Friday, January 29, 2016

Ready for Spring? Celebrating Groundhog Day

I can't believe January is almost over, can you? Now that I've gathered my list of forthcoming poetry for young people this year, I'm working on getting my hands on the actual BOOKS! Hope to post more about them, the poets, and poetry news soon. Meanwhile, I thought it might be fun to stop and celebrate the upcoming Groundhog Day (I love that Bill Murray movie). So, here we go. The lovely, talented Jane Yolen wrote a poem specifically for Groundhog Day especially for our Poetry Friday for Celebrations.
And here are the Take 5 activities from the Celebrations anthology for sharing Jane's Groundhog Day poem.


You'll also find these two "poem postcards" at Pinterest here, along with hundreds of other poems in digital postcard form to share with young people.

Now I'm guessing that winter will be hanging around a bit longer, although our temps in Texas keep going up and down-- mostly up. But, when you're ready to think about spring, here's a list of poetry books all about spring (from my Poetry Teacher's Book of Lists).

Poetry Books about Spring
People often think poetry is all about springtime and daffodils and tulips—and not in a good way—but poetry can be about so many different topics. Of course poetry can also be about springtime and related topics, as the following book titles demonstrate. 

Adoff, Arnold. 1991. In for Winter, Out for Spring. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace.
Alarcón, Francisco X. 1997. Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems/Jitomates Risuenos y Otros Poemas de Primavera. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book Press.
Blackaby, Susan. 2010. Nest, Nook & Cranny. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge. 
Booth, David. 1990. Voices on the Wind:  Poems for All Seasons. New York: Morrow.
Brenner, Barbara. Ed. 1994. The Earth is Painted Green:  A Garden of Poems about Our Planet. New York: Scholastic.
Bruchac, Joseph. 1992.  Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back: A Native American Year of Moons. New York: Philomel Books.
Bruchac, Joseph. 1995. The Earth under Sky Bear's Feet: Native American Poems of the Land. New York: Philomel Books.
Esbensen, Barbara Juster. 1984. Cold Stars and Fireflies:  Poems of the Four Seasons. New York: Crowell. 
Fletcher, Ralph J. 1997. Ordinary Things: Poems from a Walk in Early Spring. New York: Atheneum.
Florian, Douglas. 2006. Handsprings. New York: Greenwillow.
George, Kristine O’Connell. 2004. Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems. New York: Harcourt.
Harley, Avis. 2008. The Monarch’s Progress: Poems with Wings. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills/Wordsong.
Havill, Juanita. 2006. I Heard It from Alice Zucchini: Poems About the Garden. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
Hopkins, Lee. Bennett. Ed. 2010. Sharing the Seasons. New York: Margaret McElderry.
Katz, Bobbi. Ed. 1992. Puddle-wonderful: Poems to Welcome Spring. New York: Random House.
Merriam, Eve. 1992. The Singing Green: New and Selected Poems for All Seasons. New York: HarperCollins.
Nicholls, Judith. 2003. The Sun in Me: Poems about the Planet. Somerville, MA:  Barefoot Books.
Oelschlager, Vanita. 2009. Ivy in Bloom: The Poetry of Spring from Great Poets and Writers of the Past. Ill. by Kristin Blackwood. Akron, OH: Vanitabooks.
Roemer, Heidi. 2009. Whose Nest is This? NorthWord.
Rosen, Michael J. 2009. The Cuckoo’s Haiku and Other Birding Poems. Ill. by Stan Fellows. Somerville, MA: Candlewick. 
Schnur, Steven. 1999. Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic. New York: Clarion.
Shannon, George. Ed. 1996. Spring: A Haiku Story. New York: Greenwillow.
Sidman, Joyce. 2006. Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. Ill. by Beth Krommes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 
Thomas, Patricia. 2008. Nature’s Paintbox: A Seasonal Gallery of Art and Verse. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press.
Wolf, Sallie. 2010. The Robin Makes a Laughing Sound. Charlesbridge.
Yolen, Jane. 2002. Ring of Earth: A Child’s Book of Seasons. San Diego: Harcourt. 
Yolen, Jane. 2009. A Mirror to Nature. Ill. by Jason Stemple. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press. 
Zolotow, Charlotte. 2002. Seasons; A Book of Poems. New York: HarperCollins. 


NBGS List 2016
We're also so pleased to announce that The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations was chosen for the 2016 list of Notable Books for a Global Society by the International Literacy Association! In fact, there were several books of poetry featured on their 2016 list, including: Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer by Carole Boston Weatherford, and Audacity by Melanie Crowder. For the complete list, click here.

