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Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup has Poetry Friday hosting duties today. She's cooking up a delicious Thanksgiving parody poem. Plus she always has the most scrumptious food photos.
Today I have an interview with Rebecca Brock, author of an adult collection of poetry, Each Bearing Out. I "met" Rebecca in Laura Shovan's February Poetry Group on Facebook. She just published this wonderful collection about motherhood and the natural world. ![]()
JRM: What was the process that led you to create Each Bearing out? Did you set out to write a
collection or did you write poems and then one day realized that there was a collection? I noticed that several poems found homes in journals first. RB:Thank you, Jone, for reaching out to me and sending me these questions. So much of this journey for me has been one of permission. I was finally writing again, after a long silence, and it took me a while to acknowledge to myself that I was writing poetry. I hadn’t written poetry since my undergraduate years—I studied fiction in graduate school and had only ever published in nonfiction. But I was writing a lot of poems I referenced as my “mom poems.” They felt very personal, like small snapshots caught from the blur. Eventually, I had so many that I began to think about making a small book. JRM: Have you always been interested in the natural world? I noticed you are originally from Idaho. How did growing up in Idaho play a part in your writing life? RB: I grew up in Boise, Idaho but moved away over twenty years ago. I’d always planned to go back, but life gets complicated and that distance between my original home and my home now informs a lot of my writing. I think my interest in the natural world has grown deeper through my experience of mothering. My kids were curious, input seeking creatures and seeing the world through their eyes is what’s really brought me back to noticing, and paying attention to the natural world. JRM: I was really struck by the poem “Good Housekeeping”. I struggle with keeping house, writing and being engaged with my family. Add the concerns about the environment, it really gets overwhelming. What is one event that led you to write that poem? RB: “Good Housekeeping” resonated with a lot of my friends who have been busy mothering through these last years. It was originally published with the tag line “America during Covid, during Trump.” There has been such a constant tumult these last several years—political, social, environmental. I would be trying to do the most ordinary thing like decorate for Halloween or vacuum and just feel this redundant dread, as if I were participating in a great pretending that lets us go on believing everything is fine. The question, for me, is still a constant—how do we mother these children toward a future we can’t even begin to fathom? JRM: Could you share with readers your process with how you decided the order of the poems? RB: Mostly instinct. I read them out loud, a lot, and paid particular attention to what would be the first and last poem. I printed them out and sorted them physically, by hand, all down the hallway in my basement. From there, I semi-sorted them chronologically according to my children’s ages in the poems, which left me with a burgeoning teenager by the book’s end. JRM: Were there poems that didn’t make the book? How did you decide which poems were in and which needed to be held for a different space? Are you planning a second book? RB: Yes! So many didn’t make it. Poems I felt were weaker or redundant…or too sentimental. I have so many poems about my kids, it is really how I’ve found a way to hold my own memory of these years. I also asked two friends, Liona Burnham and Ruth Lehrer, to read through a near-to-final draft and tell me their suggestions. It was easier to know what to leave out than what to leave in! I am working on my second book already—about landscape and distance, origin and loss. JRM: How did Laura Shovan’s February Poetry Month inspire you? RB: Laura Shovan’s February Poetry Month arrived in my life at just exactly the right time and inspired me entirely to keep writing and to trust in my own voice and the power of showing up to the page. I had been working in such solitude and suddenly I was in the (online) company of bright, gutsy, gracious poets willing to post such new writing every day—it made writing poetry both more magical and more ordinary. Again, I think I was seeking permission and the poets from February Poetry Month absolutely holler their permission at you every day you post. It’s quite a gift and I’m so grateful, every year I participate, for Laura and for the generosity of that space. JRM: How did “A Rock is a Rock is a Rock” come to be written? It made me feel the pain and sorrow when your child comes home from a bad day at school, juggling schedules, dinner, and empathy. RB: It’s an entirely true story and it’s about my boy who is all heart with arms and legs attached. He is constant and somedays I