a half left to the month, so be sure to email your poems soon – I’ll share more poems next Friday, and then announce the winner on May 4!

For today’s complete poetry roundup, head on over to The Opposite of Indifference, where Tabatha Yeatts is hosting Poetry Friday. Oh, and it might take me awhile to reply to any comments, as I’m spending the weekend at the New England SCBWI conference in Springfield, Mass., starting today…but I will definitely be reading them all and reading all your “Poetry Cubed!” entries!

=========================================================

The Dinosaur Tour blog tour is rolling full-steam ahead! As part of our book’s kickoff, several kidlit bloggers are sharing DAAD reviews, interviews, and contests. It’s been a busy week, since the book officially debuted this past Tue., so here’s a list of all the bloggers participating:

April 6:       Michelle H. Barnes (Interview w/month-long writing prompt)
April 8:       Kate Narita (Book trailer & activity sheet spotlight)
April 11:     Deborah Kalb (Interview w/Matt & Deb)
April 13:     Yours Truly! (Interview w/illustrator Louie Chin)
April 16:     KidLit Exchange (Blog post re: process of illustration)
April 17:     Momma’s Bacon (DAAD review)
April 17: Yours Truly!
April 18:     Bonnie Ferrante (DAAD review)
April 19: KidLit Exchange (DAAD review)
April 19:     Brenda Davis Harsham (DAAD micro review)
April 25:     Bonnie Ferrante (Interview w/Matt & Deb)
May 2:        Unleashing Readers (DAAD review)
May 30:   Bookseedstudio (DAAD review/interview)

I hope you’ll stop by these blogs and learn something new about our book!

=========================================================

“DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR”
is now available everywhere!

Where will we be? When will we be there? Funny you should ask:

Thur., April 26, 10:30am: Pillsbury Free Library, Warner, NH, Dinosaur Storytime with Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People!
Sat., April 28, 10:30am: Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., April 28, 2pm: Barnes & Noble, Framingham, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur reading/signing (with Sara Levine, Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones reading/signing)
Sun., April 29, 2pm: MainStreet BookEnds, Warner, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing and discussion
Sat., May 5, 10am: Barnes & Noble, Burlington, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., May 5, 1pm: Barnes & Noble, Nashua, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and Flashlight Night reading/signing
Sat., May 12, 11am: Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Wed., May 15, 12pm: Concord Hospital Gift Shop, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People signing
Sat., May 19, 11:30am-3pm: Barnes & Noble, Salem, NH, National Storytime at 11am, followed by Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., June 2, 1-3pm: Books-A-Million, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing

=========================================================

The 2018 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem!

A little seed is on an adventure…the 2018 Progressive Poem is underway! Here’s the list of all the writers/bloggers participating, so you can follow along:

April 1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
2 Jane at Raincity Librarian
3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Jan at bookseedstudio
6 Irene at Live Your Poem
7 Linda at TeacherDance
8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink
13 Linda at A Word Edgewise
14 Heidi at my juicy little universe
15 Donna at Mainely Write
16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle
17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town
18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering
19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
20 Linda at Write Time
21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
23 Amy at The Poem Farm
24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
28 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
29 April at Teaching Authors
30 Doraine at Dori Reads

=========================================================

Thank you so much to all the librarians, bloggers, and parents who are still discovering “Flashlight Night!”

NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
KIRKUS Starred review!
Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017!
“Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers

=========================================================

Purchasing personalized signed copies ONLINE? Yes, it’s true!

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new way to purchase personalized signed copies of not only Flashlight Night, but ANY of my books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

=========================================================

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!

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

National Poetry Month: “H is for Haiku” Interview with Amy Losak AND The 2018 Progressive Poem Day 10!

On April 10, 2018April 11, 2018 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry34 Comments

National Poetry Month is underway and I’ve got a lot going on: poetry, interviews, student writing, a national book launch for my second picture book! Today, in addition to my contribution to the 2018 Progressive Poem, I have an interview with Amy Losak about H is for Haiku (Penny Candy Books), a brand-new children’s poetry collection written by her late mom, Sydell Rosenberg.

Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, Amy! First of all, congratulations on the book – it’s been a long time coming. Can you please share with my readers what the book is about?

Matt, thanks very much for your kindness and interest! H Is For Haiku: A Treasury of Haiku from A to Z (Penny Candy Books, illustrated by Sawsan Chalabi) is an alphabet collection of short poems – haiku and senryu –written by my mother, Sydell Rosenberg. Syd was a charter member of the Haiku Society of America in 1968 and served as HSA secretary in 1975. Mom was a New Yorker, so she called her short poems “city haiku” (in a classic book released in 1974, The Haiku Anthology, edited by Cor van den Heuvel and published by Doubleday Anchor). Some of her poems in this new picture book have an urban “flavor” or “feel,” yet they also are universal – and timeless.

In addition, mom’s senryu will be featured in a new anthology from National Geographic, The Poetry of US, edited by former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis. It will be released in late September.

That’s terrific! I know a number of folks who will have poems included in that book, myself included, so it’s an honor to be in it with her. I remember when we first met online, you were in the process of finding a publisher for this book. How long did it take you to go from searching to finally nailing down a deal?

