37 Days at Sea: new MG verse novel

[#PoetryFriday is hosted today and all week by Margaret at REFLECTIONS on the TECHE!]

Ruthie Arons is a curious kid who has known recent horror, including Nazis brutally ransacking her beautiful home. Yet, she is still is a sprite who ponders all that crosses her path aboard the M.S. St. Louis, sailing from Germany to Cuba. Ruthie pranks passengers in an inventive way. She initiates shipboard friendships with all ages and cheers each of her parents as they fall ill. She is a companion to cherish.

Cover art by Kelly Murphy

Q. I am a Ruthie Arons fan. Please share something of Ruthie’s arrival in your author-mind. Is it possible she is modeled on strong or fun-loving young girls you know today or in family history?

BK: I did not base Ruthie on any girl I know today. I did interview a St. Louis survivor in 2010 who had shown a lot of spunk and I had her in mind a bit.

Q. It’s clear that Ruthie not only admires her father, who becomes a shipboard leader on this troubled voyage. But also, Ruthie discovers the German captain is decent, too. She finds out that others of the crew don’t know the word, decency. Why is it important reveal the kindness of German Capt. Schroeder?

BK: Passengers of the St. Louis nominated Captain Gustav Schroeder for his Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center recognition as Righteous Among Nations. The captain was most decidedly not a Nazi and he truly cared about the passengers. One man I interviewed, who had been about ten years old on the ship, said the captain was “a peach.” I wanted to show that not all Germans were Nazis, not all Germans hailed Hitler, not all believed in or adhered to the Nazi ideology–at great risk to themselves.

 Q. Ruthie and her parents leave the MS St. Louis in Belgium knowing they will journey to England, after being turned away by Cuba and the United States. What do you think they experienced in England that we don’t see in the story? 

BK: Once in England, Ruthie’s father would have been interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien. In Germany, he was a Jew. In England, he was a German. Ruthie would have been evacuated out of London during the Blitz. So “safe haven” was only temporary.

 Q. In your acknowledgements, there is summary of what feels to me like years of perseverance in research, especially with your careful speaking to trip survivors found by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. How do you approach a survivor, who may not want to discuss such a time?

BK: I first contacted Scott Miller of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He co-authored Refuge Denied: The St. Louis Passengers and the Holocaust. He gave me a list of survivors in the NJ-PA-NY area. I already knew that most of these people had been working with the museum as spokespeople about their experiences. I read as much as I could about the St. Louis experience before meeting with these survivors in their homes. The issue was not so much whether they wanted to talk. Rather, it was a challenge for me to get them to go beyond their usual spiel, to get underneath the narrative they typically shared so it would relate to kids. I learned so much from these people. Nothing fazed them, not a locked gate to their senior living community after 8 or a dishwasher that flooded the house while the family was away.

Q: Let’s speak about creating a story in verse. Is writing in verse something you’ve always gravitated to? What in your child days, career or study prepared you for writing poetry and especially a verse novel? What makes a story ideal to be presented in verse to young readers? And do you have preferred poetry forms to read or to write, other than free verse?

BK: I began writing poetry after I received my MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2006. When I first drafted this narrative about the St. Louis, it was middle-grade nonfiction. After hearing a panel at the 2012 Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference about historical sources and contemporary poetry, I rewrote the book as adult poetry in several voices. I workshopped and workshopped. Then I attended two Novel in Verse workshops at the Highlights Foundation and the story finally took shape as a fictionalized account with a single narrator for middle grade. I did take a post-graduate semester at Vermont in poetry with David Wojahn and read Holocaust poets in particular. What makes a story ideal to be presented in verse–that’s a great question. Trauma narratives lend themselves to verse treatment. I’ve also seen novels in verse feature many narrators which would be unwieldy in prose. I like to use certain repetitive forms at particular points of the narrative. For instance, I use villanelles at moments of great despair.

Q: Who are the poets you read frequently or especially feel drawn to? 

BK: I’m always learning about poets and their craft. I appreciate in particular Paul Celan, Miklos Radnoti, Wislawa Zymborska, Theodore Roethke, Dylan Thomas, and Elizabeth Bishop. I also like reading Nikki Grimes, Jacqueline Woodson, Richard Blanco, Mark Doty, and many others. I attend poetry readings on a regular basis and invest in literary journals.

 Q. Can we hope for another verse novel from you, now that your first is birthed? If so any early details?

BK: I do have a young adult biography in verse I’ll be able to talk about soon. That book, too, underwent a long process starting as nonfiction prose. I’ll just say it reflects the early Cold War period. My agent is shopping around a contemporary YA novel in verse, and I’m working on a new one–a narrative of a 16-year-old who had been a hidden child during World War II who comes to America in 1951 as an orphan to family she’s never known.

