Irene Latham's Blog, page 143

WHEEEE! LET'S BE YELLOW.

Okay, so I stole the subject line from a poem called "Daffodil Bulbs" in SEEDS, BEES, BUTTERFLIES, and MORE: Poems for Two Voices by Carole Gerber and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin.

It's a perfect book for spring, and I have always been fond of the way poems in two voices can engage readers.

One of my favorite poems in the collections is not on the showy blossoms or buzzing, winged creatures. It's a poem about something hidden:


Roots
by Carole Gerber

I get no attention.
                             You're hidden. It's true.

I'm gnarl and twisted.
                              But all plants need you.

Plants take me for granted--
then don't give two hoots!

                              Until gardeners move them
                              and dig up their roots.
                              They can't live without you!

That's true, very true.
                              You store food for those plants!

I anchor them, too.
My looks aren't important.
I have other strengths.

                             You're tough and can grow
                             to incredible lengths.

I feel a lot better. Thanks mainly to you,
I'm proud to be doing what a root's meant to do.


------------------------
I really like how the book is designed with each voice printed in a different color ink. It really helps the reader. Happy spring, y'all!

POETRY & INSPIRATION AT FAY B. KAIGLER

What to say about Fay B. Kaigler? It was awesome!

It started at True Vine Cottage, thanks to gracious, generous Beck McDowell, author of THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
Beck relaxing on the porch swing.
This is what the sky looked like: An omen, perhaps?? We did spend some quality time in the stairwells at USM on Thursday of the conference due to tornado warnings...

Next I got to see sweet,talented Robyn Hood Black and meet for the first time wonderful, zany April Halprin Wayland. LOVE THESE GALS! We shared meals and stories and thoughts and dreams and oh yeah, a session at the conference. :)
April, Robyn & me cooking up some fun for our presentation "Take Five: Create Fun with The Poetry Friday Anthology."


Lest you think we were the only ones having fun, here's a shot of our participants enjoying their paper tacos (one of the Take Five! activities for Rebecca Kai Dotlich's "A Taste of Taco")


The conference included books sales hosted by Barnes and Noble on campus, and oh wow, were we in good hands:
Thank you, Marie and Benita!



And here we are during a slow time:
me, Beck, Robyn & April (shhhh, there were lots of slow times, but we still had fun!)
One of the unexpected highlights was a personal tour of the de Grummond Exhibit room with the amazing Ellen Ruffin:
Is there anything Ellen doesn't know?!
Oh, and guess who visited with us at our table during the Southern Breeze-hosted reception? Yep, the hilarious Jon Sciezka, this year's Medallion winner!
Congratulations, Jon! (Jon, Beck, me, Jo Kittinger, Robyn)

I loved seeing old friends and meeting new ones. It's a great festival. See you next year!
Oh, and here's a little bonus something: On Saturday I spoke in Tuscaloosa as part of the celebration for the winners of the Letters about Literature contest. I heard letters inspired by J.K. Rowling, S.E. Hinton and Langston Hughes. Amazing kids and parents and teachers! 
AND THEN... my friend Paige and her family took me to lunch! I loved getting to know her husband Adam and adorable kids Kai and Quinn. Here's a picture of me and Kai, who loves Pokemon and says he's going to be a dentist someday, but don't count him out as a storyteller:
   Kai told me his mom cried twice while reading DON'T FEED THE BOY to him. :)







 
And now it's time for another busy week: 3 school visits. Isn't April awesome?! :)

GRUMBLES FROM THE FOREST

You know it's going to be a good book of poems when it's authored by the likes of Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich -- and GRUMBLES IN THE FOREST: FairyTale Voices with a Twist most certainly is good! Illustrations are by Matt Mahurin.

The poets take a new look at 15 fairy tales, providing unexpected perspective (like the pea from The Princess and the Pea!) and fresh thoughts (such as the policeman who encounters the crime in Goldilocks and the Three Bears). My most favorite spread was for Beauty and the Beast, with a poem from each Jane and Rebecca:

BEAUTY'S DREAM
by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

I'm dizzy with dance,
pink petals in my hair,
waltzing and weaving--
the floor becomes air.

