Happy Poetry Friday, all! The poem I'm sharing today isn't my best, but it's near and dear to my heart. See the end of this post for a link to today's Poetry Friday round-up.
In case you missed it, in her last post, April tagged me in the brand new Children's Poetry Blog Hop (CPBH). I'm writing this post in advance because of other commitments, so I haven't yet seen Janet Wong's CPBH post, also scheduled for today. I hope you'll hop on over to the PoetryFridayAnthology.blogspot.com and/or PoetryForChildren.blogspot.com to read it when you're done here.
In April's Sept. 6 post, she introduced Mortimer as the CPBH meme:
And she also explained how to participate in the CPBH:
1) Make up three questions you've always wanted to be asked in an interview about children's poetry and then answer them on your own blog;
2) Invite one, two or three other bloggers who write poetry (preferably children's poetry, but we're broad-minded) to answer any three questions that they make up on their own blogs (they can copy someone else's questions if they'd like)
3) In your post, let us know who your invitees are and when they're are going to be posting their own Poetry Blog Hop questions and answers...if you know the dates.
4) You do not have to use Mortimer, the CPBH meme.
Pretty simple.
I've tagged two fellow children's poets to participate in the
Children's Poetry Blog Hop:
Laura Shovan, a children's author and poet-in-the-schools who blogs at
Author Amok, and
Tabatha Yeats, author of nonfiction children's books as well as poetry, who blogs at
The Opposite of Indifference. (As you'll see below, Tabatha is hosting today's Poetry Friday round-up.) Be sure to hop on over to read their CBHP posts next week. Laura will share hers at
Author Amok on
Tuesday, Sept. 24, and you'll be able to read Tabatha's at
The Opposite of Indifference on
Friday, Sept. 27.
Now for my three (actually four) CPBH questions:
1) When was your first poem published? Would you share it with us?
2) Who was your first poetry teacher?
3) What poetry forms do you like best?
And here are the answers:
1) When was your first poem published? Would you share it with us?
I began writing poetry when I was in sixth or seventh grade, and my first poem was published when I was in high school (I won't tell you what year!), in
Crystals in the Dark: An Anthology of Creative Writing from the Chicago Public Schools. I was immensely proud to have my writing in this collection (which you might guess, since I still have my copy of the book.
J)
However, I had to resist the urge to edit the poem as I typed it up. Here it is, in original form:
My Sanctuary
If I could find a place far away from the world and its sounds,
Distant from the din and clatter of civilization;
Far away from pollution, politics, and people,
Away from worry, death, sorrow, and pain;
The only place that I could think of where I would be
undisturbed, tranquil, and at peace,
is within myself.
© Carmela A Martino. All Rights Reserved.
I went on to have several of my poems published in our high school yearbook,. After that, though, I pretty much gave up on writing poetry until many years later, when I began writing for children. Which leads into my second question:
2) Who was your first poetry teacher?
In high school and college, I studied poetry only as a reader, not a writer. While I did participate in some workshops on using poetry techniques in fiction at
Vermont College, I didn't take my first poetry-writing class until 2002. That's when I attended a four-week workshop by poet and author
Heidi Bee Roemer, "The ABC's of Children's Poetry.
" I learned so much from Heidi in that short time. The weekly assignments challenged us to write poetry in a variety of forms. And that leads into my third question:
3) What poetry forms do you like best?
The poems I wrote in junior high and high school were usually either free verse or rhyming couplets. It wasn't until I was in Heidi's class that I dared experiment with other forms, including triplets, quatrains, limericks, terse verse, and shape poems. Thanks to the confidence I gained in Heidi's class, I went on to have a terse verse poem published in
Pocket's magazine, and a poem in two voices published in
Chicken Soup for the Soup: Teens Talk High School. Since then, I've tried my hand at list poems, found poems, diamante poems, sonnets, and just about any form that strikes my fancy. Heidi's class, along with poetry-related posts by my fellow
TeachingAuthors, and inspiring posts by members of the Poetry Friday community, have opened me to new poetry worlds.
That's it for today. Now hop on over to the
Poetry Friday round-up at
The Opposite of Indifference .
Happy Writing!
Carmela
.
Howdy, Campers! You have just a few more hours to enter our latest book giveaway (details below)! AND today we celebrate not one, not two, but three things! Rosh Hashanah, the new Children's Poetry Blog Hop, and Poetry Friday (hosted today by Laura Shovan at Author Amok)!
My PF poem is below.
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Thanks, Laura!
* * *
1) Let's start with Rosh Hashanah. Happy New Year (both the Jewish New Year and the New School Year) to all! After I put the finishing touches on this post, I going to walk to the end of our pier and toss bits of bread to seagulls and fish as part of a Jewish New Year ritual called
tashlich.
2) And now on to the Children's Poetry Blog Hop. Having heard of other blog hops, poet Janet Wong and other
kidlitosphere poets have decided to start a Children's Poetry Blog Hop (CPBH) for...who else? Children's poets.
I nominate Mortimer as CPBH's meme:
To participate in the Poetry Blog Hop, simply:
1) Make up three questions you've always wanted to be asked in an interview about children's poetry and then answer them on your own blog;
2) Invite one, two or three other bloggers who write poetry (preferably children's poetry, but we're broad-minded) to answer any three questions that
they make up on their own blogs (they can copy someone else's questions if they'd like)
3) In your post, let us know who your invitees are and when they're are going to be posting their own Poetry Blog Hop questions and answers...if you know the dates.
4) You do not have to use Mortimer, the CPBH meme.