This is news I welcome, Barbara! Appreciations for your visit today. 37 Days at Sea leaves me feeling that this debut verse novelist is destined to add more beautiful words to my bookshelf and yours. And I would love to see this book be a movie. jga/Bookseedstudio

ALSO ~~~

Please know that one of children’s literature most-honored authors, Kathryn Erskine, writes of 37 Days at Sea that it is “a timely, compelling story of real-life refugees, seen through the eyes of a child, who is both innocent and wise.”

And further, Barbara is known to many for her notable p.b. bio limning a moment for Goldie, a schoolgirl in Milwaukee, who history came to know as Golda Meir, future elected Prime Minister of Israel.

See a book trailer for GOLDIE TAKES A STAND.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ4qJh2Bup8

Barbara Krasner’s fascinating website is The Whole Megillah.

https://thewholemegillah.wordpress.com/author/thewholemegillah/

Pre-order 37 Days here

Lerner/Kar-Ben https://lernerbooks.com/shop/show/20730

#2021ProgressivePoem

#2021Progressive Poem of #PoetryFriday flits here!

So, let’s jump right into the mix now at Day 6. 

I’m a case of kindness – come and catch me if you can!

Easily contagious – sharing smiles is my plan.

I’ll spread my joy both far and wide,

As a force of Nature I’ll be undenied.

And yesterday Irene Latham, who is kindness defined and delivered, 

tapped [or penned but I feel it was tapped/keystroked] two juicy

next lines. But! Only one line can win! Really? The competitors are: 

See that child sharing grapes with a friend?

OR

Words like, “how can I help?” will bloom in the street

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

2021 Progressive Poem [in-the-making]

I’m a case of kindness – come and catch me if you can!

Easily contagious – sharing smiles is my plan.

I’ll spread my joy both far and wide,

As a force of Nature I’ll be undenied.

Words like, “how can I help?” will bloom in the street.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Wouldn’t cha’ know it. I totally love both of Irene’s detail-rich line friends.

I see an illustrator running away with them – so much liveliness in each line. 

My pass-along two choices are 

A new girl alone on the playground – let’s meet, let’s meet!

OR

See that child sharing grapes with a friend? [by Irene Latham, Day 5]

And yes, you sharp-eyed ones, I added heft to nature,  but of course,

Nature doesn’t have to stand. What’s going to unfold tomorrow? The one

who knows [or will know by the lovely morning] is Day 7 poet 

Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities

With Appreciations to Rose, and also to Our Collector Margaret Simon [otherwise

known as 2021 Day 9] living further West along my fragile Gulf Coast among her

lovely live oak grove writing at the creative blog, Life on the Teche.  And Joy to

all poem-makers from the earlier April days especially Line Leader Kat Appelt,

no doubt at this moment, busy as a mama wombat, in the lovely Down Under!

I feel lucky to slip in here whilst Bookseedstudio is otherwise On Break, tho please

give a visit again this very Friday April 9 when I return with with words, including a

Beloved Author’s endorsement for, the gripping new MG verse novel,

37 Days at Sea by Barbara Krasner.  

And now, Hello there, Rose! Have fun, xo from Jan

We have these sites to visit and discover day by day. Or to return to

for a quick recap. Viva! #PoetryFriday and #2021ProgressivePoem

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers 
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman 
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch 
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt at The Miss Rumphius Effect
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26 Tim Gels at Yet There is Method 
27 Rebecca Newman
28 Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
29 Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wondering
30 Michelle Kogan at More Art 4 All

Sing dance submit: call for poems

[nota bene: book covers to know, below] 

Subject: Children, reading, writing or both
Form: Any. 40 Line Limit.
1st PL $40. 2nd PL $20. 3rd PL $15. 

Conjure your own memory. Or you might pen a poem about other real-child readers or writers. How about imagining a character-child? This call for a poem is part of the 2021 Florida State Poets’ Association’s annual effort to raise poetry’s profile. You don’t have to be a Florida resident or a member of this non-profit to enter. Details are here. The group often looks for new ways to engage poets, so, as someone who joined only in 2020,  I was pleased they accepted my suggestion (it does exempt me from this fun category but not you!). Detail: The contest team (which I’m not on) receives poems postally. No submissions are considered that are sent in before 1 May, for the deadline, 15 June 2021. Take care with submission details, as category #s must be included. (My guess is that overseas submissions are not invited, as a small fee in check form, is asked for the entry.) Last year I floated, when my poem “Surfing” won an Honorable from Oregon poet Tiel Aisha Ansari.

::::::::

“Dear Poet.” Now for a second take on submissions, at Poetry for Children last month, I learned of an essay opportunity for students called “Dear Poet.”  I plan to listen to as many of these richly experienced and published poets Poetry.org has collected, reading a poem on line. Students will do the same, but can submit their responses to the poems. I began with Marilyn Chin, reading her original piece “The Floral Apron.” If I were a student I would write an essay about how this inky poem reminded me of watching my mother-in-law take her knife to squid, about the depth of family ties and why it’s important to share family history. Hey, an idea. Hmm. 

