Each year, besides setting all kinds of concrete goals/schedules/to-do lists, I choose some kind of theme to focus on and work toward throughout the year. How did I do on my 2009 theme? Well, it took me a few minutes to remember what it was. That should tell you the
Today’s quotation comes to you courtesy of author/blogger Susan Taylor Brown. She has gathered some of her favorite writing quotations here, and there are many there that speak to me. This morning, this one is calling the loudest: “And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you
“There is more, not less intensity in plainness, because simple stuff operates without the safety net of the poetical.” –Hugo Williams, Strong Words, 2000 I’ve been reading many quotations about obscurity, vagueness, mystery, accessibility, etc., and how they relate to poetry. I love poems that I can understand. I want
The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. –Anaïs Nin This quote caught my eye, since in my personal life lately, I’m struggling with things said and unsaid. When I read the quotation, I initially thought the
I often use quotations specific to poetry, but I wanted to cast a wider net today. So where did I go to find a great quotation? To Susan Taylor Brown’s collection of quotations, of course. “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” — Joseph
“Reading poetry to strangers is a very intimate act. It’s kind of like a poetic lap dance.” –Billeh Nickerson OK, I’ve gotten a little bit better at reading my poetry aloud in a teaching context. At young authors conferences or school visits, I share my poems and talk about the
“A poem is a cup of words open to the sky and wind in a bucket.” –Naomi Shihab Nye, The Poetry Paper, no. 3, 2006 I love this definition of a poem. And today, Inauguration Day, something about it fills me with hope. I went looking for a quotation about
I’m extremely excited to be able to share, finally, that I just signed and returned a contract to Clarion for a second picture book poetry collection! This collection of poems about books has kind of an interesting genesis, as I wrote 13 of the poems to submit for an
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