#20 in the Poetry Potluck Series, celebrating National Poetry Month 2012.
Okay, Cutie Pies — Do you know what day it is??!!!
Maybe I should say: What are you carrying in your pocket today?
I hope that along with a ripe mango, biscuit crumbs, 3 cabbage leaves, 2 chipotle peppers, a handful of lentils, apricot rugelach, 2 cups of oatmeal, 5 blueberry muffins, orzo, almonds and pecans, a bunch of grapes, plain yogurt, shrimpies, a carrot cupcake, wild asparagus, two frozen pie crusts, and a lamb who speaks Irish — there is at least one POEM!
Walla Walla Bing Bang, it’s Poem in Your Pocket Day! — The one day of the year you’re supposed to carry around a favorite poem, stop perfect strangers in the street and read it to them (with feeling). Or maybe impress the person behind you in the grocery checkout line with a little Billy Collins while you’re juggling a few cantaloupes.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE NOT CARRYING A POEM?!
*wrings hands, rolls eyes*
Sheesh! Have you learned nothing this month?
It’s a GOOD THING Lill Pluta is joining the Potluck today, because she has the perfect poem for those of you with empty pockets. Yes, I know that I listed Lill as “Kay Pluta” in the Potluck Menu. That’s because Ms. Pluta goes by a few different names — sometimes it’s “Lillian Pluta,” other times, it’s “Kay Pluta,” and today it’s “Lill Pluta.” You’re allowed to have different names when you’re that awesome.
#19 in the Poetry Potluck Series, celebrating National Poetry Month 2012.
Jill Corcoran wears many hats in the world of children’s books — she’s an award-winning author, poet, literary agent and editor who’s creating a new series of poetry anthologies for Kane Miller Books.
You may already know that the first anthology, Dare to Dream . . . Change the World, will be released this Fall, and I’m especially happy because it includes the work of many previous Poetry Potluck noshers, like Jane Yolen, Joyce Sidman, J. Patrick Lewis, Marilyn Singer, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Elaine Magliaro, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Laura Purdie Salas, Kelly R. Fineman, and of course, Janet Wong, who was just here yesterday. How can you go wrong with a line-up like that?
Since I first “met” Jill online years ago through Poetry Friday, when she shared a touching poem inspired by her sister, it’s nice that for her first visit to Alphabet Soup she’s sharing a poem that just happens to be the title poem from the new anthology, which is fully illustrated by J Beth Jepson. She’s also brought a special recipe that she enjoys making with her daughter. (Those who know me, know that I get a tad ecstatic at the mention of cupcakes.) If you need me, I’ll be drooling over by the dessert table.
#18 in the Poetry Potluck Series, celebrating National Poetry Month 2012.
Other
We notice each other right away.
We are the only two Asians in the room.
It does not matter that her hair is long.
It does not matter that I am fat.
I look at her like I look in a mirror,
recognizing my self in one quick glance.
In a recent interview at the Teaching Authors blog, April Halprin Wayland referred to Janet Wong as, “a force of nature in the world of children’s poetry.” Forever brimming with ideas, quick to encourage others, and tirelessly evangelizing the reading, writing and sharing of poetry in different forms and formats, Janet is truly beloved by her readers and an ongoing inspiration to her peers.
Often, when reading Janet’s poems, I have to stop for a fist pump, my inner child shouting, “YES!” It’s so good to feel understood, validated and simply human. I love when her humor surprises me, when she takes something small and ordinary and turns it on its side so I can see it from a fresh perspective, and I always appreciate the genuine, authentic voice that proves she really gets it, gets you.
I’ve lived the truth of “Other” countless times. Is it better to feel invisible, or to stick out like a sore thumb, when all you want is to belong and be proud of who you are? I’m glad this poem is there for anyone who’s ever felt like the odd man out.
I’m happy that Janet chose to share another poem from A Suitcase of Seaweed today, since it’s my personal favorite of her poetry collections. With razor sharp perception, she examines some of the differences between Korean and Chinese customs and holds them up to the American way of life. I laughed at “Rice Cooker” because I did the very same thing, and I could just smell those sheets of seaweed and taste that “Beef Bone Soup.” See why I like this book so much?
