Spider Speaks: An Original Animal Mask Poem

I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a week. I've been busy getting things organized for my mother's 93rd birthday party!

Here's a picture I took of my mother

and my cousin Joyce

at my daughter's wedding last July.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!

In addition, I'm now a regular guest blogger at Jonathan Turley's law blog (I post there every weekend). I'm sure that most people who frequent Wild Rose Reader know that I'm a poetry junkie. I'm also a political junkie. I try to keep my poetry blogging and my political blogging separate--so let me just say I'd been busy doing research for a couple of my Turley "Blawg" posts. I will tell you that I've been very interested in what has been going on in Wisconsin and I try to read everything I can on the subject--as well as watch news updates on the situation in that state. I'm a former teacher. I stand with the union demonstrators in Madison.

I didn't have much time this week to write poetry or to do any poetry book reviews--so I'm posting Spider Speaks--which I wrote for a collection of animal masks poems that is still unpublished.


SPIDER SPEAKS

I’M a spinner.
I’M a weaver.
I’M a clever bug deceiver.

Of silver silk
I build my snare
And clueless insects blunder there.

I’m crafty, sly.
I use my head…
And yards and yards of sticky thread!

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Sara Lewis Holmes has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Read Write Believe.

Apartment for Rent: An Original Fairy Tale Poem

Here's another poem from my unpublished poetry collection Excerpts from the Fairy Tale Files. This poem is written in the form of a classified ad.

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APARTMENT FOR RENT

One room, up-tower, furnished, neat.
The low, low rent cannot be beat.
Has awesome view of Castle Bay.
Installed a ladder yesterday
That’s strung with rungs of golden hair—
No other like it anywhere.
Have not seen my last tenant since
She fled and wed a handsome prince.

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At Blue Rose Girls, I have a post titled Let It Snow...Let It Snow...Let It Snow: Repetition in Poetry.

You'll find the Poetry Friday Roundup over at Great Kid Books.

2010 Cybils Award Winners Announced!

The 2010 Cybils Award Winners were announced this morning! Click here to find out who the winners are.

The 2010 Cybils Awards to Be Announced Soon!

The 2010 Cybils Award winners will be announced on Valentine’s Day. Be sure to check out the Cybils Web-site on Monday!

A winning book will named in each of the following nine categories:
Easy Readers & Early Chapter Books
Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade)
Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult)
Fiction Picture Books
Graphic Novels (Middle Grade)
Graphic Novels (Young Adult)
Middle Grade Novels
Nonfiction Books (Middle Grade & Young Adult)
Nonfiction Picture Books

Poetry

Young Adult Novels

I served as a 2010 Cybils Round I Poetry Panelist. I think 2010 was a banner year for children's poetry. Our group nominated seven titles. There were other fine poetry books that didn't make our list of finalists.

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The 2010 Cybils Poetry Finalists

Borrowed Names:

Poems about

Laura Ingalls Wilder,

Madam C. J. Walker, Marie Curie,

and Their Daughters

Written by Jeannine Atkins

Henry Holt

Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night

Written by Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by Rick Allen

Houghton Mifflin

Mirror, Mirror:

A Book of Reversible Verse

Written by Marilyn Singer

Illustrated Josee Masse

Dutton

Scarum Fair

Written by Jessica Swaim

Illustrated by Carol Ashley

Wordsong

Ubiquitous:

Celebrating Nature's Survivors

Written by Joyce Sidman

Illustrated by Beckie Prange

Houghton Mifflin

Sharing the Seasons:

A Book of Poems

Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Illustrated by David Diaz

McElderry

Switching on the Moon:

A Very First Book of Bedtime Poems

Collected by Jane Yolen & Andrew Fusek Peters

Illustrated by G. Brian Karas

Candlewick

2010 Cybils Poetry Panel

Panel Organizer: Kelly Fineman, Writing and Ruminating

Panelists (Round I Judges):
Bruce Black, Wordswimmer
Elaine Magliaro, Wild Rose Reader
Gina Ruiz, AmoXcalli, The Graphic Landscape
Laura Purdie Salas, Writing the World for Kids
Sylvia Vardell, Poetry for Children

Judges (Round II):
Kelly Fineman (see category organizer)
Sara Lewis Holmes, Read Write Believe
Greg Pincus, GottaBook
Jama Rattigan, Alphabet Soup
Liz Scanlon, Liz in Ink

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Let me say that it was a pleasure to work with the other Round I Panelists. They all have a true appreciation for children's poetry. I have great faith in our Round II Judges. They've had a difficult task--choosing one winner from all those wonderful poetry books. I can't wait to find out which title they select as the 2010 Cybils Poetry Award Winner!

