The fabulous Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference is hosting Poetry Friday today. She's has some fun memes and a call for the holiday poetry swap. Squee. During National Poetry Month, I connected with Anne Irza-Leggat from Candlewick about interviewing poems. I interviewed Sally Walker and Helen Frost as they had books coming out. Two more authors have books this fall. Today I am interviewing the fabulous Betsy Franco about her latest poetry collection, Counting in Dog Years and Other Sassy Math Poems, illustrated by Priscilla Tey. It's books birthday is October 11, 2022. (In time for a CYBILS Poetry nomination.) JRM: You have written many math poetry books. What draws you to writing poetry about math? Were you a good math student? BF: I love to combine unexpected things, so why not poetry and math? Art, English, and math were my favorite subjects. To be honest, I had to ask a lot of questions to understand math, but I think that makes me better at presenting it in a playful way. I always thought math was beautiful and surprising and funny in a way that most people didn’t necessarily see. It started when my algebra teacher had us find all the math Lewis Carroll tucked into his Alice in Wonderland books. That opened my mind. I started seeing math everywhere. Obviously, my amazing illustrator, Priscilla Tey, feels the same way. She even added hilarious “numbots” to the illustrations. JRM: How did the idea of Counting in Dog Years and Other Sassy Math Poems come to you? BF: Whenever I saw math in an unusual place— in my life, my sons’ lives, or in nature— I would write a note about it on a scrap of paper and add it to a special folder. Finally the folder was thick enough to create a collection. It actually took years. JRM: What was the process in deciding the arc of the book and the sections? BF: I wrote the poems first and then hoped I could make sense of them. Strangely, they fit pretty evenly into categories. I wanted the book to follow a kid from home to inside the kid’s head to school to summer—almost like the “seasons of a kid’s life.” JRM: Were there poems that didn’t quite make the cut for the book? BF: Yes, there were quite a few poems that didn’t make it in. My favorite was “Dividing Rivers and Other Such Things.” Here’s the first verse. A river’s divided by forks. The country’s divided by states. A poem is divided by verses, A month is divided by dates. We realized that this poem wasn’t as personal as some of the others, so it got bumped. JRM: I feel like you have been a teacher or been in a lot of schools as some of these poems are so relatable. “Lost and Found” really resonated as the school library I taught in had “Lost and Found” week where all the clothes would be on the couther of the library for students to look through. BF: I’ve walked to the elementary school around the corner since my grown sons were little boys. And I visit their high school regularly. I’m the constantly visiting author and everyone knows me. I notice wild things, big and small, like the continuously growing lost and found. I was a teacher in what seems like another life, too. JRM: Would you have an early draft of a poem and then the final draft so readers can take a peek at the process? BF: Here is an early draft of one of the poems. I probably wrote 15 drafts to get to the final poem. In this version, the rhythm is off and needed to be fixed—bigtime. I work on rhythm, rhyme, humor, and language on my own, and my wonderful editor, Mary Lee Donovan, does a great job of pointing out rough patches and giving me expansive ideas as well. Washing Machine Magic The washing machine';s a wizard. I have scarcely any doubt. I put in 16 dirty socks, and 3/4 of them came out. What happened to the other 4 in the midst of getting clean? There must have been some magic trick performed inside the machine. If I change to wearing white socks, I really won't have to care. I won't be afraid to lose favorites, and I'll always have a pair! Below is the final poem. The second verse gives more possibilities for why the socks are missing. And then, my extraordinarily-imaginative illustrator came up with another reason for missing socks. The mice are dragging the socks into their hole! Her illustrations always makes me laugh out loud. Washing Machine Magic The washing machine’s a trickster. Or else it’s a hungry lout. I put in sixteen dirty socks -- three-fourths of my socks came out. What happened to the other four that disappeared from sight? A magic trick, a sleight of hand, the washer’s appetite? I think I’ll switch to all white socks. Then I’ll never have a care. If only half my socks come out, I can always make a pair! JRM: What is next for you? BF: I write in many genres. One of my screenplays was just filmed, and I just completed a graphic novel of the same story. I’m on to another screenplay/graphic novel combo now, but I always have poetry collections in the back of my mind because poetry lets me play around in a way that other genres don’t. So we’ll see what happens! Thank you Betsy for sharing a peek into your process. If you want to get a really fun book to add to your collection, look no further than Counting in Dog Years and Other Sassy Math Poems. ANNOUNCEMENT: The CYBILS Awards nomination period opens up on October 1, 2022. Show your favorite poetry book some love and nominate it. This year novels in verse will be in its own category separate from collections and anthologies. Whoo-hoo! For more info, look HERE.
