Friday, November 5, 2010

The Anthologist: A Poem for Lee Bennett Hopkins


I’m featuring poet/anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins at Wild Rose Reader this week and next week. Tricia Stohr-Hunt is featuring poet Marilyn Singer and Sylvia Vardell is featuring poets Pat Mora and Jame Richards. We’re doing this in preparation for a session we’ll all—bloggers AND poets—be participating in at the NCTE Annual Convention in Orlando in two weeks. The title of our session is Poets and Bloggers Unite: Using Technology to Connect Kids, Teachers, and Poetry.

Today, I have a poem for Lee titled The Anthologist. It's is about Lee searching for poems for his wonderful anthology Sharing the Seasons.




The Anthologist
By Elaine Magliaro

SO many poems to pick from.
HOW many should I use
in my poetry book of seasons?
WHICH poems should I choose?

This little poem paints autumn
with colored leaves that blaze—
cinnamon, copper, pumpkin, red—
and gold October days.

This little poem shivers on the page.
Its icy words send chills
with images of snow white streets
and frosted windowsills.

This little poem brings warm green winds,
a drizzle of April showers,
robin redbreasts, wiggly worms,
bees buzzing in bright flowers.

This little poem shouts: School is out!
It sizzles with summer fun…
picnics, peaches, popsicles,
a smiling yellow sun.

This little poem…and that little poem…
and these little poems too—
will sing a song of seasons
in this book I make for you.



More on Mora


This Week’s NCTE Poetry Posts at The Miss Rumphius Effect
Meet Marilyn Singer


This week I’ve been a guest blogger at the law blog of Jonathan Turley. Here are links to my posts at the Turley blog that include my original poems.

Dirty Dog!: A Sunday Pooch Poetry Post

The Best Government Money Can Buy: A Video and a Verse

A Bachmann Concerto


**********

JoAnn has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Teaching Authors.
at

4 comments:

  1. Andromeda JazmonNovember 5, 2010 at 11:46 AM

    This is something that always amazes me - how to chose which poems for an anthology. Lee certainly is a genius about it! Thanks for gathering all these resources.

    ReplyDelete
  2. jamaNovember 5, 2010 at 12:34 PM

    Love your poem, and all your posts featuring Lee so far. "This little poem shivers on the page" = my favorite stanza :).

    Thanks for all the links, too -- you've been a busy bee recently!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JoAnn Early MackenNovember 5, 2010 at 1:08 PM

    I love the way "this little poem" ties the stanzas together as they flow through the seasons! I'm looking forward to reading more!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amy L VNovember 7, 2010 at 8:01 AM

    I love the line, "This little poem shivers on the page" and the way you imagined how Lee puts a book together, section by section. I often wonder he does it, and how he chooses the order. What a tribute to him! You always offer us so much with your posts. Thank you! A.

    ReplyDelete