Writer's Quotes - poets

Thoughts from a couple of poets:

Too many poets delude themselves by thinking the mind is dangerous and must be left out. Well, the mind IS dangerous and must be left in.  

Robert Frost

When I went to school, I knew poetry was not a dead thing.  I knew it was always written by the living, even though the dateline said the mind was dead.

Stephen Vincent Bene't

Poetry lessons from author/poet Nikki Grimes

Last week at Kindling Words West, we not only spent our days writing, we had an inspirational lesson in the morning to kick-start us. Our lecturer was the famous (and wonderful) Nikki Grimes.  To get just a taste of some of the things she taught us, here's what Lynne Kelly, one of the other writers there, had to say in her blog, Making Stuff Up and Writing It Down about our Found Poetry lesson.

I was one of the other writers who created a "found poem"from that snowstorm article as well.
Here's mine:

READY FOR WORST, NEW YORK GETS FIRST MAJOR SNOWFALL

Snow

Storm

Freakish Halloween blizzard

Travel advisory

Trains running losing track

Bright Winter

Happy sledding: “Do it again”

Celebrate -- April is Poetry Month

The amazing Katie Davis has been planning a really fun way to celebrate poetry month. She sent out invitations to every children’s poet she could think of asking to come and celebrate on her blog. 

Many amazing people responded including  Doug Florian, someone whose work she completely geeks out over, so she's thrilled. Who else will be visiting? Check out this partial list and make sure to visit her blog every day, starting April 1st.

Alan Katz
Renee LaTulippe
Jane Yolen
Gail Carson Levine
Leslea Newman
Lee Wardlaw
Laura Purdy Salas
Ed DeCaria
Anastasia Suen
Betsy Franco
Charles Ghigna
Michael J. Rosen
Irene Latham

Nonfiction Monday -- Nature's Paintbox

Nature's Paintbox, a Seasonal Gallery of Art and Verse by Patricia Thomas. Illustrated by Craig Orback. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press, 2007.

This is one of those WoW books, whose illustrations take the statements in the poem and fly with it.

Nature's Paintbox. I love, love, love books that move around the calendar year. This book of poetry compares seasons to various styles of art. (Remember -- poetry is in the nonfiction collection in the library.)

"Winter is done in pen and ink... black and white."
And it is -- lovely pen and ink drawings with only faint bits of colors inserted by photoshop. (Hey, I'm not that smart. I didn't figure that out myself. It's all explained at the back of the book.)

"And then...
Nature draws
SPRING
in pastel chalk,..."
warm as sunshine colors... blurry, furry, ...fresh green-fuzzy, baby leaf, baby fern colors....
Even the words of this poem change from the crisp, clean winter words to warm, soft, bilowy springtime words.

And then... Nature paints SUMMER
in watercolors ....

But for my favorite season,
"Nature works
AUTUMN in oils..."

Lovely lucious words
lovely lucious artwork.
enjoy.

More Nonfiction Monday posts are located today at the blog, Shelf-Employed.
-wendieO

Poetry Friday -- Lewis Carroll forgery

Here's a first -- I'm actually going to post a poem on Poetry Friday.
Basically, it's an assignment for my Vermont College Writing class. We all have to do Lewis Carroll forgeries.
Here's mine:

Ode to my husband

Chip Whip Tall and wide
Biggest heart lies inside
Encompasses the whole wide world -- and me
Fuzzy, furry, growley bear
Fuzzy wuzzy had no hair
I know you'd say it's quite a sight -- to see

-wendieO

Poetry Monday

Yes, another Nonfiction Monday featuring poetry.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game, a pop-up book, Illustrated by John Stadler. S&S Little Simon
(Found in the Picture Book section of our library -- your results may vary.)

Surely everyone has, at one time or another, sung that wonderful baseball song, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Written by two guys who had never been to a baseball game, it has become the theme song of the event.

Welcome to Howler Stadium. Open the double page flips and you find yourself up in the peanut gallery watching a baseball game. (words to the song on the right -- chorus illustrated in the following pages.)

The ball players and the cheering crowd are portrayed as various enthusiastic animals. As you read, you are smack-dab in the middle of the action. ("One, two, three strikes you're OUT" The batter turns right before your eyes.)

Great blurbs on the back cover:
Beary Bonds says, "A honey of a home run, this is THE book to break hibernation for!"

Just in time for baseball season, a perennial favorite.
(Links to more Nonfiction Monday blogs can be found here.)
-wendieO