Rose at Imagine the Possibilities is hosting today. She's sharing a birthday poem. It's a great reminder that we as writers have already made gifts for our family and friends by writing poems for them. Are you interested in a poetry challenge? The September #poetrypals challenge is the Definito, created by poet Heidi Mordhorst, Yesterday, I shared this poem on social media for the first day of fall. Today, I am in Hood River with college chums for the weekend and found a fabulous Queen Anne's lace seed-head. Several of the Poetry Friday group and beyond are using the hashtag #poetryplayground to promote our wee poems on social media. Please feel free to do so. It's so important for us to life one another up. red tinged leaves autumn slips in welcomes change ©Jone Rush MacCulloch story seeds breezy scatterings plots unfold ©Jone Rush MacCulloch We're down under for Poetry Friday at Kat at Kathryn Apel. She's catching us up on all her adventures of the last few months. Are you interested in a poetry challenge? The September #poetrypals challenge is the Definito, created by poet Heidi Mordhorst, One thing I have done sporadically is to write short poems for Scot Gaelic translation. I rely on my first Gaelic teacher, Cam. And she sometimes checks with others. I wrote two in response to two photos I took in Scotland. Cam is very involved with The American Scottish Gaelic Society . She's been so kind to promote my little poems in their quarterly newsletter. I'm excited that my two summer endeavors will be publish in the September edition. calanais stones hold stories of our ancestors © Jone Rush MacCulloch, 2022 cuibhlichean carbad a h-uile bleideag mheirge sgeulachd wagon wheels every rust fleck a story © Jone Rush MacCulloch , 2022 Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink. Are you interested in a poetry challenge? The September #poetrypals challenge is the Definito, created by poet Heidi Mordhorst, I wish I was better are responding to poetry opportunities and prompts. Today I found Margaret's photo prompt. A spider web. I love me a good spider web. This afternoon as I was enjoying the deck, I looked up (Isn't always about looking up?). A spider web. Thus I found my Poetry Friday entry for this week. woven words vanish in the wind lost poems ©2022, jone rush macculloch |
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. Categories
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April 1 Mary Lee Hahn, Another Year of Reading April 2 Heidi Mordhorst, My Juicy Little Universe April 3 Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference April 4 Buffy Silverman April 5 Rose Cappelli, Imagine the Possibilities April 6 Donna Smith, Mainely Write April 7 Margaret Simon, Reflections on the Teche April 8 Leigh Anne, A Day in the Life April 9 Linda Mitchell, A Word Edgewise April 10 Denise Krebs, Dare to Care April 11 Emma Roller, Penguins and Poems April 12 Dave Roller, Leap Of Dave April 13 Irene Latham Live You Poem April 14 Janice Scully, Salt City Verse April 15 Jone Rush MacCulloch April 16 Linda Baie, TeacherDance April 17 Carol Varsalona, Beyond Literacy Link April 18 Marcie Atkins April 19 Carol Labuzzetta at The Apples in My Orchard April 20 Cathy Hutter, Poeturescapes April 21 Sarah Grace Tuttle, Sarah Grace Tuttle’s Blog, April 22 Marilyn Garcia April 23 Catherine, Reading to the Core April 24 Janet Fagal, hosted by Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference April 25 Ruth, There is no Such Thing as a God-Forsaken Town April 26 Patricia J. Franz, Reverie April 27 Theresa Gaughan, Theresa’s Teaching Tidbits April 28 Karin Fisher-Golton, Still in Awe Blog April 29 Karen Eastlund, Karen’s Got a Blog April 30 Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, and Writing |