For now, though, let’s imagine we all have a Chinese grandmother to bake us these cookies. I loved them as a child, but ours came from a Chinese bakery. Lucky Janet!
#17 in the Poetry Potluck Series, celebrating National Poetry Month 2012.
Whenever I see Doraine Bennett’s wonderful blog photo at Dori Reads, in her cool hat and that wonderful “Ta-Da!” expression on her face, I feel like giving her a standing ovation. “Taking the stage” to make others happy is a great way to approach life in general, and Doraine’s heartfelt, insightful posts are such a joy to read.
Though she wears many hats in her busy life as reader, editor, bookseller and writer of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, I’m especially pleased to be able to shine the spotlight today on Dori’s talent as a poet. On a Poetry Friday back in February, I read her beautiful poem, “What My Mother Taught Me,” and knew I just had to invite her to join the Potluck.
The poem she’s sharing today will resonate with anyone who’s ever experienced the fear and trepidation of meeting a new challenge. That’s pretty much all of us, right? But writers, especially, will know exactly what Doraine is talking about. Scaling a mountain is an apt metaphor for writing in general. Even if there are others to cheer you on, it’s a journey you ultimately have to take alone, often stumbling around in the dark until you find the right path. Oh, but when you finally reach the summit, what a view!
Dori’s hiked to this outcrop at Satulah, climbing beneath 12-foot high laurel and rhododendron.
Doraine: I wrote this poem about five years ago. It’s unpublished, but I like it a lot. Maybe because there is a place attached to its composition—a lovely mountain cabin in the Appalachians where my husband and I spent a lot of time. Maybe because it puts into words the terror I sometimes feel when trying to get words on paper, before I know exactly where I’m going, before I know how to get there.
Dori’s favorite mountain cabin.
The Lump in My Throat
by Doraine Bennett
Stranded on the descent of Satulah,
lost between beginning and end,
I brood over stones beneath my feet,
dreading darkness.
The cold spreads across my chest,
drips down my arms,
to water nettle, burdock, bull thistle
grown over patches of clay.
I search the canopy for a shaft of light,
signaling open space,
or signs of a trail forged by another,
one more certain of his end.
I breathe slowly,
ignore the snags of greenbriar at my ankles,
the gnats settled in my eyes,
force myself to follow the trampled patch of galax
until the trees break apart.
There, on an island of rock,
I am still.
A red-tailed hawk skims the current beneath my feet.
Shadows creep across the basin
and I know —
there are no words for this,
and no way down but to scale the cliff.
I don’t really like cooking much, though I think maybe there was a time I did. I’m best at last minute resourcefulness. Since I’m not a morning person, my best working hours are from late morning until about seven or eight at night. So I’m forever getting lost in what I’m doing only to discover it’s past dinnertime and I haven’t even thought about what to cook. Hence, I’m very good at combining whatever is in the pantry and/or refrigerator and delivering a decent meal in short order, even if it’s late.
Easy Quiche
Ingredients:
Deep dish piecrust
1-1 ½ cups of something chopped (8 oz. pkg. of thawed chopped broccoli, large can of salmon, mixed vegetables, leftover veggies and/or meat, or whatever you find in your pantry or fridge)
½ – 1 cup of cheese (depending on how much you have or how much cheesy you want it)
3 eggs
1 cup milk (cream, half and half, canned, coconut, almond. I’ve even used yogurt thinned with milk or water.)
Herbs/salt to taste (I use marjoram with broccoli, dill with salmon, Italian seasoning with mixed vegetables. Use your nose.)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a bowl, mix veggies/meat with cheese and herbs/salt. Spread evenly in piecrust.
In the same bowl, beat eggs lightly. Add milk and stir. Pour over mixture in piecrust.
Bake 45-50 minutes, until center feels firm or knife comes out clean.