Congratulations to the authors, illustrators, anthologists, and publishers of all the 2010 Cybils Poetry Finalists!!!

Farewell, My Lovely: An Original Fairy Tale Poem

Yesterday, I decided to write a new fairy tale love poem in honor of Valentine's Day, which is almost here. I feel I still need to do a bit of tinkering with Farewell, My Lovely to get the rhythm just right. Here's my first draft:

Farewell, My Lovely

She's beautiful! Forsooth, she's dead.
Look at her lips--so ruby red.
Her skin’s as white as fallen snow.
Her ebony hair’s like silk. Oh no!
I’ve fallen in love with a corpse—alas!
She looks so alive in her coffin of glass.
What will I do? I can’t tell the queen!
I know she’d make a royal scene
And conk me with her orb of gold…
And make me sleep out in the cold.
The king would have a raging fit.
He'd tell me I’m a foolish twit,
Take my inheritance away!
Tabloids would write an exposé.

I’m so forlorn. Oh, woe is me.
I shan’t live forever happily.
Today I found the love of my life—
But she will never be my wife.
I want to be the royal heir!
I must find a living lady fair
To marry me and be my bride.
I can't wed a gal who's already died.
I plan to rule this kingdom...so
Farewell, Snow White. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho.







At Blue Rose Girls, I have another fairy tale poem titled A Charming Prince Has Second Thoughts.


Rasco from RIF has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

Here & There: February 10, 2011

From School Library Journal

Places in the Heart: Celebrating Black History Month
School Library Journal asked some of the top kids’ book creators to choose their favorite children’s book about the black experience.

Here, There, and Everywhere: The United States Board on Books for Young People cites 40 international books for its 2011 honor list

Bullying: The Elephant in the Schoolyard (K-12 resources about bullying)


From Booklist Online

Classroom Connections: Marching for Freedom—Linking Literature to Primary Sources

Top 10 Black History Books for Youth: 2011

Top 10 Black History Books for Youth: 2010


From Wild Rose Reader

Black History Month Resources

Untitled Winter Sun Poem

Sun sears a winter sky
sets it afire
flares in the west
before it settles down
for the night

A Winter Poetry Tidbit

bent low
with snow
bushes bow to winter

Shadows on Snow: Revisiting an Old Poem

Years ago I wrote the following haiku. It was included in the children’s book Robert’s Snowflakes.

A snowman shadow
paints himself in blue upon
a cold white canvas.

Note: I had originally written the poem about a tree—not a snowman.

Yesterday, I was looking down from my bedroom window at shadows on the snow in my yard. I opened a window and shot some pictures. Then I decided to re-envision the snowman haiku as a “tree” poem once again. I've posted my first draft of the poem below.

a pine
dips its bristles
in a bowl of sky
brushes blue
on a winter white canvas
paints a self portrait

Here are links to some of the other poetry & pictures posts I’ve done recently:
It Snowed and Snowed: An Original Poem
It’s Snowing Again!: An Original Poem
An Icicle Shape Poem
To Catch a Setting Sun: Rough Draft of an Original Poem
A Snowstorm Poem Three Ways

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The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Dori Reads.

It Snowed and Snowed: An Original Poem

Well...the storms just keep on a comin' and a comin' this winter. I don't get out much these days. Yesterday, it snowed again. Today we had another storm, which started out as an ice storm...then it changed to rain...and then to snow. I think it will be June before all the white stuff around here melts!

Being snowbound has had a bright side for me though. I've be taking lots of pictures of snow and icicles and sunsets and have been inspired to write poetry again. That's a relief because I've had writer's block for months.

Here are some pictures that I took this morning and a poem that I wrote this afternoon:




It Snowed and Snowed

It snowed all day.
It snowed all night.
It snowed and snowed.
Two feet of white
covered everything in sight.
Our yard,
our deck,
our walk,
the road
don’t look the same
because it snowed...
and snowed
and snowed
and snowed
and snowed.
I dress up in my winter wear
and step out in the frosty air.
I look around and what I see
is a marshmallow world
waiting for me!

Here are links to some of the other poems I've written recently:

It's Snowing Again!

An Icicle Shape Poem

To Catch a Setting Sun

A Snowstorm Poem Three Ways