I'm dreaming of love
(dreaming is fine)...
of a rose, a wedding,
a valentine.

But it's only a dream
of the boy I adore--
I can't get past
his fangs, his roar.

If I could
If I could,
might I love him more?



BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: AN ANNIVERSARY
by Jane Yolen

It is winter now,
and the roses are blooming again,
their petals bright against the snow.
My father died last April:
my sisters no longer write
except at the turnings of the year,
content with their fine houses
and their grandchildren.
Beast and I
putter in the gardens
and walk slowly on the forest paths.
He is graying
around the muzzle
and I have silver combs
to match my hair.
I have no regrets.
None.
Though sometimes I do wonder
what sounds children
might have made
running across the marble halls,
swinging from the birches
over the roses
in the snow.

Will the world ever time of fairy tales? I think not. Be sure to visit Diane at Random Noodling for Roundup! Also, today's edition of 2013 Progressive Poem is brought to you by Linda Kulp. We're nearly halfway done!

On my way home from Fay B. Kaigler. Report to follow soon!

GONE FISHING

There is something so appropriate about the marriage of poetry and the subject of fishing in Tamera Will Wissinger's debut GONE FISHING with adorable illustrations by Matthew Cordell.

It's a classic sibling story that reminds me of a picture book my kids loved called I WISH MY BROTHER WAS A DOG by Carol Diggory Shields with illustrations by Paul Meisel. Sibling-love is certainly a roller-coaster-ish adventure, as these books show.

And the poems! We get Sam's voice as well as little sister Lucy's, and there is much to love. Here's one in Sam's voice:

FIRST CATCH
Lyric Poem

I wish a fish
     I wish a fish
          I wish a fish would bite.

I hope I catch
     I hope I catch
          A fish before tonight.

I think I feel
     I think I feel
          I think I feel a tap.

I reel it in,
     I see a fin,
          And then I catch


                 A cap.

copyright 2013 Tamera Will Wissinger

Cute, huh? I'm thinking first graders will be asking for poles and buckets and worms (or crickets, which is what we use in these parts).

I do hope you'll read it. Fun and sweet. And appropriate, as I am signing off today, on my way to Hattiesburg, MS, for Fay B. Kaigler, where I hope I'll catch a fish *this* big.

Before I go, though, a fishing photo from the Latham Family Archives, circa 2003:



Happy day to you!

Guest Post: Janet Fagal for 2013 Progressive Poem

Today I'm excited to welcome Janet Fagal, a poetry enthusiast whom I had the pleasure of meeting this past November at NCTE. While she doesn't have a blog (yet!), she's got poetry in her heart, and I am so pleased to have her contributing her line here at Live Your Poem.

And here's the poem so far, with Janet's line at the bottom:
When you listen to your footstepsthe words become music andthe rhythm that you're rapping gets your fingers tapping, too.Your pen starts dancing across the pagea private pirouette, a solitary samba untilsmiling, you're beguiling, as your love comes shining through.
Pause a moment in your dreaming, hear the whispers