**I usually make two at a time, since there are two piecrusts in the pack. Our favorites are a mix of one broccoli and one salmon.
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Doraine Bennett wears many hats in the writing/publishing world. She is the editor of the Infantry Bugler, a quarterly magazine for the National Infantry Association, where she has interviewed generals and photographed drones.
As a sales representative for Delaney Educational Enterprises, Doraine spends a lot of time in schools helping media specialists and literacy specialists find the books they need to help their students. She likes selling books almost as much as she likes reading and writing them. And it keeps her up to date on what books are being published for children in the educational market.
Doraine has written over 30 nonfiction books for children. Three new biographies (Frank Lloyd Wright, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Mae Jemison) will be available in August from Rourke Publishing.
She has had poetry in Columbus State University’s Literary Journal, Authorme.com, Innisfree Poetry Journal, and the Birmingham Arts Journal.
Doraine and her husband Cliff live in Columbus, Georgia, in a little house with a creek in the back yard and lots of flowers.
“Hilda” by Barbara Ferrier (cream mohair, hand knitted sweater, hand stitched pink nose, gold locket, 1992)
Spring Azures by Mary Oliver
In spring the blue azures bow down
at the edges of shallow puddles
to drink the black rain water.
Then they rise and float away into the fields.
Sometimes the great bones of my life feel so heavy,
and all the tricks my body knows —
the opposable thumbs, the kneecaps,
and the mind clicking and clicking —
don’t seem enough to carry me through the world
and I think how I would like
to have wings —
blue ones —
ribbons of flame.
How I would like to open them, and rise
from the black rain water.
And then I think of Blake, in the dirt and sweat of London — a boy
staring through the window, when God came
fluttering up.
Of course, he screamed,
seeing the bobbin of God’s blue body
leaning on the sill,
and the thousand-faceted eyes.
Well, who knows.
Who knows what hung, fluttering, at the window
between him and the darkness.
Anyway, Blake the hosier’s son stood up
and turned away from the sooty sill and the dark city —
turned away forever
from the factories, the personal strivings,
The President’s Stuck in the Bathtub by Susan Katz and Robert Neubecker: Linda Baie from Teacher Dance
UnBEElievables by Douglas Florian: Tabatha Yeatts from The Opposite of Indifference
CONGRATULATIONS LINDA AND TABATHA! Please send me your snail mail address so I can get your books out to you: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot) com.
Thanks for all your wonderful comments, Everyone!
***
Week of April 23 – 30, 2012
Guest Poets:
April 23: Doraine Bennett
April 24: Janet Wong
April 25: Jill Corcoran
April 26: Kay Pluta
April 27: Heidi Bee Roemer
April 30: Lee Wardlaw
Door Prizes:
The Declaration of Interdependence by Janet Wong (Poetry Suitcase, 2012)
Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku by Lee Wardlaw and Eugene Yelchin (Henry Holt, 2011)
A Stick is an Excellent Thing by Marilyn Singer and LeUyen Pham (Clarion Books, 2012) – Previously unannounced surprise door prize!
**Comment on any post (April 23-28) to be eligible to win!
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♥ Today’s Sunday Bear Hug is brought to you by Cornelius Oliver, who has renamed himself after his favorite poet. He requests that everyone wear blue today in Mary’s honor.
It’s a GOOD THING Lill Pluta is joining the Potluck today, because she has the perfect poem for those of you with empty pockets. Yes, I know that I listed Lill as “Kay Pluta” in the Potluck Menu. That’s because Ms. Pluta goes by a few different names — sometimes it’s “Lillian Pluta,” other times, it’s “Kay Pluta,” and today it’s “Lill Pluta.” You’re allowed to have different names when you’re that awesome.
In 
I’ve lived the truth of “Other” countless times. Is it better to feel invisible, or to stick out like a sore thumb, when all you want is to belong and be proud of who you are? I’m glad this poem is there for anyone who’s ever felt like the odd man out.
Whenever I see Doraine Bennett’s wonderful blog photo at 
As a sales representative for 
Jama's Alphabet Soup 