Poetry Friday: Poetry Month Blues

Poetry Month Blues 

Karen Edmisten 

Another April -- Poetry Month! --
has slipped through my fingers.
Failed plans, lack of sharing ...
The guilt in me lingers.

"Next year will be different!"
I shout with conviction.
Really? Inner Me sneers,
A doubtful prediction. 

Who knows? Should I worry?
I think not. You see,
every Friday's poetry day.
That's just Weekly Me.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Poetry Friday round up is hosted today by the amazing Irene Latham, at Live Your Poem.

Poetry Friday: World Make Way, edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins (and pssst: Happy Birthday!)

Could you resist this book? 

I couldn't. I ordered it the second I saw it. 

World Make Way: New Poems Inspired by Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins, is precisely what the title says it is. This lovely book begins with this splendid quote from Leonardo da Vinci: 

"Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, 

and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen."

(Pardon me while I pause and nod in appreciation.) 

The poets are delightful, the selections delicious. Here's a snapshot (from the backcover) of the featured artists and poets: 

I'm sure I need not say more? 

(I'll get out of your way as you race to your local indie bookstore....) 

~~~~~

Oh, one more thing: 

Happy 80th birthday to Lee Bennett Hopkins, 

Poetry Advocate Extraordinaire! 

Thank you, Sir Hopkins, for all that you do 

to champion the beauty of language and share it with children the world over. 

~~~~~

Robyn Hood Black has the Poetry Friday round-up 

(and a bunch more birthday wishes for Lee) 

at Life on the Deckle Edge.  

Meeting Ally Carter

About eight years ago (Seven? Nine? Something like that -- whenever she was at that junior high-ish age), Betsy started reading Ally Carter's Gallagher Girls series. Then she went through the Heist Society books, devoured all of Embassy Row, and somewhere along the way, introduced her little sister to Ally Carter too. Ramona promptly inhaled every Ally Carter book she could get her hands on (which wasn't too hard -- Betsy owned most of them.)

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. The girls discovered they could get their hands on a signed copy of Carter's brand new book, Not If I Save You First from an indie bookseller in another state. They promptly ordered it, and just a day or two after it arrived, Ramona spotted big news on Twitter: Ally Carter was coming to an indie bookstore just a short distance from us. (Ahem ... when you live in a small town in the midwest, everything worth doing that is under 2-3 hours away is "a short distance.")

So it went on the calendar!
We counted down!
Monday, April 9th arrived!

Ramona was sickish, but it would've taken a coma to keep her away from this book signing. Anne-with-an-e had never gotten in on the CarterMania, but she came along just because, hey, it's a bookstore, and hey, the rest of us are sparkling company.

Betsy and Ramona talked about what to say to Ally Carter when they met her. They speculated that the fangirling could spiral out of control -- what if they sputtered, spewed, misspoke, and embarrassed themselves with things like, "We loved the Grungy Goblin series ... umm, I mean Gallagher Girls! And Horse Solemnity -- No! Heist Society! And of course we loved Eatery Rowboat. Doh! Embassy Row!"

In the end, they slaughtered nary a title, remained composed while asking questions ("What book or writer inspired you to want to be a writer?" and "What advice do you have for someone who loves writing and would like to get her writing published?"), we bought a couple more books, and we all survived the long book-signing line. When it was our turn, we all fangirled, truth be told. And Ally Carter could not have been kinder or more gracious. She was truly lovely, and gave so much of her self and her time to each and every girl (and mom) there.

The next day we had a fun little exchange with her on Twitter and today Ramona said, "Do people still say 'shook'? Because I'm still shook."

Some of my fondest mom/daughter/road trip memories involve book signings and being shook in the company of my daughters. (Remember Ramona and Jim Arnosky? Sigh.) And sometimes, writers you originally met online become the dearest of friends.

Finally, it just has to be said: indie bookstores are the best. Thanks, Bookworm.

Poetry Friday: Magdelen Walks, by Oscar Wilde

Magdalen Walks
Oscar Wilde

The little white clouds are racing over the sky,
And the fields are strewn with the gold of the flower of March,
The daffodil breaks under foot, and the tasselled larch
Sways and swings as the thrush goes hurrying by.

A delicate odour is borne on the wings of the morning breeze,
The odour of leaves, and of grass, and of newly upturned earth,
The birds are singing for joy of the Spring’s glad birth,
Hopping from branch to branch on the rocking trees.

And all the woods are alive with the murmur and sound of Spring,
And the rose-bud breaks into pink on the climbing briar,
And the crocus-bed is a quivering moon of fire
Girdled round with the belt of an amethyst ring.

And the plane to the pine-tree is whispering some tale of love
Till it rustles with laughter and tosses its mantle of green,
And the gloom of the wych-elm’s hollow is lit with the iris sheen
Of the burnished rainbow throat and the silver breast of a dove.

See! the lark starts up from his bed in the meadow there,
Breaking the gossamer threads and the nets of dew,
And flashing adown the river, a flame of blue!
The kingfisher flies like an arrow, and wounds the air.

(This poem is in the public domain.) 

~~~~~

The Poetry Friday round-up is at The Poem Farm, hosted by the ever-wonderful Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.

Bits and Pieces of Our Days

Happy spring from my backyard to yours. 

Bleh. 

~~~~~

Despite the fact that spring hasn't fully arrived, Atticus has been out running (of course.) 

Last week he ran in a ten-mile race with 1,999 other people, came in 326th overall, and 2nd place in his age division. (I think they categorize our age as something like, "Old Enough to Be Called a Senior Citizen But Not Old Enough to Retire. Congratulations.") 

Anyway. I'm proud of him. The girls and I stayed with old friends and drank lots of coffee and ate scones. I was proud of us. We came in first in our division, too. We are the champions. 

~~~~~

Ramona has been drawing the imagined adventures of Kylo Ren and Rey. She calls them Kylo-Rey Doodles, and here are a couple of recent ones. The first one is called "Makeover Night": 

Porgs! 

~~~~~

On a serious note, Ramona finished reading The Diary of Anne Frank yesterday and we had to just sit down and cry for awhile together. 

~~~~~

Anne-with-an-e is truly, officially a librarian with true, official Librarian Superpowers. She told me that the other night at work, she was keeping an eye on some kids who seemed to be unattended and were starting to get just a little bit rowdy. As she pushed a book cart nearer to where the kids were, she overheard one of them say, "You guys! Is she a librarian?" The kids got quieter. A minute later, she heard, "You guys! There's a librarian coming!" and suddenly ... the Kid Noise was no more. 

~~~~~

Betsy is participating in April Camp NaNoWriMo. She's writing novel #8, I think. Or is it #9? I just asked her and she can't remember either. Lotsa novels. One of them is gonna get published one day. Perhaps it will be the one she's currently revising? She wrote it for Camp NaNoWriMo in July of 2016 and is on her third draft. I get excited for her every time I read it. It's a fantasy adventure called ... oooh, sorry! You'll have to wait till it's published to find out the title. 

~~~~~

It's April already, people! April! 

I blinked four times and March was gone. Of course, an hour was stolen from me via the inhumanity that is known as Daylight Saving Time, but still ... months shouldn't be allowed to careen out of control like that. 

And yet they keep doing it. 

~~~~~

Happy April, Happy Octave of Easter!