In truth, this has been a long and often arduous journey. Mom had completed at least a couple of kids’ poetry manuscripts, including a haiku A-B-C reader. She submitted them to publishers in the 1980s, perhaps even in the 1970s. (I have some of her saved rejection letters somewhere).

At mom’s funeral in 1996, I remember that my brother Nathan, sister-in-law Debbie, and I promised to fulfill her dream of publishing a picture book. But I didn’t start to get “get serious” until around 2011. Then it became an act of almost Herculean mobilization, because her work is disorganized. And emotionally, I wasn’t ready to tackle a project of this magnitude sooner.

But I finally began to wade through a welter of her papers, notebooks, etc., that had been thrown into boxes and bags after she died. I managed to assemble a lovely cache of her work, including poems from those old manuscripts. I contacted arts education and literacy organizations with proposals about partnering on programs to use her haiku as teaching tools. I connected with a terrific nonprofit arts education organization in New York, Arts For All (arts-for-all.org).

For several years, we have had a successful collaboration. Mom’s haiku and senryu are used to teach the basics of painting, drawing and collage; music; and theater in a Bronx school and a Queens school. I’ve also conducted readings of her adult and kids’ poetry at the Queens Botanical Garden and The Poets House in NY, respectively. And a few years ago at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in New York, teaching artists even created a gorgeous, golden structure: a haiku PoeTree!

But my ultimate goal has always been this book. I first began submitting mom’s manuscript directly to publishers in early April of 2015 – I believe on April 1 (no fooling!). I signed the contract with the wonderful Penny Candy Books (the principals are Chad Reynolds and Alexis Orgera, who also are poets) on October 31 in 2016 (yes, Halloween). When you add it all up, it has taken decades to reach this destination.

I have to give thanks to the extraordinary encouragement of many people: family, friends, colleagues, poets and children’s authors. I am deeply grateful for this wellspring of support – it’s been invaluable.

There are a lot of folks writing haiku these days. What do you think your mom’s poetry offers readers they may not have experienced before?

Haiku is global in scope and popularity today. Poets around the world are producing glorious work and supporting each other’s creative spirits. My mom’s style changed somewhat over her thirty-odd years as a “haijin” (haiku poet) – at times, her work got sparer. The poems in HIFH are more like, I think, miniature stories. I refer to them as “word-pictures” that capture nature and human nature “in nuggets.” They are gentle, and gently humorous — observant “slices” of life to make readers smile.

From “H is for Haiku,” © 2018 Amy Losak, Sawsan Chalabi, Penny Candy Press; all rights reserved, used with permission (Click to enlarge)

Back in the ’80’s, you helped create promotional materials for the PBS TV series, “Voices & Visions”…how did your business and broadcast experience help – if it all – during the process of getting this poetry collection off the ground?

This assignment was early in my career as a publicist, thanks to the mentorship and guidance of my two female bosses at the time, Charlotte Klein and Betty Travis. They were senior public relations executives, I helped promote this TV series about American poets – which “distance learners” could take for college credit — on behalf of The Annenberg/CPB Project. I loved the creative challenges and opportunities Charlotte and Betty gave me.

But I had no inkling then that, decades later, I would undertake this “mission” of publishing my mother’s work, not to mention writing (and sometimes publishing) my own short poetry too. And yet, in hindsight, perhaps my career helped lay the groundwork.

I also worked on the press kit and media relations outreach for the 1980’s PBS series, “Anne of Green Gables,” thanks to my mentors. I grew up with L.M. Montgomery’s books (my parents took us on a jaunt to Prince Edward Island when I was a teen), and Anne’s poetic sensibility resonated with me. I thought of her as a “kindred spirit.” I still do! (See my blog here: https://www.pennycandybooks.com/blog-1/losak)

Which poem is your favorite from this collection, and why?

I confess I have several. One that I have come to love is:
.

So pale — it hardly sat

on the outstretched branch

of the winter night.

This award-winning haiku was published twice in the journal, Haiku West (1968 and 1975) and was also published on mom’s tribute page in the December, 1996 issue of Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America. I am captivated by the mystery of this poem, because “it” isn’t specified. “It” can be anything the reader imagines – the friendly moon, certainly (Sawsan’s lovely interpretation in the book), but other things too. This haiku is serene, simple… yet striking.

Indeed, it is, Amy…and I agree, the ambiguity is key. There are wonderful, unique visuals in several other poems, as well, like children with umbrellas compared to rows of mushrooms and flamingos’ legs “melting” in the lake water. My favorite poem happens to be on the very first page:

One last question: if you could tell someone unfamiliar with haiku why they should purchase this book, what would you say?

Syd’s haiku (and haiku in general) will open children’s eyes – awaken their senses –to the expansive possibilities in the “small moments” of their everyday lives. Haiku is about happiness, discovery, fun, play…and awareness.

Well, thank you again, Amy, and best wishes for success with this book!

Thank you, Matt! I hope readers – kids and adults alike – find joy in H Is For Haiku, and use the collection as a springboard for reading more great haiku and writing their own, too!

Again, H Is For Haiku is now in stores everywhere – so Happy Book Birthday, Amy! One week from today, I’ll be interviewing illustrator Louie Chin, for our book birthday of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books), so please keep an eye out for that!

=========================================================

The 2018 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem is HERE!

