Can I Get an ECHO ECHO?

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe (still one of my favorite book and blog titles EVER!) for Roundup.

Hard to believe it's the last Friday of March... next week we'll all be full steam ahead into National Poetry Month!

It's been ever so rollercoasterish in my life lately... I'm excited that today starts my kids' spring break. And I'm excited to share my favorite poem with you from ECHO ECHO: Reverso Poems about Greek Myths by Marilyn Singer, illus. by Josee Masse (Dial/Penguin, 2016). But first....

The winner of POET: The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton by Don Tate is BRENDA HARSHAM. Yay!

And here's sneak peek at the line-up for this year's Progressive Poem!

2016 KIDLITOSPHERE PROGRESSIVE POEMApril1 Laura at Writing the World for Kids2 Joy at Joy Acey 3 Doraine at Dori Reads4 Diane at Random Noodling5 Penny at A Penny and Her Jots6 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink7 Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass8 Janet F. at Live Your Poem9 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche10 Pat at Writer on a Horse11 Buffy at Buffy's Blog12 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty13 Linda at TeacherDance14 Jone at Deo Writer15 Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme16 Violet at Violet Nesdoly17 Kim at Flukeprints18 Irene at Live Your Poem19 Charles at Poetry Time20 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town21 Jan at Bookseedstudio22 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge23 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page24 Amy at The Poem Farm25 Mark at Jackett Writes26 Renee at No Water River27 Mary Lee at Poetrepository28 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe29 Sheila at Sheila Renfro30 Donna at Mainely Write
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Another sneak peek: Here at Live Your Poem I will celebrating National Poetry Month by continuing ArtSpeak!, the project I started last year in which I respond to images found in the digital collections at the National Gallery of Art. This year's theme "Plant. Grow. Eat" was inspired my latest book release, FRESH DELICIOUS. I'm excited! The trick will be getting these poems written and posted during a month when I have 4 out-of-state trips and a slew of school visits. Whew! I'm tired already! But you know what? Poetry keeps me sane. It is a spiritual practice for me -- a way for me to feel connected with myself and the world. So, yes, it will be hectic, but it will also be beautiful and important. I do hope you will stop by and share the journey with me!

And, now, a poem from ECHO ECHO by Marilyn Singer:

King Midas and His Daughter

Golden
girl,
alas, my
good father
still dares to call me,
who
would never offer a gentle hand.
What kind of man would for years not give a caress?
I must confess
I suffer much.
Today --
so needy
so greedy -
for one magic touch.

-----------------

For one magic touch --
so greedy,
so needy --
today,
I suffer much,
I must confess.
What kind of man would for years not give a caress,
would never offer a gentle hand?
Who
still dares to call me
"good father?"
Alas, my girl!
Golden.

- Marilyn Singer

Isn't that wonderful? I so admire the skill the reverso form requires... it partly seems a matter of punctuation, doesn't it? Very much like a puzzle. Each spread also includes a short summary of the related myth, which should help those of us who aren't all that well-read in mythology!