So many exciting poetry events online in April! If you have not yet perused all of this month’s poetry goodness, check out the full list at Jama’s Alphabet Soup.
My first stop for poetry inspiration this month was 100 Scope Notes, where Travis is inviting folks to write book spine poems. I did not take many books with me for our North Carolina sojourn so I wasn’t sure if I had enough titles on hand to make a sensible poem, but I managed to put two together with my large stack o’books from the Durham County Library:
Catching fireflies on a summer night ranks high on my list of favorite activities. Inspiration for this poem came from: Flicker Flash, a wonderful collection of light-related shape poems by Joan Bransfield Graham; Fireflies at Midnight, an animal poetry romp from dawn ’til dark by Marilyn Singer; and Starry Safari, a charming picture book for the youngest set by Linda Ashman.
Did you know that garter snakes swim in ponds and catch fish? Titles for this poem came from three exquisite poetry books: Splish, Splash, another book of shape poems by Joan Bransfield Graham, Tamera Will Wissinger’s Gone Fishing, A Novel in Verse, and Kate Coombs’ Water Sings Blue. And look, my Garter Snake book is snuck in among these poetry greats!
I’m aiming to write at least one poem and read a poetry collection or picture book every day in April as part of the Angie Karcher’s RhyPiBoMo pledge. Usually I fall behind on internet challenges, but maybe I’ll keep up with this one–so far, so good.
Here’s my April Fool’s Day poem, inspired by Miss Rumphius’ Monday Poetry Stretch, which in turn was inspired by Laura Purdie Salas’ project of writing riddle-ku (riddle haikus) every day in April. Can you guess the answer to my riddle?
Fuzzy scrolls uncurl–
spring spirals of greenery
wave and greet the sun.
–Buffy Silverman, 4/1/2014
Here are a couple of photos that I took this week to help you out:
The fiddleheads are up! It must be spring.
In other April news, I’ve got a story this month in Click Magazine about nesting trumpeter swans. Grab your favorite six-year old and listen to it here: http://www.clickmagkids.com/read/swan-lake
Check out today’s Poetry Friday links at The Poem Farm.
Hi Buffy!
I love your spine poems. I was working on something about stars and wanted to use TAP DANCING ON THE ROOF, but couldn’t quite pull that together. FLICKER FLASH and FIREFLIES AT MIDNIGHT were made for one another. FIREFLY JULY would work well too!
I’m so glad you tried the challenge and love your haiku riddle.
Best,
Tricia
Ooooh. More book spine poetry! That’s why April is one of my favourite months with all this poetry goodness. Thanks for sharing this Buffy! Your poems look great.
Happy Poetry Month, Buffy! I just live book spine poems. Especially your snake one here. Saw our first snake yesterday – a smallish Eastern king snake. Congrats, too, on CLICK! Woo hoo!
I can’t believe you have rhyming titles in your collection — Splish Splash and Flicker Flash! I’m glad you used them separately, though. Your spine poems are fabulous (and well photographed, too — sometimes the hardest part for me).
Hooray for fiddleheads. I haven’t seen any yet, but now I’ll keep a close watch!
It’s the library that has the rhyming titles–so nice to have a great library nearby while we’re in North Carolina. Hope your fiddleheads pop soon–they are quickly unfurling here.
I’ve not done any spine poems yet. What a treasure your library is to have such a grand selection of children’s poetry books! I’m afraid my local shelves are rather bare when it comes to the newer books. I’ll have to check my own shelves and play a bit! Well done, Buffy!
It’s a fun activity, Keri–I recommend it!
Hi Buffy–there’s so much here to love. I love your book spine poems and your fiddlehead haiku. I managed to get some fiddleheads in my poem today too. Later I’ll listen to your story with a 9 year-old and a 13 year-old. They were avid Click readers when they were younger.
Thank you Liz–I saw your fiddleheads! Click is a fun magazine–I used to write for it fairly regularly and was happy to have an editor ask for another story!
Fiddleheads! Wonderful. And those spine poems are short and sweet and succulent! Must read Starry Safari. Thank you!
Thanks, Irene. Short and sweet works well for my attention span these days!
I think fiddleheads are just magical the way they unfurl, & appear. None here yet, hope soon! I think you did beautifully with the spine poems. Perhaps the secret is to have limited choices! And you’ve given me more books to put on my TBR list. Thanks, Buffy!
You’re right–a limited choice was helpful (I wish grocery stores would heed that message!) These poetry books are certainly worth your reading, Linda.
Good for you for reading and writing every day this month. I’m trying too, though I’ve already played a bit of catch-up. Your spine poems are delightful!
Thanks Michelle. You can do it!
Your spine poems are perfect! I love that you fit your Garter Snake in just the right place!
Thank you, Penny. I’m not very good at promoting my books for educational publishers, but it seemed like a good way to slip this one in!
Congrats on the Click story! I like your Flicker Flash spine poem a lot. Those are *hard* to make!
It’s a fun challenge though, Tabatha. And as Linda mentioned, my limited choice of books (with poetic titles) might have made it easier.
“fuzzy scrolls” – love! I guessed too. Fiddleheads are such a sweet harbinger of spring.
These are delightful spine poems. Someday I want to do this. Many congrats on your story and best to you with your challenge this month. Happy Poetry Friday!
Thank you, Amy, and thanks for hosting this week.
Buffy, I love your book-spine poems. Somehow, I missed that event this year. Last year mine was:
Snow
Woe is I
The Picnic Gourmet
I enjoyed your riddle poem too, and yes, I guess fiddleheads before I saw the picture. My ferns (a present from Sandy Carlson) haven’t come up yet.
That spine poem seems better suited to this year than last year! I think Travis is still taking spine poems.