Word of the Month Poetry Challenges in the coming months

Hi everyone,

A quick reminder to those who have not posted their November Word of the Month poems yet. Grief is filled with meaning and stories. Thank you for the insightful poems already posted. I hope to see others as the month winds down.

If you remember, a few months ago I turned to the poets who attended my first workshop in 2011 near Honesdale, Pennsylvania and asked them to choose words for the next eight months. They were CORY CORRADO, JEANNE POLAND, KEN SLESARIK, SUSAN CARMICHAEL, JOY ACEY, HEIDI MORDHORST, BECCA MENSHEN, and CAROL-ANN HOYTE. In previous posts I’ve mentioned this group of poets, most of whom came to the workshop as strangers and left friends. Many have remained in touch over these past eleven years. With that original group in mind, I asked each in turn to provide the Word of the Month word for the months of September (Cory), October (Jeanne), November (Ken), December (Susan), January (Joy), February (Heidi), March (Becca), and April (Carol-Ann).

So far we’ve enjoyed words provided by Cory, Jeanne, and Ken. Coming up in December is Susan. I’m eager to see what she suggests to tickle our muses.

Planning ahead for Word of the Month Poetry Challenge

Hi everyone,

Becca, Susan, Joy, Carol-Ann, and Jeanne

In a few more days it will be time to post a word for the September Word of the Month Poetry Challenge. For the past many months I’ve posted each new word myself, but I think it’s time to share the fun again.

The first Highlights poetry workshop I gave in Honesdale, in 2011, was attended by the following good people CORY CORRADO, JEANNE POLAND, KEN SLESARIK, SUSAN CARMICHAEL, JOY ACEY, HEIDI MORDHORST, BECCA MENSHEN, and CAROL-ANN HOYTE. In previous posts I’ve mentioned this group of poets, most of whom came to the workshop as strangers and left friends. Many have remained in touch over these past eleven years.

Cory and Carol-Ann

With that original group in mind, I’m going to ask each in turn to provide the Word of the Month word for the coming months of September (Cory), October (Jeanne), November (Ken), December (Susan), January (Joy), February (Heidi), March (Becca), and April (Carol-Ann). If someone would rather not or can’t be located in time, we’ll always have me as Plan B.

Ken, Carol-Ann, Heidi, Joy, and Susan

So Cory, you’re up first. Send me a note in the next few days at davidlharrison1@att.net with your word for September and I’ll post it on September 1. Thank you in advance!

No Sunday Poets

Hi everyone,

I had hoped to see poems posted by many poets on the Sunday Poets feature. Alas, nothing is coming in and I have no Plan B. I suppose I could go back to publishing one of my own poems each Sunday but I was getting bored with that. I’m open for ideas.

You do seem to like writing captions for Rob Shepperson’s delightful drawings so I’ll give you another one to play with this coming week.

I’ve invited Jill Corcoran for one day this week to tell us more about the book she edited, DARE TO DREAM: CHANGE THE WORLD. I look forward to that. We’ve already talked about AND THE CROWD GOES WILD, edited by Carol-Ann Hoyte and Heidi Bee Roemer, and we’ve talked about the latest masterpiece by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell, THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY. I’ve talked about my upcoming picture book, A PERFECT HOME FOR A FAMILY, as well as my e-book, GOOSE LAKE, either too much or too little.

I hope you all have an enjoyable week in store. I hope to finish the final poems for a new book for 4th graders. It has forty poems in it. In January I’ll fly to California to record one hundred poems that I wrote for a five-book set with Mary Jo Fresch.

David

Sunday Poets

Hi everyone,

We’re back with more Sunday Poets, thanks to Renee LaTulippe, Julie Krantz, and Carol-Ann Hoyte! Read, enjoy, and comment!
We begin with Renee.

1)
Here is a poem from a collection I co-authored called Lizard Lou: a collection of poems old and new. It’s a book for the pre-reading set, and includes 41 of my original poems and 38 classic poems by various poets. And I’m pleased to announce that the book just won the silver medal for poetry in the 2012 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards! I’m doing a giveaway this week, so I invite your readers over to throw their names in the hat (see link below).

IF I HAD A WHEEL
By Renée M. LaTulippe

If I had a wheel,
I’d roll it into town,
or maybe I could even
wear it like a crown.
I’d throw it like a Frisbee
or spin it like a hoop,
or use it as a feeder
inside the chicken coop.
I’d fill it up with dirt
and plant some flowers there,
or bend it in the middle
and make a rubber chair.
I could float it down the river
or hang it in a tree,
and swing high in the air
where no one could catch me.

Giveaway of Lizard Lou: http://www.nowater.com/poetry-friday-idunno-by-carrie-finison-lizard-lou-giveaway
Renée’s Blog: http://www.nowaterriver.com
Lizard Lou book: http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/lizard-lou
Poem first printed in Lizard Lou: a collection of rhymes old and new.
Illustration by Donna Goeddaeus.
© 2012, 2009 All About Learning Press, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

2)

Hi David,
Here’s a poem I’d like to submit to SUNDAY POETS this month. It appeared on your blog a while back—probably around the same time of year!

EQUINOX
By Julie (JG) Krantz

Halloween
is coming—
I feel it
in the air!
Pumpkins tumbling,
dry leaves
crunching,
apples everywhere.
Windy days,
frigid nights,
shadows on
the bog—
soon the sky
will tuck the sun
inside a wintry fog.
Stalks of corn
without their cobs—
just rows and rows
of straw.
Pumpkins tumbling
dry leaves
Crunching,
tell me
it is fall!

http://www.facebook.com/juliekrantzbooks
https://www.amazon.com/author/juliekrantz

Thanks for hosting SUNDAY POETS, David!

3)

HIGHCHAIR
By Carol-Ann Hoyte

Hear ye, hear ye, royal children and four-footed subjects, too:

He’s a toddler ruler
who’s clean and neat
when he’s placed on the
plastic, padded seat
of the throne of his
taste-test tower.
But after he munches
his tidbit treats
of peas and cheese
and meat and beets,
Queen Mama says he’s quite a mess
and leads him to the shower.

http://www.scbwicanada.org/east/newLeavesAuthors/carol-AnnHoyte.htm
http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/2012/04/5q-poet-interview-series-carol-ann.html
http://tvoparents.tvo.org/video/178030/kids-books-why-rhyme-works

My thanks to our featured poets today for sharing their work for our reading pleasure! I look forward to seeing more poems from more poets for next Sunday. Get busy out there!

David