Tag: snow

Poetry Friday: A National Flashlight Day WINNER – and a Merry Christmas!

On By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry8 Comments

We celebrated National Flashlight Day just a few days ago on Dec. 21 – the winter solstice, naturally – and I offered a free, personally-signed copy of my picture book Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) as a giveaway.

So congratulations to the winner: JILANNE HOFFMAN!!

Many thanks to everyone who entered – and a big thank you as well to Maria Marshall, who is featuring my upcoming picture book, I Am Today (POW! Kids Books, 2022) as part of her “Perfect Picture Book Friday” feature at her blog today.

I’m thrilled to read maria’s post because this follows on the heels of her post fro earlier this week, when she shared an interview with both illustrator Patricia Pessoa and me at her blog, the Picture Book Buzz.

The complete list:

I Am Today (POW! Kids Books) is available for pre-orders everywhere books are sold – but if you order from my local indie bookstore, I can personally-sign ANY of my books and have them in the mail usually within 12-24 hours!

My friend Buffy Silverman is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup – so head on over for all of today’s links and fun. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, no matter what holiday you celebrate…and for my fellow Christians and others who celebrate it, I wish you a happy, Merry Christmas!

Click to enlarge

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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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I’d love to visit with you or your child!
Learn more by clicking the graphic!

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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, (Astra Young Readers, 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 covers below to order!

rriving Nov. 30, 2021! Pre-order now!

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:

DON’T ASK A DINOSAUR:

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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: Winter morning haiku

On By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry20 Comments

(click to enlarge)

I took this photo yesterday morning as I was walking outside, across the street from our house. When I saw the sun glinting off the ice-touched trees, I knew I had to capture it – and of course, write something to go along with it!

In case you haven’t heard, we have a cover reveal coming for that picture book written with Charles Ghigna (aka, Father Goose®)! We were so thrilled when editor Naomi Krueger at Beaming Books contacted us last year to tell us she wanted to sign a contract! The book comes out August 18, and illustrator Andrés F. Landazábal’s soft, colorful imagery is beautiful. Tara Lazar, world-famous picture book wunderkind and children’s lit cheerleader, will be hosting the official cover reveal on her blog Feb. 10, as soon as she wraps up this year’s Storystorm – so don’t miss it!

What do school kids and possums have in common? Poetry Friday! My friend Kathryn Apel is hosting today’s Poetry Friday roundup at her blog, Kat’s Whiskers, and shares two poems about each of those subjects!

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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, and then they’ll ship it! (Plus, you’ll be supporting your local bookseller – and won’t that make you feel good?)

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

Thank you to everyone for your support!

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

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!

SCVBWI_Member-badge (5 years)
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: Early spring haiku AND the 2019 Progressive Poem is coming!

On By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry17 Comments

(click to enlarge)

I was thinking of how long winter’s been hanging on (it barely got over 40 yesterday and probably won’t go above 45 today), and thought I’d write something about a late spring…but then I came across this photo of Lake Tahoe from Photobucket entitled “Tahoe Early Spring” and changed my mind!

Well, it’s that time of year again – National Poetry Month arrives in just a few days, and so does Irene Latham‘s annual Progressive Poem, an opportunity for 30 bloggers and children’s writers to come together and create a poem over the course of the month. Each year Irene organizes this, and each year it’s a treat to see how the poem begins and grows and develops – and of course, how it ends!

This year, I’m excited to once again be a part of it (the only guy in the entire group – how did THAT happen??) and I’m especially honored to be given the opportunity to BEGIN the poem on April 1. What, pray tell, will be the opening line? I have no idea…although I have been kicking around several possibilities in my head. Be sure to check in Monday morning, when it all begins!

2019 Progressive Poem schedule:

April

1 Matt @Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
2 Kat @Kathryn Apel
3 Kimberly @KimberlyHutmacherWrites
4 Jone @DeoWriter
5 Linda @TeacherDance
6 Tara @Going to Walden
7 Ruth @thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown
8 Mary Lee @A Year of Reading
9 Rebecca @Rebecca Herzog
10 Janet F. @Live Your Poem
11 Dani @Doing the Work that Matters
12 Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
13 Doraine @Dori Reads
14 Christie @Wondering and Wandering
15 Robyn @Life on the Deckle Edge
16 Carol @Beyond LiteracyLink
17 Amy @The Poem Farm
18 Linda @A Word Edgewise
19 Heidi @my juicy little universe
20 Buffy @Buffy’s Blog
21 Michelle @Michelle Kogan
22 Catherine @Reading to the Core
23 Penny @a penny and her jots
24 Tabatha @The Opposite of Indifference
25 Jan @Bookseestudio
26 Linda @Write Time
27 Sheila @Sheila Renfro
28 Liz @Elizabeth Steinglass
29 Irene @Live Your Poem
30 Donna @Mainely Write

WINNER, WINNER!

