Jone Rush MacCulloch
  • Blog
  • About
  • 2020 NPM: Food, Family, Feasts
  • Poetry Friday Hosts
  • Books
  • Blog
  • About
  • 2020 NPM: Food, Family, Feasts
  • Poetry Friday Hosts
  • Books

​

Poetry Friday, Week 20: #PoemsforMaryLee, #MarvelousMaryLee

5/20/2021

 
Picture
Welcome to Poetry Friday.  There is SO much happening.  And some my fault as I took two weeks away from posting.
First, all the poetry magic is being rounding up by none other than Christie Wyman at Wondering And Wandering.  

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout out to Christie as she has completed another journey around the sun. Hooray.  And it just so happens I have a little surprise for her in the prize announcements below.
Second, I do have some announcements about giveaways after the MAIN EVENT which is to honor #MarvelousMaryLee.


Main Event: #PoemsforMaryLee, #MarvelousMaryLee

Picture
 In October  2007, I was a lucky person to meet Mary Lee at the first ever Kidlit/YA blogging conference in Chicago, IL.
Her blog, A Year of Reading was one I read each week and looked forward to the book and poetry connection.
Poetry projects each April, poetry swaps, commenting on poems, haiku, and thoughts about social justice to give her students agency, Mary Lee may be retiring but I imagine her legacy is long-lasting. 
I am so excited for your new chapter, Mary Lee. May it be rich with roads that are unexpected and magical. So glad I have gotten to know you through poetry.  Here's to the journey.  The following poem is cubed and found.  I looked through your poems of the past year and gather words to write something in honor of you.  The photo is from last weekend in the Redwoods State and National Forests, norther California

Picture

Announcement, Announcement, Announcement!

I have four book prize packages to send to four readers from the April Giveaways:
THE SNOW FELL THREE GRAVES DEEP by Allan Wolf:  Linda Mitchell
STARFISH by Lisa Fipps: Heidi Mordhorst
EVERYWHERE BLUE by Joanne Rossmassler Fritz: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes
THE WISDOMOF TREES by Lita Judge: Christie Wyman
Please contact me so I have your mailing addresses. 
CONGRATULATIONS.

#2021NPM 9 April: Meet Debut Author Lisa Fipps

4/8/2021

 
Picture
Welcome to 2021 National Poetry Month. It's my fifteenth year of participating (some years better than others).  
This year I'm taking a look at some previous poems that I enjoyed and will be revising.  Some have been on the blog before and others not.  
I have  five great interviews lined up:
April 2 POETRY FRIDAY: ALLAN WOLF
April 9 POETRY FRIDAY: LISA FIPPS
April 16 POETRY FRIDAY: CHRIS BARON
April 23 POETRY FRIDAY:
​
JOANNE ROSSMASSLER FRITZ
April 30 POETRY FRIDAY: LITA  JUDGE

I love getting books into the hands of readers so there will be prizes for stopping by and saying hi.

WELCOME AUTHOR LISA FIPPS

Picture
When I decided to interview novel in verse authors, I wanted to feature a couple of debut authors. Thanks to Sylvia Vardell's fabulous 2021 Sneak Peek post for all poetry books, I discovered Author Lisa Fipps.

I read this book in one sitting. I fell in love with the main character, Ellie, and how she grows throughout the book. I felt the sting of some the Mom comments.  

What led you to write STARFISH? Was there a reason for choosing to write in free verse instead of prose? 
FIPPS: I wrote Starfish because it was the book I needed when I was a kid. I was bullied relentlessly for being fat and struggled with so many emotions from all the bullying. Since I was an avid reader, I turned to books, hoping to read a story like mine, hoping to feel less alone, hoping to find help with how to handle it all. But a book like that was nowhere to be found. I ended up feeling even more alone. More different. I’ve always dreamed of writing for children, so it only made sense for my debut novel to be the book I always needed as a kid. I’m really surprised and saddened that from the time I was a kid until now – all those years – a book like Starfish didn’t exist. We need fat- and body-positive books for kids featuring fat protagonists, especially since nearly 75 percent of adult Americans and a great percentage of kids are fat. I’m starting to see more and more children’s books with fat protagonists, so that makes me happy. There’s still a long way to go, though. I wrote Starfish in verse because that’s just how stories come to me. I like it because it allows me to cut to the emotional core of a story quicker than prose. Using fewer words also gives me that staccato effect I love.
 
