Poetry A-Z: Day 27 ... Baseball

It was Casey Stangel who said “You got to get twenty-seven outs to win.” Since today is the 27th, it seems like the perfect day to talk about two of my favorite things--baseball and poetry. (Okay, I have a LOT of favorite things, but today I'm focused on our national pastime.)

Let's start with a poem.

Analysis of Baseball

by May Swenson

It's about

the ball,

the bat,

and the mitt.

Ball hits

bat, or it

hits mitt.

Bat doesn’t
hit ball, bat
meets it.
Ball bounces
off bat, flies
air, or thuds
ground (dud)
or it
fits mitt.

Read the poem in its entirety.

Rules of the Game, written by Marjorie Maddox and illustrated by John Sandford, is a collection that is not only a technical examination of the rules of the game and jargon, but also one filled with an intense love for the game. How can you not love a book with a poem devoted to the infield fly rule? Here's the concluding poem from the book.


Grand Slam

Dreams brimming over,
childhood stretched out in legs,
this is the moment replayed on winter days
when frost covers the field,
when age steals away wishes.
Glorious sleep that seeps back there
to the glory of our baseball days.

Poem  ©Marjorie Maddox. All rights reserved.

Let me admit here and now that I'm in love with Kevin Boland (known to his baseball-playing buddies as Shakespeare). How could I not love a boy who loves two of my favorite things--baseball and poetry? How could I not appreciate a boy who writes things like this?

Man, sonnets are hard: counting
syllables in every line, trolling
for rhymes (p.16).


I said I wouldn't write anymore,
but I take that back.

When I got sick, I missed baseball.
When I got well, I missed writing (p. 56).


I'm still trying to slip in some inside
rhyme, just a few things that chime
a little but don't go bong, bong, bong
at the end of every line (p. 61).


I've got this pitcher figured out: slider,
fastball, curve. Slider, fastball, curve.
Like meter in a bad poem--no surprises (p. 113).

(Excerpts from Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge.)

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, written by Ron Koertge, is an emotional story told through poems laced with humor, angst, love, loss and of course, baseball. What's a boy to do when he's told he's sick and can't play the sport he loves? His father, who is a writer, hands him a marble composition notebook and and says, "You're gonna have a lot of time on your/hands. Maybe you'll feel like writing/something down."

By the fourth poem in, Kevin has taken a book about poetry from the den and secreted it away to his room.

It feels weird smuggling something about
poetry up to my room like it's the new
Penthouse (p. 5).

As Kevin recovers from mono he writes about the death of his mother, girls, baseball, the past, and the struggles of a typical teenager. The poems take a variety of forms, including sonnet, couplet, free verse, elegy, pastoral, pantoum, and more.

The sequel to Shakespeare Bats Cleanup is the book Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs. Kevin Boland struggles with his new girlfriend (who doesn't really know much about poetry), his new poetry gal pal (who totally gets his poetry obsession), his English class, his father's dating, the line between friendship and something more, and baseball. As with Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, I appreciate Kevin's take on writing, life and baseball. Here are a few of my favorite excerpts.

I love my thesaurus. I like
to think about all the words
in there, cuddling up together
or arguing. Montagues on
one side, Capulets on the other.
Synonyms and antonyms (p. 4).


He calls rhyme a benevolent bully because it'll make a poet
look hard for the right word and then maybe he finds
an even better one (p. 11)!


Sadness is a big dark bus
with a schedule all its own.
But when it pulls up and the door
opens with a hiss, you pretty much
have to get on (p.25).


The sestina is almost impossible. I tried one once
and after a couple of stanzas threw myself onto
the nearest chaise and wept. Copiously (p. 80).

All poems  ©Ron Koertge. Used with permission of Candlewick Press.

Change-Up: Baseball Poems, written by Gene Fehler and illustrated by Donald Wu, is a collection of thirty-six poems in which the narrator describes his baseball-loving life. The collection begins in February with "Snow Baseball" and ends one year later with "Ballfield in February." In between there is anticipation, celebration, and a true reverence for the game. The fact that the narrator is a young boy who shares his love of the game with his family adds to the kid-appeal of this one. Here is one of my favorite poems.

Fielder's Mitt

On my shelf my mitt,
stiff from winter's bench-
warming cold,
waits for spring,
for mud-scuffed balls
slapping past, taunting
"Catch me if you can!"
--a challenge
that thaws my mitt
for a chase
through any mud-warmed
ballpark
in suddenly spring.

Poem  ©Gene Fehler. All rights reserved.

If you are interested in connecting this book to writing, you can download an activity sheet that encourages kids to write their own book of sports poetry.

Fehler has also written a free verse novel entitled Beanball. Here's an excerpt from the poem that describes the defining event of the novel.

Tim Burchard, umpire

It’s the worst sound I’ve ever heard
in all my years of umping.
Oh, I’ve heard plenty of pitches hit a helmet.
But this . . . this fastball, up and in.
This one hit bone, right in the face.
Not even a scream or grunt from the kid.
He went down like he was shot.

I know him.
I’ve umped and reffed
maybe a dozen of his games.
Not just baseball—
football and basketball, too.
The kid’s a great athlete, a natural.
That’s why it was such a shock to see him go down like that.