A little seed is on an adventure! The 2018 Progressive Poem is underway, and our little heroine has just invented a game. What type of game? We’re not sure at this point, because she’s feasting on stardrops with Owl and has invited Moon to join her – but he has other ideas.

I’ve had to think quite a bit about what I should add for my line; the seed has invented a game, but she’s not playing it – which is a conundrum as far as a narrative goes. Interestingly, this is probably the tightest narrative we’ve had in all the years of the Progressive Poem – we usually go on these vast, epic, poetic journeys of discovery!

When the poem began on April 1, I saw the imagery of the seed…of the morning… of stretching…as symbolic of new beginnings and adventure. I was hoping this year’s poem would take us into uncharted territory – and that’s what it appears to be doing! My main concern, to be honest, was that I didn’t want the plot to become too similar to Frank Asch’s Moongame. So without being too specific, I tried to move the poem forward and leave the next writer something creative to work with.

Here is the poem so far, with my line at the end…
.

Nestled in her cozy bed, a seed stretched.
Oh, what wonderful dreams she had had!
Blooming in midnight moonlight, dancing with
the pulse of a thousand stars, sweet Jasmine
invented a game.
“Moon?” she called across warm, honeyed air.
“I’m sad you’re alone; come join Owl and me.
We’re feasting on stardrops, we’ll share them with you.”
“Come find me,” Moon called, hiding behind a cloud.

Secure in gentle talons’ embrace, Jasmine rose

Being the only guy taking part in this year’s Progressive Poem, I was inclined to include something about motorcycles, power tools, or bikinis…but I restrained myself.

Take it away, Brenda! Here’s a list of all the folks participating, so you can follow along!

April
1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
2 Jane at Raincity Librarian
3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Jan at bookseedstudio
6 Irene at Live Your Poem
7 Linda at TeacherDance
8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink
13 Linda at A Word Edgewise
14 Heidi at my juicy little universe
15 Donna at Mainely Write
16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle
17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town
18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering
19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
20 Linda at Write Time
21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
23 Amy at The Poem Farm
24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
28 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
29 April at Teaching Authors
30 Doraine at Dori Reads

=========================================================

“THE DINOSAUR TOUR” blog tour continues TOMORROW, April 11, at Deb Kalb’s place! My thanks to all the bloggers who are joining in the celebration of the launch of my new book, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur, co-authored with Deborah Bruss.

The complete list of blogs taking part in the DINOSAUR TOUR:

April 6:       Michelle H. Barnes (Interview w/month-long writing prompt)
April 8:       Kate Narita (Book trailer & activity sheet spotlight)
April 11:     Deborah Kalb (Interview w/Matt & Deb)
April 13:     Yours Truly! (Interview w/illustrator Louie Chin)
April 16:     KidLit Exchange (Blog post re: process of illustration)
April 17:     Momma’s Bacon (DAAD review)
April 17: Yours Truly! (I’ll be sharing a couple of spreads of the book here – and gearing up for our National Book Launch that night in Cambridge, MA!)
April 18:     Bonnie Ferrante (DAAD review)
April 19:     Brenda Davis Harsham (DAAD micro review)
April 25:     Bonnie Ferrante (Interview w/Matt & Deb)
May 2:        Unleashing Readers (DAAD review)
TBD: KidLit Exchange (DAAD review)
May 30: Bookseedstudio (DAAD review/interview)

I hope you’ll stop by these various blogs, as you’ll learn something new at each one, plus you’ll have multiple opportunities to win copies of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!

=========================================================

The DINOSAURS are COMING…

“DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR” arrives in stores April 17!

New dates continue to be added to the Dinosaur Tour! Here’s the most up-to-date schedule:

Sat., April 14, 11am: Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough, NH, (Children’s Author Day with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke AND Local Book Launch for Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!)
Sat., April 14, 2pm: Toadstool Bookshop, Keene, NH, (Children’s Author Day with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke AND Local Book Launch for Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!)
Tue., April 17, 7pm: Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur Dual National Launch Party!! (with Holly Thompson, One Wave at a Time reading/signing/discussion)
Thur., April 26, 10:30am: Pillsbury Free Library, Warner, NH, Dinosaur Storytime with Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People!
Sat., April 28, 10:30am: Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., April 28, 2pm: Barnes & Noble, Framingham, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur reading/signing (with Sara Levine, Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones reading/signing)
Sun., April 29, 2pm: MainStreet BookEnds, Warner, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing and discussion
Sat., May 5, 10am: Barnes & Noble, Burlington, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., May 5, 1pm: Barnes & Noble, Nashua, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., May 12, 11am: Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Wed., May 16, 12pm: Concord Hospital Gift Shop, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People signing
Sat., May 19, 11:30am-3pm: Barnes & Noble, Salem, NH, National Storytime at 11am, followed by Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., June 2, 1-3pm: Books-A-Million, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing

=========================================================

Thank you so much to all the librarians, bloggers, and parents who are still discovering “Flashlight Night!”

NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
KIRKUS Starred review!
Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017!
“Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers

=========================================================

Purchasing personalized signed copies ONLINE? Yes, it’s true!

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new way to purchase personalized signed copies of not only Flashlight Night, but ANY of my books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

=========================================================

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!

