Check It Out

Tricia (The Miss Rumphius Effect) challenged us to write haiku riddles based on the book If Not for the Cat by Jack Prelutsky.  I shared that book on this blog a while back.

Here are two I wrote this week:

thin spaghetti legs
neck, limber long gathers fish
graceful in flight

grey scarf of dawn
weaves diamond dewdrops in, out
top fir boughs vanish

Do you know what they are?  Did you guess Blue Heron and Fog?  Lots of great poetry can be found at Susan Taylor Brown.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

The Poetry Stretch prompt at The Rumphius Effect was to write a poem about work.  Here is my contribution for the week:

Library Lady

library lady
what have you read lately?
need a book to take me places
library lady
do you have?
need a book to make me soar
library lady
what’s the book with a boy name Jack?
need it to write a report
library lady
why did my dog have to die
need a book to hug
library lady

Wild Rose Reader is hosting Poetry Friday.

This week sitting in meetings has been the order of the day. Next week the students arrive.

I discovered this wonderful poem in Naomi Shihab Nye’s collection, This Same Sky, a Collection of Poems from Around the World:

The Pen
Take a pen in your uncertain fingers.
Trust, and be assured
That the whole world is a sky blue butterfly
And words are the nets to capture it.

–Muhammad al-Ghuzzi
Tunisia

Translated by May Jayusi and John Heath-Snubbs

We should all be fortunate to have students arrive thinking that words are the nets to capture the sky-blue butterflies.

ANNOUNCEMENT:  Do you blog about YA and Children’s books?  The CYBILS Awards are in their fourth year and are looking for judges and panelists for the myriad of categories.  If interested, you can find out more here. 

This yer I am the organizer of the Nonfiction Picture Book (NFPB).  Am excited to serve in this capacity.

Poetry Friday is over at Book Aunt. Thanks, Kate.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

I am spending the summer with the book Writing and Enjoying Haiku by Jane Reichhold.   Reichhold’s written about twenty-four techniques to improve your haiku.  This week features the following techniques:

Using a Metaphor
Using a Simile
Using the Sketch or Shiki’s Shasei
Using Double Entendre for Double Meanings
Using Puns
Using Wordplays

Some interesting pieces of information were discovered in these techniques.  I was particularly fascinated by “Shiki’s Shasei.”  Shiki, a Japanese poet made it his mission to “depict a thing just as it is.”  He was not fond of the many common techniques used and he pointed overuse of the techniques by poets.  He loved simplicity, the telling it as he saw it. 

I read this as my husband I were traveling through the Columbia River Gorger early Thursday morning.  I decided to try the “sketch”:

early morning
sun on wide river
glistens

After reading this section, I think the key to writing haiku is to mix the techniques up and do not overuse any particular one.  In the end Shiki was guilty of what he accused others.

Good news:  I was informed today that two of my poems will be published in the August short form poetry journal, Four and Twenty.  One poem will be a “Featured Poem of the Week” and another will be in their monthly journal.

Poetry Friday is at Sylvia Vardell at Poetry For Children.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

In Writing and Enjoying Haiku (my book study for the summer), Jane Reichhold writes about 24 techniques to consider when writing.  I am going look at 6 per week over the next four weeks, applying them to my own haiku.  Two weeks ago, I introduced the book.

The first six:

1. Technique of Comparison: looking for how two different things look similar to create a single event.
2. Technique of Contrast: creating opposites within the three lines creates excitement.
3. Technique of Association: “how different things relate or come together”, a Zen term for it is “oneness”.
4. Technique of the Riddle: probably the oldest of the poetic techniques, the trick is to state as in puzzling terms as possible.
5. Technique of Sense-switching: speak of the sense of one thing and then switch to a different sense organ, also called “synesthesia”.
6. Technique of Narrowing the Focus: !st line, wide angle, 2nd line, normal lens, and 3rd line zoom in close up.

Based on the above techniques, I see ways to revise the following haiku to create a stronger piece.