The screams come from everywhere:
bleachers, dugouts, infield, mound.
Even from me.

Luke "Wizard" Wallace's story is told by 28 different narrators. They include members of his Oak Grove baseball team, members of the Compton baseball team (the team Oak Grove was playing when Luke was hit), a number of Oak Grove High School students and teachers, members of Luke's family, a doctor and nurse at the hospital, and a number of other characters. There are many voices to keep track of at first, but they intertwine rather seamlessly to tell a most compelling story.

That's it for today. See you tomorrow with another mystery post!

Poetry A-Z: A is for Avian

I'm a bit sad that I'm at the end of this alphabetic trip through poetry. I really struggled in my final choice, wavering between aquatic and avian for at least a week. However, on my daily walks to work I've been enjoying the heron, ducks, and geese every morning, so my feathered friends made the choice for me.

Before I begin, I recommend you read Adam O'Riordan's piece entitled Why Are Poets So Fascinated With Birds?. Here's an excerpt.

What is that draws poets to birds? And why have so many turned to them at critical points in their own writing? The collective nouns we all remember from childhood speak of language's innate fascination with all things avian: a murder of crows, a murmuration of starlings, a parliament of fowls. And it's no coincidence we afford them the most poetic collective nouns: right from the birth of literature birds have been present.

AVIAN - of or relating to birds 

Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems, written by Kristine O'Connell George and illustrated by Barry Moser, is a collection of poems in which George describes a hummingbird's building of a nest in a potted ficus tree on her patio, as well as the hatching and growth of the baby birds. The poems in the book are accompanied by vibrant watercolors that exquisitely capture the world of the hummingbirds. Each one contains a date that allows readers to the see the progression of events. The poems themselves are moving and full of the emotion that comes with watching an amazing event like this unfold. An extensive author's note describes how she kept a hummingbird journal and the joy brought to the family by simply observing the birds over the course of two months. There is also information about hummingbirds, as well as a list of selected books for both younger and older readers.

The book begins with the poem, Visitor.

A spark, a glint,
   a glimpse
   of pixie tidbit.
Bright flits, brisk zips,
   a green-gray blur,
   wings, zings, and whirr--

I just heard
   a humming of bird.

What follows are poems that describe the dive-bombing of the family by a bird very determined to protect it's territory, nest building, egg hatching, nestling care and growth, flight practice and the inevitable empty nest. Poems are written from the perspective of the observer, as well as the disgruntled dog and cat. ("I'm a prisoner--because of a bird. How absurd.") Visite George's web site to  read another poem from the book. You can also listen to her read a few of the poems.

The Company of Crows: A Book of Poems, written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Linda Saport, is a collection of 23 poems in which crows are viewed from the perspective of crows, other birds, animals, and people. Here's one of my favorites.

The Movie Critic

Cemetery bird,
     there you are on the big screen
always sitting on a tombstone
     before the ghouls start to drool.
Or else you're in the desert,
     pecking at a jawbone
where someone's dying of thirst
     or something even worse.
You're on posts near ghostly castles,
You're on gates by weird estates.
You're the messenger of monsters
     on a foggy, haunted heath,
     as the creepy music blares.
What about you always scares us,
     you daytime traveler with no talons,
     you comic dancer with no teeth?
Tell me, how on earth did you get stuck
     as an image of bad luck?

Poem ©Marilyn Singer. All rights reserved.

The Robin Makes a Laughing Sound: A Birder's Journal, written and illustrated by Sallie Wolf and designed by Micah Bornstein, is a beautiful nature journal that includes poetry, sketches, watercolors and more. The scrapbook look and feel of this book has been created using by Wolf's actual sketches and drawings that have been manipulated in PhotoShop.  The Author's Note in the beginning describes how a teacher ignited Wolf's love and passion for bird-watching.

Organized by season, the pages contain a wealth of information about bird watching, bird identification, and behavior.  Here's the journal entry and poem that give the book its title.

March 26 - I saw a cardinal & a robin perched in the same young maple, both singing.

The Robin Makes a Laughing Sound

The robin makes a laughing sound.
It makes me stop and look around
to see just what the robin sees—
fresh new leaves on twigs of trees,
a strong high branch on which to rest,
a safe, dry ledge to hold its nest.
The robin makes a laughing sound.
I stop. I always look around.

Poem ©Sallie Wolf. All rights reserved.

In the back matter of the book is a section entitled About My Journals, in which Wolf describes her journaling process and how it has evolved over time. There is also a section of Resources where readers can find additional information on birds and birdwatching.


The Cuckoo's Haiku: and Other Birding Poems, written by Michael J. Rosen and illustrated by Stan Fellows, is a collection organized by season, beginning with spring. The spare form works well in these poems, highlighting each of the 24 bird species in delightful ways. The illustrations are elegant and nicely complement the text. Each double-page spread reads like a bider's journal, with notes scribbled on the pages. For example, the page for the Eastern Bluebird contains these notes.

chestnut throat, breast, and flanks
males are darker, bright blue
bluebirds are thrushes, related to robins

Here's the poem from the facing page.

on a staff of wires

blue notes inked from April skies

truly, spring's first song

The back matter for the book contains a section entitled Notes for Bird Watchers and Haiku Lovers. Here's what is written about the Eastern Bluebird.