Sing!

I laffed in attempted bopping to a Jerusalema loop. Song, music and lyrics of the isiXhosa language of South Africa (nearly 19 percent of souls there use it) filled our spaces, in the space of an evening. It’s a 2019 to present day song/dance phenom in wide parts of El Mundo. A few ~  Antigua/Barbados, Argentina, Finland, Israel, Italy, Ireland (my own fun fumble in Florida, unrecorded thank you very much!) Palestine, Sweden (at winter shore!) & onward. Despite cute video versions of wiggle kids and flapping animals, my favorite visit with this levitating song & line dance remains the initial launch, staged outdoors in a small community courtyard between simple low buildings as friends enjoy a meal. The mood is casual joy. The skillful choreography wink to the audience – this regards plates – is a contributing pleasure. The performers are Angolan dance troupe Fenómenos do Sembato, celebrated widely in Africa and now, The World. The song is reimagined from a hymn sung in South African, bought forward by South African music dance impresario, MasterKG (Kgaogelo Moagi) and singer Nomcebo Zikode, also now famous.

After the original video, my 2nd favorite Jerusalema goodjuju includes all socially distanced medical professionals who undertake the #JerusalemaDanceChallenge in the sterile halls of hospitals.  And my 3rd fave arrives with the airport crew at Antigua/Barbados Bird Airport. Find them & hundreds on YouTube.

In a nod to “May the wind be always at your back” St. Patrick’s Month (part of my heritage is iconically Irish) I’ll share that several versions from The Emerald Isle were uploaded online just last month. Here is one at Twitter Beyond the bounce, I wanted to know the words.

Jerusalema ikhaya lami
Ngilondoloze
Uhambe nami
Zungangishiyi lana
Ndawo yami ayikho lana
Mbuso wami awukho lana

Jerusalem my home
Keep me
Walk with me
Don’t leave me here
My place is not here
My kingdom is not here

South African theology student Nkosi Mlambo wrote his take on  “Jerusalema – The Dance, the Meaning, the Theology”, linked here.The song struck him deeply, remembering an original version in primary school at morning assembly. This article is source of verses I’ve shared here.

Jerusalema – The Dance, The Meaning, The Theology

 

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The #PoetryFriday March 2021 Hosts line-up is beautiful to behold.

5 Kat at Kathryn Apel

12 Heidi at my juicy little universe

19 Linda at TeacherDance

26 Susan at Soul Blossom Living

            :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

It’s Women’s History Month! I’m pleased to note 2 verse novels and one p.b. bio forthcoming in spring or summer 2021 with girl or women characters worth remembering.// Saving American Beach by Heidi King and Caldecott Honoree Ekula Holmes, p. b. bio about a little-known Black eco-warrior who left an opera career to advocate in Florida. // 37 Days at Sea by Barbara Krasner, a MG family story verse novel inspired by a heart-tugging true event of the Holocaust that also touches Florida history. // Everywhere Blue by Joanne Rossmassler Fritz, a MG family story verse novel of oboe practice, siblings and a missing person emergency that triggers mental health concerns.

---

A Pause. Woot!Woot! Except for some short appearances this blog will be taking a pause.  Expected appearances are: A line of the one and only April 2021 #PoetryFriday’s Progressive Poem hosted by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. A warble of “wonderful” with more of the verse novels shown above, each that I love to the moon and back ~ 37 DAYS AT SEA by Barbara Krasner and also EVERYWHERE BLUE by Joanne Rossmassler Fritz.

I expect to draw nourishment from visits to your posts & to keep social media active, but less so. Below, some goodies. The calendar of April #PoetryFriday hosts. A give-away book plate. And this reminder: consider creating a poem for the Childhood award at the contest mentioned above. Woot! Woot!

Gifting a complimentary bookplate download, courtesy of My Home Library

For great April expectations, the 2021 #PoetryFriday hosts in an #AprilPoetryMonth lovely line-up!

2 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

9 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

16 Jama at Jama’s Alphabet Soup

23 Catherine at Reading to the Core

30 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

:::::::

Collected at Reflections on the Teche by Margaret Simon, April 2021 Progressive Poem contributors!

April 1 Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
2 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
3 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
4 Donna Smith at Mainly Write
5 Irene Latham at Live your Poem
6 Jan Godown Annino at BookseedStudio
7 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
8 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
10 Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone
11 Buffy Silverman
12 Janet Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
13 Jone Rush MacCulloch
14 Susan Bruck at Soul Blossom Living
15 Wendy Taleo at Tales in eLearning
16 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
17 Tricia Stohr Hunt
18 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
19 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
20 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
21 Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
22 Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town
23 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
24 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Shari Daniels at Islands of my Soul
26

 

ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME: poem story

[nota bene: a give-away at the end is over & the selected recipient is FRAN HALEY. Brava, Fran!]

