The Poetry of US ~ Grateful for Poetry Anthologies and Anthologists!

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Howdy, Campers and Happy Poetry Friday! (The link to PF and my poem are below)

This month, TeachingAuthors posts have been about the things we're most grateful for in the world of words. (Except for Wednesday's post, which includes a hot picture book writing prompt called "Dialogue is Sriracha Sauce.") Bobbi is grateful that each of us has a voice, Mary Ann is grateful to her family of storytellers,  Carla gives thanks for primary source documents which bring her research to life, and Carmela gives thanks to readers who make a huge difference in the life of a book.

Today I am grateful for poetry anthologies and the anthologists who create them. These works are a gift both to the poets in each collection and to their readers.

I've been honored to work with many of our finest anthologists. Today I'd like to bow deeply to a "well-loved, deeply-respected, and internationally-renown author and poetry anthologist," (and, may I add, a really fun guy),  Paul B. Janeczko who just this month won NCTE's Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children.

This award, established in 1977, honors a living American poet for their aggregate work for children ages 3–13. Take a deep dive into his website and see what a remarkable writer and person Paul is.

photo of Paul B. Janezko courtesy of Candlewick Press

Thank you for all you have given us, Paul--you are deeply loved and you soooo deserve this award!
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And speaking of anthologies: National Geographic just published an anthology by another well-loved, deeply-respected, and internationally-renown author and poetry anthologist, former Children's Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, THE POETRY OF US: More than 200 poems that celebrate the people, places and passion of the United States (National Geographic)

In 2015, I was thrilled when Pat asked me to write a poem about San Diego Zoo for this book "(perhaps include some of its exotic species)?" So after correspondence with and phone calls to the zoo hoping to get a free behind-the-scenes tour or interview with an animal keeper (wouldn't you think?), I convinced my husband that for our wedding anniversary we needed to go on a two-hour $89/per person behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo. And so we went. (Yes, he's a keeper.)

What a fun day!

It's both exhilarating and terrifying to write for an editor. Many of my attempts are stiff, lifeless. Nonetheless, I sent Pat nine poems. One was about two pandas getting married (we saw part of a wedding at the zoo), one was from the POV of a child lost in the zoo (I was six years old), two were about an elephant getting a manicure (we saw this on the tour--it's an actual thing!), a poem titled GOD DISCOVERS THE SAN DIEGO ZOO (about the S.D. Zoo Corps program for teens), one about a surprise date at the zoo (art reflecting life), a take-off of Robert Frost's The Pasture set in the zoo ("you come, too"), a quick and quirky poem about the first female zoo director, and a more serious poem about the same director.

Pat picked the last poem. Anthologists are editors, parent figures, therapists, task masters, mentors and more. Pat is one of the most patient editors I've worked with, watering and weeding poems I didn't even know were growing inside me...and then showing me how to clean up their meter and meaning.

Over a period of months, we changed phlangers into wombats, we took zebras out of their stalls (they've never lived in stalls in the San Diego Zoo, according to the zoo's historians) and more. Here is my poem as it now appears in this marvelous (and visually delicious) collection:

Belle Benchley
by April Halprin Wayland

I was the bookkeeper, that's all.

At noon I'd watch the zebras loll

I'd study wombats eating lunch

I really did not know that much

about the zoo.

I saw the llama wasn't well—

how did I know? It's hard to tell.

I pointed out a listless gnu

(for I read volumes about zoos.)

Some people swore our chief was rude—

depends upon your point of view.

(Recall he built this cageless place

which opened 1922).

It may be Dr. Wegeforth’s rage

that drove three zoo leaders away.

He marched to my desk, bent down and said:

"You try and run it—go ahead."

And so I did. 

poem (c) 2018 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

Thank you for hosting PF at Carol's Corner today, Carol!

posted with gratitude by April Halprin Wayland with help from Eli, Monkey and Snot.

The Progressive Poem's denouement!

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Howdy Campers!

Remember to enter to win in our 4 x 4 Blogiversary Celebration!

Today I have the absolute honor and (as Esther would say) knee-buckling responsibility to write the last line of 2013's Progressive Poem.  Yay!  And yikes!

The brainchild of Irene Latham, this Progressive Poem has been moving from blog to blog, growing poet by poet, for 29 days until it's come here for one final line.  For the poem and a list of contributing poets, see below.
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At the end of a month posting rough drafts of poems about dogs, I think you could say that this, too, is a rough draft.  As Laura Puride Salas says, it's poetry improv.  Yes, and a poetry game.  It's been fascinating to read the process of those who've proceeded me.

