Hope you’re doing well despite these crazy, scary, unbelievably challenging times.
Please help yourself to a warm cuppa and a fresh-from-the-oven apricot scone while you savor Diane Ackerman’s sumptuous poem.
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“Apricot Still Life” by Julie L’Heureux
THE CONSOLATION OF APRICOTS by Diane Ackerman
Especially in early
spring,
when the sun
offers a thin
treacle of warmth,
I love to sit
outdoors
and eat sense-
ravishing apricots.
Born on sun-
drenched trees in
Morocco,
the apricots have
flown the Atlantic
like small comets,
and I can taste
broiling North
Africa in their
flesh.
Somewhere
between a peach
and a prayer,
they taste of well
water
and butterscotch
and dried apples
and desert
simooms and lust.
Sweet with a
twang of spice,
a ripe apricot is
small enough to
devour
as two
hemispheres,
Ambiguity is its
hallmark.
How to eat an
apricot:
first warm its
continuous curve
in cupped hands,
holding it
as you might a
brandy snifter,
then caress the
velvety sheen
with one thumb,
and run your
fingertips
over its nap,
which is shorter
than peach fuzz,
closer to chamois.
Tawny gold with a
blush on its
cheeks,
an apricot is the
color of shame
and dawn.
One should not
expect to drink
wine
at mid-winter,
Boethius warned.
What could be
more thrilling
then ripe apricots
out of season,
a gush of taboo
sweetness
to offset the
savage wistfulness
of early spring?
Always eat
apricots at
twilight,
preferably while
sitting in a sunset
park,
with valley lights
starting to flicker
on
and the lake
spangled like a
shield.
Then, while a trail
of bright ink
tattoos the sky,
notice how the sun
washes the earth
like a woman
pouring her gaze
along her lover’s
naked body,
each cell receiving
the tattoo of her
glance.
Wait for that
moment
of arousal and
revelation,
then sink your
teeth into the flesh
of an apricot.
Congratulations to tenth grader Samantha Aikman, who won the 2020 National Poetry Month Poster Contest for Students. Her winning artwork was selected by former U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera and award-winning cartoonist Alison Bechdel from among 10 finalists and 180 student submissions. Entries were to incorporate between 1-4 contiguous lines from U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s poem, “Remember.”
Click here to download a PDF, or to order your free copy.
Now, here’s a list of what some kidlit bloggers are doing. If you’re also celebrating Poetry Month with a special project or blog event, or know of anyone else who is, please leave a comment here or email me: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot) com, so I can add the information to this Roundup. Thanks, and have a beautiful, inspiring, uplifting, productive, and memorable April!
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Hooray, it’s Progressive Poem time again! This year, Irene Latham has passed on the mantle to Margaret Simon(Reflections on the Teche), who’s recruited 30 poets for the ninth annual Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem. This is a wonderful community writing project where a poem travels daily from blog to blog, with each host adding a new line. Donna Smith will kick things off with the first line of this year’s children’s poem at Mainely Writeon April 1. Here’s the full schedule of participating bloggers:
If you’re a fan of picture book poetry collections, be sure to check in with Jena Benton at Of Tea and Mermaids. She’ll be featuring a different picture book each day with her commentary and a selected poem. I learned about some new-to-me books last year, so I’m looking forward to more. 🙂
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Over at Deo Writer, Jone MacCulloch will be cooking up some delectable verses all month long with “Food, Family, Feasts.” Put on your best bibs and head over there for poems about food, food, food! Jone invites everyone to join her by writing their own food-related poems. I’m hungry!
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Jone is also sending out Student Poetry Postcards. Have you signed up yet? As she said, in this time of social distancing, this might be a good way to spread a little cheer. You can find the sign-up form here.
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If you’re a fan of ekphrastic poetry, you must check out Random Noodling. Once again, Diane Mayr is featuring Ekphrastic April, where she writes an original cherita each day inspired by the work of a female artist. This feels like a double gift, because you not only get to see wonderful paintings, you’re also privy to Diane’s personal responses to these works.
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photo by Harry W. Yeatts, Jr., logo by Elena Yeatts-Lonske
AtTheOpposite of Indifference, Tabatha Yeatts is sharing poetry based on the theme, “Things I Wish You Knew . . . “ with an emphasis on physical and mental health. The idea is to inform the reader about something that is outside their realm of experience, something that is maybe not that obvious. Tabatha issued an open call for submissions last month, so it will be interesting to see what the Poetry Friday community has written.
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Robyn Hood Black’s special NPM project is called “I Pause for Poems.” Each weekday in April, she’ll upload a short YouTube video of herself reading one of her published poems (will link or embed on her blog each day). On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays it will be a poem for children. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, it will be a haiku suitable for kids. It’s such a treat to hear poets read their own work. Can’t wait! Catch all the action at Life on the Deckle Edge, or if you prefer, zoom over to her YouTube channel.