Don't you love it?! Thank you, Janet! And now.... drum roll, please....
Introducing a future Kidlitosphere blogger: Janet Fagal Today I am so grateful to Irene Latham for allowing me to be a guest blogger so I can participate in the 2013 Progressive Poem. Some of you may know me as a commenter who goes by Janet F. and Janet Clare on FB. I have yet to start my own blog, but one is coming, I promise.
During the last 10 years of my 40 year teaching career, I discovered the expansive power of poetry for its own worth and as a teaching tool. Better late than never! Almost by accident I developed an approach that puts poetry at the heart of the classroom. My 3rdgraders eagerly learn poems by heart without any pressure or homework or testing. I actually never tell the children we are going to be do this, it just happens naturally! By the end of the year we have a Poetry Night where they recite over 40 poems for close to an hour. Most of the poems are by published poets, but some are poems the children have written.
Here’s a link to a 3 min. video clip that gives an idea about how Poetry Night looks, though this was an encore Poetry Night done as a fund-raiser in mid-September and the children had not been together since June!!! But you’ll get the idea.We mainly learn and recite as a group, but if the children ask I let some do solos or recite poems in small groups. The best part is how easy it all is. I didn’t know any poems by heart when I started. With all the generous poetry resources available on the Kidlitosphere, any teacher can easily replicate what I have done and tailor it to meet her kids’ ages, community and curriculua.The children love doing this, and because we work as a group, they learn the poems in a very short time. They may cue one another on tricky parts and the group recitation creates happy bonds. It doesn’t take much class time to accomplish, either. Children are natural sponges for oral language at this age. But recitation and performance are not the only benefits. There are many educational side benefits, too. Besides learning about poets and poetry, the kids are exposed to rich vocabulary and sophisticated language. Academic content shows up in some poems and re-reading poems helps with reading fluency which aids comprehension. The quality of their own writing grows from being immersed in the poems we share. And the list goes on!Today while traveling I found an Indie bookstore, The Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington, CT. I was so excited to learn that Marilyn Singer often goes there for book signings and readings. Kate Coombs’ wonderful Water Sings Bluewas on the children’s poetry shelves (note the plural) along with Caroline Kennedy’s fabulous new anthology, Poems to Learn by Heart ,which includes one of Janet Wong’s poems and has a teacher’s guide written by Sylvia Vardell. I took it to be a sign. I want to help spread a love of poetry all over the country because I know firsthand about its power to make a difference in kids’ literary and personal lives. Thank you to all of the poets and writers who keep giving us wonderful words to sprinkle in children’s hearts. I am delighted to add my voice to the growing chorus of those who are realizing the power poetry has to change and brighten lives. And by the way I told the bookstore about the exquisite new Forest Has a Songby Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and they are going to order it! I take my role as “poetry cheerleader” and “Ms. Pied Piper of Poetry” very seriously! (Thanks, Pat Lewis!)I have made many poetry friends in person and online in the past couple of years and I am particularly grateful to Heidi Mordhorst who first told me about the Kidlitosphere, and Janet, Sylvia and Laura Purdie Salas who, like Irene, have been welcoming and supportive along with so many other bloggers! I had been looking for this community for quite a while and am so glad to be here.
Thank YOU, Janet! So happy to hear about all the ways you promote the love of poetry. And we're all so glad to have you as a part of this year's Progressive Poem. Can't wait to see where the poem goes next!

PUG AND OTHER ANIMAL POEMS

Is it just me, or is it sad to read a book of poems by a poet who is no longer with us? Especially when you really love the poems. Sigh.

Valerie Worth wrote such brilliant little poems, and here, in PUG AND OTHER ANIMAL POEMS, illustrated by Steve Jenkins, we get eighteen poems about animals we might see on any given day: fox, wood thrush, bull, dachshund, fly... well, maybe not the bengal tiger, which happens to be one of my favorite poems, but who knows? Maybe you live in a place where there's a zoo nearby.

The two poems I'd like to share with you are about creatures quite different from one another, yet the poems share a theme of captivity/escape/freedom -- which is a theme near and dear to my heart.

BENGAL TIGER

The Bengal tiger
Batters his cage:
HIs rage is thunder,
Sharp stripes flash
In his fur--
Is it too wicked
To wish
He would break out,
Fill the zoo
With storms,
Run his lightning
Into the world?

- Valerie Worth


CICADA

A fairy
Tale come
True: the

Humped brown
Gnome Split
Up the back,

The silver-
Caped prince
Set free.

- Valerie Worth


This is a book I will return to. Love! Don't forget to visit Robyn for Roundup, where she has a fun little something that relates to next week's gig at Fay B. Kaigler children's book festival in Hattiesburg, MS! And the Progressive Poem is progressing beautifully... check out the latest at Doraine's blog! Y'all are awesome. xo

HAPPY WORLD RAT DAY!