One of the earliest birds to appear in the spring, the eastern bluebird is often thought of as the harbinger of the season. Its son, truly, truly, is a soft, garbled series of notes typically sung while flying or feeding. Since groups of bluebirds often rest on power lines that cross meadows, I imagined the lines as a musical staff with these blue quarter notes that run across spring's blue skies.

Poem and Text ©Michael J. Rosen. All rights reserved.

On the Wing: Bird Poems and Paintings, written and illustrated by Douglas Florian, is a collection of art and poetry that examines 21 birds with witty word play and a keen sense of observation. Here's one of my favorite poems. It is accompanied by an illustration of the bird with wheels for legs.

The Roadrunner

The roadrunner darts
Down dusty roads
In search of insects,
Lizards and toads.
Past tumbleweeds
It speeds for snakes,
And catching them,
Turns on the brakes.

Poem ©Douglas Florian. All rights reserved.

Jane Yolen and her son Jason Stemple have collaborated on a number of poetry books with birds as the subject. To get a feel for the depth and vibrancy of the images in these books, be sure to check out some of Jason's bird photos. Here's an overview of these books.

Wild Wings: Poems for Young People - The first collaboration between Jane and her son focused on birds, this collection of 14 poems was inspired by the stunning photos.

Fine Feathered Friends: Poems for Young People - The second book on birds in the Yolen-Stemple collaboration includes even more gorgeous photographs and inspired poems in a variety of forms.

An Egret's Day - This third collection focuses exclusively on the egret. That neck! Those feet! Photos get up close and personal and allow readers to see this magnificent bird from every angle. Poems full of metaphor and keen observation tell us much about these birds. Also included is factual information. 

Bird's of a Feather -  The most recent book in the bird collaboration, contains 14 poems in a variety of forms, each accompanied by a brief bit of informational text.

One of the features I particularly like about the most recent book is the Foreword by ornithologist Dr. Donald Kroodsma. It begins this way.

As an ornithologist and obsessed with the details in the daily lives of birds, I know these eagles and chickadees and kingfishers and the other fine birds in this book. But after absorbing the poems and photographs here, I'll never see these birds again in the same way.
. . .
Scientists collect numbers and study the details, but these poems and photographs give us another angle, reminding us that birds are far more than an accumulation of facts.

Here's one of the poems.

Terns Galore

At the seaside, terns galore,
One tern, one tern, one tern more.
I tern. You tern.
My turn to fly, tern,
Overhead and high, tern.
Underneath and 'bye tern.
Why, tern, why turn?
Turning terns are all returning,
There upon the shore.

Poem ©Jane Yolen. All rights reserved.

Feathers: Poems About Birds, written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Lisa McCue, is a playful collection of 27 short, rhyming poems. The back matter contains some "feathery facts" about each of birds described in the poems. My favorite poem EVER about a woodpecker is in this book. Here it is.

Wake Up

No rooster to wake us.
We're not on a farm.
But we have our very own
feathered alarm.
It drums before breakfast
on shingle and pole.
I think there's some rooster
in woodpecker's soul.

Poem ©Eileen Spinelli. All rights reserved.

This topic is so big that there are MANY more children's poetry books I could name here. While I haven't been recommending adult books in these posts, I'll end this list with two poetry books you'll find worthwhile, despite the fact that there is a bit of overlap in the selection of poems.

Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds, selected by Billy Collins and illustrated by David Allen Sibley - I adore this work for its inclusion of classic and contemporary poetry on birds as well as its scientifically accurate (and gorgeous) illustrations.

On Wings of Song: Poems About Birds, selected by J. D. McClatchy -This is a huge anthology with every manner of bird, from hummingbird to albatross. You'll also find such poets as Dickinson, Plath, Poe, Keats, Yeats and many more.

Finally, I highly recommend you read the poem Thirteen Ways of Looking: Poems About Birds, written in honor of the poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens.


That's it for A. See you tomorrow with a mystery post! (I'll admit that I'm a bit excited to have 4 open days to play with!)

Poetry A-Z: B is for Biographical

While I love poems about nature and the world around me, I find poems about real people and/or historical figures to be inspirational forms for sharing the stories about their lives and accomplishments. 

BIOGRAPHICAL - of or pertaining to a person's life

In perusing my bookshelves I realized that while I have many biographical poetry books, the books of one author first captured my attention.

César: ¡Sí, Se Puede! Yes We Can, written by Carmen Bernier-Grand and illustrated by David Diaz, is a biography of Chávez told in a series of 19 free verse poems. The back matter in this book is extensive and includes a section of notes, a glossary, a short synopsis of Chávez's life, a brief chronology, the author's sources, and a collection of Chávez's quotes. It is one of the most comprehensive and moving biographies of the man I have ever read. What is different about this work is that it does not shy away from the difficulties and injustices he faced in his life. Instead, his life story is told head on, shining a spotlight on the good and bad times. Here is one of my favorite poems from the book.