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

Poetry Friday/National Poetry Month: A Dinosaur-sized interview/poetry prompt and “Poetry…Cubed!” First Entries

On April 6, 2018April 6, 2018 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry30 Comments

National Poetry Month is underway and there’s a lot going on here at the Triple-R Ranch: poetry, interviews, student writing, and a national book launch for my second picture book, among other things. First up, though: an interview with Michelle H. Barnes at Today’s Little Ditty!

At her blog today, Michelle is sharing the news about Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids), the picture book I’ve written with author Deborah Bruss. Deb and I had a lot of fun with her interview, and I encourage you to check it out HERE! (We also have a fun Ditty of the Month Challenge for you!)

Michelle’s blog post is also special in another way: she is officially kicking off the “DINOSAUR TOUR” – a blog tour running throughout April and early May to celebrate this brand-new book! The complete list of blogs taking part in the DINOSAUR TOUR:

April 6:       Michelle H. Barnes (Interview w/month-long writing prompt)
April 8:       Kate Narita (Book trailer & activity sheet spotlight)
April 11:     Deborah Kalb (Interview w/Matt & Deb)
April 13:     Yours Truly! (Interview w/illustrator Louie Chin)
April 16:     KidLit Exchange (Blog post re: process of illustration)
April 17:     Momma’s Bacon (DAAD review)
April 17: Yours Truly! (I’ll be sharing a couple of spreads of the book right here – and gearing up for our National Book Launch that night in Cambridge, MA!)
April 18:     Bonnie Ferrante (DAAD review)
April 19:     Brenda Davis Harsham (DAAD micro review)
April 25:     Bonnie Ferrante (Interview w/Matt & Deb)
May 2:        Unleashing Readers (DAAD review)
TBD: KidLit Exchange (DAAD review)
May 30: Bookseedstudio (DAAD review/interview)

I hope you’ll stop by these various blogs, as you’ll learn something new at each one, plus you’ll have multiple opportunities to win copies of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!

=========================================================

“Poetry…Cubed! #5” entries are already pouring in!

Because a book launch does not make a person crazy-busy enough, I also thought National Poetry Month would be a good time to host another round of “Poetry…Cubed!” This time…with a little thematic element.

Use the 3 images below as inspiration to write a poem. (1 poem, to the 3rd power – “cubed!”)
.
The poem can be any form, any genre, any number of lines, rhyming or not. (Heck, I’ll accept a monoku, if you think you can do it!) But please remember: #WriteLikeNoOneIsReading! This is about having fun and being creative – unlike the “real” Chopped, which is all about skill, artistry, and a potential career-ending slip of the knife.
.
Be sure to include a reference to all three images in the one poem – either via concrete imagery or something more abstract. (And since this is poetry we’re talking about, we play fast and loose with this rule!)
.
Email your poem to me at Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com and I’ll share them here throughout the month. Out of all poems submitted, one writer will be chosen at random to receive a personally-signed copy of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!

Keep in mind, I can only format poems to a small degree – so please try to refrain from lots of unusual breaks and text placement. I’ll do my best to format your poem per your wishes, but WordPress will only allow me to do so much.

Here are the three images (click on any to enlarge):

And yes…I’m indulging in a little shameless self-promotion with these – and the more you learn about Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and Flashlight Night (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), the more you’ll understand!

I’ve already had numerous entries come in since the contest began last Friday! Here are some of them:
.

Poetry

An entry to the world of numbers and words
Praises that describe, adorn, paint the brain so faint with vivid imagination.
Songs and praises that take my mind to the edge of ecstacy
Like a drug

It is so easy to play with words like dies,
Cubic shapes with dots or numbers that determine a win or lose
In words of breath I relate
I sing
I recite
I rotate

In my right mind I write
My mind is poetry
The power of poetry is to free the mind to think as you like
The power of poetry is “Power- to the third Power”

Poetry is imagination
Poetry…

– © 2018 Sandile Dlamiini, all rights reserved
.

Best Cake Ever

It’s party day! So much to do.
Shopping, baking, cleaning, too.

Make “Best Cake Ever!”
(Take a nap?)
No! Don’t you have some gifts to wrap?

Almost ready.
Yikes! They’re here!
Socks away! Hallways clear!

Presents? Thank you!
Games and laughter.
Best Cake Ever?
Only after…

Candles… Wish…
A song for you.
Blow them out! Let’s feed this crew.

CRASH! STOMP! ROAR!
Flail about!
SCREAM! HIDE!
“Wait… and don’t come out.”

Grope in darkness. Find a light.
Friends afraid, “but we’re all right.”

Look for clues. The wall… the floor…
the hall… a TAIL beneath a door?!?!

Trembling fingers, breathless pause:

Caught!
In the act!
With frosting claws!!

Faint.

No, RUN AWAY!
No more party here today!!

…

Peace and quiet.
Kitchen free.

Must be time for cake and tea.

(NOTE: Savannah tells me her Mom was the culprit, wearing a realistic dino suit!)

.
haiku

Frigid days clutch, claw
Snow clouds persist, block sun’s beams
Happy Midwest Spring!

Amazing how three simple images can conjure such different reactions, isn’t it?? That’s why I love this little contest I devised. Send me your response to this challenge, and I’ll enter you in the drawing, too!

For today’s complete poetry roundup, please visit my friend Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm, where she is hosting Poetry Friday with another sample of her Poetry Month Project: 1 Subject, 30 Ways!

