 It the Eve of National Poetry Month! Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading is hosting and sharing what her month of poetry will be: Cheritas! I am once again working with Anne Irza-Leggat, Candlewick Press to bring four interviews for Poetry Friday. Anne has graciously offered to send a book to a lucky commenter. Today I have a wonderful interview with Elizabeth Bicknell, longtime editor for Paul B, Janczko. His final collection, Where I Live, was published on March 14, 2023. It explores a the places and spaces of where we live.  JRM:How long were you Paul B Janeczko’s editor? LB:I started working with Paul back in 1996, when I was still at Harcourt Brace. When I moved to Candlewick Press in 1997, I brought him with me, and we published the anthologyVery Best (Almost) Friends, illustrated by Christine Davenier. Lovely to have started with a collection of poems about friends, since that is what we became over twenty-plus years, till his passing in 2019. JRM: Did you work with him on Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto? LB: I edited nine of Paul’s books. Seven of them were anthologies, including two of my favorites--A Poke in the I and A Kick in the Head, both illustrated by Chris Raschka--and two were his own, longer collections of poems, such as Requiem. The other one is Worlds Afire, poems about a circus fire in Hartford, CT, 1944. Both of these collections (Paul refused to refer to them as verse novels) are powerful meditations on terrible events, focusing on individual experience. He made history vivid in that way. PBJ, as we called him in-house, was an excellent poet, teacher, and appreciator of poetry. I learned so much from him. JRM: I’m curious. What are one or two things Paul taught you? LB: Paul taught me a lot about the various poetic forms. I knew the basics, like the haiku and the sonnet, but I didn’t really know the more complex forms—sestinas, villanelles, aubades! He also taught me that these rules—just like those of his beloved baseball—are actually exciting to know and enhance your experience of the “game.” JRM: How did he come up with the idea for Where I Live? LB: Paul had anthology ideas bubbling away all the time. He kept paper folders of printed poems, and when there seemed to be a collection forming, he’d email me and say, “Hey, Ducky, how about this idea?” I turned down some of them, which went on to be happily published elsewhere, of course. JRM: Janeczko passed away in 2019, I am curious as to where in the process of creating the book? Were all the poems selected? LB: Yes, nearly all of the poems were there. In winter 2019, we had just finished The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog--Paul saw the bound book a couple of weeks before he passed. After a little while, we put ourselves back together at Candlewick and opened the file on Where I Live. We added some poems, and then we began the search for an illustrator. JRM: What is the story about how this book will go into the world four years after Janeczko’s passing? LB: For me, personally, it feels very fitting that Paul’s last anthology should be about home. JRM: What kind of insight can you provide about how a poem gets selected for a collection? LB: There are so many aspects to this process. First and foremost, the anthologist selects poems that they love and which fit the theme they have chosen for the book. For most young anthologies, you’d want about 30 to 35 poems. As an editor, I look to ensure that the anthologist has selected a good variety of new poems as well as previously published poems; included a diverse collection of poets; featured a variety of poetic forms; considered age-appropriateness for content and comprehension; and, finally, understands the likelihood of obtaining permissions at a reasonable cost for inclusion. JRM: Could you share a little bit about the process for getting permissions? LB: Every poem—apart from those that are in the public domain and therefore free to use—needs a permission from the rights holder before it can be included in an anthology. The rights holder could be the poet, the poet’s estate, the poet’s agent, or a previous publisher of that poem. The anthologist’s job is to track down who owns the rights to the poem. Then, the anthologist will give the rights holder the details of the book where the poem will appear. The rights holder will want to know whether the book is hardcover, softcover, e-book, or all three, and where it will be published. They will probably ask for the retail price and the print run. Then they will ask for a fee, based on that matrix of information. JRM: Readers are always interested in the arc of a poetry book. My guess is that the sections go from the innermost circle of “Home” to the larger circle of “Town/” What does that look like to decide the arc and order of a book? LB: This is definitely a fun part of the process! In Firefly July, we divided the poems into seasons. In Where I Live, we decided to expand the horizon from the home to the neighborhood and beyond, as you surmised. Since we wanted to include urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods, there was a fair amount of futzing, i.e. moving poems in and out of sections till we were satisfied that Paul would have been happy with the collection. Then my colleague Carter Hasegawa cleared the permissions on Paul’s behalf. JRM: What is your favorite memory of Paul B Janeczko? LB: I have so many, but hearing him rave (or rant) about his beloved Red Sox was always fun! Classic Found Poem Palooza Almost Here! On Friday, April 14. I am hosting Poetry Friday and the Classic Found Poem Palooza. Here's the Padlet link to upload your poem. I have put a permission to upload on it as I want to protect the space.  Come back tomorrow and enjoy the first of the month long poetry videos created by the students of the Texas Women's College, Poetry for Children and Young Adults!