Crooked Lines

"God has written in exceedingly
crooked lines."

What made César follow
Father McDonnell
from camp to camp
and Mass to Mass?

What made Father McDonnell
give César the teachings and prayers
of Saint Francis of Assisi:
"Lord, make me an instrument
of your peace"?

Why did a book about Saint Francis
mention Mahatma Gandhi,
a man of peace who won many battles
against injustices in India?

Why did César talk
to Father McDonnell
about his passion for peaceful change
and the leadership hidden deep
inside him?

What made Father McDonnell
send Fred Ross, from the
Community Service Organization,
to see César?

God's crooked lines.

The next biography Carmen tackled was Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life!. In this book the poems are largely accompanied by the paintings of Frida Kahlo, though a few photographs of Frida are included. I knew nothing about Frida's personal life until I read this book. The 26 poems capture her strength in the face of adversity, her passion, and the poignant experiences that marked her life. Here is a poem describing an early event that shaped her life.

Hummingbird Wings

I am a wounded hummingbird
caged in my room for nine months
with polio, crippling polio.

Warm towels soaked in walnut water
ease the pain in my leg,
a thin, drying twig.

I hide in the walnut wardrobe,
put on a white sock,
another on top,
and another.
Is the right leg as fat as the other?

The cage opens.
Now I have wings.

As with César, the back matter in this book is also extensive and includes quotes from the letters and diary of Frida Kahlo, a short overview of Frida's life, a brief chronology, a glossary, the author's sources, and a section of notes.

After writing about Frida Kahlo, it makes a great deal of sense that Carmen's next work would be about Diego River. Diego: Bigger Than Life follows the form of the first two biographies and is another exceptionally well-researched volume about the artist. This one contains a whopping 34 poems. The emotion that resonates in these poems is a testament to how well Carmen writes. I'll have to admit that there was little I liked about the man after reading this, but the connection between his passionate, controversial life and art is unmistakable. Here's a poem that describes his art.

Brimming With Mexican Light

As naturally as I breathe,
I painted in grand scale the colors of Mexico—
clearer, richer, more full of light than colors in Europe.

As naturally as I speak,
I painted in grand scale the music of Mexico
in markets, crowds, festivals—
Burning of the Judases, the Dance of the Deer.

As naturally as I sweat,
I painted in grand scale the workers of Mexico
in fields, mines, streets—
Indians carrying bundles of calla lilies.

A million public walls
wouldn't be enough
to paint all the beauty of Mexico.

All Poems ©Carmen Bernier-Grand. All rights reserved.

These titles were followed by Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina, a poetic biography of the prima ballerina assoluta of Cuba, and Picasso: I the King, Yo el rey, a collection of 40 poems about the life of the artist.

I have long had an interest in African American scientists and inventors, so finding Marilyn Nelson's book Carver: A Life in Poems was a revelation. Finally, here was the story of a remarkable man in language as inspiring as his life! Here is one of my favorite poems from the book.

Clay

God's breath on a compound of silica,
alumina, and various oxides—
primarily iron—gave Adam life.
There is a primal, almost mystical
connection between humankind and clay,
from the footed, bellied first receptacles
to frescoed Renaissance cathedral walls.
To Carver's eye, the muddy creek banks say
Here, to be dug up, strained, and painted on,
is loveliness the poorest can afford:
azures, ochres . . . Scraps of discarded board
are landscapes. Cabins undistinguished brown
bloom like slaves freed to struggle toward self-worth.
Beauty is commonplace, as cheap as dirt.

Poems ©Marilyn Nelson. All rights reserved.

Borrowed Names: Poems About Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C.J. Walker, Marie Curie, and Their Daughters, written by Jeannine Atkins, tells the story of three daughters moving from childhood to adulthood. Each of the three sections of the book begins with a bit of backstory about the mother and daughter and where their story in poems begins. The poems convey a real sense of person, and after reading them you feel you really know these women in an intimate way.

Irene Curie's story begins with birth of her younger sister and follows with the untimely death of her father, living with grief, her mother's second Nobel medal, war, Irene's studies at the Sorbonne, working side-by-side with her mother, and more. Here' are excerpts from two of the Curie poems.

from Without School Bells (p. 160-161)

Irene can't worry about yawns or crushes.
She needs to comprehend
the laws of radiance, reflection, refraction.
Every question and answer binds her
to the one world her mother loves.


from Paris (p. 185)

Irene and Mé now work side by side, though Irene
can't forget one of them
keeps two Nobel Prizes in her bureau.

Poems ©Jeannine Atkins. All rights reserved.

As with the other stories in the book, Irene's ends with a section entitled Legacies, that tells of her life after her mother's death. The book ends with a timeline marking important events in the lives of the three mothers and daughters. A selected bibliography is also included.

The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, written by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Sean Qualls, is a novel-length biography written in verse that tells of the boyhood of a nineteenth-century Cuban slave who secretly learned to read and wrote poetry about beauty, despite the harshness of the world in which he lived. The poems are told from the perspectives of Juan himself, his parents, his owners (two different women), and others involved in his life. Here's an excerpt.