When I got the line by Denise Mortensen, it's such a great line, I thought I should just write THE END.  Then I could talk about how a poet needs to know when to quit and when a good line's a good ending.  That would be funny. If only I had the courage!

But I don't.  So off we go!

Here is the list of the poets who each contributed a line (in this space, some appear to be a line and then some, but they are all really one line each), and below their names is the (yikes!) finished poem.  Take a bow, poets!

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DAY/LINE + POET

1  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
2  Joy Acey
3  Matt Forrest Esenwine
4  Jone MacCulloch
5  Doraine Bennett
6  Gayle Krause
7  Janet Fagal
8  Julie Larios
9  Carrie Finison
10  Linda Baie
11  Margaret Simon
12  Linda Kulp
13  Catherine Johnson
14  Heidi Mordhorst
15  Mary Lee Hahn
16  Liz Steinglass
17  Renee LaTulippe
18  Penny Klostermann
19  Irene Latham
20  Buffy Silverman
21  Tabatha Yeatts
22  Laura Shovan
23  Joanna Marple
24  Katya Czaja
25  Diane Mayr
26  Robyn Hood Black
27  Ruth Hersey
28  Laura Purdie Salas
29  Denise Mortensen
30  April Halprin Wayland

P.T. BARNUM'S GREAT TRAVELING MUSEUM, MENAGERIE, CARAVAN, AND HIPPODROME*
by Thirty Poets on a mission in the Kidlitosphere...see list above

When you listen to your footsteps
the words become music and
the rhythm that you’re rapping gets your fingers tapping, too.
Your pen starts dancing across the page
a private pirouette, a solitary samba until
smiling, you’re beguiling as your love comes shining through.

Pause a moment in your dreaming, hear the whispers
of the words, one dancer to another, saying
Listen, that’s our cue! Mind your meter. Find your rhyme.
Ignore the trepidation while you jitterbug and jive.
Arm in arm, toe to toe, words begin to wiggle and flow
as your heart starts singing let your mind keep swinging

from life’s trapeze, like a clown on the breeze.
Swinging upside down, throw and catch new sounds–
Take a risk, try a trick; break a sweat: safety net?
Don’t check! You’re soaring and exploring,
dangle high, blood rush; spiral down, crowd hush–
limb-by-line-by-limb envision, pyramidic penned precision.

And if you should topple, if you should flop
if your meter takes a beating; your rhyme runs out of steam—
know this tumbling and fumbling is all part of the act,
so get up with a flourish. Your pencil’s still intact.
Snap those synapses! Feel the pulsing through your pen
Commit, measure by measure, to the coda’s cadence.

You've got them now--in the palm of your hand!
Finger by finger you’re reeling them in—
Big Top throng refrains from cheering, strains to hear the poem nearing…
Inky paws, uncaged, claw straw and sawdust
Until… CRACK! You’re in the center ring, mind unleashed, your words take wing--
they circle, soar, then light in the lap of an open-mouthed child; the crowd goes wild.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

* Barnum's circus was originally called "P.T. Barnum's Great Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Hippodrome," which is pretty much what our poem is. ("Greatest Show on Earth" was added later...that's us, too!)

It never hurts to join forces...

 

...ask all the thirsty pooches at the dog park!

Let's play some more!

Hey--where'd everybody go???

G'bye to Poetry Month 2013!  See you next year!

Posted by April Halprin Wayland

The March Madness Poetry Tournament Has Begun! #MMPoetry2013

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Howdy, Campers!

Just a quick post to tell you that the 2nd Annual March Madness Poetry Tournament (aka #MMPoetry2013) has begun!

Devised and run by the demonic Ed DeCaria at ThinkKidThink!, 64 "authletes" write poems in rounds, just like basketball's March Madness.  And madness it is, indeed!  But the best part is this: you get to vote for the best poem in each round! 

Poets include Bruce Balan, who regular readers know sails around the world on his trimaran, moi, and LOTS of friends of this blog from the Kidlitosphere, especially those who frequent Poetry Friday.  Meet all the authletes here! 
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Here's the link to my poem and that of Deborah Holt Williams, my fabulous opponent (my word is "puttering," which I did for 36 hours with that word...it felt as if I were cooking in a Food Network contest--no time, no time!  My honored opponent's word? "sophisticate"--which she handles beautifully.)