***Now head on over to Reading to the Core where Catherine is hosting Poetry Friday.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Celebrating Multicultural Children's Book Day



It's time to celebrate Multicultural Children's Book Day. This is a celebration of diversity in literature for young people launched by children’s reading and play advocates Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom. You can find tons of links to many multicultural blog posts at their blogs too. At Pomelo Books, Janet (Wong) and I are so pleased to be sponsors of this great celebration. In fact, we're so pleased that diversity has been a hallmark of each of our Poetry Friday anthologies. We've featured diverse poets, diverse themes and topics, and even bilingual poetry in Spanish/English. 

This week, Janet is presenting along with poets Julie Larios, Charles Waters, and Carmen T. Bernier-Grand at Dearborn Park Elementary School in Seattle, a Title I school that educates children who are Asian American, African American, and Latino. Children even learn Mandarin or Spanish starting in kindergarten! 

I'm featuring poems by each of these lovely peeps today to celebrate Multicultural Children's Book Day (officially January 27). Join the Twitter Party on Jan. 27 at 8pm with #ReadYourWorld. There will be great conversation and lots of giveaways too! 

Meanwhile, here are lovely gems by Charles Waters, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Julie Larios and Janet Wong. Enjoy!

Have you ever heard Charles Waters present? He's a hoot, a ham, and a force! This poem by him is from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations and is perfect for launching a celebration of Black History Month in February-- plus he has many other poems celebrating African Americans to use any time of the year! 

Are you familiar with the work of Carmen T. Bernier-Grand? I just love her poem biographies. This featured poem below is a bilingual (Spanish/English) poem from our science anthology, The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science, as well as the student edition, The Poetry of Science. I just love the Spanish title "Compu-nerdo," don't you?

Julie Larios is the lovely lady behind the poetry of Yellow Elephant and Imaginary Menagerie, among others. Plus her blog, The Drift Record, is not-to-be-missed. Her lyrical poem, "Names" (below) from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School makes my mouth water!


Finally, you know how much I love Janet (Wong), her poetry, and her endless advocacy for diversity AND poetry. Her poem below, "Grandfather's Chopsticks" is from our first book together, The Poetry Friday Anthology K-5. 

Remember to check out all the resources at Multicultural Children's Book Day and join the Twitter gathering, too. It's so great to see diversity celebrated so widely by so many. Don't miss the party!


