Happy National Poetry Month!
Although, here at Poetry Time, it’s all day, every day!
Here’s the poetic scoop:
I also have the pleasure of participating in the Kidlit Progressive Poem Project. Founded by poet extraordinaire Irene Latham, Kidlit is an event is where I, and twenty-nine other children’s poets, add a written line a day, and by the end of the month, a poem appears. It’s a cyber co-writing extravaganza, if you will. Thanks for inviting me, Irene.
Sunday April 5th is my day to add a line following in the footsteps of one of my poetic inspirations, Laura Purdie Salas. Here’s the poem so far with my contribution in bold letters.
She lives without a net, walking along the alluvium deposits of the delta. Shoes swing over her shoulder, on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica. Hands faster than fish swing at the ends of bare brown arms. Her hair flows, snows in wild wind as she digs in the indigo varnished handbag, pulls out her grandmother’s oval cuffed bracelet
Ramona from http://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com/ please take it away!
I’ll be in Jama Rattigan’s hotTea blog posts this month. I never thought of myself as hot, but Jama says she does, so I'll take it! It will be posted sometime late this month, I'll let you all know when.
Not only do I have a blog post on Angie Karcher’s RHYPIBIMO on April 20th, I’ve also decided to be a part of her reading/writing pledge as well.
Continuing to count down the days until the Spring Poetry Retreat and Workshop, courtesy of the Highlights Foundation, happens from April 15th – April 19th. This session will be taught by my children’s poetry mentor Rebecca Kai Dotlich. It will also feature special guests: Wordsong editor Rebecca Davis, and a SKYPE interview with Poet/Educator/Publisher Janet Wong of Pomelo Books. Thank you Kent Brown and Jo Lloyd for accepting my proposal to attend. I’ll be ready to rock and roll!
I had a lovely time participating in Heidi Mordhorst’s poem a day exercise at her blog, My Juicy Little Universe. For the month of March we were assigned a list of words that end with the letter ch, and we wrote poems that included one of those words.
I booked more background jobs for television shows. While I may or may not be seen on camera, I learn so much about acting and directing on film from watching others, as well as the technical aspects of putting a scene together. Creating “movie magic” takes long hours but it’s well worth it after it’s put together, plus, when I'm not on set, I'm rewriting or learning by heart more children's poems. Another win, win!
Through my teaching artist work with Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, I accompanied The Young Women's Leadership School of Brooklyn (TYWLS) to an art gallery exhibit called HOME AGAIN at St. Joseph's College New York. I went to the opening a few weeks ago, and it was nice seeing new sets of eyes absorb the art work that was lovingly displayed by my Rush boss Meridith McNeal. Afterwards, we all went out for pizza and pink lemonade at a fine Italian restaurant called Graziella's. I also attended the gallery opening at TYWLS and was gobsmacked by the art work of the students. Whether it was drawings, paintings or statues, these young ladies have fierce talent!
I saw the zany comedy LIVING ON LOVE by Joe Di Pietro at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. A story of jealousy, love, music and understanding, I had a delightful time, laughing especially at the reality of one of the main characters, a struggling writer played by Jerry O'Connell, who co-starred in one of my favorite movies, STAND BY ME. I was also thrilled to see one of the great opera singers of our time, Renee Fleming, work her magic on stage.
I attended SINATRA: AN AMERICAN ICON, a free exhibit of the life of Old Blue Eyes at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. There were awards, paintings, clothes and songs galore highlighting the life of one of the greatest performers of the 20th century. Something that tickled me was a booth where you could sing one of Sinatra’s signature songs, “New York, New York” along with him. I love free events!
I marched and volunteered for The New York Farm Animal Save at the Veggie Pride Parade, as well as the Post-Parade Expo in Union Square Park. This fine organization promotes empathy and compassion for all creatures that inhabit this planet. Thank you Tony Henri, and his lovely wife Miriam, for all their hard work and kindness.
Read-a-Poem or R.A.P. My rallying cry to bring children’s poetry to every human being in the world continues rolling along. Not all books I mention have to be about children’s poetry but that’s the main thrust. I have read:
LLAMA, LLAMA, RED PAJAMA by Anna Dewdney.
OTTO, THE OWL WHO LOVED POETRY by Vern Kousky.
POEM IN YOUR POCKET by Margaret McNamara and G. Brian Karas.
SPARKY! by Jenny Offill and Chris Appelhans.
ONE OF THE PROBLEMS OF EVERETT ANDERSON by Lucille Clifton
EVERETT ANDERSON’S GOODBYE by Lucille Clifton
I’ll end this visit with 2 poems, both from my writing sessions at http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/. Each one uses a poetry form called a double dactyl. According to Tricia Stohr-Hunt’s blog, a double dactyl is:
A poem that consists of two quatrains that follow these guidelines:
1 - double dactyl nonsense phrase (like Higgeldy Piggeldy)
2 - double dactyl of a person's name
3 - double dactyl
4 - one dactyl plus a stressed syllable (/ _ _ / )
5 - double dactyl
6 - double dactyl
7 - double dactyl
8 - one dactyl plus a stressed syllable (/ _ _ / )
Here are some other helpful notes.
Somewhere in the second stanza is a double dactyl formed by a single word (usually).
The last lines of the quatrains (4 and 8) must rhyme.
Like the clerihew, these are generally written about famous people and are meant to be humorous.
So on that note, here they are. One of Frank Sinatra, and one of an artist I’ve come to admire more and more, meat dress notwithstanding, Lady Gaga.
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
Hoboken, Hoboken
Francis Sinatra
Thin as a beanstalk,
Strong as a tank,
Melodious vocals
Blueeyedpormorphically
Had Bobby-soxers screaming
His nickname, “Frank!”
(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.
MOTHER MONSTER
Humina Humina
Lady of Gaga
Freakishly dressed up
No matter what day
Like fellow monsters
Artpopamorphically
A chameleon of style
She was born that way.
(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.