Leave it to the one and only J. Patrick Lewis to birth a book based on odd holidays. Illustrations are by Anna Raff. And the title poem "World Rat Day" is for today, April 4. Bet you didn't know that. :)

This is such a fun book, and a nice departure from the expected holidays' fare. One of my favorite poems is for Frog Jumping Day, which happens May 13.

Said the Frog

I was really in a muddle
looking over a mud puddle
'cause I didn't have a paddle
or a twig to ride the reef.
But I said, "Oh, fiddle-faddle,
this is just a little piddle
of a second fiddle puddle."
So I saddled up a leaf.
I set sail on the puddle,
but I reached the muddy middle
and I rocked the leaf a little,
then I gave it all I had.
And I solved the mighty riddle
of the whole caboodle puddle
when I hopped up on the middle
of a beetle launching pad.

- J. Patrick Lewis

Isn't that fun?! And exactly what a frog would say, I think. I really love the idea of "saddling up a leaf." Really fresh and fun.

STAR + SARDINES = STARDINES

One of the things I love about poetry is the opportunity it provides for creative wordplay. You can alter words, smush them together, add or subtract letters or just plain make words up. Which is part of what makes STARDINES SWIM HIGH ACROSS THE SKY AND OTHER POEMS by Jack Prelutsky & illustrated by Carin Berger such a fun read.

The book is assembled like a naturalist's notebook, as if the author discovered and catalogued all these new species. This format will particularly appeal to the young scientists among us. We meet Chormorants, Slobsters, Plandas, Magpipes and others. My kind of zoo!

Here's one of my favorites:

JOLLYFISH

JOLLYFISH are radiant,
Ebullient blogs of mirth,
With merry dispositions
From the moment of their birth.
Though they know their every motion
Is dependent on the tides,
They laugh with such abandon
That they almost split their sides.
         * * *
Their humor is infectious,
And as aimlessly they drift,
Their buoyant effervescence
Gives the neighoborhood a lift.
JOLLYFISH possess the gift
Of fundamental glee--
There's no creature half as happy
At the bottom of the sea.

- Jack Prelutsky

The world needs more jollyfish. Can you think of a creature you might create, just by changing one letter of that creature's name? Hmmmm...

FOR THE LOVE OF FORESTS

So I've just been savoring Amy's first book of poems, thinking about how this spare, lovely verse is rich in exactly the same way that the woods are. I especially love thinking about how the forest and its creatures communicate with us -- if only we take the time to look and listen.

Amy writes of this in her poem "Forest News" :

I stop to read
the Forest News
in mud or fallen snow.
Articles are printed
by critters on the go.

Foxes pass.
Deer run through.
Turkeys scratch
for hidden food.
Young raccoons
drink sips of creek.
Mouse and hawk
play hide-and-seek.
Here a possum
whiskery-wild
climbs a tree trunk
with her child.
And in this place
while people sleep
a rabbit hops.
A housecat creeps.

Scribbled hints
in footprints
tell about the day.
I stop to read
the Forest News
before it's worn away.

- Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

It reminds me of a picture book I loved reading with my boys:



And this book, for adults:


If I had to pick a favorite forest of all the ones I've experienced so far, I'd pick Muir Woods. You can read a poem I wrote about it here (p. 38).

I also love the Alabama woods, but I have this not-so-little problem: I get poison ivy just by breathing it, apparently. NO FUN. But oh, it's gorgeous 'round these parts right now! Azaleas! Dogwoods! Flowering Cherry! And dare I say it: pine pollen. Allergies, anyone?? Sigh. Sometimes it's hard to be human in this world.

Happy almost National Poetry Month! The Progressive Poem will start at Amy's blog tomorrow! Meanwhile, HAPPY EASTER!!

MICHELANGELO SKY

"One kiss and you painted a picture of heavenIt's there when I look in your eyesWell, I swear I can see foreverUnder a Michelango sky"
- chorus from "Michelangelo Sky" by Deana Carter

*photo taken in Destin, Florida, during last week's beach trip!