poetry

“What I Learned from My Niece” by Lori Levy

~ jama ~ 17 Comments

“Gleaming skin; a plump elongated shape: the eggplant is a vegetable you’d want to caress with your eyes and fingers, even if you didn’t know its luscious flavor.” ~ French Chef Roger VergĂ©

“Eggplants and Copper” by Jeremiah J. White.

Ahhhh . . . the eggplant has returned! *kisses bunched fingertips**

Remember when I shared Lori Levy’s wonderful poem, “Not a Hollywood Movie” for Valentine’s Day? We learned she squeezes fresh orange juice for her husband in the morning, while he patiently fries eggplant for dinner, eggplant that she loves stuffing into pita bread “with anything, everything.” That’s how I learned about sabich, a popular Israeli street food.

Recently, Lori sent along another delectable food poem in which we learn a little more about her love of eggplant and a practice suggested by her niece that I’m totally on board with. See if you agree. (This poem will appear July 9 in Certain Age Magazine.) 🙂

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Lori’s niece Ofri pursuing a favorite hobby.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM MY NIECE
by Lori Levy

When asked what her hobbies are,
my 22-year-old niece says one is food—
eating it, not cooking it. Good food, 
which, for her, means anything from shawarma to
endive salad with fruit and cheese, gnocchi with
pink sauce, purple soup with kubeh and beets.
I love that a hobby can be as simple as
savoring—not riding a bike over rough terrain
or kayaking down a river, like others in my family.
No action required but
bringing a fork or spoon to your mouth.

Maybe my hobby is eggplant.
On this visit to Israel, I scan the menu
for anything with eggplant: pasta, sandwiches, salad.
My brother-in-law Hiski
fries eggplants for us because I crave sabich.
I fill pita with chopped salad, hard-boiled eggs,
tahini, amba, and my beloved eggplant,
almost closing my eyes in anticipation
of the first bite.

My niece, Ofri, says another hobby is
sitting on the beach.
I could claim that one, too.
Not sailing or surfing or scuba diving.
Just sitting on a beach chair,
still and silent as a rock,
as the sky turns red over the Mediterranean—
pita with eggplant in a picnic basket beside me.

~ Posted by permission of the author, © 2025 Lori Levy.
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a pair of amazing poems by Naomi Shihab Nye (+ a giveaway)

~ jama ~ 25 Comments

Don’t you love it when a special book finds you just when you need it the most?

Recently Naomi Shihab Nye’s luminous collection, A Maze Me: Poems for Girls (Greenwillow, 2005), caught my attention while I was looking for poems about hope. I had shared “Sifter” here when Nye was first named Young People’s Poet Laureate back in 2019, but hadn’t read any other poems from the book.

Though I’m a longtime Nye fan, I somehow missed this one. Big mistake, huge oversight. Better late than never, but I truly wish I’d read this book 20 years ago.

Can’t remember the last time I was so moved, delighted, inspired, and yes, amazed by a collection of poems for tween girls. Nye actually had me at her Introduction, where she discusses her unsettling junior high years, a time when she was the only one among her friends who didn’t want to leave childhood behind for the grim restrictions of adulthood. She wanted to remain open, observant, impressionable, safe, “amazed forever.”

photo of Naomi Shihab Nye by Rajah Bose.

Her poems took me right back to my own tweenhood, a very odd, awkward experience where the only memories I have are of a favorite black velveteen skirt, the SRA Reading Lab (I was stuck at Green while my classmates zoomed up to Aqua), and slipping on a freshly mopped floor while being chased by my algebra teacher (whom I had teased). But I loved the Beatles, and that was enough for me.

Here are two of my favorite poems from A Maze Me: the first is about how small things can have a big impact; and the second describes the person I’m still striving to become.

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[chat + recipe + giveaway] Andrea Potos on Two Emilys

~ jama ~ 29 Comments

We’re happy to welcome Wisconsin poet Andrea Potos back to talk about her recently published chapbook, Two Emilys (Kelsay Books, 2025).

As you may have guessed, the “Emilys” in question are revered literary icons Emily BrontĂ« and Emily Dickinson, contemporaries from opposite sides of the Atlantic who continue to mystify us with their creative genius. Though one was British and the other American, their lives had interesting parallels.