 

So, come on over and vote for your fav poems as they're unveiled!  It's one big poetry game in the sky!

To Post Poetry or Not to Post Poetry--THAT is the Question! ( & Happy Poetry Friday!)

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Happy Poetry Friday,
hosted today by Diane at Random Noodling.  Thanks, Diane!
My own poem and a Writing Workout poetry prompt is below.elow

Hello, Campers!  Today's question--Do I dare post an original poem?--is red hot, as I am 15 days into my second year of posting an original poem a day for Poetry Month.  What's a poet to do?

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There are poets on both sides of this question: some wonder whether a publisher will want to buy a poem or a series of poems if they have already been published on the net. They might post a poetry exercise but not their own poems.  Others, including author Jane Yolen, comfortably post original poems on their websites or blogs.  Yolen always attaches a copyright at the end: © 2011 Your Name Here, All Rights Reserved.  I now do the same.

My own instinct is to come to the world with open hands. 

 

Actually, that's not true. At first I was nervous about exposing my words to the world.  But then Greg Pincus told me that he's only had good things come back to him as he's shared his words with the world.  And man, does Greg share--in great, big, generous doses--on listservs, on his Gottabook blog, at schools, at conferences, and person-to-person.   Here's what Greg says:
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"I post lots of original poetry for free on my blog based on the idea that I wanted to (and still want to) create an audience for me and my work. I know there's risk that people can copy the poems, though that's also true of poems in books. And while it's true that folks could put their name on my poem, posting the work online creates a pretty clear "paper trail," so I don't lose much sleep about that, either. I've also always felt that if someone finds a way to make a lot of money by using my poetry, I'd write more and follow their method! 
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I also don't think that posting work for free devalues it or poetry in general. The idea that there's free poetry online, so people are saying "why buy books?" doesn't follow for me. Instead, I think it creates fans who will support poetry and poets. It can create new readers. I've also sold poems off my blog after initially publishing them there, so I can say that free has been valuable to me that way, too. At a different point in my career, I might not see that same value. I can't say. I think, though, that having the ability to connect with my readers directly has more than made up for any potential downsides I can see now.
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By the way, this is not to say that there isn't piracy online. I've seen poems reprinted without permission (both with and without attribution). However, for me, being unknown is a bigger concern than having a poem out there in the ether."
 
Greg's latest venture is called Poetry: Spread The Word.  You've got to watch the short video to get his clever idea for making author school visits affordable.

Author and poet Janet Wong, a remarkable human being and writer, says: "At two of my websites, www.janetwong.com and www.poetrysuitcase.com, you can find the full text of some of my poems (published and unpublished). I take the "Costco sample" approach to poem-sharing: if you like the little taste that I give you for free, maybe you'll buy a whole book--and, if you don't like it, thank you for at least giving it a try!"

Don't you love that Costco metaphor?  Among Janet's lastest adventures are two ebooks: Once Upon A Tiger: New Beginnings for Endangered Animals and PoetryTagTime , (an anthology of 30 children's poems for just 99 cents!)x

Author and poet Liz Scanlon Garton says, “My creative worldview is that there’s an abundance of poetry out there — more than enough ideas and pretty words for all of us to write a poem every day until we die. So, I don’t worry that someone will steal my work or that I will wear out my muse if I put original poems up on my blogs or elsewhere. In fact, the opposite. I’m pretty sure creative energy begets more creative energy.”
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Liz's latest is a picture book illustrated by Arthur Howard about friendship in "couplets with an unfaltering rhythm and gentle good humor" (~ Publishers Weekly) called Noodle and Lou.

Here's my tribute (from among the poems on my Poetry Month Challenge) to all poets (including fellow blogmate and poet, JoAnn Early Macken!) who share their words with an open hand:

ALL I NEED

by April Halprin Wayland

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I step onto this rickety bamboo bridge

high over wild water

as winds sways rope

as I totter

as my heart stops

as I lose hope.

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You reach across

stretching out

to me

All is not lost.

Your hand is all

I need.
(c) 2011  April Halprin Wayland, all rights reservedx
For the story behind the poem, click here and scroll down to the poem for April 10th.

Writing Workout:
SHOW ME A PICTURE

Think of a big concept like generosity or peace or hatred or anger…you get the picture.  Now close your eyes and think about how this concept feels.  What image presents itself?  