=========================================================

And in case you missed it…

I shared some 2nd-grader poetry earlier this week, written by students I visited at a local elementary school, and I also shared an interview an Australian ezine did with me, which they just published this week!

If you missed these posts, please check them out!

=========================================================

The 2018 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem!

A little seed is about to go on an adventure! The 2018 Progressive Poem is underway, and here’s a list of all the writers/bloggers participating – so you can follow along:

April 1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
2 Jane at Raincity Librarian
3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Jan at bookseedstudio
6 Irene at Live Your Poem
7 Linda at TeacherDance
8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink
13 Linda at A Word Edgewise
14 Heidi at my juicy little universe
15 Donna at Mainely Write
16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle
17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town
18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering
19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
20 Linda at Write Time
21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
23 Amy at The Poem Farm
24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
28 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
29 April at Teaching Authors
30 Doraine at Dori Reads

=========================================================

SCHOOL PEOPLE are here…and the DINOSAURS are on their way!

DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR hits bookshelves April 17!

New dates continue to be added to the Dinosaur Tour! Here’s the most up-to-date schedule:

Sat., April 14, 11am: Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough, NH, (Children’s Author Day with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke AND Local Book Launch for Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!)
Sat., April 14, 2pm: Toadstool Bookshop, Keene, NH, (Children’s Author Day with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke AND Local Book Launch for Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!)
Tue., April 17, 7pm: Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur Dual National Launch Party!! (with Holly Thompson, One Wave at a Time reading/signing/discussion)
Thur., April 26, 10:30am: Pillsbury Free Library, Warner, NH, Dinosaur Storytime with Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People!
Sat., April 28, 10:30am: Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., April 28, 2pm: Barnes & Noble, Framingham, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur reading/signing (with Sara Levine, Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones reading/signing)
Sun., April 29, 2pm: MainStreet BookEnds, Warner, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing and discussion
Sat., May 5, 10am: Barnes & Noble, Burlington, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., May 5, 1pm: Barnes & Noble, Nashua, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., May 12, 11am: Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Wed., May 16, 12pm: Concord Hospital Gift Shop, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People signing
Sat., May 19, 11:30am-3pm: Barnes & Noble, Salem, NH, National Storytime at 11am, followed by Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., June 2, 1-3pm: Books-A-Million, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing

=========================================================

Thank you so much to all the librarians, bloggers, and parents who are still discovering “Flashlight Night!”

NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
KIRKUS Starred review!
Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017!
“Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers

=========================================================

Purchasing personalized signed copies ONLINE? Yes, it’s true!

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new way to purchase personalized signed copies of not only Flashlight Night, but ANY of my books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

=========================================================

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!

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

National Poetry Month: Interview w/Aussie e-zine “Pass It On!”

On April 5, 2018April 4, 2018 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry4 Comments

I recently had the good fortune to be asked if I’d care to be interviewed for an Australian-based writer’s newsletter, an e-zine called Pass It On. Since it was my Facebook friend Jackie Hosking who was doing the asking, I said absolutely!

Since the interview is only viewable in this current week’s issue – which is via email only – there’s nowhere I can direct you to read the interview, if you so choose. So Jackie is letting me share the interview here, in its entirety, for any of my blog followers who might want to read it. Just click each page to enlarge it.

(And if you’d like to sign up for Pass It On, you can get more info HERE. It’s really quite an extensive ezine!)

Thank YOU, Jackie, for asking me to be part of your incredible ezine! (I feel so international now.) If you’d like to learn more about any of the books mentioned, just scroll down…

=========================================================

The Progressive Poem continues to progress! Thirty different writers are contributing 30 different lines, and you can follow the story at these blogs:

April 1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
2 Jane at Raincity Librarian
3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Jan at bookseedstudio
6 Irene at Live Your Poem
7 Linda at TeacherDance
8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink
13 Linda at A Word Edgewise
14 Heidi at my juicy little universe
15 Donna at Mainely Write
16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle
17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town
18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering
19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
20 Linda at Write Time
21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
23 Amy at The Poem Farm
24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
28 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
29 April at Teaching Authors
30 Doraine at Dori Reads

Be sure to join me THIS FRIDAY as I share the first of this month’s Poetry…Cubed! entries, and I’ll also be sharing the link to the FIRST STOP on our DINOSAUR TOUR blog tour! (It’s going to be fun – and there’s a Challenge that goes along with it!)

=========================================================

SCHOOL PEOPLE are here…and the DINOSAURS are on their way!

DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR hits bookshelves April 17!

New dates continue to be added to the Dinosaur Tour! Here’s the most up-to-date schedule:

Sat., April 14, 11am: Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough, NH, (Children’s Author Day with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke AND Local Book Launch for Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!)
Sat., April 14, 2pm: Toadstool Bookshop, Keene, NH, (Children’s Author Day with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke AND Local Book Launch for Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!)
Tue., April 17, 7pm: Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur Dual National Launch Party!! (with Holly Thompson, One Wave at a Time reading/signing/discussion)
Thur., April 26, 10:30am: Pillsbury Free Library, Warner, NH, Dinosaur Storytime with Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People!
Sat., April 28, 10:30am: Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., April 28, 2pm: Barnes & Noble, Framingham, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur reading/signing (with Sara Levine, Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones reading/signing)
Sun., April 29, 2pm: MainStreet BookEnds, Warner, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing and discussion
Sat., May 5, 10am: Barnes & Noble, Burlington, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., May 5, 1pm: Barnes & Noble, Nashua, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., May 12, 11am: Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Wed., May 16, 12pm: Concord Hospital Gift Shop, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People signing
Sat., May 19, 11:30am-3pm: Barnes & Noble, Salem, NH, National Storytime at 11am, followed by Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., June 2, 1-3pm: Books-A-Million, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing

=========================================================

Thank you so much to all the librarians, bloggers, and parents who are still discovering “Flashlight Night!”

NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
KIRKUS Starred review!
Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017!
“Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers

=========================================================

Purchasing personalized signed copies ONLINE? Yes, it’s true!

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new way to purchase personalized signed copies of not only Flashlight Night, but ANY of my books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

=========================================================

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!

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

National Poetry Month 2018: 2nd-Graders discover poetry!

On April 3, 2018April 2, 2018 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry5 Comments

National Poetry Month is underway! To celebrate, I have quite a bit planned: an interview with Amy Losak about her late mother’s new children’s book H is for Haiku (Penny Candy Books, April 10, 2018); an interview with Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids, April 17, 2018) illustrator Louie Chin; Irene Latham’s 2018 Progressive Poem; and details about the “Dinosaur Tour” blog tour!

Today, I wanted to share a few poems written by some of the students at a local elementary school I visited a few weeks ago. After I read some of my published poems and spoke a little bit about what poetry is and why I enjoy writing it, I had them do some brainstorming with three images (which you may recognize from past “Poetry…Cubed!” contests!).

We talked about “re-naming” the objects, and what else the images might be or might represent, and then I departed – to let them work on their poems on their own. Here are the three images we used:
.

The kids really got into the brainstorming session – identifying images like the eye as “earth,” “marble,” and “curtains” (because of the lashes – how cool is that??) and the headlight as “glass,” “sparkle,” and “projector!” Here’s a sample of what these kids came up with…The Earth you know it
by your planet, the Sun
gives light. Our world
is a projector of life.

– Liam

Clouds cover the sky like a blanket.
The sky becomes gloomy and the wind blows
almost like it’s a bunch
of leaves flowing.

– Linnea

Sunset sunset, in the night,
sometimes you shine so, so bright.
A starry sky will come so soon,
I can’t wait for me tomorrow
to come up and bloom.

– Tucker

I am asleep, the sunset
down quiet and still in my tomb.
I will wake up, I know, I know.
So Much Z’s, we, we, we.
So much to dream at bedtime
for us. Good night.

– Walker

.
Don’t you love the styles and voices these kids are displaying? We start out with a little prose poetry from Liam, move on to some pastoral free verse from Linnea, Tucker goes for the rhyming verse, and Walker wraps it up with some deep introspection, likening his bed to a tomb! (Come on, that’s brilliant!)

I love seeing young kids thinking like this, stretching their creative muscles, and having fun doing it! My thanks to the students’ teacher, Ms. Smith, and the second grade team for hosting me, and I look forward to visiting them again.

By the way, if you are interested in having me visit your school to chat with the students about writing, poetry, and getting them to use their brains (all while keeping my presentations aligned with Common Core Anchor Standards for Writing 3, 4, or 5!), please let me know! Email me at matt (at) mattforrest (dot) com and we can discuss rates and dates and times, oh my.

As for the Progressive Poem I mentioned earlier, a seed has awoken! To follow along with the story, here’s a list of all the folks who are participating – including Yours Truly:

April 1 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass
2 Jane at Raincity Librarian
3 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Jan at bookseedstudio
6 Irene at Live Your Poem
7 Linda at TeacherDance
8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
9 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
10 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
12 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink
13 Linda at A Word Edgewise
14 Heidi at my juicy little universe
15 Donna at Mainely Write
16 Sarah at Sarah Grace Tuttle
17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town
18 Christie at Wondering and Wandering
19 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
20 Linda at Write Time
21 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
22 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
23 Amy at The Poem Farm
24 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
25 Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
28 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
29 April at Teaching Authors
30 Doraine at Dori Reads

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SCHOOL PEOPLE are here…and the DINOSAURS are on their way!

DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR hits bookshelves April 17!

New dates continue to be added to the Dinosaur Tour! Here’s the most up-to-date schedule:

Sat., April 14, 11am: Toadstool Bookshop, Peterborough, NH, (Children’s Author Day with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke AND Local Book Launch for Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!)
Sat., April 14, 2pm: Toadstool Bookshop, Keene, NH, (Children’s Author Day with illustrator Ryan O’Rourke AND Local Book Launch for Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!)
Tue., April 17, 7pm: Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur Dual National Launch Party!! (with Holly Thompson, One Wave at a Time reading/signing/discussion)
Thur., April 26, 10:30am: Pillsbury Free Library, Warner, NH, Dinosaur Storytime with Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People!
Sat., April 28, 10:30am: Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., April 28, 2pm: Barnes & Noble, Framingham, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur reading/signing (with Sara Levine, Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones reading/signing)
Sun., April 29, 2pm: MainStreet BookEnds, Warner, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing and discussion
Sat., May 5, 10am: Barnes & Noble, Burlington, MA, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., May 5, 1pm: Barnes & Noble, Nashua, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., May 12, 11am: Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Wed., May 16, 12pm: Concord Hospital Gift Shop, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People signing
Sat., May 19, 11:30am-3pm: Barnes & Noble, Salem, NH, National Storytime at 11am, followed by Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing
Sat., June 2, 1-3pm: Books-A-Million, Concord, NH, Don’t Ask a Dinosaur and School People reading/signing

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Thank you so much to all the librarians, bloggers, and parents who are still discovering “Flashlight Night!”