Were there characters that were easier or more difficult to write? Were they based on anyone?
FIPPS: Ellie is based a lot on me, so that made it easier to write her story, at least when it came to what happened to her and how she felt. What made it hard was digging up, facing, and reliving past hurts. The dad was hard to write. On a personal level, I have no idea what a dad is like or what it’s like to have a dad. My dad died when I was thirteen months old. A lot of readers love the dad. One reader who found out I grew up without a dad said, “Do you think you wrote the dad you wished you’d had?” And it dawned on me that that’s exactly what I did, without making a conscious effort to do so. Ellie’s dad is the dad I literally daydreamed about having when I was a kid.
 
I loved the images of the starfish and the whales throughout the book. What led you to choosing those images?  I loved the poem “Whaling Wall” when Ellie sees the beauty of humpback whales. 
FIPPS: When you’re fat, there always seems to be this one defining moment when everything changes, the moment you go from being a regular kid/person to being the fat kid/person. For Ellie, that came during her under-the-sea-themed birthday party, where she wore a whale swimsuit. She cannonballed into the pool, creating a big splash. From them on she was called Splash or some synonym for whale. That’s why I used the whale image in the book. The starfish image came from the scene where Ellie starts thinking that maybe it’s okay to be herself, to be seen, to be heard, to take up space. When she’s trying to imagine what that would be like, she stretches out in the pool and takes up all the room she wants. She literally looks like a starfish, with her arms and legs stretched out. When she starts to face the bullies and defend herself, she notices she takes the starfish stance: Arms stretched out and feet more than shoulder width apart. I think that the word starfish and the image that pops into your head when you hear or read it, gives you a perfect visual of being free to take up all the space you want in the world. 
 
Were the images in the first draft or did they appear in later drafts? 
FIPPS: The whale and starfish images were in the story from the beginning, although I added more emphasis to the starfish as I revised. 
 
Do you have a favorite scene or quote from the book? 
FIPPS: I think the scene where Ellie starfishes and says “behold the thing” as she confronts her mom is my favorite. It is the defining moment for Ellie. For their relationship. But it was so emotional for me to think about, let alone write, that I will never read that poem aloud.

​I noticed that use you used the library for some scenes in the book.  How did being a librarian inform you that there needed to be a library in the book? (Being a retired K5 librarian, I notice when books feature a library)
FIPPS: I am the director of marketing for a public library, but I’m not a librarian. I included libraries in Starfish because they were my refuge when I was in school. And, as an avid reader whose family was too poor to buy a lot of books, I visited the school and public libraries all the time when I was growing up. Coming home with a stack of books felt like Christmas.
 
If you were to give a reading, what might you read to the audience?
FIPPS: I always enjoy reading a few poems from the beginning and the poems with Dr. Woodn’t-you-like-to-know. They’re just fun to read.
 
I’ve been taking some classes at the Highlights Foundation with Cordelia Jense. We’ve been discussing what is the definition of a verse novel? What are your thoughts on the definition? (As the once chair of the CYBILS Award Poetry category, we wrestled with where the verse novels belonged in Poetry or in Fiction or their own category.)
FIPPS: To me, anyway, verse is poetry but it’s also its own creature. It’s a living, breathing, changing artform. You can bend and shape it any way you want it. That’s the beauty of it. It really feels like clay in my hands. 
 
What is next up for you?  Do you have any new books in the works?
FIPPS: Like all writers, I’m always writing. Stay tuned to social media for some exciting news in the future.
 
