2 NEW THINGYS: Singing and Getting Published

Howdy, Campers ~ and Happy Poetry Friday! (the links to PF and to my upcoming free poetry class are at the end of this post).

TeachingAuthors' topic this round is "Something New for the New Year" and it's my turn. But there's so much happening these days...where should I begin?

Let's start with singing!

For years, I've run two folk music clubs: The Santa Monica Folk Music Club and The Beach Cities Folk Club. So many songs are poetry...and so much poetry can be sung.

About a year ago, I approached the organizers of our local politial events, suggesting that our rallies needed music. Singing together in the midst of struggle brings joy and a sense of community to marches and rallies.

I've been the "music wrangler" ever since. We named ourselves The Resisters. My favorite feedback we've gotten after a rally is: "I come to these rallies to hear the music!"

And then, in January of this year, in the midst of danger and horrific violence in Minnesota, a beautiful thing took seed. Watch Anderson Cooper's 3 min and 30 second video to witness its growth.

Singing Resisance now trains groups all over this country (called Pods) teaching us that singing is resistance.

There are 18 singers in our pod. The number of singers who are available for any one event varies widely--once there were only two--and that worked out just fine. Our pod meets at my house, and today eight singers showed up for our last rehearsal before the March 28th rally

I am filled with joy. Most of the songs we will be singing are short and easy to pick up. One of my favorite songs is longer but also easy to learn. It's called SINGING FOR OUR LIVES, written by Holly Near. Watch Holly lead her crazy-beautiful 4 minute song

Now, let's talk poetry!

I'm thrilled to announce that one of my poems has just been published in 

DEMOCRACY'S URGENT CALL ~ 

A Poetry Anthology by League of Women Voters Members

Here were the submission guidelines:

We invite original poems that reflect on the guiding principles of democracy—such as justice, equality, freedom, civic engagement, and the common good.​ Please avoid references to specific elected officials or political parties, as we are committed to maintaining a nonpartisan focus.

We welcome a wide range of voices, styles, and perspectives. ​Surprise us with something fresh—insightful, musical, memorable. We’re looking for poems that move us: make us laugh, cry, reflect, or ​see the world in a new way. Both free verse and traditional forms are encouraged.

Please submit one unpublished, original poem of no more than 30 lines, ​including stanza breaks, formatted to fit on a single page using Times New Roman with 12 pt font. Submissions with special formatting, visual elements, or artwork cannot be considered.

A panel including a former Poet Laureate, a University of Wisconsin Professor of Poetry, and an experienced editor will review submissions and make final selections.

Chosen poems will reflect the League of Women Voters’ commitment to nonpartisanship as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion.

So! I plowed through the file of political poems I've written over the years...and also wrote some new ones.

Then I chose six of my favorite poems and sent them to five important people in my life: my husband, my sister Lyra, Teri, the president of our local League, a dear friend who is not on the same page with me politically, and my best friend Bruce (who is also a children's author and poet). 

I asked them to rank the poems first to last.

In a minute I'll post the poem for you, but it might help to know that I live in California, and for years I've been part of a task force in our community to teach people earthquake safety.

Okay, here's the poem my friends voted for, which I submitted, and which was accepted:

EARTHQUAKE
by April Halprin Wayland

She was ready.
On the shelves in her garage
were jugs of water,
cans of cat and dog food,
boxes of energy bars,
bandages, flashlights, batteries.

She was ready.
She stored sturdy shoes
beneath the bed
because in the aftermath,​
when you're running to help someone,
broken glass will slash your feet.

She was ready...
but not for this.
Not for tornadoes,
green-faced warlocks,
prison guards,
or flying monkeys.

Still, she was glad
for the sturdy shoes
beneath her bed.
There wasn't time
for bloody feet.
She was off to save the world.

poem © 2026 April Halprin Wayland

Thank you, Marcie, for hosting Poetry Friday this week!

Oh--I almost forgot!

Come join my next 3-hour free class 

on the first day of Poetry Month, April 1st 2026:

UCLA Extension's Writers' Program class, 

INTRO TO WRITING THE CHILDREN'S POETRY

~ A Workshop for Absolute Beginners

Enrollment ends soon...classes fill FAST. Why?

Because UCLA Extension offers 3-hour classes for FREE!

Do I still get nervous when my classes begin? You betcha.

But the moment I know my students and I are in that flow--that's the Great Gift.

many thanks to Barney Saltzberg for this illustration

Note: this is a basic workshop for absolute beginners.

💓Thank you for reading this post💓

Now, it's your turn. What's something new in your life this year?

You Can Sit on my Poem in NC!

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Howdy, Campers, and happy Poetry Friday! The link to today's PF is below.

To find out how to win a copy of Darcy Patterson's newest book, Sleepers, read Carla's terrific interview with her here.

