from the teaching files
of children's author and educator
Barbara Jean Hicks
What American holiday is more celebratory than Independence Day, and what classic poem celebrates America and Americans more than Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing"? I love this poem from the 1867 edition of Leaves of Grass in part because it reflects my own beliefs about America--that we are a great country because we are home to a people who appreciate the opportunities afforded us in this land. Sing, America!
The story goes that Margaret Schwarzkopf, a young German Jewish woman, was staying with Mary Frye and her husband in Baltimore in 1932 when Margaret's mother died in Germany. Due to increasing political unrest at home, the young woman had been unable to see her mother during her illness and was distressed that she would not be able to “stand by [her] mother’s grave and shed a tear,” as she told her hostess. Frye, who had never written a poem, found herself composing verse on a brown paper shopping bag. Later Frye said that the words to the poem “just came to her” and expressed what she felt about life and death. She circulated the poem privately, never publishing or copyrighting it, and while she continued to write poetry it was this one, her first, that endured.*
To me, Memorial Day, which we celebrate on Monday, May 26 in 2014, is a day to honor not just the war dead, but all those we have loved and lost. Frye's poem, below, has comforted me and many others, and will continue to do so. The body dies, but the spirit lives on...
Continue reading "A Poem for Memorial Day - Barbara Jean Hicks" »
It isn't Friday, when I normally post, but it is the last day of April, 2014--National Poetry Month. I don't want to miss out on one last chance to celebrate poetry before getting back on track with my series on book promotion in May.
Last Thursday marked National Poem In Your Pocket Day. I celebrated by hosting a poem sharing event at my local Barnes & Noble. It was a small gathering, a half dozen of us--fewer than I'd hoped for. But I realized as I left the store after the event that the few people who came were part of my "tribe."
Continue reading "The Poetry Goes On - Barbara Jean Hicks" »
Book spine poetry was the brainchild of Nina Katchadourian, an artist who works in a wide variety of media including photography, sculpture, video and sound. In 1993, Katchadourian began collecting interesting titles and arranging them in clusters so the spines could be read like a sentence. Maria Popova, who describes herself as "an interestingness hunter-gatherer and curious mind at large," later adapted the spine sentences into poetry. Here's my contribution for national Poetry Month 2014.
Book spine poetry is a great, extremely accessible poetry activity for kids--and grown-ups who don't think they have a poetic bone in their bodies. Try it--it's fun!
Barbara Jean Hicks is a regular guest contributor to Tales From the Rushmore Kid. She is a credentialed teacher in K-12 English/Language Arts and the award-winning author of seven picture books for children, including her most recent, AN AMAZING SNOWMAN, which along with A SISTER MORE LIKE ME is based on characters from the 2013 Oscar-winning animated feature film from Disney, FROZEN.
I've been getting the gift of poetry for over a year now, delivered to my inbox every morning. It's such a great way to start the day, and it's a free service from the Academy of American Poets. Interested? Here's a link to subscribe: Poem-A-Day.
The question of why poetry matters is one, I think, that only a poem can answer--and this poem by one of my favorite poets does the job superbly. And yes--it was in my inbox this morning!
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
That's why poetry matters. We need what it holds in order to truly live.
Happy National Poetry Month!
Barbara Jean Hicks is a regular guest contributor to Tales From the Rushmore Kid. She is a credentialed teacher in K-12 English/Language Arts and the award-winning author of seven picture books for children, including her most recent, AN AMAZING SNOWMAN, which along with A SISTER MORE LIKE ME is based on characters from the 2013 Oscar-winning animated feature film from Disney, FROZEN.
Sir Philip Sidney, 16th century poet, courtier and soldier who was one of the most prominent figures of England's Elizabethan age, said that of all people, the poet was king--because "He cometh to you with words set in delightful proportion...and with a tale which holdeth children from play and old men from the chimney corner."
As a children's author, I love that quote. Writing picture books is similar in many ways to writing poetry, and I aspire in my own written work to Sidney's standard. I strive to arrange my words in a way that delights. My goal, like the poet's, is to write something so compelling it will entice children from their play and adults from their leisure.
For this first Friday of National Poetry Month 2014, I've gathered a number of quotes from a variety of poets about what poetry is and what it does. See if any of them resonate with you. How would you define "poetry"?
Another break from book promotion tips this week to usher in and celebrate the March Equinox. E.E. Cummings had a unique way with words that somehow, to me, are perfect for expressing the Spring season. Last year to celebrate Spring I posted his poem "[in-Just]," which includes two wonderful terms that absolutely evoke Spring in my mind: "mud-licious" and "puddle-wonderful.” Here’s another favorite Cummings poem—a call to stop our ceaseless thinking and simply enjoy. The earth's answer to every question, the poet says, is Spring. Enjoy his poem and enjoy the season!
O sweet spontaneous
O sweet spontaneous
earth how often have
the
doting
fingers of
prurient philosophers pinched
and
poked
thee
has the naughty thumb
of science prodded
thy
beauty. how
often have religions taken
thee upon their scraggy knees
squeezing and
buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive
gods
(but
true
to the incomparable
couch of death thy
rhythmic
lover
thou answerest
them only with
spring)
--e.e.cummings
Barbara Jean Hicks is a regular guest contributor to Tales From the Rushmore Kid. She is a credentialed teacher in K-12 English/Language Arts and the award-winning author of seven picture books for children, including her most recent, AN AMAZING SNOWMAN, which along with A SISTER MORE LIKE ME is based on characters from the 2013 Oscar-winning animated feature film from Disney, FROZEN. Check in next week for a continuation of her series on book promotion.