Juan (p. 38-39)

Even though I am not free
     there are things that I love
     in this world, this mansion, palace
     this strange home where I live
     even though it doesn't always feel exactly
     like living
     or home

I love to sit in the central courtyard
     looking up a a ceiling of sky
     looking around at the fragrant garden
     of jasmine and tuberose
     looking down at the mosaics on the floor
     chips of tile swirled into stories
     of kings and castles
     jungles and beasts

I love the singing fountain, ripening fruit trees
     a view of high balconies dancing in the wind
     the rhythm of archways and columns
     railings of wrought iron in  the shapes
     of black metal peacocks
     and angels playing harps
     I like to think that the angels are real
     the music mine

I roam the vast rooms
     filled with paintings and statues
I dance in the ballroom when no one is looking
I try out the musical instruments
I sit in the rocking chairs, swaying
     to my own secret song
     a silent moment
     of peace

Poems ©Margarita Engle. All rights reserved.

This is a heart-wrenching life story, beautifully told. As sad as parts of it are, there is hope here. Engle provides a historical note about Manzano in the back matter of the book. Here's an excerpt.

Juan often said that he hoped to write a novel about his life. He never had the chance. In fact, strict censorship by the colonial Spanish government prevented all Cuban poets and novelists from writing verses or stories about slavery. 

The life story of Juan Francisco Manzano is known only because some of his autobiographical notes were smuggled to England, where they were published by abolitionists who hoped to raise support for their cause.

The historical note is followed by examples of Manzano's poetry, in Spanish and English translation.

That's it for B. See you tomorrow for some A inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: C is for Collaborative

I love reading poetry, but I like it even better when it's read aloud. I like the sound of the rhyme, the feel of the meter, and the way words swim around inside my head before escaping from my lips. Poetry was spoken aloud long before it was written down. Since poetry comes to us today on the page, we often forget that. Poetry needs to be read AND heard. So open a book of poems and shout out a favorite poem. Better yet, grab a partner and try reading together.

COLLABORATIVE - produced or conducted by two or more parties working together

I am quite fond of all the books in Mary Ann Hoberman's You Read to Me, I'll Read to You series. Titles include:

• You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together (2001)
• You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together (2004)
• You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Mother Goose Tales to Read Together (2005)
• You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together (2007)
• You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fables to Read Together (2010)

Told in two voices, these rhyming stories are meant to be read loud. Each story appears in three colors--one for the first voice/reader, another for the second voice/reader, and a third for when both voices read in unison. When I wanted to encourage my son to read aloud and wanted to introduce more poetry into his book diet, we started with the Very Short Fairy Tales. He's in middle school now, but I'll admit we still pull this one and Short Scary Tales off the shelf every so often. Here's an excerpt from Very Short Fairy Tales.

The Three Bears

I'm Goldilocks.

I'm Baby Bear.

What pretty fur!

What pretty hair!

Why are you here?

You're in my bed.

I'm in your bed?

That's what I said.

Why are you here?

I lost my way.

I found your house.

And thought I'd stay.

And then you ate

My porridge up

And drank my milk

Right from my cup.

Poem © Mary Ann Hoberman. All rights reserved.

Messing Around on the Monkey Bars: And Other School Poems for Two Voices, written by Betsy Franco and illustrated by Jessie Hartland, is a collection of school poems that takes readers on a ride around the school and schoolyard, beginning with the school bus and ending with the final school bell. In between there are poems about lunch money, homework, recess, the library and more. In the author's note Franco says "Though these poems can be read silently and enjoyed by a single person, they are the most fun when read aloud by two people." This is followed by a graphic that shows what the voices look like. In the poem below, the plain font is Voice 1, the bold font is Voice 2, and the larger bold font is for both voices to speak at the same time.

Messing Around on the Monkey Bars

Time for recess!
Here we are,

messing around
on the monkey bars!

Hand over hand,
fast or slow,

calling to
our friends below.

Skipping two bars,
skipping three,

dangling down
by just our knees.

Swinging up
above the ground,

missing bars
and tumbling down.

Hooting, howling,
here we are,

messing around
on the monkey bars!

Poem ©Betsy Franco. All rights reserved.

For information on how to use this book in the classroom you can download a teacher's guide for Franco's book.

Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More!: Poems for Two Voices, written by Carole Gerber and illustrated by Eugene Yelchin, is a collection of 18 poems that explore nature close up. As these are poems for two voices, one person reads the lines on the left, while one reads the poems on the right. The parts are in different colors, making it easy to differentiate. Lines in the center of the page with letters in both colors are meant to be read simultaneously. The poems are a perfect blend of science and poetry, highlighting pollination, germination, seed dispersal, metamorphosis, and much more.  Here's an excerpt.

We Can Fly

Wheeee! I fly by helicoptering.
	I move by parachute.
I took off from a maple tree inside my whirling suit.
	I launched my gentle journey from a dandelion’s head.
I rotate as I travel.
	I choose to drift instead.
Well, I’ve met gliders on my trips.
	And I’ve watched spinners spin.
No matter how seeds fly around . . .
We’re carried by the wind. Poem © Carole Gerber. All rights reserved.