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Visit Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm this month to Roll the Dice! Here’s her description:
“For this year’s poetry project, I have decided to introduce the fun of random surprise. Every day, I will share one truth about poems. Each will be worded POEMS CAN… Every day, I will roll three word dice. Then:
I will write a poem inspired by one, two, or all three of the face-up words.
If a die rolls blank, I will not reroll it.
The month’s poems need not go together, though they may.
I welcome anyone who wishes to join me in writing from ROLL THE DICE! Feel free to comment with your poem if you wish. Happy National Poetry Month to all.”
Those who comment will be entered into weekly drawings to win a copy of Amy’s book, POEMS ARE TEACHERS.
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Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core will be featuring, “News from the Natural World”:
“On a recent episode of the Ted Talk Radio Hour, Enrico Ramirez Ruiz, an astrophysicist who describes himself as a “stellar mortician,” explained that “we are all atomically connected, fundamentally, universally.” My aim is to focus on some element of the natural world and find those connections, and within them, find tolerance and understanding.”
Check out her first poem, “Forest Snail,”inspired by “Lessons in Being Alone, from a Woodland Snail,” a recent episode of NPR’s podcast, “Short Wave.” I’m looking forward to what sounds like a lovely nature retreat! 🙂
Each day during April, I will write a poem-ish piece inspired by a word or phrase mined from the pages of Henry David Thoreau’s jewel-laden journals. I have left my challenge open so that the poems may take any form — haiku, free verse, borrowed line, blackout –and who knows which direction they will go in.
Here is her first poem, “I Heard the First Real Robin’s Song”:
View the post for a peek at her process. What a lovely idea for a poetry month project!
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Linda Baie at TeacherDance will be sharing a poem and sketch each day with the theme of “Circles.”
A while ago I bought a small box of tiny round wood circles. I’ve been playing around with how I can use them for something, and am planning to use the theme of CIRCLES for poetry month, poems & small sketches.
What a novel idea! Linda has kicked things off with a dandelion haiku — click here for the post — and be sure to check back each day for more. 🙂
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Kay McGriff at A Journey Through the Pages has challenged herself to write a poem each day, mostly inspired by prompts in Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge’s book, poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life With Words (2009). Check out her first poem, “Pandemic,” written for last month’s Ditty of the Month Challenge issued by Tabatha Yeatts.
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Are you hungry? At her new blog, Book Buzz, Amy Zimmer-Merrill will be sharing a food poem + recipe every Friday:
To celebrate National Poetry Month, I’ve decided to write and share a poem each Friday (as part of Poetry Friday). I’ve recently read the book, Eat This Poem by Nicole Gulotta, where she shares a food related poem and then offers her thoughts on the poem, personal stories, and recipes inspired by the poem. It’s a delicious read and I’m trying many of the recipes in my own kitchen. Eat This Poem got me thinking about children’s poetry, food, and recipes that could be inspired by those poems. For the month of April, I will be writing my own poems about food and sharing a recipe or two to accompany my poem. I will also share other foodie published poems or books. I hope you’ll join me in this delicious feast of poetry goodness.
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At Poetry for Children, poetry goddess Sylvia Vardell is featuring a variety of things this month, including guest posts for new, forthcoming poetry books, and mini movies created by her graduate students to bring individual poems to life. Grab your popcorn and enjoy!
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Tricia Stohr-Hunt’s “Armchair Travelers” will feature photos, poems, and memories of some of the places she’s been fortunate enough to visit. In this time of hunkering down and staying home, this is a welcome opportunity for a virtual getaway. Her first stop: Cashiers Valley in Jackson County, North Carolina. Join her on this month-long journey at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
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At her blog, fiction, instead of lies, Tanita S. Davis will be writing a haiku-a-day for NPM. During this time of universal existential dread, she’s going to “try very hard to find something new to see, or a new way to see it.” She encourages everyone “to try and really see things just now — things we should remember.”
Here’s a poem from her opening post:
masked
can you see a smile
obscured by a folded mask?
look: my eyes smile back
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Michelle Kogan is featuring daily poems paired with original art and/or photographs, with a focus on nature and climate endangered birds. Here’s her opening poem:
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Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Townwill be sharing poems she’s “collected” on multiple open tabs on her desktop, along with some original poems. Check out this post for a more detailed description, and to read the very inspiring, “To All the Poets” by Andrew Peterson.
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For her 11th consecutive year, Liz Garton Scanlon will be writing and sharing a haiku each day. She invites everyone to join her (sharing publicly is optional). You can follow along at her blog, on Facebook, or Twitter.. Look for these three hashtags (use them or not with your own haiku): #nationalpoetrymonth, #30daysofhaiku, #lizsharespoem.
Her first one:
Haiku 1
April 1, 2020
Volunteer daisies
spread like sun across the yard
Light can’t be contained
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Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading is writing a poem a day around the theme, “The Flipside.”