'They are fun, thoughtful and will be perfect for a poetry break. Thanks to Sylvia Vardell for pointing me toward this opportunity. Also a huge thanks to the poets who donated a poem to the project. My One Little Word for 2023 is "Curious." I am most curious in my art and writing. I have been pushing my self to try that different aspects of art. I love creating in mixed media, have shied away from loose watercolors (It's a thing). So yesterday, I had an opportunity to take a Loose Watercolor Florals from Pamela Sue Johnson. There's a technique with holding the brush. There's a technique with paper towels, there's letting go and letting the colors bloom.
This is as far as we got in a three hour time. Time to let this set and give room for the next step to detail and finish. It's for of like writing. You write a draft and then let it sit, let it percolate. Yesterday, I was really pleased with one and not so much with the other. Now, I can see what comes next. I can be curious about the process. I am loving my word, curious, for 2023. It makes me slow and wonder a bit. What makes you curious?  © Graphi by Amber Fleek Welcome to Poetry Friday. Rose at Imagine the Possibilities is hosting us this week with whispers of spring, daffodils, and hummingbirds. This week, I've been busy getting things ready for National Poetry Month 2023. Between Friday poet interviews and daily poetry videos from my students at Texas Women's University, and the Classic Found Poem, it will be chock full of poetry.  You're Invited. Share a Classic Novel Found Poem!I wrote this found poem from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley in response to a prompt in February about Frankenstein. Frankenstein, Chapter Five, a found poem I. A dreary night I might infuse a spark of being Into the the lifeless thing the rain pattered against the panes the candle nearly out the creature opened the dull yellow eye The wretch his limbs in proportion his yellow skin, hair a lustrous black teeth, pearly whiteness his watery eyes and straight black lips II. Different accidents of life not so changeable Deprived of rest and health I threw myself on the bed the dream vanished I was disturbed by the wildest dreams I held the corpse of my dead Mother I saw grave-worms crawling I started from my sleep The wretch The miserable monster I had created III. I took refuge in the courtyard, catching and fearing each sound My pulse beat, my palpitating of every artery. I sank to the ground. Langor and extreme weakness. Dreams had been my food Now a hell Avoid the wretch. © 2023, Jone Rush MacCulloch I will have a Padlet ready to be loaded next Friday. I will feature the Padlet on April 14. I can't wait to see your found poems on what you consider to be classic reads!  ©Graphic by Amber Fleek Laura at Small Reads for Brighter Days is hosting Poetry. She is previewing her project for National Poetry Month. She's invited others to play along. It sounds fun and engaging. Speaking of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing poem videos written by poetry friends. These poems were donated to my students at Texas Women's University for a midterm project. I am very excited to see these poems come to life. Last month, I participated in another collaborative effort with Spark 54. This project is organized by the fabulous Amy Souza. She paired me with Bianca Schrader who shared the following poem: Temples By Bianca Schrader Inspiration piece All things beautiful All things sacred All things worshiped, holy in quiet spaces. Sun-dappled anything. Curls of steam out of a favorite cup. Piles of books, some to be read, some just hopefuls. Unfinished projects. Cards from close friends. All things ordinary. All things precious, placed with purpose. All stories to tell. Soft light, quiet mornings. Late for work, out the door. Company is coming, sweep the floor. So that they may take their shoes off. Make yourself at home in mine. I’ll make it comfortable. I’ll try to let you in once you’ve entered! This is my church. I’m the god worshiped here and so are you. we are the same, you just built your church a little differently. All things beautiful. we are the same, you just built your church a little differently. All things beautiful.  © "Temple", 2023 Jone Rush MacCulloch This is my response to Bianca's poem. Mixed media. To see my Inspiration piece, "Portals" and Bianca's response poem, "Windows", visit Spark. Only a Month Away, Invitation: April 14, 2023 Classic Found Poetry Palooza |
AuthorAll photos and poems in these blog posts are copyrighted to Jone Rush MacCulloch 2006- Present. Please do not copy, reprint or reproduce without written permission from me. 
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