Farmer's Garden: Rhymes for Two Voices, written by David Harrison and illustrated by Arden Johnson-Petrov, is a collection of poems in which Farmer's dog converses with some of the animals and plants he meets in the garden. The 15 poems are short, generally two-to-four lines per stanza, and are printed in two fonts that clearly show where the lines alternate between the two speakers. Here's an example.

Beetle

Beetle, Beetle,
why so fast?

                              Out of my way!
                              I must get past!

Beetle, Beetle,
where do you run?

                              Away from the lizard
                              and out of the sun.

Beetle, Beetle
what will you do?

                              I'll drink a drop
                              of morning dew.

Poem © David Harrison. All rights reserved.

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, written by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Eric Beddows, was the recipient of the 1989 Newbery Medal. The book begins in this way.

The following poems were written to be read aloud by two readers at once, one taking the left-hand part, the other taking the right-hand part. The poems should be read from top to bottom, the two parts meshing in a musical duet. When both readers have lines at the same horizontal level, those lines are to be spoken simultaneously.

From here, readers/speakers must jump right in. As a former member of a crew team, the poem Water Boatmen particularly appeals to me.

Poem © Paul Fleischman. All rights reserved.

All the poems in this book celebrate the lives of insects, from grasshoppers and honeybees to moths and fireflies. The poems are indeed joyous to recite.


Big Talk: Poems for Four Voices, written by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Beppe Giacobbe, takes the ideas presented in Joyful Noise and ramps up the volume (and chaos) to four voices. There is no particular theme to these poems, but they are fun and will appeal to a wide range of readers/speakers. In describing the book Fleischman said, "Families used to play games together and make music together. We did both all through my childhood. I wanted to give families something they could perform together—not in Carnegie Hall, but around the table." You can download an article about the book and learn more about how the poems were inspired. Instead of voices reading columns of information, readers this time find their parts on colored bars, reminiscent of reading music. Don't fret if you don't have this skill, as clear instructions for reading are included.


That's it for C. See you tomorrow for some B inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: D is for Dolorous

I have a few poetry books that are hard to read, evoking such heartbreak and sadness. Generally these books tell of tragic events in our history or the unimaginable horrors associated with war. While these topics are difficult, the writers of such books bring readers important perspectives and open our eyes to injustices in this world that cannot and should not be ignored. 

DOLOROUS - feeling or expressing great sorrow or distress

A Wreath for Emmett Till, written by Marilyn Nelson and illustrated by Philippe Lardy, is a heroic crown of sonnets, or a sequence of 15 sonnets that are interlinked like a normal crown of sonnets, except in the heroic crown the last sonnet is made entirely from the first lines of the previous 14 sonnets. One of the things that makes this heroic crown such an achievement is the the last sonnet is also an acrostic poem, in which the first letters of each line spell out the phrase “RIP Emmett L. Till.”

The poems in this crown are not easy to read. They are unsettling, shocking, and sad, but this is an important event in the history of our nation that needs to be told again and again. The book ends with a short biography of Emmett Till, extensive notes on the 15 sonnets, and an artist's note. The tempera illustrations by Philippe Lardy quietly reflect the themes and moods of the sonnets.

One of the sonnets in this crown is written from the perspective of the tree witnessing the lynching, and echoes some of the sentiments expressed in Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem The Haunted Oak.

Pierced by the screams of a shortened childhood,
my heartwood has been scarred for fifty years
by what I heard, with hundreds of green ears.
That jackal laughter. Two hundred years I stood
listening to small struggles to find food,
to the songs of creature life, which disappears
and comes again, to the music of the spheres.
Two hundred years of deaths I understood.
Then slaughter axed one quiet summer night,
shivering the deep silence of the stars.
A running boy, five men in close pursuit.
One dark, five pale faces in the moonlight.
Noise, silence, back-slaps. One match, five cigars.
Emmett Till's name still catches in the throat.

Poem ©Marilyn Nelson. All rights reserved.

When you have some time, listen to Marilyn Nelson discuss and read excerpts from A Wreath for Emmett Till.
You can also listen to an interview with Marilyn Nelson on NPR and hear her read the poem. If you are interested in using this book in he classroom, you can download a teacher's guide from Houghton Mifflin.

Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto, written by Paul Janeczko and accompanied by illustrations created by prisoners (and found after the War), is a collection that provides a heartbreaking, shocking, and brutally honest picture of the lives of inmates in the Terezin Ghetto. The walled city of Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia (Terezin) was a ghetto for Jews transported from Prague and other cities and a way station to the gas chamber. Here's a bit about the camp from the Afterword.

What set Terezin apart from Nazi death camps was the nature of many of its inmates. Terezin became "home" for many of the Jewish intellectuals and artists of Prague. As a result, it became a prison in which the arts were tolerated, then encouraged as a Nazi propaganda tool. Classical music and opera performances were commonplace, despite the horrors and cruelty of captivity. 

