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.  

​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.

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.

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

​

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.

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

Welcome to Poetry Friday.  Today Heidi at my juicy little universe is hosting Poetry Friday as she celebrates her birthday with two wonderful poems from the Poetry Foundation  website.
As one of her poems expresses may she have "the flame and the breath for wishes" into this new trip around the sun. Happy birthday, Heidi!

Today (Thursday actually) I got to sit outside and read.  Oh joyous day. I got to read a book that I will be featuring in April for National Poetry Month from a debut author. Spring is arriving bit by bit.

Earlier in the week I found a single tulip from the bulbs I planted last fall.  Many of them were disrupted by our residents squirrels.  Hence the poem.

tulip bloom
a sneak peak of spring
despite squirrels

© jone rush macculloch, 2021 draft

Poetry Friday is here today: Kat at Kathryn Apel.  She's heading us up for a muster, which means cattle round-up.
And she has a new book out, THE BIRD IN THE HERD.
​It looks like a very engaging and fun book.

I have a couple of poems that were inspired by the prompts for Laura Shovan's February poetry challenge. Sometimes the poems didn't arrive on the day of the prompt. They tumbled out later. The first one is from February 8, with Buffy Silverman's snow on a tree skin idea.  I thought of the icicles after the ice storm.

each morning
icicles lengthen
the notebook
chronicles 
the size. popsicles reaching
the tree's clavicle.

© jone rush macculloch (2021 draft) ​

The second poem is from the prompt on February 24th about seeing bodies in the clouds, water, trees, you get the drill.  I have written about this tree on our property before. And I've discovered her mouth, It took a hit in the recent snice (snow and ice) storm.

Today Karen at Karen Edmisten* will be hosting Poetry Friday.  Please head there to see the goodness of our Poetry Friday Community.

There's been quite a bit of chatter about the Covid-19 Vaccines. I don't recall a time that there has been more excitement over shots.  And it feels like winning the lottery to get an appointment which I have today (which means I might get to sub in April).  

We moved last June.  Two items that surfaced recently were my immunization cards for the Polio vaccine fifty-nine years ago. I have this glimmering of being in the big space that was the auditorium of my father's school, Clifton.  We were given a sugar cube with the dose.

pokey-poke
hope on horizon 
two vaccines
© jone rush macculloch (2021 draft) ​

Thanks to Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town for hosting Poetry Friday.  She is sharing from a book that is on my list, Brading Sweetgrass.

Every February, Laura Shovan invites writers to celebrate her birthday by writing poetry.  There is a yearly theme.  This year, it's "Bodies". These are some of the responses to prompts I've shared thus far.

The emphasis for the daily prompts is to be writing, the daily practice of writing.  There are days that the poems noodle around before landing on the paper.  

An email from American Academy of Poets Educator Newsletter arrived in my mailbox today. It has several offerings for Black History Month.  I discovered this one by Marilyn Nelson. Fitting as we are in the midst of vaccinations.

Making History
Marilyn Nelson 
Blue and White Orlon Snowflake Sweater, Blue Snowpants, Red Galoshes
          —Smoky Hill AFB, Kansas, 1955

Somebody took a picture of a class
standing in line to get polio shots,
and published it in the Weekly Reader.
We stood like that today. And it did hurt.
Mrs. Liebel said we were Making History,
but all I did was sqwunch up my eyes and wince.
Making History takes more than standing in line
believing little white lies about pain.
Mama says First Negroes are History:
First Negro Telephone Operator,
First Negro Opera Singer At The Met,
First Negro Pilots, First Supreme Court Judge.
That lady in Montgomery just became a First
by sqwunching up her eyes and sitting there.

Copyright © 2014 by Marilyn Nelson. From Beloit Poetry Journal, Split This Rock Edition. Reprinted from Split This Rock’s The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database.

I'm so happy to host Poetry Friday this week.

A new year, fresh and into the second month already.  How does that happen?

Poetry Friday is a weekly happening for all who love poetry,  Write it. Read it. Pass it on.

I found my first Poetry Friday post HERE. It was to announce the CYBILS POETRY winner for 2006.  The post ran in February 2007.  Thirteen years of Poetry Friday for me.  Whether you are new to Poetry Friday or have many posts, welcome, welcome.

There were a total of eleven participants for the 2021 New Year Poetry Postcard Exchange.  
​This week I curated words from all the poems creating a FOUND poem.  I hope you will consider joining the exchange in 2022.

Refusing to Wait for Springtime

Minted moon silverdrops, yesterday’s rain,
reflecting an invitation for merrymaking on the icy pond.

Beneath the surface, unseen creatures
busy themselves with an honest day’s work.

Chickadees flying free, blue herons perching
high in a tree watching the morning joy. 
​
© jone rush macculloch (2021 draft) 

 In August, I started this as a writing prompt from the Mud Puddle.  

This month, I took a class from Georgia Heard.  She has The Poet's Studio and it's a great way to be in community of poets.  We were to write a poem that uses the ears and revise it.  I went to this poem,  
My revisions, before class and after.  
BEFORE CLASS

The Window at Dawn
By Jone Rush MacCulloch

At dawn
Crocosmia shows its blooms-
an invitation
​Hummingbirds sip nectar
refuel mid-flight

At dawn
a cloud of bushtits hang
upside down- pecking suet
Juncos flit between feeders
breakfast on nuts and seeds

At dawn
grey squirrel flicks his tail
a party crasher
scampers across the railing
A fluster of feathers

AFTER CLASS
​
At Dawn
By Jone Rush MacCulloch

Hummingbirds sip crocosmia
nectar, refuel mid-flight.

A cloud of bushtits hang
upside down- pecking suet.

Juncos flit between feeders
breakfast on nuts and seeds.

Grey squirrel flicks his tail,
a party crasher,
​
scampers across the railing
a fluster of feathers.