IF your heart skips a beat at this Naomi Shihab Nye poet line ping: “A peony has been trying to get through to you” OR if your family knows to stop and appreciate a field blessed by the color purple, as Alice Walker beautifully wrote, THEN your picture book collection will cosy up to ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME, new contribution to poem stories, beautifully told. (Beaming Books, Minneapolis.)

            “Feel the wind/ upon your skin. Imagine where/ that wind has been.” poem lines copyright by Charles Ghigna and Matt Forrest Esenwine, allrightsreserved Once Upon Another Time, illustrated by Andres F. Landazabal.

This book of natural world, Past, contrasted with the world, Present, made me sing. The new-to-me multi-genre artist, Andres F. Landazabal, working in South America from Armenia, Columbia, creates moments on the page that inspired me to abandon my desk, grab family and meander at a meadow we love. Right now! Impossible at that moment, but it figured in why my hubby & I spent an uninterrupted three hours wandering on connected nature trails this past weekend. And ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME promises more. The artist’s exquisite pastel pages matched to the authors’ words help me ponder the ways Planet Earth has changed with human progress & intervention. The authors and artist prickle my sensibility to think of celebrations and help, to further preserve what’s at my part of the planet~~ gopher tortoise hills, manatee springs, turkey woods, anhinga roosting swamps, so they can’t be paved, glassed or picked over.  This Earth poem by Charles Ghigna [Father Goose to many!] and Matt Forrest Esenwine [author of my favorite evening hours p.b. FLASHLIGHT NIGHT] cues a love of what remains of Nature on Earth. The potent part of this is how the story prompts me to ask what good actions I can begin, or continue, without ever suggesting this in a didactic way. The scenes and imagery in words touch my heart to consider this on my own. This book will be an excellent compliment for many sweet areas of student interest including: animal friends, backyard, city/town, geography, sky, fields, forest, mountains, nature, lyrical language and poetry. Applause! Applause! JGAnnino/Bookseedstudio

Resources Charles Ghigna Matt Forrest Esenwine Beaming Books The Color Purple Naomi Shihab Nye Alice Walker

https://alicewalkersgarden.com/books/book-list/

https://twitter.com/ypplaureate?lang=en

The mood of ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME lives at a nearby springs, where I snapped this image as if from another epoch. Question: What is your place to “imagine where/ that wind has been” as ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME evokes? Leave a comment below [moderated] that shares one place, or a few ~ by the end of MONDAY March 8. Beaming Books will provide a copy to one Bookseedstudio poster. Or you may comment but opt out for the give-away. Or leave a less-detailed comment and still opt-in. Provide contact info if I don’t know you. I”ll alert the lucky ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME recipient after March 8. This book launch began Feb. 25 with a blog from Ellen Leventhal. It’s a great interview! Go, enjoy.

Below please find the rest of the tour links. And keep going for the moderated comment box. Appreciations for your visit. And first ~~ links to our gracious #PoetryFriday host this week & all through March. Go see them soon.

March 2021#PoetryFriday Hosts

5 Kat at Kathryn Apel

12 Heidi at my juicy little universe

19 Linda at TeacherDance

26 Susan at Soul Blossom Living

“WakullaSprings, Once and Now”copyright JGAnnino allrightsreserved© “ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME” BLOG TOUR:
^{2/25:      Ellen Leventhal:  https://www.ellenleventhal.com/#blog
2/26:      Michelle Knott: http://mrsknottsbooknook.blogspot.com/
3/1:        Maria Marshall: https://www.mariacmarshall.com/blog
3/2:        Matt Forrest Esenwine: https://mattforrest.wordpress.com 
3/3:        Jan Godown Annino at Bookseed Studio: https://bookseedstudio.wordpress.com/
3/4:        Celebrate Picture Books: https://celebratepicturebooks.com/ ( giveaway on 3/5)
3/5:        Maria Marshall #PPBF (Perfect Picture Book Friday): https://www.mariacmarshall.com/blog
3/5:        KidLit411 – Charles Ghigna interview http://www.kidlit411.com/
3/10:      Melissa Stoller: https://www.melissastoller.com/blog
3/16:      Kellee Moye at Unleashing Readers: http://www.unleashingreaders.com/
5/5:        Andrew Hackett https://www.andrewhacket.com/blog}

 

Book Bun-Bun picks a recipient of ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME! Fran Haley, congratulations! Please send your mailing address.

Lisa Desimini & Arnold Adolf in LOVE LETTERS + more

This is the perfect moment to flap wings & yodel-le-e-hoo! that February is a lovely season in so many ways that I haven’t already shared here in recent days.

We celebrate, this week, the anniversary of our wonderful daughter’s marriage to her wonderful sweetheart. Happy Days Always! to our Beloved Anna & Petar, seen here in Boston at a New Year’s Eve[before Covid]

I always spend quality picture book time in February with the inventive love drawings of my pal Lisa Desimini, who created heartmelt individual art works for each poem of one of the best Valentine books on the planet. Her co-creator is the esteemed poet Arnold Adoff, & the modern classic book to know is LOVE LETTERS.