That's it!
I've invited author, poet, and web mistress extraordinaire
Carmela Martino to the Children's Poetry Blog Hop (it sounds like a sock hop, doesn't it?) Carmela will be posting
right here at
TeachingAuthors.com on September 20th.
On the
same day, the marvelously creative author, poet and poetry supporter
Janet Wong promises a surprise twist on the blog hop theme. Find her guest post at
PoetryFridayAnthology.blogspot.com and
PoetryForChildren.blogspot.com on September 20th!
Okay...here are my three questions:
1) What children's poem do you wish you had written? Include the poem or link to it.
2) What's your process? How do you begin writing a poem?
3) Please share one of your poems with us.
And here are my answers:
1) What children's poem do you wish you had written? Include the poem or link to it.
There are so many! The first that pops into my mind is Deborah Chandra's "Cotton Candy" from her book, Rich Lizard and Other Poems (FSG)
I met Deborah years ago in Myra Cohn Livingston's master class in writing poetry for children. Deborah's a stunning craftswoman and looks at the world in madly original ways. And, as you're about to read, her metaphors are spectacular.
COTTON CANDY
by Deborah Chandra
Swirling
like a sweet
tornado,
it spins itself
stiff.
A storm
caught on a paper cone.
I hold it up,
the air grows
thick and
sticky
with the smell of it.
A pink wind
made of sugar
and smoke,
cotton,
earth crust,
delicious dust!
poem © Deborah Chandra. All rights reserved
2) What's your process? How do you begin writing a poem?
Sometimes
my process is to start with a word and I spin out from there. Sometimes I find a poem I admire and imitate its rhythm, meter and form. Sometimes it's a feeling. I ask myself,
what are you feeling today? What is true? What is authentic? And sometimes it's just,
you have ten minutes. Write the damn poem. (I don't actually use the word damn because, as I'm sure you know, children's authors and poets don't swear.)
3) Please share one of your poems with us.
Here's a
Rosh Hashanah/tashlich poem
first published in Jeanette Larson's book,
El dia de los ninos/El dia de los libros: Building a Culture of Literacy in Your Community
SAYS THE SEAGULL
by April Halprin Wayland
Shalom to slowly sinking sun
I sing in salty seagull tongue.
But who're these people on my pier?
I sail, I swoop and then fly near.
They're singing, marching up the pier
I think they did the same last year.
A father gives his girl some bread
she scans the waves then tosses crumbs.
I dive, I catch, I taste
and...yum!
I like this ritual at the pier.
I think I'll meet them every year.
I screech my thanks, and then I hear
"L’shanah Tovah! Good New Year!"
note: Shalom can mean hello, good-bye and peace.Copyright © 2013 April Halprin Wayland
Walking up the pier for tashlich in my hometown.
photo by Rachel Gilman
Thanks for stopping by TeachingAuthors today
--but wait! Before you head off,
be sure to enter for a chance to win a copy of Lisa Morlock's terrific rhyming picture book, Track that Scat! (Sleeping Bear Press).
posted by April Halprin Wayland 
I began writing poetry when I was in sixth or seventh grade, and my first poem was published when I was in high school (I won't tell you what year!), in Crystals in the Dark: An Anthology of Creative Writing from the Chicago Public Schools. I was immensely proud to have my writing in this collection (which you might guess, since I still have my copy of the book. J)
YIKES--Mortimer's before and after photos! (He went to Italy to have a little plastic surgery done by a certain incredibly talented Dr. LaTulippe.) Looking forward to all the hopping that will be going on in the poetry blog world!
Carmela, I loved reading about your poetry history. Heidi's class sounds great! And it is so true that these early pieces we publish matter forever. You remind me of the importance of teachers and parents helping children find opportunities to share their work beyond the walls of home and classroom. Thank you for this hop! Happy Poetry Friday!
Oh, that explains everything, Janet! :-)
Thanks for the feedback, Amy, and for hopping by.
Carmela, I love your hop today! It's always so enlightening to hear how poets got to where they are. How wonderful that Heidi's class opened so many windows for your writing. Maybe we should get her to do an online version! :)
I will definitely be visiting your hoppees next week for their Mortimer Minutes!
Hi, Carmela. Thank you for inviting me to the hop and -- oh my goodness -- did it take me that long to connect our hoppy mascot with the blog hop?! You're brave to share a poem from the distant, high school past. What a beautiful reminder you sent yourself to be still within. I've save my long-ago writings, too. We'll see what I dig up for next week.
Thanks for hopping by, Renee. :-) You'll have to share your idea with Heidi.
And Laura, I wish I'd saved more of my long-ago writings. Alas, I have only a few pieces, so they are extra-precious to me.
Just loving this idea and can't wait to read more! I agree with Renee about Heidi's course online possibility. I would love to learn more from her!
Will be back to savor more of these.
Janet F.
Hi Janet, thanks for your comment, and for hopping by! :-)
Those early encouragements can mean so much! I love hearing about your first published poems, and also about your poetic experimentation. Liked this quote: "Heidi's class, along with poetry-related posts by my fellow TeachingAuthors, and inspiring posts by members of the Poetry Friday community, have opened me to new poetry worlds." Go, Carmela!
Thanks so much for the encouragement, Tabatha!
I was also a little confused by the transformation, but now I get it. Thanks to Janet for the cool logo. This idea is a fun one. While I am nervous to join in, I am happy to be a part of this special poetry loving community.
I am encouraged by your bravery to post your first poem. I also enjoyed learning about your journey.