Have I shown you this?

Hi everyone,

You know I have the honor of representing Drury University, my alma mater, as its poet laureate, a post I’ve held for forty-two years. Drury has a website page for me and I don’t remember ever showing it to you. Here’s the link. https://www.drury.edu/president/david-harrison/ The picture is of Stone Chapel, Drury’s most iconic building. I recently delivered a poem there that I wrote as part of the inauguration of Drury’s 17th president, Dr. Jeff Frederick. Last year as part of the university’s commencement ceremony, I delivered a poem in front of 2,300 people in the O’Reilly Family Event Center. Those people didn’t come to hear me, but I can still rightfully claim that I read a poem to an audience of 2,300.

I need to update my site but I wanted to show it off and thank Max Odom and Rex Ybañez, who had the most to do with creating it, and Max especially, for maintaining it.

Signing at Pagination

Hi everyone,

If you’re out and about in Springfield this Saturday, I’ll be signing books at Pagination Bookshop at 1150 E. Walnut Street from 12:00 – 2:00. I’ll be featuring two new trade books, Wild Brunch, Poems About How Creatures Eat and A Tree is a Community. I’ll be happy to discuss the books and personalize them if you wish. My thanks to the fine folks at Pagination for having me back in their lovely store!

Wild Brunch on SLJ Best Poetry list

Hi Everyone,

School Library Journal just published their “Best” lists for 2024 and I’m delighted that Wild Brunch, Poems About How Creatures Eat, is one of their eleven favorite books of poetry for children.

This book features thirteen different creatures and their eating habits in the form of free verse and ABAB poetry. It could be enjoyed by young readers wanting to learn more about the animal kingdom in a digestible picture book format, or by older readers who can dive into the poetic way this information is presented. Beautiful spreads with large and colorful depictions of each animal, from turkey vultures to aardvarks, make this also a very visually entertaining read as well. 

I’m especially glad to see this book recognized because I chose to write most of the poems in free verse and it’s harder to catch and hold young readers’ attention with free verse than with poems that rhyme and have meter. When I was publishing my first books of poetry for children, I wrote several collections in verse before I felt brave enough to try one in free verse.

Wild Brunch is published by Charlesbridge Publishing and illustrated by my friend and colleague, GILES LAROCHE. It’s our third collaboration following Now You See Them Now You Don’t and A Place to Start a Family. Way to go, Giles! Now You See Them Now You Don’t was also on the SCL Best Poetry List and was chosen by Society of Midland Authors as best children’s nonfiction book published in 2016 That one is in verse.

NCTE Notable Poetry Book

The Word of the Month for December is…

Hi everyone,

I’ve started every single one of thousands of posts with “Hi everyone.” I don’t remember how I settled on that as my standard greeting. Sometimes I wonder if I should vary it from time to time: “Hey folks”; “Greetings!”; “How’s it going?”; “Hello out there”; “Hi,”; “Thanks for coming”… Still I go with “Hi everyone” to greet you at the door and welcome you into my conversation of the day. It feels about right for me.

I started out to thank you for participating in some way during November with DON BARRETT’S suggested word: peace. Many good efforts grew from that one and, I dare say, at a fine time. I started looking for the list of suggested words to pick one for December and stumbled across a previous list dated 2016. So I picked a word from that. I’m sorry I don’t remember who suggested it but if it was you, hold up your hand and take credit.

Our word for December is SLUSH. Deal with that, and let the poems coming splashing and splushing out of your minds and pens. (I’d be cautious about splashing out of your keyboard though; electronics and all that). I’m moving around a bit today so I may not get to clean off the slate from last month for a day or so, but you can post anyway. Eager to see what you’ll do. Happy splushing!

Sylvia Vardell appears on Poetry from Daily Life

Hi everyone,

With pleasure I present the link to SYLVIA VARDELL’S guest column on this week’s Poetry from Daily Life. Thank you, Sylvia! https://www.news-leader.com/story/entertainment/2024/12/01/poetry-from-daily-life-finding-poem-in-penny-on-ground/76607082007/

I think everyone who visits my blog knows the drill: read, enjoy, share it with others. These essays are jewels worthy of appearing in journals and magazines. Together these wonderful voices make a choir not heard anywhere else that I know of. We’re doing well with the project of recording my guests to create a free video library. It will remain a one-of-a-kind resource for a long time to come.