And, it’s also time to drum a big Ta, dah! with Lots of cheers & all that jazz for our dear pal Stan, who is an active 100 this week. Stan, You always put the jazz in jazztime! And I hope my oyster plaque shows our affection for you. Finally, My man & I snuggle extra [foto before Covid] all February ’cause at the top of the month his parents wed in their native Sicily. I am blessed big time in February connections of Love.

AmnaAnninoArtwork allrightsreserved

Pubbed! Fresh Fish book & MoSt Poetry Center chapbook

What do you know about your statewide poetry people? After my children’s picture book debuted I added nourishing connections in children’s literature, internationally, nationally & statewide which endure. Hey, that’s how I found you, wonderful nest, #PoetryFriday. In crazy 2020 I pursued an added path, answering writing prompts from poem makers in my area who aren’t necessarily involved with literature for children.

From a call for submissions shared by Florida State Poets Association, which I joined, first-time, two original poems found publication online with the Lake Cane Restoration Society in May 2020. This made me a Bard of the Lake, for “Meditation” and also, “Orlando Orilla de Lago”

Through exploring this long noodle of a state’s poetry community, one of my poems is fresh-pubbed in an art book from the Florida chapter of the Studio Art Quilt Associates. More on this in a second. Next, please know I expect to read a new poem online with a poetry community on Sunday, Feb. 21. I wrote it from a prompt-a-day poetry challenge that ran from mid-Dec. ’20 to mid-Jan.’21. [listening/link info is below] 

This newest prompt idea connected with me in two ways. It’s a wordpool. I first learned about (& silly me, forgot about) wordpool from Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge in her nourishing guide poemcrazy. Gary Thomas of MoSt Poetry Center in California brought me back to brilliant Susan by casting a wordpool. This was his Prompt #19/ January 2, 2021. His poem puzzle challenged us to conjure poetry to include: bleach, Blursdays, hellacious, levitate, salty & wig. Thought I: UGH! Didn’t do it.

But came the end of the prompts from MoSt/Gary. I didn’t feel a pull to other of the lines I had scribbled/doodled in response to the great ideas. But. Pinged in my heart by one word, I went back to that #19 Day wordpool. As someone with dear pals who have lost (& recovered) hair due to cancer treatments, and because I’m living/working post-treatment for stage 2+ kidney cancer that I appreciated receiving great surgery for in 2018, time-two around, with the prompt, I acknowledged the wicked word, wig. Dear people, it wigged me out. So, I knew that with my fear of this word, I should dig deeper. The result is my poem, “Shore good friday,” in the fresh-printed MoSt chapbook, which I expect to find in my traditional postal box any day. To listen to how I put wig & those unlikely companion wordpool words into “Shore good friday,” tune in this week, Feb. 21. It’s a MoSt Poetry Center two hour program & my spot is likely in the last hour because fortunately, two fabulous poets are keynotes of this Sunday’s event. I expect to share “Shore good friday” here in a post, later. **Time note** The MoSt link shows Pacific Time, as MoSt is in Modesto, Calif. I’m figuring on 5-7 p.m. EST. 

Back to FRESH FISH. I glom onto this book’s vibrant colors & forms. Rich, luxurious, playful,  delightfully fantastical, sometimes moody hand-made textile artworks ~~ all mesmerize me. International art contributors are from Canada, Sweden and the UK. It’s also a joy to blend with poets not only from my fabulous region of the universe – Florida – but also, who knew poets in Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, Louisiana, Oregon & California would become colleagues in publication?

My favorite FF piece, shown here with bias admitted, is by Maggie Vanderweit, a renowned textile artist in Ontario.  FRESH FISH, Textile Artists and Poets Explore Underwater Life is expected to swim again, as part of a future event in a gallery setting, when traveling members of the Studio Art Quilt Associates convene their delayed in-person international conferencing. 

Susan Goldsmith Woolrdidge        Florida State Poets Association            Studio Art Quilt Associates

 

Bookseedstudio is part of the #PoetryFriday community that visits around on line & when lucky, in person, to celebrate poetry. We are hosted  inventively this week from Haiti by Ruth who is stitching together a community poem! [I added yellow lion lines] & next week, please visit with our host, Karen E.

 

Chocolate news, 2nd edition.

 

c.allrightsrservedJGA/Jan GodownAnnino”LoveTypewriter”

Doodle~toodle:::: sending all my PF poet pals Valentine love! Hoopla abounds about Feb. 14 candy, yes?  So I hope you can spend time this month, or any time, with a NEW student video & radio interview, dear to my heart. Because of #FSU college students’ hard work, we have become fans of TONY’s anti-slavery chocolate, finding it with ease at online purveyors & walk-ins.

Below, my fresh d r a f t poem, “He said”

He said

He said “Get in Good Trouble”

and he meant it I know

reading about, seeing newsreels of

Rep. John Lewis, giant of civil

protest & action no longer

walking the Earth.