just can’t keep up. But he is also the kind of person who places you, in moments, in the absolute of now. Here's "Rock is a Rock is a Rock" Originally appeared online at Whale Road Review, Summer 2022 A Rock Is a Rock Is a Rock You got your feelings hurt at school, again, you tell me seriously that you feel a heartbeat thump thump thunking in your pet rock, you swear you can. I say it’s your own heartbeat, in your palm, hammering. I am straddling dinner and your brother’s baseball game-- and you try to explain how your best friend tried to make you throw the stupid thing away. I say I told you not to take it to school, I told you, over and over, a rock is a rock is a rock. I almost say, out loud, baby sometimes you’re just too much but your breaths are coming hard, your small chest heaves—love, there is nothing weak about you. I turn the stove off. You let me hug you, the pulse of you barely surface deep. When you let me hold him, Rocky is still warm. You believe in so many things, even me. JRM: What can you share with readers who are exploring writing chapbooks? RB: Calling it a chapbook necessarily focuses your theme and scope—and that helped me get my mind around the idea. I wasn’t trying to write a book…I was only working on a chapbook. I read a lot of other people’s chapbooks. And I looked up contest deadlines and used them as goalpost deadlines. I found poets whose work I admired, in literary journals I like, and I ordered their books, scoured their bios for ideas of where to submit. Submitting my poems before they were part of a book also provided me a sort of scaffolding—I knew certain poems had resonance and strength. Time to Think About 2023 New Year Postcard Exchange
Won't you join us? Sign up for the 2023 New Year Postcard Exchange. Send five, send ten or send to all. Did you know there are 44 days until 2022 ends? Woohoo! Let's celebrate the New Year with a New Year Postcard? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year.How It Works:
One More Announcement!![]()
I have very exciting news.
It started as a disappointment, my in-person poetry reading for November 13 was canceled due to health concerns of one of the editors. However, they have decided to go with a Zoom Reading for Issue 12 of The Poeming Pigeon on Saturday, December 10 at 4:00 PST. I will be sending out the information as soon as I get a hold of it. I’m excited because now my online poetry friends will be able to tune in. ![]() Today, Heidi at my juicy little universe is hosting Poetry Friday. Heidi has a n important PSA about voting, Plus a whimsical challenge for us. Did you know that Nov 14-20, 2022 is Folk Tale Week. Read about it at my juicy little universe. There are some wonderful prompts. Last Spring, I connected with Anne Irza-Leggat from Candlewick about interviewing poets. Carrie Fountain is the final of the four poets I interviewed. The Poem Forest is her first book for children but it's not her last one. ![]() JRM: What drew you to the idea of writing about W. S. Merwin’s love of trees and ecology? CF: As a poet myself, I came to know W.S. Merwin first through his writing. When I came to learn of his moving to Maui and planting trees, it just struck me as a perfect story for kids. Merwin made his environmental activism a part of his everyday life. I think it can sometimes feel very overwhelming for kids (and adults!) to contemplate their actions against the large, swirling problem of, say, climate change. And I think Merwin's story offers inspiration: small, everyday commitments can make a difference. This is convenient, as our small, everyday lives are all that we have to work with. JRM: What was your process for writing this book? CF: Really, my desire for this story was to make a connection between Merwin's writing practice and his planting practice. A lifetime commitment to writing means a commitment to sitting down to do it everyday. I think some people imagine poets as people who walk around waiting for inspiration to strike and then jotting down whatever comes to them, and boom: a poem comes to you whole and finished. But that's not how it works! You can't plant a forest all at once. Like writing, it's something you attend to daily. I started writing this book with that idea in mind, and then read everything Merwin wrote about how he found his piece of land, how it was in very bad shape, and how over many years he went out daily to plant palm trees. There was something so meaningful to me in that commitment. And I thought it'd be meaningful to kids, too. JRM: I think one of the best parts about writing is doing research for a topic. What kind of research did you do for The Poem Forest? CF: Merwin wrote (very beautifully) about how he came to make the palm forest, and read everything I could find. Then I read his memoir Summer Doorways and learned more about his early life, and his longing to be in wild places, and his concerns about the environment and his deep sense of place. Rereading his poetry with the wider knowledge of his life, I was able to see how the