“So much about the world right now is scary and uncertain. That was always true, but it is in-our-faces true now. At the same time, there are amazing acts of generosity, compassion, connectedness, and creativity that are happening because of These Unprecedented Times. For myself, for my students, for my readers, I wanted to write poems this month that remind us what’s on the flipside of the scary uncertainty.”
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Are you ready to play? Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Lifeis all about found poems this month:
“It is April, and I am joining many others in celebrating National Poetry Month. This month many people turn to their gardens and landscapes and play in the dirt. I’d rather do a little playing with words. This month I will be creating found poems by taking words, phrases, and lines from other texts and rearranging them into a “literary collage” with a whole new meaning.”
Sounds so fun and interesting!
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Don’t forget the Water Poem Project, ongoing since March 22, 2020. It’s a community poetry project for kids created and organized by author, poet, and educator Laura Shovan. Participants receive a writing prompt every day for a month related to the theme of WATER. The goal is to write and share a newly drafted poem with the group every day.
Laura has also invited poet and author friends to create the writing prompts (she will post new prompts each evening at her blog). Prompts will also be shared across social media with the hashtag #WaterPoemProject.
Read this introductory post for all the details, which includes suggestions for posting response poems, sharing feedback, and information about curriculum standards (this project is recommended for Grade 3 and up).
This is a wonderful project to consider with so many schools closed and/or meeting online. It’s not too late to jump on board!
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Here at Alphabet Soup, we’ll continue to serve up tasty poems and reviews of new poetry books each Friday in April. Look for our three-book True Blue Giveaway on April 24!
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Finally, don’t forget to check in with April’s Poetry Friday hosts to see what other bloggers are sharing in the kidlitosphere each week:
♥️ I’ll continue to update this Roundup throughout April, so do check back! For your convenience, a link to this Roundup can be found in the sidebar of this blog.
Wishing you a thoroughly nourishing, inspiring, productive, interesting, and enlightening Poetry Month!
Must admit I first discovered Livi’s work because of her food illustrations. Somehow, delightful drawings of pies, veggies, salads and sangria always catch my eye.
Livi’s portfolio includes a variety of interesting editorial illustrations — not only foodie ones, but wonderful maps, cityscapes and outdoor scenes for clients such as Taproot, Conde Nast, and the Telegraph. Love her refreshing, upbeat, charming style.
Yes, I was extra excited to see this animal alphabet:
And this one of various teas (odd that coffee is there too)!
Do visit Livi’s Official Website to learn more about her process, and browse her Etsy Shop to purchase maps and prints (she also does custom maps and portraits).
Once in a great while, we’ll hear a “hoo-hoo-HOOOOO-hoo” coming from our woods in the middle of the night. OWL!
We’re always delighted by this rare sound, since the hooting is our only indication that there really are owls out there. Unlike all the other birds we commonly see (robins, woodpeckers, nuthatches, crows, bluebirds, chickadees, cardinals, wrens), our owly friends, by virtue of being nocturnal and mysterious, like to keep us guessing.
Since it’s pitch black outside (no streetlights), I’ve never actually seen any of the great horned owls that we like to assume are calling to us. They seem to enjoy being elusive, thereby heightening their allure.
I love the idea of a story told entirely in haiku, and Gianferrari brilliantly manages the challenging feat of creating an engaging, suspenseful narrative while imparting essential facts about the life cycle of the most common owl in North America.
Oh, so charming, beautiful, enchanting, distinctive — Nathalie Lété’s art! I was attracted to her unique style upon first seeing her decorated plates at Anthropologie.
As you probably know, I’m a ceramics freak, and loved her flowers, birds, and folkloric motifs before I actually knew who she was. Until I did a little research, I HAD NO IDEA her designs were everywhere, and I mean on everything from clothing, rugs, fabrics, children’s toys, greeting cards, postcards, and lampshades, to jewelry, linens, totes, and in children’s, graphic, and coloring books.
She’s a global brand extraordinaire with huge markets not only in Europe, but also in Japan and Australia. Mixing various media and techniques, she is that rare artist whose work has enormous commercial appeal. She’s worked very hard to establish herself in a highly competitive field.
Nathalie is a Paris native, the only child of a German mother and Chinese father. She credits her mother with reading extensively to her as she grew up, claiming that the themes she loved from childhood — flowers, animals, textile patterns, fairy tales, toys, folk art — are what continue to inspire her work today. She loved the children’s book illustrations she saw and spent lots of alone time drawing and living in her imagined world.
She spent her holidays with her grandmother in Bavaria, where she enjoyed exploring the forest (her favorite fairy tale is “Little Red Riding Hood”). Even now, when she is in nature, she recalls those good feelings and tries to convey them in her art.
She also credits her father with influencing her artistic sensibility. Though he was often absent because of work, she remembers her home being filled with lots of silk paintings.