I feel what students are

doing about

child abuse in production

of our chocolate treats, fits.

“Get in Good Trouble”

© JGAnnino

Meet young friends advocating against the still-occurring in 2021 child abuse in the production of cocoa:

Just released! on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC0BtL6BwYE

Regional NPR on January 8, 2021   [students’ foto is from before the epidemic]

TONY’s very unusual chocolate bar story is here.

[PoEtrY Friday! I welcome poetry tips/news/links in the moderated comment box, below & I look forward to visiting your blog. I’m linking this post in Poetry Friday with marvelous Molly. Nix the Comfort Zone.] Next week be sure to stop by Ruth’s blog, from Haiti.

 

Poetry Friday is here :)

Appreciations for your visit! Until Feb. 5, Poetry Friday is based here. (more details below.) Please know I’ve been singing:

Down the wavy path

in the budding park

along the Miccosukee sidewalk

my jaunty footsteps hum

to

Here Comes the Sun

Amanda Gorman’s books
A song poem spoken-word book of Biden-Harris phenomenal inaugural poet, 
22-year-old Amanda Gorman, of Los Angeles, is due out late summer/early fall.
CHANGE SINGS, An American Anthem is illustrated by the children’s 
Pres. O’Bama book (of THEE I SING) artist Loren Long, of Ohio.
Ms. Gorman’s older ages book, of inaugural poem and more of her poetry is
THE HILL WE CLIMB and Other Poems. I expect to love all these, as
one of uncountable millions of 40 million watching, who teared up during her 
soaring performance at the U.S. Capitol on January 20th.

Bookshop is the independent bookstore community, online. It offers CHANGE SINGS + THE HILL WE CLIMB and OTHER POEMS.

Learn more about Amanda Gorman

ESSENCE online :::: Dr. Jill Biden-connection https://www.essence.com/articles/meet-amanda-gorman-the-youngest-inaugural-poet-in-u-s-history/ OZYMedia :::: 2017 Youth Genius winner https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/how-a-young-poet-is-nurturing-empathy-with-virtual-reality/77355/ COVEN :::: on not being “the black history voice” in class, 2036 presidency, her mother’s teaching in Watts. SESI magazine :::: #BlackGirlMagic, her One Pen One Page non-profit foundation.

” I remember all those people (particularly women) who have been rendered silent by illiteracy, and how lucky I am that I get to use this pen. I remember that, to me, nothing is funner than a little word play, and I return to that little kid who is excited to put pen to paper.” Poet Amanda Gorman in COVEN online magazine interview

Prediction: President Amanda Gorman

In year 2036

she will bring her nourishing fix

third woman President.

A shock. Not a precedent.

Thrilled she was prescient

when Biden-Harris won

in 2021,  their

democracy restoration begun.

©JG Annino, 2021 :::::

One Little Word

It’s a thing, to pick One Little Word at each new year as mojo for writing practice. My 2021One Little Word is Sing. In serendipity Sing called me before I knew about Amanda Gorman’s presenting at the inaugural or about her sure-to-be uplifting CHANGE SINGS picture book.

American Library Association Last year I sang of many books here at Bookseedstudio, with special glow for CAT MAN of ALEPPO, A PLACE AT THE TABLE and EIGHT KNIGHTS of HANUKKAH. This week these 3 great books’ various groovy honors were sung by the ALA. Congratulations to all involved in these stellar projects & special Love to those creators who I’m lucky to call Friend.\

:::: 

 Comments Bop and hum around the links listed below, in comments. (Later, I’ll bring them up here in this text.) You’ll find a sweet shelf of Poetry Friday blogger posts. If you have a poetry blog the URL details can be added ~~ keep going, below, find the word “Comments” in tiny type ~~ there!  Even just a “hey, howdy!” can introduce you to Poetry Friday. A blog is never needed to participate, just goodwill about sharing poetry, especially poems for young readers.

February comes singing next week! Find it hosted by dear poetry pal Jone. https://www.jonerushmacculloch.com/blog

  [This weekend I learn more of poet/author Zora Neal Hurston with historians here in Florida. On breaks I intend to bring your links here, pulled from where you left them in comments.]

 I appreciate your poem study very much. ~~ Jan

Some week of 1.29.2021 Poetry Friday goodness, from all around~~

Michelle Kogan Art shares artwork & her fresh poetry ponderings about hero, heroes & conversos.

Linda at A Word Edgewise shares poetry lines of others in a New Year Cento. The lines all came from New Year postcards but form one poem with Linda’s magic.  https://awordedgewiselindamitchell.blogspot.com/

At Alphabet Soup, I’m all about snow, with a poem by Richard Greene and a recipe for Snowball Cookies. https://jamarattigan.com/2021/01/29/snow-doubt-about-it-we-love-snow/(my link goes live Friday at 6 a.m.