How did you decide on Author Lisa Fipps and not just Lisa Fipps?
FIPPS: Great question! Lisa Fipps is a common name and so is Lisa Phipps. A lot of people spell my name wrong. Fun fact. When I was a journalist, other reporters in the newsroom got sick and tired of hearing me say, “Lisa Fipps. F as in Frank, i, p as in Paul, p as in Paul, S as in Sam” every time I had to leave a message for someone to call me back. I got sick and tired of hearing me say it. You’d think it’d be an easy name to get right. It’s five letters. One syllable. Alas, it is not. I kept track of the misspellings. There were thirty-four, including Slitz, Flips, and Phillips. I thought the most common misspelling would be Phipps. It wasn’t. It was Simpson. I can only guess that people thought of Lisa Simpson from the TV show when I was trying to spell my name. Dunno. Weird. Anyway, I thought if I branded myself as Author Lisa Fipps for my website and social media that it’d help people find me since it is a common name – although, apparently, wretchedly hard to spell. Lol.

Did you read BLUBBER by Judy Blume as a kid?  It's been so long since I've read it, but it came to mind as I read your book.
FIPPS: I didn’t read Blubber when I was a kid. It was a popular book, and I had planned on reading it. But then when we were in line after library time, getting ready to head back to our classroom, a boy saw a girl holding that book and said, “Blubber’s reading Blubber.” The girl wasn’t fat by any stretch. So, I was afraid to be seen reading it, knowing it’d give the other kids another reason to bully me. That’s one reason I chose the title Starfish for my book. It’s not a title that a kid would be embarrassed to be seen carrying or reading. 

Thank you, Lisa, for sharing this book with the world and for allowing me to interview you.  

Picture

​Wondering about my National Poetry Month Project?  Here's what I have been up to since April 1, 2021:
April 1: Welcome and Morning Prayer
April 2:  Interview with Allan Wolf
April 5 Redux: "Outside My Window"
April 6: Sun/Grian
April 7: Adelanto/A Day's Journey
April 8: Wings Redux


Stop by, leave a comment and get entered for book giveaways at the end of the month.
Many thanks to Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference who is hosting Poetry Friday.  She has a great project with translating poems into a second language.

#2021NPM April 8: Wings Redux

4/8/2021

 
Picture
Welcome to 2021 National Poetry Month. It's my fifteenth year of participating (some years better than others).  
This year I'm taking a look at some previous poems that I enjoyed and will be revising.  Some have been on the blog before and others not.  
I have  five great interviews lined up:
April 2 POETRY FRIDAY: ALLAN WOLF
April 9 POETRY FRIDAY: LISA FIPPS
April 16 POETRY FRIDAY: CHRIS BARON
April 23 POETRY FRIDAY:
​
JOANNE ROSSMASSLER FRITZ
April 30 POETRY FRIDAY: LITA  JUDGE

I love getting books into the hands of readers so there will be prizes for stopping by and saying hi.
​​

Back in 2009, Laini Taylor was a debut author with FAIRIES OF DREAMDARK:BLACKBRINGER.  The prompt at Sunday Scribblings was "wings".  I wrote a reverse double Fibonacci to celebrate.

Dragonfly cathedral window
Beveled wings glisten
Dragonfly
Sits, waits
Rests
​
Now
One
Free
Spirit
Dragonfly
Dances in dusk’s light
Transformation invitation

© jone rush macculloch, draft,  2009
Today, I played with the words and the form (Shadorma and the Reverse Double Fib). I worked on making the words more concrete than I had in 2009.

dragonfly’s glistening sun wings
cathedral windows,
azure hawks
hover
near
on

reeds
dreaming
of midges
and dusk fairies
ancient hunters of the lake


© jone rush macculloch, draft,  2021

dragonfly’s
glistening sun wings
hover near
dreams whirring
along the azure waters
dusk fairy hunters
​© jone rush macculloch, draft,  2021

TOMORROW! AUTHOR LISA FIPPS INTERVIEW.  DON'T MISS LEARNING ABOUT HER DEBUT BOOK, STARFISH.

