poetry friday

[toe-tapping review] Animal Albums from A to Z by Cece Bell

~ jama ~ 21 Comments

#64 in an ongoing series of posts celebrating the alphabet.

As a teen I used to love browsing the wooden bins at our local record store. Which LP should I take home for $3.25? Decisions, decisions. It was always a conundrum when parting with precious allowance money.

Of course I had been trained early on by my music-loving dad to treasure the vinyl discs that lived in all kinds of interesting cardboard sleeves (hello, Mantovani, Les Paul, Mario Lanza). As I began building my own record collection, I also grew quite enamored of album cover art — its own genre of inventive graphic design showcasing photos, illustrations, and typography — all on a neat 12″ x 12″ square.

Now that I think about it, some of my fave recording artists have animal names: Beatles, Monkees, Byrds, Steppenwolf, Buffalo Springfield, Iron Butterfly (and later, Eagles). So you can imagine how ecstatic I was to see Cece Bell’s, Animal Albums from A to Z (Walker Books, 2024) — a unique, wildly imaginative, uber creative tour-de-force that easily ranks in my top three favorite alphabet books of all time.

Letters. music. art. song lyrics. quirky. handmade. heartmade. humor. nostalgia. food (soup and pie!). Cece knows me. She’s checked all the boxes. Mind totally blown.

She opens her 64-page, all-ages ABC extravaganza with a tongue-in-cheek Introduction extolling the varied talents of imaginary animal musicians, enthusiastic to share 26 albums from her personal collection. She notes that they date from the 40’s to the 80’s, “the heyday of recorded animal music,” such records being difficult to find today.

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[beary fun review] Grand Old Oak and the Birthday Ball by Rachel Piercey and Freya Hartas

~ jama ~ 21 Comments

Basil, Cornelius and the other resident bears were positively ecstatic when they heard about Rachel Piercey and Freya Hartas’s new poetry picture book, Grand Old Oak and the Birthday Ball (Magic Cat, 2023).

In this charming interactive follow-up to If You Go Down to the Woods Today (Magic Cat, 2021), readers are invited to join the inimitable Bear and his woodland friends as they plan a spectacular surprise party to celebrate Old Oak’s 500th birthday. Preparations will take most of the year with each season marked by fun activities.

As the story opens, Bear tells us that it all began in early spring:

HOW OLD IS OAK?

It started when I wondered,
as I never had before:
How long has Oak been growing here?
A hundred years, or more?

It must, I thought, take many years
of water, air, and light
to spread to such a wondrous width
and such a mighty height.

As Oak wakes up with his leaves unfurling, Bear asks him his age and learns (much to his astonishment) that his friend had sprung up on that very spot 500 years ago. As Bear starts thinking about all that Oak had seen in his long life, he begins daydreaming . . .

That summer, Bear comes up with an idea. What about a secret birthday ball for Oak? His friends roar and cheer in agreement. In no time at all, they create “piles and piles” of homemade invitations that are dutifully sent to everyone in Brown Bear Wood by lots of volunteers.

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[review] Clara’s Kooky Compendium of Thimblethoughts and Wonderfuzz by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong

~ jama ~ 42 Comments

Well, well, well . . . ready for some fun?

Just when you think children’s poetry anthologies can sometimes be a tad predictable, up pops a new one that almost defies description. Is it a junk journal? a graphic novel? a writer’s notebook? a playground for list makers and doodlers? It’s actually all of the above, in addition to being an engaging collection of 150+ lighthearted poems by 100+ uber cool contemporary poets!

In Clara’s Kooky Compendium of Thimblethoughts and Wonderfuzz by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, illustrated by Frank Ramspott (Pomelo Books, 2024), readers ages 8-14 are invited to spend a week with spunky Clara, a fourth grader who’s making a compendium for Mrs. Booker’s class.

The assignment is to copy or cut-and-tape poems, collect facts and trivia connected to the poems (thimblethoughts), jot down questions (wonderfuzz), add drawings or illustrations, and simply record whatever one deems noteworthy. There are no limits to this creative exercise, with Mrs. Booker emphasizing, “Put in ANYTHING you want.”

THIMBLETHOUGHT: Scientists say that people who doodle can remember 29% more than people who don’t doodle.

So we meet Clara (animal lover, cookie baker, popsicle eater and skateboard, soccer, pickleball, basketball and video games enthusiast), as well as her family, friends, neighbors, and classmates at school and at play.