Original Draft

morning confession
cacophony of crows
clamor in treetops
prayer litany: caw-caw-caw
solitude punctuated

Draft Two using the Technique of Narrowing the Focus:

clamor in treetops
cacophony of crows
confession

Draft Three using the Technique of Sense-switching:

treetop clamor
cacophony of crows
morning tea sipped

Draft Four using the Technique of Contrasts:

treetop clamor
cacophony of crows
solitude

I like these drafts and feel that the haiku packs more punch as a result.  I have to wonder if it also has to do with cutting words.

Maybe you will try some haiku revision. Let me know if you do.  For me, my biggest challenge in haiku revision is to move away form the 5-7-5 pattern. 

A list of participants for Poetry Friday is over at A Year of Reading, hosted my Mary Lee! Thanks for taking some of your summertime relaxation to host us!

Happy Reading.

MsMac

I am doing my own book study. I picked up Jane Reichhold’s book which has sat on my book shelf for the last two years.  I have frequently thumb through it reading snippets. This summer, however, I decided to make it my focus.  My goal is sharing what I have learned and thought about each week until I return to school or finish the book.

In the opening pages of Writing and Enjoying Haiku, the author states, “I want this book to be your book –with sentences underlined, comments written in margins, your poems on fly leaves…” It is such an invitation to make it your personal class with the author.  I love that!  It reminds me of the work I did in Denver last winter, the idea to really be thinking about your reading and make notes as you read.  So along with the book I have my pen, sticky notes and highlighter.

Five favorite phrases, sentences, etc underline in the this weeks’ reading (pages1-52, which cover chapters one and part of two):

“Haiku acts as a door to our past.”  In writing haiku, the focus is on the here and now.  In reading, haiku, you open the door once again to the past.

“For me, the way I live in order to be prepared to receive haiku inspiration is more valuable than the poems I finally do write…(…I do believe they are given as gifts)…”  This affirms my own thinking about writing, that when a poem comes to me so effortlessly, I have received a gift.  And I must work at being aware, nonjudgmental, and living with simplicity. The author expands on these and others.

“Haiku is based on what the author observes.”  In re-reading my haiku, I can see times when I have not observed the outside world but have gone in the direction of the telling others about what they think, feel, believe.  I  strive to put away the personal pronouns and just report what is there.

“Poetry is what happens between the words.”  In haiku those spaces are short, the brevity of the form creates a real need to create visual images rapidly.  Each reader bring their own experience to the experience; what I see as I read maybe totally different from your picture.

“Haiku should not be a run-on sentence or sound like a complete sentence with each line fitting neatly into the next.”  The reading I did this week talked a lot about going beyond the Americanized 5-7-5 form of Haiku.  There is an in-depth explanation about the language differences between Japanese and English which can change a writer’s perspective about haiku.  I have been fighting the need to use the 5-7-5 pattern for years.  It comes naturally most days (partly because it was so ingrained in me). It is not necessary.  What need to have is to have two distinct sections in the haiku.

Just as I enede my reading for the week, Reinhhold listed 6 rules for writing haiku:

1. Write in 3 lines, short, long, short without counting syllables.
2. Have a fragment and a phrase.
3. Have an element of nature.
4. Use present tense verbs.
5. Avoid capitals and punctuation.
6. Avoid rhymes.

The first two are rules that I know but will look closely at my own work.  They are two areas that need improvement.

The next section of the book shares twenty-four valuable techniques. I will divide and share the techniques over the coming weeks.

Poetry Friday is being held at Jama Rattigans’ Alphabet Soup.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Just returned from  vacation with daughter’s family.  We traveled to Disneyland. Thanks to Tricia I captured some of the experience.

Dance toward the castle with granddaughter
Infectious delight and wonderment
Seen on the face of a four year old
Not to be missed
Exuberance, the word of the day
Yesterday I was that child
Let Grandmother hold my hand
As we explored this place together
Never forgotten
Dream wishes granted

Tabatha A. Yeatts is hosting Poetry Friday.  Hop over to see what others are offering today.