Poetry Friday:  Excited for National Poetry Month

3/26/2021

 
Picture
Susan at Soul Blossom Living is hosting all the poetry goodness for us today.  She is also rounding up who is doing what for National Poetry Month. which begins next week.

April?  We are one fourth done with 2021?  Wow.

What's Happening Here for National Poetry Month?

Each Friday, I have an interview from four authors regarding their new Verse Novels. And for National Arbor Day on April 30, 2021, Lita Judge, author of The Wisdom of Trees will be sharing her thoughts.
April 2 POETRY FRIDAY: ALLAN WOLF
April 9 POETRY FRIDAY: LISA FIPPS
April 16 POETRY FRIDAY: CHRIS BARON
April 23 POETRY FRIDAY: JOANNE FRITZ
April 30 POETRY FRIDAY: LITA  JUDGE

​

But wait, there is more...

Picture
Mondays through Thursdays, I am revising and revising poems that I have found tucked away or on the blog.  

A Revisit and Revise Redux if you will.  

Please comment as much as possible as I will be giving away prizes each week.

PLUS there will be a Grand Prize at the end of  month:
A copy of STARFISH
A copy of THE WISDOM OF TREES
and a couple surprises, shhh....

Hope you will join me for National Poetry Month.  It going to fun and I'm celebrating 15th year of National Poetry Month.

Poetry Friday: Little Poems of the Week

3/18/2021

 
Picture
Hop on over to Linda at TeacherDance. She share a surprise late snow storm and thoughts on 'time'.j


Last week, I went on a field trip to one of my favorite wineries.  I was able to photograph a single first bloom. On the weekend, I discovered busyness in the hanging planter.  It was also MudPuddle Saturday(a group of women write about twice a month), I was able to draft a couple poems based on prompts.

Winter’s scent
outside my window
questions us,When is spring?

Hummingbirds dart, sip nectar
the fairy flowers

© jone rush macculloch, 2021 draft
​

Bushtits Gather
Little partiers, the bushtits
gather at the suet block

The high scratchy calls
twitter-tweet  the location

A flash mob hangs upside down,
dining.  All are welcome.

© jone rush macculloch, 2021 draft


Picture
Picture

GET READY!  NATIONAL POETRY MONTH IN TWO WEEKS

I am looking forward to these interviews!  There will be prizes.  
April 2 POETRY FRIDAY: ALLAN WOLF
April 9 POETRY FRIDAY: LISA FIPPS
April 16 POETRY FRIDAY: CHRIS BARON
April 23 POETRY FRIDAY: JOANNE FRITZ
April 30 POETRY FRIDAY: LITA  JUDGE

During the week, I will be taking a second look at poems I have written in the past and playing with revision.

    Author

    All 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.