This is TeachingAuthors last post before our Summer Blogging Break. Ah, summer! Time for lemonade, reading in the shade, diving under waves, travel and parades, festivals galore and more and more and more! 😊 (Pssst--I've never used an emoji in a blog post before. I promise not to use one ever, ever again).

I received an interesting email in early January, 2016 (edited):

Dear April Wayland,

I write to you regarding your poem, “Taking Violin at School”, and my request to incorporate your poem into a public art project for the Town of Cary, North Carolina. [This, Dear Readers, is when I died and went to heaven.]

In 2013 the Town commissioned a design team to create a new streetscape for Academy Street, the Town’s “Festival Street,” in the heart of downtown. Concerts, street fairs, and major regional festivals are staged along this 6-block street throughout the year. 

As the pubic artist on the project, I designed twelve granite benches based on dulcimers, dobros, violins, and mandolins – all instruments that found their unique American voices in the hills and mountains of the Appalachians. These benches will be cut from native stone, then carved and etched at the quarry in Mt. Airy, NC. Once completed these stone benches will be set in configurations offering opportunities for musicians to play in duet, trio, quartet, quintet, sextet and as single artists – with room for small audiences to gather around. 

Into these stone benches I'm cutting text that speaks to either the specific instrument or more broadly to music and its presence.  My search for the right text led me to your poem, as well as to the poetry of North Carolina native Carl Sandburg, of Mary Anne Evans writing as George Eliot, of Coleridge, of Yeats, and others. Your poem, sited along the entry to the Town’s Library and adjacent to a violin studio, resonates as a perfect fit.    

My best regards, and thank you for your chosen work.

Jack Mackie

Needless to day, Jack and I became penpals. 

Jack Mackie

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There is so much to tell you about my new best friend! His commissioned artworks include the Gift, Health Sciences Learning Center, University of Wisconsin; Vessel Fenceline, Santa Cruz California; Seats & Gavels, Scottsdale Arizona Justice Center; Dance Steps on Broadway, Seattle; Trillium Patch, Norfolk VA light rail station pavings: Charging Gates, Puget Sound Energy, Redmond WA: and the Trout Lily Clock, East Lancaster Transit Center, Ft. Worth TX. Wow--what great names he gives each project!

In addition, he's developed the Public Art Plans for the Memphis/Shelby County Central Library System; the Performing Arts Center, Mesa, Arizona; Historic Downtown Alexandria Riverfront, Alexandria VA; Charlotte NC Area Transit System; South Bay Area Rapid Transit, San Jose CA...and so much more--woo-woo!

And after many years of planning, Academy Street Melodies, in Cary NC is born.

I wanted you to meet him, so I've invited Jack to climb onto the porch of the TeachingAuthors tree house where I've just served him homemade lemonade...

Welcome, Jack--I'm so glad you're here. It sounds like you've created a truly beautiful streetscape. How did you come up with your design? I love sidewalks. It’s where people go to get from here to there, from home to work, from work to lunch, from work to home, from home to school, from school to home, from school or home to the art gallery or museum or café or swimming pool or movies or friend’s home, for a walk, or from home to violin practice… it’s a place best described as “the in-between,” not where I was nor where I’m going... This is where I love to work...possibly creating a moment, an aha.

Every place has stories to tell, as a public / civic artist it’s my task to find the stories and find the story-teller’s voice. The work is not about me, it must be about the people who live in a place, people who make that place their homes. I’m just the go-between who illuminates what’s already there. That’s where I always begin.

In the long list of “stuff” for a streetscape are benches, a place to invite us to have a seat, take a look around, ask, where are we?

bench designed by Jack Mackie
text by Mary Anne Evans (writing as George Eliot)
.

Jack, your answer's poetry! And why did you choose musical instruments? I approached people walking along Academy Street. I asked about Cary, why they live here or, if visitors, why they’ve come; what is it about Academy Street that brings them here; what should I explore?

It was in these conversations that the idea of musical instrument benches started to bubble up, and the idea of placing them in small “rooms” we could make with different paving materials, a cluster of trees, and always grouped, set for buskers, duets, trios, or a string quartet.

Next question was “which instruments?” I looked into the instruments of the festivals and found that many were immigrants –the Mandolin came to America as a Lute, with a deep rounded body and strings that were plucked. The Dobro, a unique American instrument, is claimed to be a mix of the guitar from Spain and the banjo. Dulcimers arrived as the German zither, the Swedish hummel, Norwegian langeleik, and the French epinette des Vosges. And the violin simply became the fiddle.

bench designed by Jack Mackie
text by Maya Angelou

How did you choose the poetry and quotes? I searched for text which speaks to and of the instrument that carries it or, of music, of dance, singing, or song. The text I chose was written by: Jonny Angel, Maya Angelou*, George Carlin, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Mary Anne Evans  [writing as George Eliot], Martin Hugo, John Muir, Walter Hines Page, Tan Pratonix ,R.R.Richardson*, Carl Sandburg*, April Halprin Wayland, William Butler Yeats  (* North Carolina Poet).

