Irene Latham's Blog, page 128
April 11, 2014
Poets on Poetry: PAUL B. JANECZKO
Hello, and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Michelle at Today's Little Ditty for Roundup. Wow, has National Poetry Month been awesome, or what? Our Progressive Poem continues to progress... please visit Linda at Write Time to see where we are!In celebration of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry. Enjoy!
"A good poem is like a booster shot of human kindness. We need more of that. I think that's the
'so what' of poetry." - Paul Janeckzo
Complete interview by Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
It was my great pleasure this week to pick up FIREFLY JULY: A Year of Very Short Poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko with illustrations by Melissa Sweet. I love that there are poems from both children's poets and adult poems, contemporary poets and not contemporary ones. None of the poems has more than ten lines, and the title poem is by J. Patrick Lewis. Really, really lovely.
I offer you one poem for each season:
SPRING
Open-billed
gulls
fighting
for fish heads
creak
like
rusted
gates.
- X.J. Kennedy
SUMMER
Sandpipers
Sandpipers run with
their needle beaks digging -- they're
hemming the ocean.
- April Halprin Wayland
FALL
What is it the wind has lost
that she keeps looking for
under each leaf?
- Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser
WINTER
A wild winter wind
Is tearing itself to shreds
On barbed-wire fences.
- Richard Wright
April 10, 2014
Poets on Poetry: DOUGLAS FLORIAN
In celebration of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry. Enjoy!
"I would offer this advice: Work hard but work smart. Keep your eyes open, your ears open, and your mind open. But close your mouth. Talking too much about a book before you finish it is a mistake. What surprises me is how I'm still able to do this without getting bored or relying on formulas. The industry itself has become too industrious and not nearly illustrious enough." - Douglas Florian
Complete interview by Matt Forrest Esenwine at Poetry at Play.
April 9, 2014
Poets on Poetry: NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
In celebration of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry. Enjoy!"...words can give you something back if you trust them; and if you know that you're not trying to proclaim things all the time, but you're trying to discover things.
A little girl said to me, last year: 'Poetry has been eating all my problems.' And I said, 'What do you mean by that?' And she said, 'It just makes me feel better when I read it, or when I write it.' And I think that's been true for many people in this country." - Naomi Shihab Nye
Complete interview with Bill Moyers at PBS.
A little girl said to me, last year: 'Poetry has been eating all my problems.' And I said, 'What do you mean by that?' And she said, 'It just makes me feel better when I read it, or when I write it.' And I think that's been true for many people in this country." - Naomi Shihab Nye
Complete interview with Bill Moyers at PBS.
April 8, 2014
Poets on Poetry: J. PATRICK LEWIS
In celebration of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry. Enjoy!
"Great poetry is a circus for the brain. It's ten pounds of excitement in a nine-pound bag. But children won't know what that means unless we offer them the best. Soon, they'll be asking for second and third helpings. Even though few children will become poets, poetry helps them realize that one of the most phenomenal gifts humans get free of charge is the English language. And there is nothing in any language more beautiful, more inspiring and thought-provoking than poetry."- J. Patrick Lewis
Complete interview by Sylvia Vardell at The Poetry Foundation.
"Great poetry is a circus for the brain. It's ten pounds of excitement in a nine-pound bag. But children won't know what that means unless we offer them the best. Soon, they'll be asking for second and third helpings. Even though few children will become poets, poetry helps them realize that one of the most phenomenal gifts humans get free of charge is the English language. And there is nothing in any language more beautiful, more inspiring and thought-provoking than poetry."- J. Patrick Lewis
Complete interview by Sylvia Vardell at The Poetry Foundation.
April 7, 2014
Poets on Poetry: MARILYN SINGER
In celebration of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry. Enjoy!
"When I am on a roll, I will write several poems each day, spending much of the time staring into space and playing with language - or, as my husband puts it, "poetizing." It's a pleasant state to be in, but most particularly when I'm sitting outdoors in the country on warm days with few distractions." - Marilyn Singer
Read the complete interview at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
"Poetizing." I love that! :)
April 4, 2014
Poets on Poetry: NIKKI GIOVANNI
Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit The Poem Farm for Amy's latest Thrift Store poem... and Poetry Friday Roundup!
Also, our Progressive Poem is progressing with a parade of animals! Be sure to check in with Anastasia at Poet! Poet! for the latest line.
In celebration of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry. Enjoy!
"Poetry is employed by truth. I think our job it to tell the truth as we see it. Don't you just hate a namby-pamby poem that goes all over the place saying nothing. Poets should be strong in our emotions and our words, that might make us difficult to live with, but I do believe easier to love. Poetry is garlic. Not for everyone, but those who take it never get caught by werewolves."
- Nikki Giovanni
Complete NPR interview here.
And here is a favorite Nikki Giovanni poem! I use it with students as an example of a poem that employs all of the senses. Don't mean to rush us into summertime, because wow, isn't spring amazing this year?! But I sure do love this poem. Plus my sister lives in Knoxville, so now I have all sorts of new memories and feelings associated with this poem. :)
Knoxville TennesseeI always like summer
Best
you can eat fresh corn
From daddy's garden
And okra
And greens
And cabbage
And lots of
Barbeque
And buttermilk
And homemade ice-cream
At the church picnic
And listen to
Gospel music
Outside
At the church
Homecoming
And go to the mountains with
Your grandmother
And go barefooted
And be warm
All the time
Not only when you go to bed
And sleep - Nikki Giovanni
Finally, big thanks to Tabatha for inviting poets to write poems set in imaginary places... and for sharing mine at The Opposite of Indifference today! I also recorded a version, if you'd like to give it a listen. Can't wait to read others' responses!