Congratulations to the winner of a copy of Laura Purdie Salas’ new children’s poetry collection, In the Middle of the Night: Poems from a Wide-Awake House (Wordsong, 2019)…REBECCA HERZOG!! Out of all the folks who left comments on my post a couple of weeks ago (where I interviewed Laura’s “stuff!”), Rebecca’s name was drawn at random. Thanks for visiting, Rebecca, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the book!

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Madness!Poetry is down to the wire…my former adversary in the competition, author Lori Degman, has made it all the way to the final round and is up against my former fellow Poet’s Garage member, William Peery! Their poems will be posted soon, so don’t forget to vote in this all-important Final. And if you’re looking for more poetry, head on over to Carol’s Corner for today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup!

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


  Coming July 2, 2019!

You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers! (Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)

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

Thank you to everyone for your support!

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

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!

SCVBWI_Member-badge (5 years)
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!

 

Madness! Poetry – Round Two voting underway!

On By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetryLeave a comment

I don’t usually post on Sunday (OK, I NEVER post on Sunday), but I wanted to let you know that Round Two voting for Madness! Poetry is now underway!

Each participant is paired with another and given a specific word; we then have 36 hours to write a children’s poem using that exact word. Once the poems have all been submitted, the public gets to vote for their favorites – and the winning writer of each poem then moves on.

In Round One, I was given the word “bracing.” For Round Two, my competitor, fellow children’s author Lori Degman, and I needed to write a poem using the word “oblivion.” Through some quirk of fate, we both wrote poems using the exact same rhythmic structure and rhyme scheme – although both are quite different as far as subject matter. All the Round Two match-ups are now officially posted as of this morning, so please check them out and vote for your favorites!

NEXT FRIDAY: Join me as we celebrate the release of my friend Laura Purdie Salas’ new book, In the Middle of the Night (Boyds Mills Press, 2019)! (You could even win a free copy!)

Whew, that’s a lot of poetry news! For even more, head over to Reading to the Core, where Catherine is hosting today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup with an “Ode to Ellen Harding Baker” for International Women’s Day.

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


  Coming July 2, 2019!

You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers! (Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)

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

Thank you to everyone for your support!

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

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!

SCVBWI_Member-badge (5 years)
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: Winter haiku

On By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry12 Comments

Last night was an icy one; roads, houses, and treetops awoke this morning with a crystal coating an eighth of an inch thick. Consequently, when I came upon this photo online, I knew I had a subject…

(click to enlarge)

For more poetry, head on over to Writing the World for Kids, where Laura Purdie Salas is hosting Poetry Friday today!

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

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


  Coming July 2, 2019!

You can purchase personalized signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Boyds Mills Press, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly ALL of the books or anthologies I’ve been part of!

Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH a note requesting the signature and to whom I should make it out to. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it for you, and then they’ll ship it. Try doing that with those big online booksellers! (Plus, you’ll be helping to support local book-selling – and wouldn’t that make you feel good?)

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

Thank you to everyone for your support!

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

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!

SCVBWI_Member-badge (5 years)
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: “None Like Me” & Don’t Ask a Dinosaur news!

On By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry29 Comments

 

THE DINOSAURS ARE COMING!
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My box of author copies just arrived yesterday, along with a separate box of Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids) bookmarks! The book, co-authored with Deborah Bruss, arrives in stores everywhere April 17, and we’re planning a dinosaur-sized celebration including TWO launch parties, a special blog tour, an interview with illustrator Louie Chin, and a book giveaway!

If you’d like to pick up a signed copy, just scroll down a bit and you’ll see the complete schedule of where we’re going to be – or you can place your pre-orders now and have your copy personally signed!

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(click to enlarge)

As for today’s poem, I took advantage of one of New England’s recent nor-easters by playing outside with my kids (a perk of being a stay-at-home parent and a luxury for a children’s writer), and my 4-year-old daughter and I put this fellow together:

After I took the photo, I realized a short little poem was in order!

None Like Me

I’m sure you’ve seen my relatives.
We’re very much the same:
white, round, sticks for arms,
afraid of open flames.
Some wear old hats or woolen scarves
to keep them looking fine,
but chances are you’ve never seen
a coiffure quite like mine.

– © 2018 Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

For more poetry, please visit my friend and fellow blogger/writer Laura Purdie Salas, who is hosting Poetry Friday today at her little spot on the web, Writing the World for Kids.

Also, the Madness! Poetry competition is down to the 4th round with only EIGHT challengers remaining, so be sure to log on and vote for your favorite poems!

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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!” 

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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!

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?)

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

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!
SCVBWI_Member-badge (5 years)
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: “Some of us, everybody”

On By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry14 Comments

This photo was taken just a quarter-mile down the road from our house a few days ago. Click the image to enlarge.