This week I’m learning from a legend. It’s amazing how much we learn from reading the words of other poets Alan J. Wright Poetry Pizzazz

https://alanjwrightpoetrypizzazz.blogspot.com/2021/01/poets-must-read-learning-from-legends.html

Robyn’s report: I have a New Year poem postcard gift to share, and it fits perfectly with your theme! Also, info on an online haiku workshop I’m leading in February that just got finalized this week.
http://www.robynhoodblack.com/blog/posts/38085

Teaching Authors guiding light Carmela talks the idea of “Indistractable,” and shares a found poem on a strategy for doing so.
https://www.teachingauthors.com/2021/01/becoming-indistractable-and-a-found-poem.html

Kay is thoughtful with a collection of poems by Madeleine L’Engle in Cry Like a Bell and a golden shovel poem using a line from one of her poems. https://kaymcgriff.edublogs.org/2021/01/28/poetry-friday-a-cry-like-a-bell-review/

Poetry Sisters poet Andromeda pens an original poem as part of the Poetry Sisters’ challenge for January: https://awrungsponge.blogspot.com/2021/01/Timetraveler.html 

Little Willow brings us lines from the poem 1938 by J. Patrick Lewis on her blog, Bildungsroman:
https://slayground.livejournal.com/915488.html

Find Tabatha at https://tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/ featuring an auntie, some empathy, and letting meaning find YOU.

Laura shares a poem called “Forever Four” and asks for some help with names at https://laurasalas.com/poems-for-teachers/four-forever-poetry-friday/

Carol V. offers a post filled with creativity sparks and connections from this week at https://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2021/01/creativity-sparks-and-connections.html. Poetry postcards and my Sanctuary of Thought slide share are the highlights of my post.

Tricia is in with a poem inspired by words from Merriam Webster’s Time Traveler site. https://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/2021/01/its-new-year-with-my-poetry-sisters.html

Linda B.shares more lovely postcards, my hugs in the mail! And I have a ‘song’ for you! https://www.teacherdance.org/2021/01/poetryfriday-poems-and-songs.html

Matt Today, I’m continuing to celebrate my first board book – and my only one written in prose – and also sharing another of my late mother’s poems in memoriam: https://wp.me/p2DEY3-2DU

Janice is inspired with nesting poems, suggested by Irene. http://janicescully.com

Catherine I’m sharing a butterfly cinquain I wrote for our workshop with Georgia, “Resilience.” https://readingtothecore.wordpress.com/2021/01/29/poetry-friday-resilience/

Carol of The Apples in my Orchardis at https://theapplesinmyorchard.com/2021/01/29/poetry-friday-the-return/ 

Sara time-travels with poetry sisters today, writing poems with words from our birth years. Come join us!  http://saralewisholmes.blogspot.com/2021/01/poetry-friday-dictionary-time-travel.html

Tim ponders a reflection on letting go, or not, as the case might be. https://timgels.com/2021/01/28/marcescence/

Margaret retells a story of time with a new poet, student Kaia, who is taking off and realizing she can write. It’s amazing and fun to watch. https://reflectionsontheteche.com/2021/01/29/poetry-friday-doing-the-work-of-a-poet/

 Heidi has revisited her poetry shelf, looking for connections and inspirations. Today I’m reading Lucille Clifton and Janet Wong. Let the women sing! 

https://myjuicylittleuniverse.blogspot.com/2021/01/stps-slps-2-lucille-clifton-janet-wong.html

Find Ruth at https://thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com/2021/01/poetry-friday-shepherds-purse.html

Yvona has reviewed many poetry books on the My Reads section of http://www.yvonafst.com – check them out! 

Bridget hopes to tap into the ‘sparks of creativity’ of the PF folks with a call out for submissions for a poetry anthology!
http://www.weewordsforweeones.com/2021/01/looking-for-creative-outlet.html
Kat sings the praises of Janet Turner  – young illustrator for her recent picture book.  Visit

https://katswhiskers.wordpress.com/2021/01/29/introducing-janet-turner

Molly H. is inspired by two photos, including one from Poetry Friday’s Margaret,  to gift us with two short poems, from her time with beautiful images. 
https://nixthecomfortzone.com/2021/01/29/pf-two-short-poems/

Susan weaves some wonderfulness:  a song/poem performed by future president Amanda Gorman and MILCK. Also a Tolstoy thought about candlelight and heart light & much more. 
https://www.soulblossomliving.com/by-heart-light-and-candlelight-inspiration-for-tough-times/

Jone offers a poem from an important revision class: https://www.jonerushmacculloch.com/blog/poetry-friday-a-poem-from-georgia-heards-class And let’s all sing: Next week Poetry Friday is collected by Jone!

 

 

 

::::::

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holocaust Remembrance 1/2021

 

Needed More Than Ever Is this a crucial year?  Yes. More than ever it’s necessary to remember the mass murders carried out in multiple European countries in World War 2, only to satisfy Adolf Hitler’s maniacal desire to annihilate children & families who were Jewish.