Both were unmarried and largely reclusive. They cherished home as sanctuary, wrote on scraps of paper while cooking and baking, were known for their bread recipes. The Emilys were religious skeptics living within religious families, and fascinatingly enough, they were ultimately Victorian badass writers “masquerading” as domestic spinsters, sublimating their passions and unfulfilled desires into art.

In Two Emilys, we travel with Potos to Haworth and Amherst via evocation, dream, memory, and imagination. She addresses her muses with awe and reverence, while acknowledging a unique kinship as fellow wanderer, keen observer, lover of beauty, and sister poet dedicated to her craft.

Andrea at the Brontë Parsonage, Haworth.

These poems are sheer loveliness to read with moments ethereal, delicate, sometimes humorous, warmed by genuine admiration. We thank Andrea for dropping by to tell us more about the book and for sharing all the wonderful photos + a delicious recipe. 🙂

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“Pieces of Silver” by J.I. Kleinberg (+ a giveaway)

~ jama ~ 35 Comments

“They dined on mince and slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon.” ~ Edward Lear (The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, 1870).

For your delectation today, a sample poem from a new food poetry anthology, Savor: Poems for the Tongue, edited by Brennan Breeland and Stan Galloway (Friendly City Books, 2024).

I’m slowing making my way through this exquisite word banquet featuring 72 diverse poets from around the globe. Talk about food for thought and a feast for the senses!

From the sweet memories of grandmother’s kitchen to the spicy tang of street food in bustling cities, from the bitter taste of loss to the umami of love rekindled over shared meals, this collection plates up a spectrum of human experiences.

The table is set. Let’s eat!

Randolph Caldecott (“And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon,” from Hey Diddle Diddle and Bye, Baby Bunting, 1882).
PIECES OF SILVER
by J.I. Kleinberg

I wonder how it is to be a spoon. To slip one curve
beneath, to gentle from its bowl a berry, slide edge-wise
into ice cream, into the warm cavern of a mouth.
How it is to both resist and hold flavor in the declension
of the body, to separate and deliver, to stir in clinking dance.
Friend to hand and tongue, to absinthe, to dish --
remember the cow? remember the moon?

Dulled-edged, round-toothed knives school in the drawer,
silvery herring, decorous for butter and condiments,
honey and peas, familiars to plate and tablecloth.
I wonder how it is to be a real blade -- remember the mice?
-- honed to hurt, to shear, stab, cleave. How it is to slice,
paper-thin, a gift for the tongue: fresh tomato, ripe peach.
How it is to be fanged, incisive, to be a surgeon for the truth.

How far we are now from nursery rhyme, from spooning
in the velvet-lined night. Implement taunts us, stainless
both praise and accession. Forklift, pitchfork, runcible spoon.
The drawer turned upside down, tarnished words noisy and futile.
Emily Post cannot resolve this clattered escalation of utensils.
Switchblade, forked tongue. What price a place at the table?

~ from Savor: Poems for the Tongue, edited by Brennan Breeland and Stan Galloway (Friendly City Books, 2024).
Jessie Willcox Smith (The Little Mother Goose, 1918).

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2025 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup

~ jama ~ 54 Comments

Happy National Poetry Month!

It’s time once again to read, write, share, and simply indulge your love for poetry in every way. I’m happy to be back rounding everyone up this year and look forward to checking in with all of you throughout April.

New to National Poetry Month and wondering about ways to celebrate? Visit the NPM webpage at The Academy of American Poets (poets.org) for a cool list of activities, initiatives and resources. You can learn about Poem in Your Pocket Day (April 10), sign up for Poem-a-Day to receive poems in your inbox, and review 30 Ways to Celebrate NPM online, at home, in the classroom, or at readings/events near you. Do as much, or as little, as you please. Just enjoy!

The 2025 poster features an excerpt from “Gate A-4”, a poem by former Young People’s Poet Laureate and Academy Chancellor Naomi Shihab Nye, as well as artwork by New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator Christy Mandin. 

Mandin was selected by Scholastic—the global children’s publishing, education, and media company—to create the artwork for this year’s poster as part of a National Poetry Month collaboration with the Academy of American Poets.

A lesson plan featuring Nye’s poem is available through the Academy’s Teach This Poem newsletter. Sign up for Teach This Poem to receive this additional educational resource and bring the poster to life for National Poetry Month. You can download a free PDF of this poster here.

Now, here’s a list of what some kidlit bloggers are doing. If you’re also celebrating National Poetry Month with a special project or blog event, or know of anyone else who is, please email me at: 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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