Sage Cohen donated her two poetry books, Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry. (2009) and Like the Heart, the World(2007) to the Bridget Zinn Auction.  Writing the Life Poetic  provides readers with lots of activities and strategies for writing poetry.  According to Sage, “Poetry is as unique and personal as fingerprints.” 

I interviewed Sage for Poetry Friday today.

How long have you been writing/ illustrating?

I had a daily poetry practice starting at age 14. It was something I did without much self- consciousness…something I did to stay alive…like breathing.

Why Poetry?

Why not poetry?! We all have our chosen lenses for making sense of our lives and our worlds; mine has always been poetry. I suspect that more people would enjoy exploring their emotions and experiences through the lens of poems if they felt more comfortable there. My goal was that Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry offer a friendly invitation into the adventure of poetry–so that anyone who reads it is assured that poetry is available to them.

When you aren’t illustrating/writing, what might we find you doing?

I am a new mother, so much of my non-writing time is spent nursing, adoring and marveling at the wonder of my son Theo. Every morning, I hike with him and the dogs in any number of lush parks and forests in Portland. And these days, I’m out maybe one night a week or so lecturing about Writing the Life Poetic or reading from it. It’s so much fun to celebrate poetry with other people who love it or want to know more about it.

Who influenced you as a writer/illustrator?

My mother honed my writing and editing skills. My father saw the spark and named the “writer” archetype in me. My teacher Albert Cwanger in sixth grade affirmed my intelligence and boosted my self-esteem. And my teacher Matthew Carr in high school was the matchmaker in my love affair with literature. From there, every poet and writer I’ve ever read has awakened some new possibility in me. I am grateful for the incredible wealth of genius available to all of us in books.

What books are on your nightstand?

The Darkened Templeby Mari L’Esperance, Kindleby Paulann Petersen, The Lettersby Fiona Robyn, the anthology of Portland women writers VoiceCatcher and a whole smorgasbord of books about baby development, sleep, food preparation, massage and yoga.

Where do you find inspiration?

In chapters 35 and 36 of Writing the Life Poetic, I propose that readers cultivate a writing ritual and that they also cultivate a writing anti-ritual. Both are important for me. I have my tried-and-true freewriting practice as a reliable way into writing. Also, any type of repetitive motion such as dishwashing or hiking seems to open the gates, allowing poetry to enter. I also like to experiment with location, timing, light and music stimuli and other such variables to shake things up a bit and see what might be possible in unfamiliar circumstances.

What can you tell about “Writing the Life Poetic Zine”?

The Writing the Life Poetic Zine is a free, monthly publication that just launched this week! Every month, ten fabulous poets and writers based in Portland, Oregon will help you get informed, get inspired–then get those poems on the page!

We’ll invite you to tune into the poetry of your life with writing prompts, interviews, publishing tips and markets, guidance in cultivating a poetry practice, wisdom about the poetic life, tips about cultivating poetic community and more.

You can sign up to receive the zine at www.writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com.

Favorite time of the day to work?

My creative writing really gets cooking from 4 p.m. to midnight or so.

Chocolate: white, dark, or milk?

I hope you’re sitting down; I don’t like chocolate!

Coffee or tea or —?

I am hopelessly addicted to chai tea lattes.

Dance: Funky chicken or the tango?

Yes! I love freeform as well as highly stylized dance. Contact improv is also of great interest to me-learning to communicate body-to-body about the exchange of weight and navigate together the possibilities of relatedness in space.

Thanks, Sage.  You can bid on her books here.  If you live in the Portland area, Sage will be speaking at Barnes and Noble in Vancouver, WA on June 10. 

 Poetry Friday is hosted by Susan today at Susan Taylor Brown.

Happy Reading

MsMac

On her blog, Andi states that “cloudscome” is from a favorite haiku.  Andi graciously donated a handcrafted quilt for Bridget’s auction.  I enjoy reading Andi’s haiku.  For example, this one from April 11 (unfortunately I have maxed out the image capacity so you will have to visit her blog to see the fabulous forsythia photo):

evening light
lingers on the forsythia -
not finished dancing

-Andromeda Jazmon
Her photography blog inspires me (mine is desperately behind).  I recently interviewed her as part of learning about the auction donors.