It’s the old “Show, Don’t Tell.” Write a poem showing us this concept in concrete terms, as I tried to do with generosity. On your mark, get set, go!

P.S. from Carmela: Don't forget to enter our giveaway for a chance to win an autographed copy of Gretchen Woelfle's brand new middle-grade novel,  All the World's a Stage (Holiday House)

April is Poetry Month! Book Spine Poems for Poetry Friday!

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Hello, Campers --it's POETRY MONTH 2011!

At the end of this post, is a Writing Workout about Book Spine Poems.  Try your hand at one and let us know what you came up with! And below that is the Kidlistosphere's list of places to find poetry for Poetry Month.

Thanks to poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm for hosting Poetry Friday today!

Yes, April is Poetry Month, which always pleases me to no end.  Not only is my name April, my birthday is in April and I was named for the Ogden Nash poem, "Always Marry an April Girl". I can hear you saying "Ahhhhh..."

For Poetry Month last year I took the Poem-A-Day-Challenge, writing a new poem each a day for the month of April (read them all here); it was such a profoundly naked and focusing exercise that I've continued to write a poem each day ever since.  So today marks my 366th poem in a row.  Journey with me as I write and post poems for Poetry Month 2011 here.

I only post the poems I write in the month of April; the rest I send, day by day, to my best friend, author and poet Bruce Balan, and his wife, who are sailing around the world in their red trimaran.  After dinner each night, while one washes the dishes, the other reads my poem aloud.  Then they send me their comments. I'm one lucky pup.

Poetry Month is rocking with events:

Over at GottaBook, Greg Pincus is reprising his amazing Thirty Poets in Thirty Days

And take a look at the new ebook poet Janet Wong and Professor Sylvia Vardell have cooked up  in time for Poetry Month for just 99 cents!

First Paperless Poetry e-Book Costs Just 99 Cents

Just in time for National Poetry Month, look for the first ever electronic-only poetry anthology of new poems by top poets for children (ages 0-8), PoetryTagTime, compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong and available for only 99 cents at Amazon on April 1. This collection of 30 new, unpublished poems range from the humorous to serious, about tongues, turtles and toenails, in acrostics, quatrains, and free verse written by 30 of our best children's poets: Children’s Poet Laureates Jack Prelutsky and Mary Ann Hoberman; Newbery Honor winner Joyce Sidman; NCTE Poetry Award winners X.J. Kennedy, J. Patrick Lewis, Lee Bennett Hopkins, and Nikki Grimes; popular poets Douglas Florian, Betsy Franco, Jane Yolen, Alice Schertle, Helen Frost, Carole Boston Weatherford, Calef Brown, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, April Halprin Wayland, Leslie Bulion, Avis Harley, Joan Bransfield Graham, David L. Harrison, Julie Larios, Ann Whitford Paul, Bobbi Katz, Paul B. Janeczko, Laura Purdie Salas, Robert Weinstock, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, and Pat Mora. And the “connections” between poems as the poets voice how their poems are interconnected adds another layer of fun and meaning. You'll be able to share brand-new poems and poetry tips with children all month long for pennies a day!xxx
Even if you don’t own a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle app for a number of devices, including your Windows or Apple computer, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android-powered phone. Also, be sure to check out our web site and companion blog for strategies for sharing each of the 30 poems in the book, rolling out one per day throughout the month of April.  For more information: http://poetrytagtime.com. Then check out the PoetryTagTime blog, with fabulous classroom ideas!

Remember...the Kidlistosphere's list of events and places to find poetry during Poetry Month are listed below.

WRITING WORKOUT:
Book Spine Poems!

Here's a fun writing exercise which elementary school librarian Travis Jonker explains how to do here at the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) blog!

I tried creating a Book Spine Poem from my bookshelf:

The poem:
WOW!
Ring out, wild bells!
Splish splash!
Calling the doves!
We are all born free!
That's how it is when we draw. [and write!]

(The books pictured: Writers on Writing selected and compiled by Jon Winokur,  Ring Out Wild Bells--Poems About Holidays and Seasons Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Splish Splash (shape poems about water) by Joan Bransfield Graham, Calling the Doves - El Canto de las Palomas by Juan Felipe Herrera, We Are All Born Free--The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures, and That's How it is When We Draw by Ruth Lercher Bornstein)

Let us know what you came up with--send us your own book spine poems or those your students create ~

Irene Latham compiled this list for the Kidslitosphere:

Susan Taylor Brown will post Lessons Learned (Mostly About Me) in a Poem-a-Day

April Halprin Wayland posts an original poem, the story behind it, and a poetry prompt each day. 