I’ve been thinking about the state of the world, the state of the country, the state of our attitude toward others…and considering we just celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr.s birthday this past Monday here in the U.S., the idea of dreams began to form a poem. Hope you like it.

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Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books), the new picture book I co-wrote with Deb Bruss, doesn’t hit bookshelves until April 17, but the book tour is already taking shape with several dates! Here’s how our schedule looks right now:

  • 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 National Launch Party!! 
  • Thur., April 26, 10:30am:  Pillsbury Free Library, Warner, NH Dinosaur Storytime with Don’t Ask a Dinosaur!
  • Sun., April 29, 2pm:  MainStreet BookEnds, Warner, NH Don’t Ask a Dinosaur reading/signing and discussion
  • Sat., May 5, 1pm:  Barnes & Noble, Nashua, NH Don’t Ask a Dinosaur reading/signing
  • Sat., May 12, 11am:  Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH Don’t Ask a Dinosaur reading/signing

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“School People” arrives soon!

School People (Wordsong), Lee Bennett Hopkins’ newest children’s poetry anthology, arrives Feb. 13 to bookstores everywhere! The book includes 15 poems about the grown-ups that children meet at school…and I’m so honored to have my poem, “Bus Driver,” included!

It’s a beautiful book, edited by my Flashlight Night editor Rebecca Davis, so I hope you’ll consider picking up a copy. If you’d like, you can read a couple of wonderful reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and from Kirkus!

For more poetry, be sure to visit Kay McGriff at A Journey Through the Pages for today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup!

 

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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!

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?)

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

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!
SCVBWI_Member-badge (5 years)
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: Arctic haiku

On By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry25 Comments

(click to enlarge)

This photo of the view across from our house was taken awhile ago…thanks to Winter Storm Grayson, there’s now 16 inches more snow than there had been, which I suppose underscores the whole point of this haiku!

For more poetry links, please head over to Reading to the Core, where Catherine Flynn is hosting Poetry Friday today with a spotlight on the new children’s poetry book,  Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship (Carolrhoda Books) by two friends of mine, Charles Waters and Irene Latham.

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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!

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 who have enjoyed “Flashlight Night” enough to write about it:

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

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!
SCVBWI_Member-badge (5 years)
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: Christmas Break fun

On By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry28 Comments

Just a short little ditty I came up with after sliding with my kids at our neighbor’s place the other day. Watching them fly down on their tubes while trying to bump each other once they got to the bottom, I started thinking…

Arctic Recreation

Ice and snow spray faces cold
as winter winds go swirling.
Some folks call it tubing – me?
I call it human curling.

– © 2017 Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

Not a whole lot of difference, amiright?

I hope you’re enjoying the holiday break, as they call it; we’ve had single-digit daytime highs and overnight wind chills near -30° which means the kids have been stuck inside all week! But at least we have some poetry with which to amuse ourselves – and today, my poet/blogger friend Heidi Mordhorst is celebrating trees and hosting Poetry Friday at My Juicy Little Universe.

Today my son turns 8, Sunday we’ll be visiting my sister-in-law and her family, and Monday begins a brand-new year of possibilities – so have a great weekend, and I wish you all the best for a successful, happy, and healthy 2018!

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

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 who have enjoyed “Flashlight Night” enough to write about it:

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

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!
SCVBWI_Member-badge (5 years)
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: “The Snow Clouds Know,” part of ‘The Best of Today’s Little Ditty!’

On By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry15 Comments

best-of-tld-coverA few weeks ago, friend and fellow writer Michelle H. Barnes published a collection of 75 poems by 55 different folks who have visited her blog and contributed poetry over the past 2 years. The book, The Best of Today’s Little Ditty, 2014-2015, is available now, and showcases a vast array of styles, forms, and voices.

Today, I’m sharing another one of my poems you’ll find inside…this one from a challenge from the one and only Joyce Sidman, who encouraged readers to write a “deeper wisdom” poem, modeled after her poem What the Trees Know, from her book, Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014).

If you just clicked the link to read Joyce’s poem, you’ll see what the form looks like. As I often do, though, I tried to put my own spin on the challenge:

The Snow Clouds Know

What’s born above will soon be gone
to comfort what it falls upon.
Beauty blooms before the dawn;
this the snow clouds know.

Limbs are weak; snow is strong.
Days are short; nights are long.
Coyote sings a lonesome song;
this the snow clouds know.

– © 2015 Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved

Congratulations again, Michelle! I encourage everyone to visit her website today and find out more about the book and how to get a copy.

And speaking of poetry, be sure to ‘check out’ Jone MacCulloch’s little home on the web, “Check It Out,” for today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup, as well as info about her New Year Poetry Exchange!

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