Friday, January 22, 2016

Sneak Peek list for 2016

It's time again to post my annual "sneak peek" list of all the poetry for young people that will be published in the coming year (that I know about, thus far). This includes poetry collections,  anthologies and novels in verse. I talked with publishers at the ALA Midwinter conference, attended previews, combed publisher websites, looked for forthcoming titles at Books in Print, and made notes based on PW Children's Bookshelf and other venues, and this is what I know so far. If you know about other poetry for young readers set to be published this year (or have changes to suggest about these titles below), please let me know (in the comments). I'll be updating this list all year long, so it becomes a resource as you look for the latest poetry books for young people. There's a quick link to this post in the menu on the right-hand side of this blog, too. As always, I'm so excited to find, get, and read all of these books! Congrats poets and yay for poetry readers!
  1. Alarcón, Francisco X. 2016. Family Poems/ Poemas familiares. Ill. by Maya Christina Gonzalez. Lee & Low. 
  2. Alexander, Kwame. 2016. Booked. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  3. Argueta, Jorge. 2016. Somos como las nubes/ We are Like the Clouds. Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press.
  4. Aston, Dianna Hutts. 2016. A Beetle is Shy. Ill. by Sylvia Long. Chronicle. 
  5. Atkins, Jeannine. 2016. Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science. Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.
  6. Bint Mahmood, Ayesha. 2016. Thank You O Allah! Kube Publishing.
  7. Bodden, Valerie. 2016. Picturing Words in a Poem. Ill. by Monique Felix. Creative Company/Creative Education.
  8. Brown, Skila. 2016. Slickety Quick: Poems About Sharks. Candlewick.
  9. Brown, Skila. 2016. To Stay Alive: Mary Ann Graves and the Tragic Journey of the Donner Party. Candlewick.
  10. Bryan, Ashley. 2016. Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life. Atheneum.
  11. Burg, Ann. 2016. Unbound. Scholastic.
  12. Caswell, Deanna. 2016. Boo Haiku. Ill. by Bob Shea. Abrams Appleseed.
  13. Caswell, Deanna. 2016. Guess Who Haiku. Ill. by Bob Shea. Abrams Appleseed.
  14. Charlton-Trujillo, E. E. 2016. When We Was Fierce. Candlewick.
  15. Cleary, Brian P. 2016. Bow-Tie Pasta: Acrostic Poems (Poetry Adventures). Brian P. Cleary. Ill. Andy Rowland. Millbrook/Lerner.
  16. Cleary, Brian P. 2016. I Saw an Invisible Lion Today: Quatrains. (Poetry Adventures). Lerner/Millbrook.
  17. Creech, Sharon. 2016. Moo. HarperCollins. 
  18. Dolby, Karen. 2016. Oranges and Lemons: Rhymes from Past Times. Michael O’Mara Books.
  19. Donaldson, Julia. 2016. Songbook Treasury. Ill. by Axel Scheffler. Pan Macmillan. 
  20. Donwerth-Chikamatsu, Annie. 2016. Somewhere Among. Simon & Schuster.
  21. Dooley, Sarah. 2016. Free Verse. Putnam/Penguin.
  22. Eliot, T. S. 2016. Mr. Mistoffelees: The Conjuring Cat. Ill. by Arthur Robins. Faber & Faber.
  23. Elya, Susan Middleton. 2016. ¡Celebración! Ill. by Ana Aranda. 
  24. Elya, Susan Middleton. 2016. La Madre Goose: Nursery Rhymes for Los Niños. Ill. by Juana Martinez-Neal. Penguin Random House/Putnam. 
  25. Engle, Margarita. 2016. Lion Island: Cuba’s Warrior of Words. Atheneum.
  26. Engle, Margarita. 2016. Morning Star Horse/ El Caballo Lucero. Translated by Alexis Romay. HBE Publishers (available in English bilingual [Spanish/English] editions)
  27. Esiri, Allie. 2016. A Poem for Every Night of the Year. Macmillan.
  28. Fogliano, Julie. 2016. When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons. Ill. by Julie Morstad. Macmillan/Roaring Brook/Porter.
  29. Frost, Helen. 2016. Among a Thousand Fireflies. Ill. by Rick Lieder. Candlewick.
  30. Frost, Helen. 2016. Applesauce Weather. Ill. by Amy June Bates. Candlewick.
  31. Goddu, Krystyna Poray. 2016. A Girl Called Vincent: The Life of Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Chicago Review.
  32. Grimes, Nikki. 2016. Garvey’s Choice. Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
  33. Harrington, Janice L. 2016. Catching a Storyfish. Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
  34. Harrison, David L. 2016. Now You See Them, Now You Don’t: Poems About Creatures that Hide. Ill. by Giles Laroche. Charlesbridge.
  35. Hepperman, Christine. 2016. Ask Me How I Got Here. HarperCollins.
  36. Herrington, Janice. 2016. Catching a Storyfish. Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
  37. Holt, K. A. 2016. House Arrest. Chronicle.
  38. Hopkins, Ellen. 2016. The You I've Never Known. Simon & Schuster. 
  39. Jacobson, David; Ito, Sally and Tsuboi, Michiko. 2016Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko. Ill. by Toshikado Hajiri. Chin Music.
