Happy National Poetry Month! I have been fortunate to attend a couple of poetry workshops this month as part of the Jax Poetry Fest (peruse here–you can still sign up for these free lunchtime workshops.) I especially enjoyed my friend Shutta Crum’s workshop on writing narrative poetry. Shutta offered some great examples of narrative poetry–poems […]

Welcome to the progressive poem!  Each year during the month of April, the kidlit poetry community comes together to create a poem, with each blogger contributing one line before handing it off to the next intrepid poet. The progressive poem was originally the brain-child of Irene Latham, and now Margaret Simon organizes this effort. Thanks to both […]

Today was a good mail day–I found a copy of Matt Forrest Esenwine’s new treasure, A UNIVERSE OF RAINBOWS, on my doorstep (thank you Eerdmans Books for offering a review copy!) The book features a wide variety of rainbows, including those made by light and water, those found on animals and plants, rainbows in rocks, […]

If you are a frequenter of Poetry Friday, you likely know that the Poetry Sisters share poems on a theme once a month, and invite others to join them. This month’s challenge was to write a poem inspired by Wallace Steven’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” I confess that I did not write […]

We had out-of-town friends visiting on Sunday, and took them to the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary (only a few miles from our house as the goose flies.) A pair of trumpeter swans had three almost-full-grown cygnets at the back pond, away from the honking geese, the ever-present mallards, and other water fowl. Our friends sprung for […]

Welcome to Poetry Friday. I am happy to host the poetry party today. Please leave your links with Mr. Linky at the end of this post. I’m excited about my new book, coming out next Tuesday, September 10. STARLIGHT SYMPHONY has gotten some wonderful early press, including starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist!! I’m going […]

Welcome to Poetry Friday! I’m happy to be your host today. (WARNING: If you are snake-phobic, close your eyes and scroll to the end of the post to leave your link!) My younger kiddo and her spouse came for a Passover visit last week. While they were here, we ventured to Saugatuck State Park, one […]

It’s my turn to add a couplet to the 12th annual Progressive Poem. Follow along on this National Poetry Month journey, begun by Irene Latham and now hosted by Margaret Simon, while a baby poem meanders from blog to blog, growing as each writer contributes a line. By the end of the month we’ll have […]

Back in 2017 we made a family trek to southern Illinois to witness the eclipse (you can see some magical photos taken by the older offspring here, along with a poem I wrote at the time.) Monday’s path of totality is going to be a whole lot closer, but we are avoiding the crowds and […]

Happy National Poetry Month! This week I participated in a fun lunch-time poetry workshop with my friend Shutta Crum, sponsored by the Jax Poetry Fest. The workshop was entitled BEYOND HAIKU and introduced 3 short forms that were new to me: Tetractys, Pensee, and Chastushka. The beauty of short forms with very specific structures is […]