NY Public Library’s “100 Best Book for Kids 2017” AND “Staff Pick!”
KIRKUS Starred review!
Amazon “Best Books of the Month,” Sept. 2017!
“Best Reads of 2017,” Unleashing Readers

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Purchasing personalized signed copies ONLINE? Yes, it’s true!

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new way to purchase personalized signed copies of not only Flashlight Night, but ANY of my books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

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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!

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

Poetry Friday: “Poetry…Cubed!” wraps up today!

On April 28, 2017April 27, 2017 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry21 Comments

Before I get to today’s post, I just wanted to mention that – in case you missed it – I shared a few new peeks of my debut picture book, Flashlight Night (Boyd’s Mills Press, 2017) this past Tuesday! The advance copy arrived in the mail while I was at the New England SCBWI conference, and what a welcome home gift it was.

So now I’m back from my conference, and have a few more poems to share as we wrap up this month-long writing challenge I call “Poetry…Cubed!” – based on the premise of the The Food Network show, “Chopped!”

Writers were asked to use the 3 images below as inspiration to write a poem – any form, any genre, any number of lines, rhyming or not. The only hitch was that a reference to all three images needed to be included in the poem.

Out of all the poems submitted, one lucky person would be chosen at random to receive a copy of the Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books, 2015). Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared a number of entries, and today, we have FIVE more poems!

But first…here are the three images (click on any to enlarge):

(All images courtesy of Katherine Esenwine)

The first poem is by Brenda Davis Harsham, who saw all sorts of emotion within those pictures:

Van Gogh the Trickster

With his swirling strokes,
flowers unfold, stars twinkle,
Japanese screen images flirt,
couples lean in, sowers seed,
and your eye is tricked
into thinking
paint is real,
happiness lasts,
and youth is forever.

Today’s second entry is a haiku from The Poetry Princess herself, Joy Acey:

Eye of the Tiger
on the silver movie screen
a white hibiscus

.
Third, we have a poem from Karen Eastlund, who was inspired to write this poem after she saw a billboard on the way to her aunt & uncle’s house:

Best Billboard

The billboard caught my eye immediately
Not for its bright colors
Or flowery words
But for the humor

PETRIFIED WATERMELONS
Take one home to your mother-in-law

We laughed our way to
My uncle’s house
And then we laughed some more

Our fourth poem comes from Donna Smith, who took a break from packing (in advance of a big move), to write a poem for this challenge:

Vision

My vision clouded
Confounded
By these walls,
Surrounded;
But on the other side
The blossoms
Of sweeter times
Rebound;
Days of freedom
Behind and ahead
Resound;
In glory
Astound.

Last but certainly not least, is a poem by Kay Jernigan McGriff, who weaves all 3 images into a spring scene:

Focus

A clenched bud
unfurls its petals
one by one
as spring unspools
before my eyes.

Bees dance
across the petals
step by step
as spring writes a new
saga across earth’s screen.

.
And out of all the entries…who is our randomly-picked winner??

Brenda Davis Harsham!

Congratulations, Brenda! I’ll get your copy of the Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations to you as soon as possible!

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REMEMBER: Irene Latham‘s annual Progressive Poem continues! Each day throughout April a different person adds a line – until we have a complete, 30-poet poem on April 30.

I added my line yesterday which means there are only a few days left, but if you’d like to follow along and see how it’s been progressing, here’s the schedule:

1 Heidi at my juicy little universe
2 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
3 Doraine at Dori Reads
4 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
5 Diane at Random Noodling
6 Kat at Kat’s Whiskers
7 Irene at Live Your Poem
8 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
9 Linda at TeacherDance
10 Penny at a penny and her jots
11 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
12 Janet F. at Live Your Poem
13 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
14 Jan at Bookseedstudio
15 Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales
16 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy
17 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
19 Pat at Writer on a Horse
20 BJ at Blue Window
21 Donna at Mainely Write
22 Jone at Jone Ruch MacCulloch
23 Ruth at There is no such thing as a godforsaken town
24 Amy at The Poem Farm
25 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
26 Renee at No Water River
27 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
28 Michelle at Michelle Kogan
29 Charles at Poetry Time
30 Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids

If you still can’t get enough poetry, head over to Teaching Authors, where JoAnn Early Macken and crew are celebrating today’s Poetry Friday roundup with April showers!

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Flashlight Night (Boyd’s Mills Press) hits bookshelves Sept. 5, 2017!

Pre-orders are available now by clicking the image of the cover to the right, or if you prefer, you can wait til Sept. 5 and purchase it at your favorite local bookstore.

(Good grief, this is all really happening…)

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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!

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

The 2017 Progressive Poem has arrived!

On April 27, 2017April 27, 2017 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry34 Comments

The day is finally here!