  40. Koyczan, Shane. 2016. To This Day. Annick Press.
  41. Latham, Irene. 2016. Fresh Delicious: Poems from the Farmers' Market. Ill. by Mique Moriuchi. Highlights/Wordsong.
  42. Latham, Irene. 2016. When the Sun Shines on Antarctica: And Other Poems About the Frozen Continent. Ill. by Anna Wadham. Millbrook Press. 
  43. Lea, Synne. 2016. Night Guard. Ill. by Stian Hole. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. 
  44. Lewis, Jan. 2016. My Mother Goose Collection: Playtime Rhymes. Anness Publishing.
  45. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2016. Kooky Crumbs: Poems in Praise of Dizzy Days. Ill. by Mary Uhles. Kane-Miller. 
  46. Lewis, J. Patrick. 2016. The Navajo Code Talkers. Ill. by Gary Kelley. Creative Editions. 
  47. Lin, Grace and McKneally, Ranida T. 2016. Our Food. Ill. by Grace Zong. Charlesbridge.
  48. Luján, Jorge. 2016. Trunk to Trunklet. Ill. by Mandana Sadat. Brooklyn, NY: Enchanted Lion Books. 
  49. Lowitz, Leza. 2016. Up From the Sea. Crown/Random House.
  50. Marks, Alan. Ed. 2016. The People of the Town: Nursery Rhyme Friends for You and Me. Charlesbridge.
  51. McNally, Janet. 2016. Girls in the Moon. HarperTeen.
  52. Moser, Lisa. 2016. Stories from Bug Garden. Candlewick.
  53. Nash, Scott. 2016. Shrunken Treasures: Literary Classics, Short, Sweet, and Silly. Candlewick. 
  54. Nelson, Marilyn. 2016. American Ace. Dial Books. 
  55. Nesbitt, Kenn. Ed. 2016. One Minute Till Bedtime. Little Brown.
  56. Norris, Charles M. Ed. 2016. Mommy Goose: Rhymes from the Mountains. Ill. by Minnie Adkins. University Press of Kentucky.
  57. Orgill, Roxane. 2016. Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph. Ill. by Francis Vallejo. Candlewick.
  58. Pinkney, Andrea Davis. 2016. A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day. Ill. by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson. Viking.
  59. Powell, Patricia Hruby. 2016. Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case. Ill. by Shadra Strickland. Chronicle
  60. Raczka, Bob. 2016. Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems. Roaring Brook Press. 
  61. Redgate, Riley. 2016. Seven Ways We Lie. Amulet/Abrams.
  62. Shaw, Stephanie. 2016. Schnitzel. Ill. by Kevin Barry. Sleeping Bear Press.
  63. Shovan, Laura. 2016. The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Random House.
  64. Sidman, Joyce. 2016. Before Morning. Ill. by Beth Krommes. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  65. Singer, Marilyn. 2016. Echo, Echo: Reverso Poems about Greek Myths. Ill. by Josée Masse. Dial.
  66. Singer, Marilyn. 2016. Miss Muffet, or What Came After? Ill. by David Litchfield. Clarion.
  67. Snively, Susan. 2016. Poetry for Kids: Emily Dickinson. Ill. by Christine Davenier. MoonDancePress. (Quarto)
  68. Solod, Margo. 2016. Washed Up Waves. Ill. by Bruce Macdonald. Harbour. 
  69. Sones, Sonya. 2016. Saving Red! HarperCollins.
  70. Steig, Jeanne and Steig, William. 2016. Divine Comedies: The Old Testament Made Easy and a Gift from Zeus. Simon & Schuster.
  71. Steig, Jeanne and Steig, William. 2016. Consider the Lemming (reissue). Simon & Schuster.
  72. Steig, Jeanne and Steig, William. 2016. Alpha Beta Chowder (reissue). Simon & Schuster.
  73. Stone, Tiffany. 2016. Polly's Pirate Poems. Ill. by Dianna Bonder. Simply Read Books.
  74. Stoop, Naoko. 2016. Sing with Me! Action Songs Every Child Should Know. Henry Holt.
  75. Stroud, Bettye. 2016. The World’s Wide Open. Ill. by Pat Cummings. Simon & Schuster.
  76. Thompson, Holly. 2016. Falling Into the Dragon’s Mouth. New York: Henry Holt.
  77. Trillin, Calvin. 2016. No Fair! No Fair! And Other Jolly Poems of Childhood. Ill. by Roz Chast. Scholastic/Orchard. 
  78. VanDerwater, Amy. 2016. Every Day Birds. Ill. by Dylan Metrano. Orchard.
  79. Vardell, Sylvia and Wong, Janet. 2016. Here We Go: A Poetry Friday Power Book. Pomelo Books.
  80. Viorst, Judith. 2016. What Are You Glad About? What Are You Mad About? Poems for When a Person Needs a Poem. Ill. by Lee White. Simon & Schuster.
  81. Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2016. You Can Fly: The Tuskegee Airmen. Simon & Schuster.
  82. Withrow, Steven and Stevens, Roger. 2016 It's Not My Fault. Bloomsbury UK/A&C Black.
  83. Yolen, Jane. 2016. The Alligator’s Smile and Other Poems. Ill. by Jason Stemple. Lerner.
  84. Yolen, Jane and Dotlich, Rebecca Kai. 2016. Grumbles from the Town: Mother Goose Voices with a Twist. Ill. by Angela Matteson. Wordsong/Boyds Mills.
(P.S. Within minutes I already made revisions, thanks to Laura Shovan's post at Michelle Heidenrich Barnes's blog, Today's Little Ditty!) BTW, this list includes books that have SOME poetry, but may not be entirely poetry. And I'll keep updating this list as I hear of new titles to add.