line between the palms and the poems slowly begins to thin. There is so much meaning and metaphor taken from his experience in planting and living among the palms. JRM: What was the most surprising discovery you had in writing this book? CF: When Merwin first found the plot of land on which he'd plant his forest, it had been a failed pineapple plantation. I knew the basic story--the soil had been misused and needed repair. But I was surprised to learn just how much faith he'd had in that particular spot. People tried to talk him out of buying it. In the record books there was a note about the parcel that read "Nothing will grow here." Merwin wasn't a rich man with money to burn. So the fact that he allowed the land to speak to him, and that he took that chance and made that commitment was doubly inspiring to me. It makes one reflect on choices one has made in one's own life, and how it's best to truly look for room for challenge and faith and promise, rather than playing it safe. JRM: What is one of your favorite W. S. Merwin poems? CF: There are so many. I included his poem "Palm" at the end of the book--and I love that poem. He wrote many poems about the forest and about the palms. But I think my favorite W.S. Merwin poem is called "Thanks." It's a poem about our human pull toward offering gratitude, even in the face of great problems beyond our control. It ends: with nobody listening we are saying thank you thank you we are saying and waving dark though it is JRM: This is your first children’s book. What differences( if any )did you find writing for a target audience of children versus adults? CF: I think a lot of that is instinct, and remembering how smart and funny kids are. There are differences between these two audiences, but when you start focusing on the differences--what you can and can't say--you get into trouble. I like to imagine my own kids as my readers, and knowing how deep and philosophical they can be, I feel very comfortable going places that might feel very "adult" to others. So often I find children have much better access to the big, hairy, existential questions of life. JRM: Will there be more books for children in the future? What are your upcoming projects? CF: YES! I'm currently working on a book about work. I've always been fascinated by the idea of what people do all day. This book is a playful investigation of what work means, and what people actually do at their jobs. I want to celebrate the dignity of work and showcase jobs that don't always get attention in children's books. I think a lot of kids have trouble finding their own parents' jobs represented in books--and so I thought I'd write a book for them. Thank you, Carrie, for this great interview. I loved The Poem Forest so much. I am looking forward to your new book. If you would like to win a copy of The Poem Forest, leave a comment. a winner will be selected next week. Thanks to Anne Irza-Leggat from Candlewick for offering a copy to someone. ![]() 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.
![]() Margaret at Reflections on the Teche is hosting us today. She has added a beautiful and poignant line to the 2022 Progressive Poem today. Today I am thrilled to have an interview with Helen Frost on her new book, Wait-And See with the phenomenal photographer Rick Lieder. I was fortunate to work with Helen at a Highlights Foundation "Novel in Verse" retreat in 2013. She's a most excellent teacher and mentor. ![]() JRM: This is the sixth book in which you have collaborated with Rick Lieder. Could you tell my blog readers a bit about the process: How did this collaboration begin? Do you work together from the start? Which comes first, the photos or the poetry? HF: It began in 2006, when Rick Lieder’s wife, Kathe Koja, and I were doing a book event together, and Kathe said she thought I’d love her husband’s insect photography. She was right—the beautiful photographs made me look more closely at the world right outside my back door, and I started seeing more insects, and paying more attention to them. I wrote a poem about seeing and caring for the insect world, and Rick and I put the poem and images together in a book we started sending around to editors. It was a few years before Sarah Ketchersid, at Candlewick, loved the book as much as we did, and, in 2012, it was published to great reviews and soon found many enthusiastic readers. In the ten years since then, we have collaborated, together with Sarah and others at Candlewick, to produce five more books, with another under contract for 2024. Neither poetry or photos comes first—we usually start talking about a new book when one of us has an idea, and then there is about a year of back-and-forth as we refine the idea until it is ready to send as a proposal to Sarah. The proposal is usually a poem and accompanied by about 50 possible images. After it is accepted, lots more work goes into creating the finished book. I keep working on the text, and Rick continues to take and select more images as the book comes into being. JRM: How many drafts were there for Wait and See? What type of research did you do for the book? And did you write the back-matter as well? HF: It’s impossible to say how many drafts there are, because I save my work hour by hour as I go. But I think I could estimate that there are between 20 and 50 versions. I sometimes change a line in the poem to “match” an image I love, and Rick sometimes finds a better image for a line we don’t want to let go. Yes, I do a lot of research as I write the poems, and continue to learn more as I write the backmatter. I begin with books and online research, and correspond with experts as needed. JRM: What was the most surprising thing you learned about the praying mantis? HF: I was surprised to learn how many nymphs emerge from one ootheca (egg case). There can be as many as 400—which makes you think about all the dangers they face, and how amazing it is when one survives to adulthood, and you see it looking at you! JRM: Not only does the book teach about praying mantis, How did you arrive at the title, Wait and See? It says so much more than the arrival of praying mantises and I can see how teachers would use this in the classroom. HF: Yes, Wait—and See (the dash in the title suggests the waiting) does emphasize an important aspect of the book. Praying mantises are hard to find, and the book can help children learn where and how to look for them, but even more, it shows how important patience is in many ways. I’d love to think that teachers might read this book to children and then go outside and encourage the children to quietly look around and come back in to share what they’ve seen. It would be unlikely to be a praying mantis (though wouldn’t that be great?) but they’ll definitely see something. And maybe the book will help them learn the art and value of being still and attentive in many situations. If you look at each of our books, there is a “big idea” like this behind each of them. They are often given as gifts (to children and adults) for special life events: birth of a first child or a new sibling (Hello, I’m Here! and Wake Up), engagement or marriage (Among a Thousand Fireflies), milestones such as first day of school or graduation (Step Gently Out and Sweep Up the Sun). And I know that Sweep Up the Sun has brought comfort to people grieving the loss of a loved one. JRM: You have written several novels in verse. I noticed that you call them “novels in poems”. How did you arrive with this term (which I rather like)? HF: I love poetry, and I love using different elements of poetry in my picture books and novels; the term “novels-in-poems” (though I’m not adamant about it) is a way of calling attention to that. JRM: What are your current projects? HF: Rick and I are collaborating on a new book, probably to come out in 2024, tentatively titled The Mighty Pollinators, about pollen and pollinators. The “big idea” behind this book is that small things like pollen and pollinators are essential. As we were discussing this, Rick pointed out, “Our readers are small, too, and they are important.” JRM: Thank you, Helen, for giving me and other readers insight on this fabulous insect. I am looking forward to your next project as pollinators are one of my favorite studies. Giveaway TimeAnne Irza-Leggat, Educational Marketing Manager at Candlewick, has generously offered a copy of last week's book, Out of This World by Sally Walker and this week's book Wait-and See by Helen Frost. Leave a comment by April 27 on either blog post to be eligible to win. Winners will be announced next week. Speaking of Winners...![]() Mary Lee Hahn, you have won the 3d drawing and optical illusions: how to draw optical illusions and 3d art step by step Guide for Kids, Teens and Students. New edition and a set of Staedtler Mars Lumograph Art Drawing Pencils, 12 Pack Graphite Pencils in Metal Case . Congratulations. Tabatha will be sending that out soon. ![]() Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme has hosting duties this Poetry Friday. Matt has a terrific interview with Leslie Bulion. Here I have an interview with Sally Walker. Thanks to Mary Lee, I got in touch with Anne Irza-Leggat at Candlewick Press. She connected me with two poets for this month that have new books coming out in April. In the fall, I will be interviewing two more poets when their books arrive in the world. ![]() Meet Sally Walker. This picture tell me that she and I could be great friends as I love a good hug with a tree. from early readers to nature books STEM books, history and picture books, Sally has written so many. Earth Verse was her first book written in haiku. Her latest, Out of This World: Star-Studded Haiku, is as she says a "language spaceship" . Through haiku, readers will travel the universe. There's great back matter at the end of the book. Sally was gracious to answer questions I had for her. I loved learning about the diamonds that a certain planet has (read the interview to find out). ![]() JRM: How did you get the idea for Out of This World: Star-Studded