When did you begin blogging? What is the focus of your blog?
I started blogging in 2005, jumping off discussion boards around adoption. I found it such a powerful way to connect and share our stories. I have been blogging about books at A Wrung Sponge http://awrungsponge.blogspot.com since 2006. I like to post poetry, especially haiku, and photographs. I’ve been participating in the “365 Project” for about three years, striving to take and post beautiful photos on a daily basis. My photo blog is http://sandycovetrail.blogspot.com.

When you aren’t blogging, what might we find you doing?
When I’m not blogging I am working in the library, teaching computer classes, playing with my kids, walking in the woods, in the garden, taking photographs, cooking, quilting, reading or sleeping.

How did you get involved with Kidlitosphere? I can’t quite remember the first kidlit blog I started reading, but it might have been Jen Robinson http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/blog/ or Kelly Harold http://kidslitinformation.blogspot.com/ . I saw Jo(e) posting Friday Poetry at http://writingasjoe.blogspot.com/, found other bloggers doing poetry, and got totally sucked in to that. I’ve participated with poetry almost every Friday since early 2006.

What books are on your nightstand? Ijust finished Zetta Elliot’s A Wish After Midnight, and started Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann. Next up is The Boat by Nam Le and then A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal. I’m also in the middle of New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton.
Where do you find inspiration? Reading thoughtful, beautiful, compelling books with a variety of ethnicities represented across cultures makes me happy and makes me want to share my thoughts with others through blogging. Reading clever, funny, brilliant blogs makes me really glad to be part of the kidlitosphere. Friday Poetry, 15 Words or Less Poetry Challenges and the Monday Poetry Stretch inspire me to write poetry and try new forms. Gratitude to God for the grace, love and life that surround us continually inspires me to strive to be the best person I can be. All things beautiful inspire me to reflect and express joy; especially my sons and all the children I’ve known.
What was your favorite book as a child? As a teen? As an adult? Any particular genre stand out? As a child I loved Winnie the Pooh, the Little House books, Edward Eager, the Hobbit and the Narnia books, all of which were read to me over and over by my parents. As a teen I loved everything by Ray Bradbury, Madeline L’Engle, Scott O’Dell, and Robert Heinlein. As an adult I enjoy realistic fiction, historical fiction and Young Adult fantasy. My main genre are science fiction and fantasy, with some realistic fiction. I have tried to focus on writers of color in the past twenty years because I find a variety of cultures and viewpoints to be stimulating and enriching. I think my early years and education (as an English Major) to be far too Waspish.
Favorite time of the day to work?  Early morning, before anyone else is awake.

Chocolate: white, dark, or milk? Dark.

Coffee or tea or —? Coffee in the morning, tea the rest of the day – oolong, green or herbal. Iced suntea no sugar in summer.

Dance: Funky chicken or the tango? Definitely funky… as in 1970s Soul Train…

 I am looking forward to the day I get to purchase her book of poetry.  If you want to bid on the baby quilt, visit here. 

Poetry Friday is hosted by Kelly Polark at Kelly Polark  Have a great weekend.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

The opening line of The Blacker the Berry by Joyce Carol Thomas draws you in: “Colors without black, couldn’t sparkle quite so bright”.

It is no wonder this book won the Coretta Scott King Award. Each poem drips with juicy, delicious words and images. Floyd Cooper’s illustrations brings the text alive.

One of my favorite poems is  “Night Shade”
I feel as purple
As the night shade
of an eggplant
That great berry among berries
Smooth skinned

And stained and sweet
As my fingers
After rinsing boysenberries

And the last two lines of “Toast”
“I am so toasty
I make the sun smile”

This is going to be such a fabulous addition to the poetry collection of my school.

Poetry Friday is hosted by Anastasia Suen at http://6traits.wordpress.com/

Please visit the Bridget Zinn Fund auction.

Happy Reading and Happy Mother’s Day to all.

MsMac