Liz Garton Scanlon will give us her third year of a Haiku-a-Day 

Jone MacCulloch will post 30 Days-30 Students: A poem a day from students 

A Poem A Day: A Personal Journey 

Poetry Postcard Project: Have a student written and decorated poem sent to your 

home. Email her 

Gregory K. will present 30 Poets/30 Days -a whole month of never-before-seen poems by a slew of fabulous poets writing for kids. 

Jama Rattigan will present her 2nd Annual Poetry Potluck (original poem and favorite recipe by guest bloggers) 

Irene Latham will host a month-long Poetry Party: poetry quotes, trivia, craft tips, publishing resources & free books! 

Andromeda Jazmon will be doing her fourth year in a row of haiga (original haiku + my photos) at A Wrung Sponge

Janelle at Brimful Curiosities will host a National Poetry Month Kids Poetry Challenge challenge in which kids are invited to create pictures for the poems she posts each Friday.

NEW additions:
Anastasia Suen presents EduHaiku! Write a haiku about what you learned in school and share it with her on her EduHaiku blog or twitter.

Lori Degman, at Habitual Rhymer, posts a new poem each day of Poetry Month, along with "fun poem-writing ideas"

National Poetry Month Poetry Friday schedule:

April 1 http://poemfarm.blogspot.com/

April 8 http://www.madiganreads.com/

April 15 http://randomnoodling.blogspot.com/

April 22 http://bookaunt.blogspot.com/

April 29 http://www.tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/

1) Take a deep cleansing breath. 2) Set a goal. 3) Enter our contest!

One-half of knowing what you want
is knowing what you must give up before you get it.
~ playwright Sidney Howard
(he adapted Gone With The Wind for the screen)

Envision what you want your life to look like.
Then ask yourself, “What do I have to become to manifest this vision?”
~ Rev. Michael Beckwith (paraphrased)

Dear Readers,

Huzzah, huzzah--it's nearly fall and a new Teaching Authors CONTEST has begun!

New Year At The Pier—A Rosh Hashanah Story by April Halprin Wayland, illustrated by award-winning Canadian Stéphane Jorisch, is so delicious, we want you to have a chance to win an autographed copy!

Here’s lots of juicy stuff about the book, here's the 1:16 minute book trailer and here’s a summary of the book, which got a starred review in Publishers Weekly:

Izzy’s favorite part of Rosh Hashanah is Tashlich, a joyous ceremony in which people apologize for the mistakes they made in the previous year and thus clean the slate as the new year begins. But there is one mistake on Izzy’s “I’m sorry” list that he’s finding especially hard to say out loud. Humor, touching moments between family and friends, and information about the Jewish New Year are all combined in this lovely picture book for holiday sharing.

So...how can you win your very own autographed copy?

Simple. Since the book is about the new year...do you have a new school year goal? Great! Then post one reading, writing or teaching goal you'd like to accomplish by December 31, 2009 in 25 words or less.

Here are some sample goals to get you thinkin':

Do you want your student(s) to understand the concept of Show, Don’t Tell?

Do you want the courage to delete all of your emails so that the clutter isn't keeping you from writing the next Charlotte's Web?

Do you want to set aside 30 uninterrupted minutes to read for pleasure each day?

Do you want to send out a manuscript by Halloween?

What is that one goal for this bright and shiny new school year?

Be specific. Here’s the place to ‘fess up!

Win-an-autographed-copy-of-New-Year-at-the-Pier CONTEST rules:
1) Read the two quotes at the top.
2) Take a deep breath.
3) Post ONE reading, writing or teaching goal for the new school year in 25 words or less.
4) Your goal must be posted on one of the Teaching Authors blog posts between Friday, August 28, 2009 and Monday, September 7, 2009.
5) You must include your email address in your post so that we can contact the lucky winner.
Here are our general giveaway rules.

The winner will be announced Tuesday, September 8, 2009.

We expect to hear back from you in the first two weeks of January—every one of you. If you don't win this time, you'll have another chance in January when you report on your progress. How did you do? Who or what helped you? Who or what hindered you?