Poems and all their related tidbits are largely framed throughout the book by a series of writing exercises Mrs. Booker has assigned the class — everything from describing friends and pets, to considering math, science, language arts, and social studies takeaways, to pondering dream jobs.

Kids will be happy to see many pages devoted to wild animals, both weird and wonderful, and the visually appealing scrapbook-like format will inspire them to imagine, explore, rethink, reflect, dig deeper, and have a ball writing their own poems.

WONDERFUZZ: When we write, do our words become brain tattoos?

Clara’s enthusiasm is infectious as she shares all the funny, sometimes silly, irresistibly wacky poems (a chewy smorgasbord of delightful poetic forms and devices). Robots? Pirates? Chickens? Artists? Slumber Parties? Check! Clara herself writes many poems, and even her toes get in on the action. Why not? Anything goes!

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“Fall Sanctuary” by Kory Wells

~ jama ~ 30 Comments

“Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” ~ Herman Hesse

“Fireflies” by Michael Creese.
FALL SANCTUARY
by Kory Wells

                  ~ after Jeff Hardin

I slept in a room that glowed with fireflies,
though it was late autumn on a frosty bluff
high above Lost Cove. The room was a salve
of spun honey and light, and a hundred
little windowpanes gauzed with tranquility.

In a wide bed I slept alone, surrounded
by pillows and books, by poets I love.
In the night I lit a candle and a tiny string of lights
against the darkness. They were a comfort.
So was the darkness.

Outside I found an astonishment of stars,
a clear sky, spangled and deep.
How long had it been since I’d seen the stars?

This is how I fell asleep: my skin on soft cotton,
my body awaiting the gentle touch of fireflies,
their silent sparks. This is how I awoke:
unencumbered and enthralled, the early sun
casting over the mountain autumn into my room,
casting through the morning chill a stained-glass chapel,

                                    a splendor of stillness, stirring.
 
~ from Sugar Fix (Terrapin Books, 2019)
“Night in the Forest” by Eva Nev.

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This lyrical gem provided me with a welcome moment of calm and beauty in these uneasy, turbulent times.

I especially love the “hundred little windowpanes gauzed with tranquility” and the “astonishment of stars,” feeling as though I was right there in the room, levitating in this sacred space, away from trouble and noise.

Wells’s use of light — glowing fireflies, starlight, candlelight, and finally, the rising sun — gives me hope, though even the darkness, she says, can be comforting.

I am reminded that in those instances when we aren’t able to physically retreat from the world, we can always find solace in the embrace of a luminous poem like this, or perhaps, within.

What does your fall sanctuary look like?

“Silver Pheasant in Autumn Forest” by Asia Spettel.
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starry-eyed and optimistic

~ jama ~ 27 Comments

“Like a bolt out of the blue, faith steps in and sees you through. When you wish upon a star your dreams come true.” ~ Cliff Edwards

“Starry Night Sky Galaxy” by Brittany Drollinger.
BLUE STARS
by Richard Jones

Yesterday I made a to-do list,
a dozen tasks I would undertake
and check off the list one by one.
But what did I do with my list?
Did I put it on the piano?
Did I set it down by the coffeepot?
I remember this morning
in my robe at the back door
contemplating frost icing the grass
and seeing a dark-eyed junco at the bird feeder.
How did I know it was a junco
and not a sparrow?
Maybe juncos and sparrows are cousins.
I thought about birds in nests
of twigs, reeds, briars, and straw.
The clear, cold sky brought to mind
the image of my late father, high up
and far away, flying
once again in his silver plane,
and I closed my eyes to admire
the many blue paintings
hanging in the gallery of my childhood heart.
Perhaps at that moment
I had the to-do list in my hand
and during my azure reverie
the paper slipped from my fingers.
I only know that when I opened my eyes
I saw it would be wise
to give my blue paintings away --
only then would my heart be free
to help those in need.
I resolved to put that on my to-do list,
and that's when I noticed
my to-do list had vanished.
Now the frost has died,
the sun is pushing noon,
and I'm still in my robe
with eternity hovering in the balance.
But no day is without its victory.
Because it is hiding,
I'll search for the lost little piece of paper,
and when I find it
I'll write down my heart's resolution.
Then I'll dress for the day and go out into the world.
With pen and to-do list in my hands,
I'll draw little blue stars
beside all the accomplished tasks --
buying milk,
picking up the laundry,
driving to the library,
and paying the fines for my overdue books.

~ from Stranger on Earth (Copper Canyon Press, 2018).
“Sky Clouds” by Alla Kizimenko.

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