    Subscribe
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    #2021NaPoWriMo
    2021 National Poetry Month
    #2021NPM
    2021 Progressive Poem
    2022
    2022 National Poetry Month
    2022 Progressive Poem
    Allan Wolf
    Amy Souza
    Aquarium
    Astoria
    Author Lisa Fipps
    Autumn
    Awards
    Bees
    Bells
    Betsy Fanco
    Birds
    Black History Month
    Book Give Away
    Book Quotes
    Books
    Bridges
    Bridget Magee
    Brú Na Bóinne
    Buffy Silverman
    Calendar
    California
    Candlwick
    Cape Perpetua
    Carnivorous Plants
    Carrie Fountain
    Cento
    Charles Waters
    Chris Baron
    Clouds
    Coast
    Collage
    Cosmos
    Current Events
    Debut Book
    Denise Krebs
    Dodoitsu
    Earth Day
    Edgar Allan Poe
    Ekphrastic
    Ekphrastic Poetry
    Ekphratic Poetry
    Erasure Poetry
    Family
    #februllage2022
    Fernanda Valentino
    Ferns
    Fibonacci
    Flowers
    Flowers]
    Folk Tale Week
    Food
    #foundhearts
    Found Poems
    Free Verse
    Fundraiser
    Garden
    Gardens
    Georgia Heard
    Ginko
    Giveaway
    Goals
    Golden Shovel
    #gratiku
    Haiga
    Haiku
    #haiku
    #haikudiary
    Halloween
    Heart
    Heidi Mordhorst
    Helen Frost
    HOP TO IT
    IBBY
    Ice
    Imperfect II
    #Inktober
    Interviews
    Ireland
    Irene Latham
    Jama Alphabet Soup
    Janet Clare Fagal
    Janet Wong
    January 2023
    Joanne Fritz
    Joanne Rossmassler Fritz
    Johanna Wright
    Joyce Sidman
    Joy Harjo
    Kat Apel
    Laura Shovan
    Leaves
    Lee Bennett Hopkins
    Linda Mitchell
    Lita Judge
    Margaret Simon
    Marilyn Singer
    Mary Lee Hahn
    Michelle Barnes
    Michelle Kogan
    Mixed Media
    Monday Musing
    Moon
    Morning
    Mud Puddle
    Mystery
    National Arbor Day
    National Poetry Month
    Native Plants
    Natural World
    New Year Postcards
    Notebooks
    Ocean
    Odell
    #OLW
    One Little Word
    OR
    Oregon Writers' Colony
    Pacific Northwest
    Packard Group National Exhibition
    Painting
    Pamela Sue Johnson
    Pandemic
    Pantoum
    Pat Mora
    Patterns
    Peace
    Photography
    Plants
    #Poemtober
    Poetry
    Poetry Challenge
    #poetrycommunity
    Poetry Friday
    #poetrypals
    #poetryplayground
    Poetry Prompts
    Pollinators
    Portland Japanese Garden
    PreK
    Queen Anne's Lace
    Rain
    Rainbows
    Rebecca Brock
    Rebecca Herzog
    Rebecca Kai Doltish
    Rebecca Kai Dotlich
    Recipe Poems
    Redwoods National And State Parks
    Reverso
    Revising
    Revision
    Rivers
    Robyn Hood Black
    Sally Walker
    Scotland
    Scottish Gaelic
    Shadorma
    Shawn Aveningo Sanders
    #smallpoemsdecember
    Snow
    Snowman
    Snowmen
    South Carolina
    Spark
    Spring
    Spring Snow
    St Brighid's Cross
    #StopAsianHate
    Students
    Student Work
    Summer
    Summer Poetry Swap
    Sunday Solace
    Sunrise
    Sunset
    Sylvia Vardell
    Tabatha Yeatts
    Tanka
    Taylor Mali
    Teaching Poetry
    The Hill Of Tara
    #theinklings
    The Last Bookstore
    The Poeming Pigeon
    The Poetry Box
    The Poet's Studio
    This Poem Is A Nest\
    Tracks
    Trees
    Tritina
    Tualatin Wildlife Refuge
    Ukraine
    USBBY
    Verse Of Ages
    Water
    William Stafford
    Winners
    Winter
    Winter Poetry Swap
    Winter Solstice
    WIP
    Wnter
    Word;less Wednesday
    Wordless Wednesday
    Wordy 30
    Yosemite National Park

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020

    2022 Progressive Poem

    ​1 April 1 Irene at Live Your Poem
    2 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
    3 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
    4 Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading
    5 Buffy at Buffy Silverman
    6 Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone
    7 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
    8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
    9 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
    10 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
    11 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
    12 Jone at Jone Rush MacCulloch
    13 Karin Fisher-Golton at Still in Awe
    14 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
    15 Carol Labuzzetta @ The Apples in my Orchard
    16 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
    17 Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken Town
    18 Patricia at Reverie
    19 Christie at Wondering and Wandering
    20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
    21 Kevin at Dog Trax
    22 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
    23 Leigh Anne at A Day in the Life
    24 Marcie Atkins
    25 Marilyn Garcia
    26 JoAnn Early Macken
    27 Janice at Salt City Verse
    28 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
    29 Karen Eastlund at Karen’s Got a Blog
    30 Michelle Kogan Painting, Illustration, & Writing

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.