Irene Latham’s annual Progressive Poem has made its way to my little home on the web here, and it’s time for me to add my line to a poem that has been growing and developing for the past 26 days. And what better day to do this than today, Poem in Your Pocket Day. So find a poem you like, write it down or print it out, and hang onto it…and share it with someone who may enjoy it, as well!

If you don’t know, here’s how the Progressive Poem works: each day throughout April a different person adds a line until we have a complete, 30-poet poem on April 30!

Our heroine (or hero?) has been on adventure that we learned was actually a stage production – or at least, that’s how many of us perceived it – so my illustrious fellow blogger/writer, Renee LaTulippe assisted with our denouement with yesterday’s line.

Today, it’s up to me to continue the saga! As the poem has bounced between rhyming and non-rhyming lines, metered and unmetered, I tried not to worry too much about form, but did try to maintain the integrity of the previous lines and the movement of the poem itself:

I’m fidget, friction, ragged edges–
I sprout stories that frazzle-dazzle,
stories of castles, of fires that crackle
with dragonwords that smoke and sizzle.

But edges sometimes need sandpaper,
like swords need stone and clouds need vapour.
So I shimmy out of my spurs and armour
facing the day as my fickle, freckled self.

I thread the crowd, wear freedom in my smile,
and warm to the coals of conversation.
Enticed to the stage by strands of story,
I skip up the stairs in anticipation.

Flip around, face the crowd, and freeze!
Shiver me. Look who’s here. Must I disappear?
By hook or by crook, I deserve a second look!
I cheer. Please, have no fear. Find the book.

But wait! I’ll share the lines I know by heart.
Mythical howls, fiery tones slip from my lip
Blue scales flash, claws rip, the prophecy begins
Dragonworld weaves webs that grip. I take a trip…

“Anchors aweigh!” Steadfast at helm on clipper ship,
a topsail schooner, with sails unfurled, speeds away
As, true-hearted dragon pirate, I sashay
with my wise parrot, Robyn, through the spray.

“Land Ho!” (“Land Ho!”) We’ve hooked the whole crowd.
So it’s true what they say: the play IS the thing.
Stepping back from my blocking, theatre grows loud…

Take it away, Michelle!

If you’d like, you can follow along and watch the progress – and catch up on how the poem has “progressed” up to this point! Here’s the schedule:

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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!

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

Poetry Friday: The 2016 Progressive Poem is here!

On April 15, 2016April 15, 2016 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry36 Comments

Poet/blogger Irene Latham‘s annual Progressive Poem has been rolling through
the kidlitosphere all month, and it has finally arrived at my little corner o’ the web! Each day, a different writer adds a line, and on April 30 we’ll see how it ends when Donna at Mainely Writes adds the final line!

2016 Kidlit Progressive Poem A structure began to take shape early on, and by and large the folks who have added to the poem have been keeping that form in place. When Jone MacCulloch added her line yesterday, she referenced a “divining seer” – which was the second mention of a person who is not the speaker.

So now we have the speaker, a child, and now a seer…for a wistful, dreamy sort of nature poem, there’s suddenly a lot of people around! So what is this seer doing? Who is he or she? Let’s find out…

Here is the poem, including my line:

A squall of hawk wings stirs the sky.
A hummingbird holds and then hies.
If I could fly, I’d choose to be
Sailing through a forest of poet-trees.

A cast of crabs engraves the sand
Delighting a child’s outstretched hand.
If I could breathe under the sea,
I’d dive, I’d dip, I’d dance with glee

A clump of crocuses crave the sun.
Kites soar while joyful dogs run.
I sing to spring, to budding green,
to all of life— seen and unseen.

Wee whispers drift from cloud to ear
and finally reach one divining seer
who looks up from her perch and beams;

So the seer is…?? Could be the child, could be someone else, could be an animal – who knows? I’m betting Violet Nesdoly can fill us in when she adds her line tomorrow!

(Side note: I originally ended my line with the word ‘smiles,’ but then realized that Violet’s word choices would be very limited for a rhyme. So I changed it to ‘beams’ not only because it allows for more rhyming words, but the noun version can be used as a ‘perch’! Get it?? I love poetry!)

Want to follow along? Care to see the thought process of the lines that have come before? The 2016 Progressive Poem is making a stop at the following blogs:

April

1 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

2 Joy at Joy Acey

3 Doraine at Dori Reads

4 Diane at Random Noodling

5 Penny at A Penny and Her Jots

6 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink

7 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass

8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem

9 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

10 Pat at Writer on a Horse

11 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog

12 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty

13 Linda at TeacherDance

14 Jone at Deo Writer

15 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

16 Violet at Violet Nesdoly

17 Kim at Flukeprints

18 Irene at Live Your Poem

19 Charles at Charles Waters Poetry

20 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

21 Jan at Bookseedstudio

22 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

23 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

24 Amy at The Poem Farm

25 Mark at Jackett Writes

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Mary Lee at Poetrepository

28 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

29 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

30 Donna at Mainely Write

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By the way, if you have not had a chance to check out my post from this Tuesday, it’s a poem written by a teenage girl who falls under the autism spectrum, and it’s quite moving and insightful…I do hope you’ll take a look at it!

And for today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup – along with a surprising poem about water and echoes – please visit Michelle H. Barnes’ blog, Today’s Little Ditty!

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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!

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

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