Haiku? What was your process for writing this book? SW: The idea began with a haiku that I wrote about Saturn: Rings of rock and dust/circle around Saturn’s waist/cosmic Hula-Hoops. It made me smile, as I remembered summer days spent playing with a Hula-Hoop. It became part of a manuscript with the working title Sci-ku. As I have done in many of my books, I wanted to create a book that would as a bridge to connect science with literature—one that combined facts and language play. Sci-ku’shaiku ranged from geology, to space, to physics, and to biology. I submitted the manuscript to Hilary Van Dusen, my editor at Candlewick. She liked the idea, but felt that the book would be more effective if all of the haiku immersed the reader in one particular scientific field. She was absolutely correct! I narrowed the focus to geology, my number one science love. The manuscript became Earth Verse: Haiku from the Ground Up. The haiku about Saturn ended up on the cutting room floor. Sadly, because I really liked that one. After completing Earth Verse, Hilary asked if I was working on anything else. I wasn’t, but suddenly the “cosmic Hula-Hoops” haiku popped back into my mind. My email reply to her suggested that I do a companion volume to Earth Verse that could be titled Out of This World: Star-studded Haiku. Of course I included the haiku about Saturn among those that I submitted in my formal proposal! Part of my process for writing Out of This World was paying attention to the stars, planets, and the moon as they appear to move across the sky as Earth rotates. Early morning, just before dawn, is my favorite time to be outside. Even on the coldest days, I go for a walk and look at the moon and the stars. Another part of my process was to look at the stellar—ha, ha, that pun was too good to resist—photos on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) website, www.nasa.gov. It’s an awesome website where one can spend hours immersed in all kinds of space-related information. The photos are beyond belief!! JRM: I think one of the best parts about writing is doing research for a topic. What kind of research did you do for Out of This World? SW: Research is, hands down, my favorite part of being an author! An important part of writing this book, which later morphed into research, came from re-living experiences from my childhood. For example, I remember sitting in the backyard with my father on summer nights. He would point out different constellations—Orion and the Big Dipper are two vivid memories—and tell me stories about how they got their name. My family always watched lunar and solar eclipses. We always used the pinhole in cardboard way to view a solar eclipse safely. One Christmas, when I was about 10 years old, my cousin received a telescope as a gift. He invited us to his house one night so we could see Saturn’s rings. That blew me away! Maybe that’s how Galileo felt when he first saw them. In July 1969, half the people in our neighborhood crowded around the television in my family’s livingroom and watched the Eagle land on the moon. We all held our breath until it touched down and then cheered!! Reality TV at its absolute best!!! I researched scientific papers, books, old newspapers, and NASA’s website about all of these topics for additional information, as well as important updates, to material that I remembered from childhood. Interestingly, research that I’d done for other books gave me a lot of information for Out of This World. My research adventures for Boundaries, my book about the Mason-Dixon line, led to planetarium visits and lots of stargazing. Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon drew their famous line of latitude guided by the position of stars. My husband, a volcanologist, was happy to talk with me about the Martian volcano Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in our solar system. In college, when I majored in geology, I learned that scientists theorize that an asteroid strike 65 million years ago likely led to the extinction of dinosaurs on Earth. It seemed natural for me to write a haiku about that. JRM: What was the most surprising discovery you had in writing this book? SW: Good question! One discovery that I knew absolutely NOTHING about was that it rains diamonds on the planet Uranus. That planet, one of our solar system’s four planets that have no solid land surface, has a slushy plasma ocean that surrounds the planet’s solid core. The pressure within the ocean forces carbon atoms to crystallize as diamonds. Because the diamonds are heavier than the surrounding “slush,” they rain downward, toward the core. This discovery also led to a funny research story. When Matthew Trueman was creating the illustration for the haiku diamonds rain, unseen/in a slushy plasma sea/sunken treasure trove, he asked what color the sea was likely to be. I had NO idea. So, I did some research. I emailed Dr. Dirk Gericke and asked him. He is a professor at the Centre for Fusion, Space & Astrophysics, in the Department of Physics, at the