There is beauty in this collection, even though readers repeatedly experience loss and death. The humanity and strength of the victims, the depravity of the SS, and the horror that was the Holocaust  is evident in Janezcko's carefully chosen words. Reading this is like watching a train wreck—you want to look away, but can't. I wanted to stop reading, but couldn't put it down.

Here's an excerpt from one of the poems.

Tomasz Kassenwitz/11850

For nearly sixteen years of Fridays
Willi and I played chess in the park
unless snow drove us
to the back corner of Bloom's.
Only for death—
when my beloved Helen passed,
when his son fell through the ice—
did we miss.
. . .
On a most glorious morning in October
Willi placed the peppermints on the table
but did not sit.
I looked up at the face of sorrow.
He picked up the white king
then laid it softly on its side.
“I can no longer play with you,”
said a false voice.
The sun is blue 
would have made as much sense.

Poem ©Paul Janeczko. All rights reserved.

You can hear Paul read this poem and one other in the video below.


That's it for D. See you tomorrow for some C inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: E is for Earthy

I swear I didn't plan this! Imagine my surprise when I realized that the letter E would fall on Earth Day. Talk about serendipitous! There are many ways this post could go, so while these books may not seem connected to each other, they nicely fit the word of the day and include some of my favorite books about nature and the history of the Earth.

EARTHY - of the nature of or consisting of earth or soil

The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination, with poems selected by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston, is a stunning collection of poetry and information. The book includes a CD where many of the selected poets read their own works. Included among the authors are William Blake, Joseph Bruchac, Emily Dickinson, T. S Eliot, Barbara Juster Esbensen, Douglas Florian, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, D. H. Lawrence, Myra Cohn Livingston, David, McCord, Eve Merriam, Lilian Moore, Ogden Nash, Mary Oliver, Carl Sandburg, Alice Schertle, Joyce Sidman, Walt Whitman, and Valerie Worth, and many more. Here's a bit from the introduction that will give you a sense of how this anthology was put together.

Like Darwin, anthologists are passionate collectors, but the specimens we collect are poems. However, the process of collection in both areas is similar. At first, we simply gathered together as many poems as we could find that fit the subject we have chosen for your book. Then we decided how the book would be organized and we sorted our poems into the various categories we had chosen. The next step was putting the poems into some sort of order within these divisions so that they related thematically to their immediate neighbors.

. . .

The poems in this book explore many of the roots and limbs of Darwin's Tree, the branching tree that shows the connections among all forms of life. For some of these poems, we have offered brief comments or pointed out links to other poems.

The book is divided into the sections named below. For each one you'll find a brief excerpt or description of the kinds of poems in that section.

• Oh, Fields of Wonder - "Both poets and scientists wonder at and about the world."
• The Sea is Our Mother - "The poems in this section recall life's watery origins as well as the Earth's own geological beginnings. "
• Prehistoric Praise - Fossil poems
• Think Like a Tree - "We wouldn't be here without plants."
• Meditations of a Tortoise - "In both Iroquois and Hindu legends, the earth is supported on the back of a giant turtle."
• Some Primal Termite - "Naturalists define fitness as the ability of a species to reproduce itself in the greatest numbers and to adapt to the widest range of environments. According to this definition, insects are the fittest of all living creatures."
• Everything That Lives Wants to Fly - "Along with Archaeopteryx (the earliest known bird), Darwin's finches play a key role in evolutionary theory."
• I Am the Family Face - Poems on family in all its forms
• Hurt No Living Thing - "It is natural for species to go extinct, but the rate at which this is happening today is unprecedented."

Here is one of the poems. Can you guess which section it is found in?

Cross-Purposes

The fickle bee believes it’s he
Who profits from the flower;
But as he drinks, the flower thinks
She has him in her power.

Her nectar is the reason
That she blooms, the bee is sure;
But flower knows her nectar
Is there merely for allure.

And as he leaves, the bee believes
He”ll sample someone new;
But flower knows that where he goes,
Her pollen’s going, too.

Poem ©Mary Ann Hoberman. All rights reserved.

Footnotes accompany many of the poems. These include explications of both the content and form of the poem. There is also a glossary of scientific and poetic terms, as well as a brief biography of the included poets.

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature, written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Mark Herald, is a collection of poems that move through the year from spring to winter. Each seasonal section contains more than 12 poems and includes a mix of reflections and suggestions for how children can enjoy the world around them. A nice blend of science and poetry, the verses are easy to read and offer plenty of information. Here's a poem appropriate for our very late spring.

Cherry Blossoms 

Last week the twigs were just twigs,
bare and black and boring,
but now—blossoms!

At first there were only little patches
of pink petals,
but now—blossoms, blossoms!

In parks, on streets, in gardens --
pools of pink spread,
and now we're lost in blossoms, blossoms, blossoms!

Poem ©Nicola Davies. All rights reserved.

Nest, Nook, & Cranny, written by Susan Blackaby and illustrated by Jamie Hogan, is a collection of 22 poems that explore animals and the homes they make. Arranged by habitat (desert, grassland, shoreline, wetland, and woodland), the poems take a range of forms, including villanelle, triolet, cinquain, sonnet, and more. The book opens with these words in a section entitled Before You Begin.

habitat - the natural home of an animal or plant 

The poems in this collection are loosely arranged by habitat, but you will find that coyotes, buts, and birds (to name a few) don't give a hoot about labels. Thanks to accommodations or adaptations or both, some creatures can live anyplace. Keep that in mind when the boundaries blur.