Coming next week: more on New Year at the Pier!

And finally, because it's Poetry Friday...and to REALLY confuse you now that you're thinking about goals...I leave you with a beautiful completely contrary anti-goals poem by my wonderful friend, poet and author
George Ella Lyon:

First homework, then housework, now soulwork.

No list, no checking off, no done.

~ George Ella Lyon

image of girl with a goal by April Halprin Wayland

My Five Fave Poetry Books

Enjoy all of the delicious books we've been talking about this summer—and if you buy them, please BUY LOCAL. Find your local bookseller here.

The folks in these stores are paperback promoters, kidlit campaigners, poetry proponents, school supporters, chapbook champions and author advocates.

They hand sell, They create community. They read and recommend. They carry crazy amounts of inventory so we can walk in and touch before we buy.

So please don’t browse in their stores and then buy it “cheaper” online. Because it’s not cheaper if you put them out of business. Independents offer us so much more than books.

Okay, now…here my five favorite poetry books. Note that my favorites are always changing…these are TODAY’s favs--ones that influenced my writing and my life.

1. On my thirteenth birthday, my older sister’s friend gave me A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. I was stunned and flattered that she thought I was adult enough to understand these beat poems. Some of the poems took my breath away.
I loved “Dog,” which I performed in a modern dance solo. I recited the poem as I moved dog-like across the stage in a black leotard and tights, wearing our family dog’s collar. Picture that for a minute! Now read “Dog” here.

Just as Anne Frank’s book showed Mary Ann Rodman that she, too, could become a writer, Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s little book taught me that my hidden journals filled with poetry might one day become something more than journals.

When I was an adult, Ferlinghetti signed my copy. I burst into tears.

2. My mentor Myra Cohn Livingston recommended All The Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth, filled with poems about every day objects. Myra constantly said, “Tell me something new—or tell me something old in a new way. Make it fresh.” She said that the poet’s challenge was to get someone to see something as they had never seen it before.
Worth’s small poems make me tilt my head and look at things from another perspective…I’ve never looked at safety pins quite the same way after reading Worth’s poem “Safety Pin” with its “surprised eye.”

3. Many years ago, Gale, the company that publishes the reference guide Something About The Author, commissioned me to write my autobiography for this series. Up to that point I had only written picture books, so the prospect of writing something long was daunting.

I read lots of autobiographies, trying to figure out how I wanted to tell my life. Finally, I came across Calling The Doves—el canto de las palomas by Juan Felipe Herrera.This exquisite collection is about growing up in an itinerant farm worker family…in only 18 poems. It was revolutionary to me to realize that readers don’t need to know everything to be able to follow a storyline. This book inspired me to freely include poems in my own autobiography, which is in volume 26 of Something About The Author (in the reference department of most libraries) and also on my website.

4. The enchanting poetry book about the artist’s process, That's How it is When We Draw, written and illustrated by my dear friend, Ruth Lercher Bornstein, has taught me (again) that less is more.Ruth’s writing is unfailingly simple and clear. She can walk the tightrope of childlike writing…never allowing it to become cloying or sweet.

5. I found This is Just to Say—poems of apology and forgiveness, by Joyce Sidman when I was searching for books to add to my list about forgiveness and apologizing, to tie into the publication of my new book, New Year at the Pier—A Rosh Hashanah Story, which deals with these issues.
Sidman’s is a wonderful collection of poems about a classroom of students who write poems of apology—and receive poems back from those they hurt.

So for today, those are my Fav Five!

Here’s a poem about the pleasure of books which Lee Bennett Hopkins has accepted for a forthcoming anthology:

BOOKTIME
by April Halprin Wayland

I stand on our couch
closing windows,
pulling down shades,
shutting out shouting streets.

Wheels, squeals and dust driven past
disappear.
Those constant distant drums outside
are gone.

Inside I sit close to Mom.
I lay my head against her.
Listen to her heart
Listen to the words.

Listen to the whisper
of each
turned
page.

© April Halprin Wayland
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WRITING WORKOUT by April Halprin Wayland

1) Choose a poem you like.

2) Read it to yourself.

3) Read it aloud.

4) Write it in your own handwriting.

5) Now—write your own poem that does one of the following:
a) answers this poem
b) imitates this poem in content
c) imitates this poem in structure
d) takes one phrase from the poem and uses it in a completely different way.

6) Write with joy!