Today I'm taking a break from tips on book promotion to celebrate love affairs with the written word. Here's a sampling of poems by writers whose most passionate love affairs may very well have been with words. The second poem, Notes on the Art of Poetry by the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, is one of my favorites.
Do you have a favorite ode or soliloquy to books or reading? Join in the celebration and let us know.
And Happy Valentine's Day!
Continue reading "Valentines for Book Lovers - Barbara Jean Hicks" »
from the life and mind
of children's book author
Barbara Jean Hicks
For readers and writers, research can be endlessly seductive. I rediscovered this recently when I finished reading my friend Gwen Dandridge's children's novel The Stone Lions, set in the Alhambra in 14th century Spain.
The research Gwen did for this intriguing story set me off on a path of my own. After a Saturday night in the local coffeeshop with my laptop, here's the poem that describes my latest seduction (complete with links!):
Continue reading "The Poetry of Research - Barbara Jean Hicks" »
from the Writing Files
of Children's Author and Educator
Barbara Jean Hicks
Birthdays are always good days for new beginnings -- especially Big-O birthdays! So last week, on the occasion of my latest Big-O, I started what I hope will become a lasting habit. It takes 21 days of doing something regularly, the latest research says, for an activity to develop into a habit. I'm five days in and committed: I'm writing a poem every night before I go to sleep. Moreover, I'm writing it in email, from my iPad right in bed, and sending it to myself at a second email address, where I read it first thing in the morning.
I don't expect these late-night poems to be works of art. I DO expect that some will be pure dreck! But it may just be that I find a few gems in the mix, and certainly lots of raw material for other writing.
The idea is to be spontaneous--to write about whatever comes to mind: things I've done that day, things I've seen; people encountered, emotions felt, thoughts pondered. But sometimes, already I've discovered, nothing comes. One night I started at 10:30, thinking I'd lay my head down by eleven. I made a dozen false starts. Delete, delete, delete. Again and again. Finally, getting close to one in the morning, I decided to write about the Muse who stood me up. It flowed. The next day I realized I'd met with a muse after all--just not the one I'd expected.
Is this experience familiar to any other writers out there--Waiting for Inspiration?
It’s the last weekend of National Poetry Month for 2013. I’ve enjoyed talking about poetry and sharing poems here and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/barbarajeanhicks) throughout the month of April. Poetry has a language all its own, and even if the writer in you doesn't consider you a poet, understanding and employing this special language can make any piece of prose you write sing like a poem.
Like many other forms of literature, poetry makes use of imagery, metaphor, symbol, allusion, connotation and tone to communicate an idea and produce a desired effect. It is the music of language, however, that some writers feel sets a piece of writing apart from its literary counterparts as the thing we call “a poem.” Edgar Allan Poe described poetry as “music combined with a pleasurable idea,” for instance. Laurence Perrine’s classic text on poetry, Sound and Sense, posits that the poet uses verbal music to enhance meaning and communicate an idea more fully.
But musical language is not just for poetry. If you have a story draft completed, particularly if you write picture books, check it against the list below. Does your manuscript utilize any of these musical devices? Can you find ways to tweak your language to include more verbal music?
Continue reading "The Language of Poetry - Barbara Jean Hicks" »
from the inquiring mind of
children's book author and educator
Barbara Jean Hicks,
Guest Columnist
It's still National Poetry Month and I'm still thinking about poetry!
I grew up in a family that loved music and poetry. My dad went to school in an era when poetry was memorized, and I remember him quoting poems when I was a child that he had learned as a child. One favorite memory from my childhood is the image of my father knocking on my door to wake me in the morning, poking his head in the doorway and quoting Omar Khayyam:
AWAKE! for Morning in the Bowl of
Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight…
from the bookshelves of
children's author and educator
Barbara Jean Hicks,
Guest Columnist
In celebration of National Poetry Month, I gave myself the gift of three new books of poetry: 100 Selected Poems by e.e. cummings, 100 Love Sonnets by Pablo Neruda, translated by Stephen Tapscott, and Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology, translated and edited by David Hinton. A wonderful, eclectic mix!
Spring has come to the little corner of the world where I'm living, and I'm loving it. Days are getting longer, the flowering cherries and the rhododendrons are in bloom, the spring showers are a bit warmer than the winter rains and the world is "puddle-wonderful"! So for those of you enjoying Spring in your corner of the world--and those of you who haven't yet seen Spring!--here's one of my favorite spring poems from e.e. cummings.
from the teaching files
of children's author and educator
Barbara Jean Hicks,
Guest Columnist
April is National Poetry Month. To celebrate, I've been posting poems on my Facebook page--so far some haiku from the Japanese masters of the form (one of my favorites) and a couple of book-spine poems.
Never heard of a book-spine poem? Poetry lesson of the day: Book-spine poems are just one example of a poetic form called a "cento"--a poem made up entirely of lines from other people's works, arranged to form a new work. I think of it as "word collage."
Here are two examples, compiled from books on my own shelves. If you're inspired, compile a book-spine poem of your own, snap a picture, and hop on over to Facebook to post the image on my Wall. (Teachers--this is a great activity for kids, encouraging them to make connections between lines of prose to form their own poem.)
Recent Comments