My favorite poem from the book reminds me of a creature I stumbled upon more than once as a child while traipsing through the woods and fields around my house.

A doe will pick a thicket
As a place to place her fawn,
Its speckled hide well hidden
In the dappled forest lawn.
A bed safe in the shadows—
Mossy cushion, leafy crest—
A doe will pick a thicket
As a place to make a nest.

Poem ©Susan Blackaby. All rights reserved.

This book is complemented by a two-page section describing the habitats used to organize the poem, as well as a lengthy section of author notes about each poem, the inspiration for them, and information about the forms.

I hope you get outside today to enjoy Earth Day. If you get a chance, take one of these books with you and enjoy a bit of nature poetry as well.

That's it for E. See you tomorrow for some D inspired poetry ponderings.

Poetry A-Z: F is for Fictitious

I really wanted to go with fables or  fairy tales for F, but as I was perusing my bookshelves I realized I had a number of books about imaginary creatures. Those books inspired my choice of today's word.  

FICTITIOUS - not real or true, being imaginary or having been fabricated

Imaginary Menagerie: A Book of Curious Creatures, written by Julie Larios and illustrated by Julie Paschkis, is a collection of poems that describe all manner of mythical creatures. Readers will find poems for dragon, mermaid, firebird, centaur, trolls, cockatrice, hobgoblins, sea serpent, thunderbird, sphinx, will o' the wishp, gargoyle, naga, and phoenix here. For those unfamiliar with some of these creatures, a full text glossary provides information on the origin of the legend surrounding each one. My son's favorite poem is about dragons.

DRAGON

The air around me
burns bright as the sun.
I tell wild rivers
which way to run.
I'm arrow tailed,
fish scaled,
a luck bringer.
When I fly,
it's a flame song the world sings.
But you can ride safely
between my wings.

My favorite (today anyway!) is this one.

GARGOYLE

How can a beast speak
with a stone tongue,
with a stone throat?
My mouth is a rainspout. I screech. I shout.
How can a best fly
with stone wings?
I fly when the bells ring and the hunchback is home.
Does a stone beast sleep
in a stone nest?
I am on guard. I never rest.

Poems ©Julie Larios. All rights reserved.

To celebrate National Poetry Month in 2008, Harcourt produced a Poetry Kit based entirely on Julie's book Imaginary Menagerie: A Book of Curious Creatures. 

The Hidden Bestiary: A Marvelous, Mysterious  and (Maybe Even) Magical Creatures, written by Judy Young and illustrations by Laura Francesca Filippucci, is a collection of poems in the form of diary entries. Basil Bernard Barnswhitten (BBS) first visits the Finchhaven Museum of Extraordinary Curiosities, Oddities & Improbabilities to research a variety of creatures to determine if they "Are extinct or endangered/Or never existed." He then travels around the world to verify the information. Here's the first creature poem.

Tasmanian Tiger

A tasmanian tiger,

With stripes on his back,

Was the first on my list

So I searched through each rack.

When I found a case broken!

Can there be a wee chance

That the creature escaped

And once more gets to prance?

But alas it could not,

There's no room for debate.

The Thylacines met

A most terrible fate.

Later in his travels, BBS writes about the Kracken.

Kracken

The sailors, they warned me,
But I'm sure they're mistaken,
Of a giant sea monster,
A mean, fearsome kracken.

It rose from great depths,
And spied with huge eyes,
Sinking ships with long arms,
But I'm sure these are lies.

Poems ©Judy Young. All rights reserved.

The back matter of the book contains a Field Guide to the animals studied by BBS. For each animal readers will find habitat, a description, behavior, diet, and status. 

Scranimals, written by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Peter Sis, is a collection of 19 poems about the trip to and from Scranimal Island and the amazing array of strange, hybrid animals found there. Animals you'll meet include the Rhinocerose, Broccolion, Bananaconda, Avocadodos, and more. Here's how it begins.

The Journey

We're sailing to Scranimal Island,

It doesn't appear on most maps.

The PARROTTERS float on the tide there,

The STORMY PETRELEPHANT flaps.

We may find a rare OSTRICHEETAH,

There's never been one in a zoo.

We're sailing to Scranimal Island--

You're welcome to come along too.

And here is one of my favorite poems.

The Hippopotamushrooms

The HIPPOPOTAMUSHROOMS
Cannot wander very far.
How fortunate they're satisfied
Precisely where they are.
They feel no need to travel,
They're forever at their ease,
Relaxing on the forest floor
Beneath the shady trees.

The HIPPOPOTAMUSHROOMS

Suffer from deficient grace,

And their tubby, blobby bodies

Tend to take up too much space.

But they compensate with manners

For the things they lack in style . . . 

They are models of politeness,

And they always wear a smile.

Poems ©Jack Prelutsky. All rights reserved.

That's it for F. See you tomorrow for some E inspired poetry ponderings.