Greetings and salutations! It is my distinct honor to be hosting Poetry Friday on this auspicious first Friday of National Poetry Month 2022, and I'm delighted to have you all here!
BIRTHDAY #1
There's quite a bit to accomplish today, first of which is to wish my little April Fool the happiest of birthdays! My first-born is 23 today and finally celebrating a day of majority cautiously but not under total lockdown, which is how she passed 21 and 22. For her pains she is receiving the first Harry Styles single since early 2020 from his new album HARRY'S HOUSE. Let's all share in her joy...
POEM #1
Second on the agenda is the April challenge for the critique group known as INKLINGS, consisting of Margaret Simon, Linda Mitchell, me, Molly Hogan, Mary Lee Hahn and Catherine Flynn. This month, thanks to Mary Lee we are writing with help from Ellen Bass and a heart-wrenching poem.
Use “The Thing Is” by Ellen Bass as a mentor text. Keep the title, but choose a theme/message either from your own life or from current events.
I also incorporated Metaphor Dice into my effort, with plans for entering Taylor Mali's Golden Dice contest.
This is why we keep at it, right, folks? Because we cannot help ourselves, and because as bell hooks said, "The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is--it's to imagine what is possible."
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So now let's look at the poetry-art that's moving from possible into REAL over the next month. We have everything from new books to author chats, from poem-a-day projects to line-a-day collaborations!
Birthday #2
Today is also the book birthday of IMPERFECT II, an anthology of poems for middle-schoolers focused on PERSPECTIVE. This is a follow-up to
IMPERFECT I, published in 2018 and also edited by Tabatha Yeatts, and it's already trending on major book sale sites! I'm thrilled to have two poems in this collection (alongside many Poetry Friday regulars), which
offers poetry to answer this question: When we've lost sight of the big picture, how can we help ourselves put things back in perspective?
Get it now at Indiebound, Barnes & Noble or Amazon, and follow the blog at https://imperfectii.blogspot.com/
Mine!
Here you can find more information about my month of response to ALL WE CAN SAVE, the collection of essays and poems edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson. I'm reading it and listening to it and learning soooo much. I can't say I'll write a poem every day, but I'll try to write something every day, and I'm challenging myself to write outside my comfort zone.
Joining me in responding to ALL WE CAN SAVE is Mary Lee Hahn, who WILL be writing a poem each day and depositing them here at her
Poetrepository (one of my all time favorite coinages). She has some intriguing themes lined up. I'm enjoying the feeling that there could be some dialogue between our projects...
NPM Poetry Friday Tradition #1
Jama Rattigan at
Jama's Alphabet Soup will once again provide us with the NPM Kidlitosphere Events Roundup. Her catalog of all the exciting bites on the National Poetry Month menu will make your mouth water, maybe even make you shout!
NPM Poetry Friday Tradition #2
It's the annual
Progressive Poem, originated by Irene Latham (who kicks us off this year) and now hosted by Margaret Simon. Over 30 days, 30 poets will attempt to (and succeed; we always do) cobble together a collaborative poem, line by precarious, unpredictable line. Check out the team in the sidebar to the right!
NPM PROJECT #3
Linda Mitchell's APRIL poetry project at
A Word Edgewise is to read one letter per day written by her grandmother
from decades before she was born, as an inspiration for a new poem. Can you IMAGINE how wonderful this will be?
Michelle Barnes has resurfaced from a long pause (oh, we missed her!) for NPM and
will be repeating last year's NPM project at Today's Little Ditty—Filling the Well. Playing with the stuff that inspires poetry, she'll be creating daily "inspirational musings" that pair quotations with art, photography, poems, music, dance... anything that strikes her fancy and gives the words new life.
NPM POETRY CHAT: SCOOP!
Laura Shovan's annual poetry chat at the
Nerdy Book Club Facebook page is Sunday,
April 10 at 6 pm. This year's topic is "Staying Out Past Dark: Saying
Hard Things Through Poetry." It's a roundtable discussion with MG
author/poets Chris Baron, Rebecca Balcarcel, and Rajani LaRocca about
reading and writing poetry as a resource for kids during tough times.
Isn't it all heady and exciting!? And now, finally, YOU get your say!
Leave your link below and LET'S PARTY!
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