Some examples (most are just snips of the entire text used):

"Sweet Dulcimer.../in your strings and swirly grains /lie my life's story /and the way my river runs..." from R.R.Richardson, North Carolina poet

“Mandolin harmonies / trailed up Bear Hair Gap, / echoed between / the chestnuts, hickories & sweet blackberries.”  from Jonny Angel

"Sell me a violin, mister, of old mysterious wood.../ Sell me horsehair and rosin.../ Sell me something crushed in the heartsblood of pain readier than ever for one more song." from Carl Sandburg, North Carolina Poet

“and those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music”  credited to George Carlin

"I believe in the free public training of both the hands / and the mind of every child born of woman." WalterHines Page 

...and:

TAKING VIOLIN AT SCHOOL by April Halprin Wayland

I open my case

tighten my bow

pluck a string to tune.

I love to listen to it chirp across the echoing room.

My friends are in class

reading about

a famous English king,

But I am training this wooden bird upon my arm to sing.

from CALL DOWN THE MOON, Poems Of Music, selected by Myra Cohn Livingston (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1995); reprinted in CRICKET Magazine 4/9; reprinted in GIRL COMING IN FOR A LANDING (Knopf 2002)

bench designed by Jack Mackie
text by April Halprin Wayland

What has surprised you about this project? I’m already receiving reports of buskers setting up on violins near the Town Library and children going from bench to bench making rubbings as they go. I never anticipated that we’d be going home with them to become their proud refrigerator art!

Readers, don't you agree that Jack is a poet in thought, words, design and art?  Thank you so much, Jack, for joining us today and for sharing your process. I am deeply honored that you chose my poem. Some day I hope to tune up my fiddle and play Pig's Ankle Rag next to one of your beautiful violin benches!

benches designed by Jack Mackie

photo of Emily (last name unknown) by Jack Mackie, who writes:

"as Emily sat to play, she read your poem saying, 'Oh, that’s so lovely….  I’m her….'"

(Yes, I'm now officially on cloud nine.)

Thank you, Heidi, for hosting Poetry Friday at My Juicy Little Universe!

~ a perfect picture of summer ~

TeachingAuthors will be back refreshed and rarin' to go on Monday, July 17th. It'll be hard, but we know you can hold on without us until then. We believe in you.

posted with gratitude by April Halprin Wayland with help from Jack Mackie, of course...and from the delicious cauliflower-curry soup from a friendly Mediterranean restaurant that let me work at a table as long as I wanted.

Writing Inspired by Music

Many years ago, I watched a movie version of Cinderella. I suppose the kids must have watched it with me, but I don’t remember. What I do know is that a song—“Ten Minutes Ago: Waltz for a Ball”—stuck in my head. I waltzed around the house humming for days. And I thought, Wouldn’t it be fun to write to the rhythm of a waltz? I used that song as a template. Here’s what I (one, two, three, one, two, three) wrote.

Waltzing with the Wind

On a crisp golden day in autumn,
tufts of clouds drift through endless sky.
The wind tugs my sleeves
as it sweeps up the leaves
and teaches them how to fly.

The music begins with a whisper,
and branches all sway to the song.
The wind takes my hand
as it strikes up the band,
and I find myself dancing along.

Eager leaves, crimson, orange, and yellow,
leap and soar from each flame-colored tree.
The wind makes me twirl
as the leaves bow and swirl
in a flurry that whirls around me.

We glide, and we dip, and we circle
in a waltz of an autumn hue.
The music’s entrancing,
and while we are dancing,
each leaf has a partner, too.

Then a hush settles down from the treetops
as the wind tiptoes off with the tune.
The leaves touch the ground,
and I can’t hear a sound.
The dancing is over too soon.

I wait, and I watch, and I listen,
but the leaves have all flown from the trees.
The branches are bare.
There’s no sign anywhere
of the magical, musical breeze.

In the distance, a single note echoes.
One last leaf spirals down from the sky.
It beckons to me.
As it spins, I can see
that the wind is waving goodbye.

Try this: Think of a song you enjoy. Substitute your own words, keeping the rhythm the same. Have fun!

You, too, can watch and hear Paolo Montalban and Brandy sing “Ten Minutes Ago: Waltz for a Ball” from Cinderella (1997).

Today's Poetry Friday Roundup is at “Live Your Poem...” with Irene Latham. Enjoy!

JoAnn Early Macken