Rhyming/Poem Picture Books

Since posting my original list, I've discovered that some of these titles are rhyming picture books-- also lovely-- but I'm trying to focus specifically on poetry titles (including novels in verse). So, I'm starting a separate list below of poets' rhyming picture books. If someone else is already keeping such a list, please let me know and I can direct people there.
  1. Larkin, Eric-Shabazz. 2016. Ode, Eric. 2016. Too Many Tomatoes. Kane-Miller.
  2. Sidman, Joyce. 2016. Before Morning. Ill. by Beth Krommes. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
  3. Singer, Marilyn. 2016. What's an Apple? Ill. by Greg Pizzoli. Abrams.
  4. Singer, Marilyn. 2016. What's a Banana? Ill. by Greg Pizzoli. Abrams.
  5. Swinburne, Stephen. 2016. Safe in a Storm. Ill. by Jennifer A. Bell. Scholastic.
  6. Tuohey, Caroline. 2016. Forest Wonder. Ill. by Muza Ulasowski. 
  7. Wing, Natasha. 2016. The Night Before the New Pet. Ill. by Amy Wummer. Penguin/Grosset & Dunlap.
  8. Wissinger, Tamera Will. 2016. There Was an Old Lady Who Gobbled a Skink. Ill. by Ana Bermejo. Sky Pony Press.
  9. Yolen, Jane. 2016. How Do Dinosaurs Stay Friends? Ill. by Mark Teague. Scholastic.
  10. Yolen, Jane. 2016. On Bird Hill. Ill. by Bob Marstall. Cornell Lab Publishing Group.
  11. Yolen, Jane. 2016. What to Do with a Box. Ill. by Chris Shiban. Creative Editions.
Meanwhile, head over to Tara's blog, A Teaching Life, to see what else is going on this Poetry Friday!

Friday, January 15, 2016

Poetry at the YMA

Just a week ago I was in Boston for the midwinter conference of the American Library Association. I was lucky enough to co-chair the Morris Seminar alongside the amazing Deb Taylor and we had a great day spent with a dozen leaders in our field engaging 32 participants (new-ish librarians) in talking about children's literature in deep, thoughtful ways. Of course, I started the day by sharing a poem with the group! Then on Monday, I attended the YMA (youth media awards) press conference where all the major ALA (ALSC, and YALSA) awards were announced. Such an exciting time for a book nerd like me! There were so many wonderful surprises among the awards, but I am always looking for any and all POETRY books that are getting recognized in this way. So, here's the round up of the poetry titles that received ALA awards this year.

Hurray for author and poet Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Ekua Holmes for Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, published by Candlewick Press. It received HEAPS of lovely recognition-- for the art and for the informative poetic content! It won:
  • Caldecott honor (for illustration)
  • Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award
  • Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award honor
There's a great blog post at A Rep Reading about the book here.

Congratulations to author and poet Margarita Engle and illustrator Rafael López who also garnered several awards for the poetic picture book, Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It won the Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award honoring a Latino illustrator whose children’s books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.

Interestingly, it also was selected as a Picture Book Honor book for the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (APALA) because this story is based upon the childhood of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who challenged Cuba's traditional taboo against female drummers.  

You can read more about this beautiful book at Latinos in Kid Lit here and at Rhapsody in Books here.

Margarita Engle's poem memoir, Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division also received dual recognitions. 
  • Pura Belpré (Author) Award
  • YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults honor book
Poet and author Holly Thompson interviewed Margarita Engle about Enchanted Air previously on my blog here:

Kudos to author and poet Marilyn Hilton for receiving the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (APALA) in the "Children’s" category for her novel in verse, Full Cicada Moon published by Dial Books/Penguin Random House.

You can find an interview with Marilyn Hilton over at The Hiding Spot here.

Finally, Jacqueline Woodson was chosen to deliver the 2017 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. The May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award recognizes an author, critic, librarian, historian or teacher of children’s literature, who then presents a lecture at a winning host site. Jacqueline Woodson is the 2014 National Book Award winner for her New York Times bestselling memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming. The author of more than two dozen books for young readers, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a recipient of the NAACP Image Award, a two-time Coretta Scott King Award winner and was recently named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation.

Congratulations to each of these authors, poets, and illustrators for these wonderful books and worthy awards. These are some of MY favorite poetry books of the year, too and I'm so glad to see these poetry contributions receive additional recognition. You may also notice that each of these books also reflects the distinctive experiences and rich language that comes from diverse authors and stories. In addition, these works won "multicultural" awards as well as awards for art and text given across the spectrum. I've said it before and I'll say it again (over and over), some of the best poetry being published for young people today reflects the beautiful diversity of our nation and the awards that target diverse literature are often the first ones to recognize poetry specifically. That's also something to celebrate! I would even argue that this year's Newbery winner (a picture book!), Last Stop on Market Street written by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson, is also VERY poetic in it's use of language! 

More poetry books were featured on the ALSC Notables list (hurray!), but that's a future post...

Now head on over to Keri Recommends for more poetry goodness on this Poetry Friday!