Saturday, March 10, 2007

Celebrating Valerie Worth

The March issue of Book Links arrived in my mailbox today. I was overjoyed to see that the Literary Legends feature has reappeared, and that this month it is devoted to Valerie Worth. Here is an excerpt from this terrific piece.
In an interview with poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins in Pass the Poetry, Please! (HarperCollins, 1972; reissued 1998), Worth observed, "Written poetry is simply a way of revealing and celebrating the essentially poetic nature of the world itself." Worth was able to find poetry in the most unexpected places, and her writing encourages readers (and writers) of all ages to follow her lead.
For those of you looking for an introduction to Worth's work, this is a wonderful article. Also, don't miss the terrific review of Animal Poems, the latest posthumous publication of her work, by Elaine at Blue Rose Girls.

I'll leave you with a Valerie Worth poem I've been thinking about lately. I'm hoping we will have a need to use this machine VERY soon!
lawnmower
The lawnmower
Grinds its teeth
Over the grass,
Spitting out a thick
Green spray;

Its head is too full
Of iron and oil
To know
What it throws
Away:

The lawn’s whole
Crop of chopped
Soft,
Delicious
Green hay.

2 comments:

  1. Tricia,

    Thanks for the link to my review of Valerie Worth's ANIMAL POEMS. It is a glorious children's poetry collection. And Steve Jenkins did an outstanding job illustrating the book.

    Was the Worth piece in Book Links written by Sylvia Vardell? Sylvia served on the Cybils poetry-nominating panel with me. She has a fine blog about children's poetry called Poetry for Children.

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  2. Hi Elaine,
    Yes, it was written by Sylvia Vardell!
    I simply loved your review of Animal Poems and can't wait to get a copy. I love Steve Jenkins artwork, so I'm sure I'll love this volume.
    Thanks for highlighting this new book.
    Regards,
    Tricia

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