Also, our Progressive Poem is progressing with a parade of animals! Be sure to check in with Anastasia at Poet! Poet! for the latest line.
In celebration of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry. Enjoy!
"Poetry is employed by truth. I think our job it to tell the truth as we see it. Don't you just hate a namby-pamby poem that goes all over the place saying nothing. Poets should be strong in our emotions and our words, that might make us difficult to live with, but I do believe easier to love. Poetry is garlic. Not for everyone, but those who take it never get caught by werewolves."
- Nikki Giovanni
Complete NPR interview here.
And here is a favorite Nikki Giovanni poem! I use it with students as an example of a poem that employs all of the senses. Don't mean to rush us into summertime, because wow, isn't spring amazing this year?! But I sure do love this poem. Plus my sister lives in Knoxville, so now I have all sorts of new memories and feelings associated with this poem. :)
Knoxville TennesseeI always like summer
Best
you can eat fresh corn
From daddy's garden
And okra
And greens
And cabbage
And lots of
Barbeque
And buttermilk
And homemade ice-cream
At the church picnic
And listen to
Gospel music
Outside
At the church
Homecoming
And go to the mountains with
Your grandmother
And go barefooted
And be warm
All the time
Not only when you go to bed
And sleep - Nikki Giovanni
Finally, big thanks to Tabatha for inviting poets to write poems set in imaginary places... and for sharing mine at The Opposite of Indifference today! I also recorded a version, if you'd like to give it a listen. Can't wait to read others' responses!
April 3, 2014
Poets on Poetry: KARLA KUSKIN
In celebration of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry. Enjoy!
"Encourage children to read and write poetry and they will be encouraged to reach into themselves and articulate feelings and dreams. Clearly a good science report and a good poem are not created by the same process. And yet it is common to judge children's accomplishments only in terms of action and concrete production. The notes and study that go into the science report are easy to appreciate, but daydreaming and reflection, those silent pursuits that lead one inside oneself, are generally dismissed as inaction and therefore a waste of time. The imagination is a temperamental beast. Shy of groups and timetables, it thrives on solitude and freedom." - Karla Kuskin
from NEAR THE WINDOW TREE: poems and notes by Karla Kuskin (HarperCollins, 1975)
"Encourage children to read and write poetry and they will be encouraged to reach into themselves and articulate feelings and dreams. Clearly a good science report and a good poem are not created by the same process. And yet it is common to judge children's accomplishments only in terms of action and concrete production. The notes and study that go into the science report are easy to appreciate, but daydreaming and reflection, those silent pursuits that lead one inside oneself, are generally dismissed as inaction and therefore a waste of time. The imagination is a temperamental beast. Shy of groups and timetables, it thrives on solitude and freedom." - Karla Kuskin
from NEAR THE WINDOW TREE: poems and notes by Karla Kuskin (HarperCollins, 1975)
April 2, 2014
Poets on Poetry: JOYCE SIDMAN
In celebration of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry. Enjoy!
"I love the brevity and power of poetry, and the way, through metaphor, it connects everything to everything else. I love the way it can celebrate the humble things, the odd or overlooked things, and make them fresh and amazing. I love the way it captures these moments of epiphany: when we suddenly realize something deep and powerful."
- Joyce Sidman
Complete interview at Smack Dab in the Middle.
"I love the brevity and power of poetry, and the way, through metaphor, it connects everything to everything else. I love the way it can celebrate the humble things, the odd or overlooked things, and make them fresh and amazing. I love the way it captures these moments of epiphany: when we suddenly realize something deep and powerful."
- Joyce Sidman
Complete interview at Smack Dab in the Middle.
April 1, 2014
Poets on Poetry: LEE BENNETT HOPKINS
In celebration of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry. Enjoy!
"...poetry is reachable, is teachable, and should come to children as naturally as breathing! One needn't ask hundreds of questions about poems, nor dissect or analyze them to death. Just read poetry, love it to pieces, and enjoy it to the fullest." - Lee Bennett Hopkins
Click here for complete interview.
"...poetry is reachable, is teachable, and should come to children as naturally as breathing! One needn't ask hundreds of questions about poems, nor dissect or analyze them to death. Just read poetry, love it to pieces, and enjoy it to the fullest." - Lee Bennett Hopkins
Click here for complete interview.
March 31, 2014
Coming TOMORROW: 2014 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem!!
Wow, can you believe it? National Poetry Month is very nearly upon us! Such a joyous time on ye old blogosphere... I am ready to be inspired and informed. Can't wait to see what all of you've got cooking.Want to know what I've got cooking? Well. I will be sharing in each post during April a favorite quote from a favorite poet on poetry!
Please do be sure to check in on the Progressive Poem as it makes its way across the land -- and big thanks to all the participating poets! Who knows where our poem will take us this year?! I can't wait to find out. See you tomorrow!!
2014 Kidlitosphere
Progressive Poem
1 Charles at Poetry Time
2 Joy at Joy Acey
3 Donna at Mainely Write
4 Anastasia at Poet! Poet!
5 Carrie at Story Patch
6 Sheila at Sheila Renfro
7 Pat at Writer on a Horse
8 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme
9 Diane at Random Noodling
10 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
11 Linda at Write Time
12 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
13 Janet at Live Your Poem
14 Deborah at Show--Not Tell
15 Tamera at The Writer's Whimsy
16 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
17 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
18 Irene at Live Your Poem
19 Julie at The Drift Record
20 Buffy at Buffy Silverman
21 Renee at No Water River
22 Laura at Author Amok
23 Amy at The Poem Farm
24 Linda at TeacherDance
25 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty
26 Lisa at Lisa Schroeder Books
27 Kate at Live Your Poem
28 Caroline at Caroline Starr Rose
29 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
30 Tara at A Teaching Life