University of Warwick, in the United Kingdom. Dr. Gericke has written several papers on Uranus’s plasma sea. He helped me tweak the haiku so it was accurate, but he also consulted with his colleagues about the color of the plasma ocean. While no one can actually see it, their consensus (based on the chemical composition) is that the sea is bluish. I passed this information along to Matthew! JRM: What led you to write this book in haiku? How do you decide if you want to write in prose or haiku? SW: It was always intended to be a combination of haiku and nonfiction prose. My favorite haiku are those that not only make me think or feel about something, but also make me want to discover something new about the “moment” that I encountered while reading a particular haiku. I hope that the haiku in Out of This World will make readers think and ask questions. The narrative section of the book, hopefully, provides answers to some of those questions. Haiku is pretty much the only kind of poetry that I write. But I did not always enjoy it. I remember being taught about haiku in fourth grade. The teacher explained what it was: a short poem that did not rhyme, had only seventeen syllables, and revealed a profound, seasonal moment in nature. We didn’t talk about Japanese culture at all. Nor did we discuss how “less” can actually be “more.” She just read us a few haiku written by Basho and Issa. Sadly, I was too young to appreciate them—at least the ones she read to us. They made me feel “itchy” because I didn’t understand what they were about. When she asked us to write haiku, I felt like I was being asked to write something so profound that it was incomprehensible. Forcing the incomprehensible into a seventeen-syllable, non-rhyming poem made the assignment essentially impossible for me. Now, as an adult, I read a haiku like Basho’s The Old Pond (An old silent pond/a frog jumps into the pond--/Splash! Silence again.) and marvel at it. But the nine-year-old me wouldn’t have understood and appreciated all it encompasses. I would not have savored that exquisite last moment. I would have splashed into the pond and caught the frog. Today’s young readers meet haiku through the mastery of poets such as Paul Janeczko, Janet Wong, and J. Patrick Lewis. Children easily relate to their poems. They meet the reader in a place or moment that she or he can understand. A park bench, a curbside puddle, a beloved pet. That is incredibly powerful and freeing. Modern haiku poets often step outside the traditional guidelines of including a seasonal reference. And they frequently inject humor. Many of the haiku in Earth Verse and Out of This World explore moments in nature, but they are moments that exist for eons. I remember one of my geology professors telling us that in the timeline of life on Earth, humans have existed in the length of time that it takes to light a match and immediately blow it out. The formation of stars, land surfaces being eroded by glaciers and wind, an asteroid that wipes out millions of years of dinosaur existence are natural, cosmic “moments.” They exist on a timeline, the length of which we can scarcely comprehend. Why not write haiku about them? Although some poets write haiku that don’t strictly adhere to the seventeen-syllable format, I choose to do so. I like the challenge of seeking the perfect combination of words to convey an idea or impression in exactly seventeen syllables. It’s a game with language that lets me play with words, something I love to do. It requires lots and lots and lots of mental revision to get the syllable count for each line correct. That’s cool too, because many of the haiku that I write finally reach their “Eureka!” word-choice completion while I am outside walking and appreciating nature! JRM: What are your upcoming projects? SW: My next book is UNDERGROUND FIRE: HOPE, SACRIFICE, AND COURAGE IN THE CHERRY MINE DISASTER. The 1909 Cherry Mine fire is one of the worst coal mine disasters in United States’ history. My home is only 50 miles from Cherry, Illinois, and the story is one that I have wanted to bring to young readers for some years. It’s especially timely, given that it’s a story of immigrants and fossil fuel, both of which figure prominently in the news today. The publication date is October 2022. I do have another haiku book in the pipeline, scheduled for publication in Spring 2023. At the moment the title is TREES: HAIKU FROM ROOTS TO LEAVES. It's a bit early to share much more about it, but I can say that the illustrations are wonderful! Both books are with Candlewick Press. BONUS I: In another email, Sally and I shared an exchange about writing haiku for adults as well as the haiku structure. She shared this haiku Language meanders, words channeled into patterns. Poetic rivers BONUS II: Regarding haiku versus senryu Sally shared this little fact, I enjoy senryu a lot. In fact, I had to avoid producing them when I wrote Earth Verse and Out of This World. Thank you so much, Sally! |
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