Symbols of hate, including Hitler’s swastika & a mocking T-shirt that bore the message “Camp Auschwitz” were as sickening to see as was the violence in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

I’m pleased to share that this month young writers in my big state (Florida) began thinking of what they will submit to the WHITE ROSE program by early March, 2021. This event engages students in grades 9-12 – traditional or home school settings – to express thoughts about the bold, brave & lesser-known German high school and college students who became Nazi-resistors. They worked against their narcissistic leader & his campaign of genocide that led to The Holocaust. WHITE ROSE was one crucial resistance campaign.

If you know of an educator or student or other learning community such as synagogue where the  essay project information is unknown (perhaps to start the essay effort in another area?) please pass idea of the project along. I’m delighted to know this is the inaugural year of the prize, which feels in keeping with the synergy of peace-teaching & kindness-spreading I felt Jan. 20 watching from home, the inaugural of Joseph Biden & Kamala Harris & that evening’s uplifting activities & events.

 

Appreciations to both the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center and to the Holocaust Education Resource Council for the information.

Why is this a Holocaust Remembrance time? It was on January 27, 1945, that Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration and death camp, was liberated by the Red Army. Another annual Holocaust Remembrance time is in April, a month WHITE ROSE students were executed in Germany for trying to create Peace.

More resources

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum https://www.ushmm.org

Kip Wilson, author of WHITE ROSE, an outstanding & award-winning Young Adult verse novel. The book’s poems follow German student Sophia Magdalena Scholl to her sacrifice, once she begins to understand the murders of children & others her country commits, following Hitler.  http://www.kipwilsonwrites.com

“Innocent children

killed

by this regime.

 

Yet what can anyone

                 do

to stop it?”

 c.KipWilson, WHITE ROSE lines from the poem, “Truth in Rumors”

 

::::::::::::::::::::

 

Martin Luther King Weekend, 2021

ZORA, SHIRLEY & ARETHA

Good wishes to you this Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Weekend. More needed insight will be my goal in this weekend’s re-reading of CASTE, by Isabelle Wilkerson, my book group’s conversation this month. I also expect to re-read MARTIN’s BIG WORDS from Doreen Rappaport and Bryan Collier, which I often shared as a volunteer in K-2nd grade. I’m fortunate that 3 books from my unread new book stack are also part of this MLK Holiday.

They are Victoria Bond’s ZORA & Me, The Summoner, spun from child days of Zora Neale Hurston. Katheryn Russell-Brown’s SHE WAS THE FIRST traveling in 1972 to “Follow the Chisholm Trail” lifetime of U.S. Presidential Candidate, U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm, illustrated by Eric Velasquez and also, Katheryn Russell-Brown’s A VOICE NAMED ARETHA, celebrating the rhythm and blues icon whose hits can be sung from memory by me, my friends & likely you, too. This is illustrated by Laura Freeman.

Here are just brief riffs, from pre-reading skims. ZORA & ME, The Summoner. Together, the families of Carrie, who is Zora’s school days bestie in Florida, & Zora, elude white mobs descending upon Eatonville. The pair investigate skin-prickly stories of zombies & grave robbing, leavened by their keen interest in science.  Zora confronts bullies, including her rough and rude but town-respected, preacher Father, who in turn receives her brave spunk:

“You got it all wrong, Daddy.” Zora says. Often after that, there will be a slap.

Carrie says, “A faithfulness to mystery, to strange unknowable symmetries vibrated Zora.” 

This is part 3 of the richly researched ZORA & ME older middle grade novel series, ages 10-14.

SHE WAS THE FIRST, The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm. It is great to learn that U.S. Rep. Chisholm’s child days embraced Barbados in a deep way. I like this found poem from the book:

Shirley Anita

had a gift

people listened

and followed 

“the Chisholm Trail.”

c. Katheryn Russel-Brown

A VOICE NAMED ARETHA. Verses this musical genius wrote include a cheer from 1972:

In this whole world, you know

There are millions of boys and girls

Who are young, gifted and Black

With their souls intact, and that’s a fact!

c. Aretha Franklin Young Gifted and Black

[in lyrics I added a cap. for Black.]

::::

This poetry post is part of the informal & nourishing Poetry Friday community. The first week of the new year Ruth hosted Poetry Friday, and Sylvia collected us in Week 2 for a wonderful list of poetry books to be published for young readers in 2021. Right now we travel to the bayou with Margaret for the Pres. O’Bama inaugural poem picture book by Richard Blanco and Dav Pilkey you won’t want to miss. After the historic inaugurations of Pres. Biden & V-P Harris, we meet up with Laura. On the last Friday of this new month of the new year 2021, we return here to Bookseedstudio.

Hopes holding & prayers outgoing, the U.S. reaches the other side of Jan. 20th, 2021 in peace.

“Blessed are the peacemakers.”