Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
Whew! What a couple of weeks it’s been–NCTE one week and Thanksgiving the next. I’m grateful for both, but I’m glad to be quietly at home now :>)
NCTE was difficult for me this year. I think it’s partly because I hadn’t been in FOUR years. I was out of practice. And partly because I’m deeply unhappy with some publishing-related projects and feeling very left behind, left out, and grumpy. So, there ya go. However, I’m grateful for so many things at NCTE. Here’s just a top 10 list, but there are more.
I’m grateful to:
- Mary Lee Hahn for picking me up from the airport and driving me to the hotel. What a luxury!
- Margaret Simon for including me on her proposal and also making our hotel arrangements.
- Lerner for the badge and my Finding Family signing.
- Creative Company for sponsoring me as a table host with Puddle Song at the Children’s Book Awards Luncheon.
- The fourth-grade teacher at my table for the luncheon, who was so excited to read Puddle Song and couldn’t wait to show it to his students.
- Megan Abbate, my Bloomsbury editor, for taking the time to have breakfast with me.
- Cyndi Georgis, Marie LeJeune-Meyer, and every other person who called my name in the skybridge, the exhibit hall or anywhere else and said hi.
- Megan Litwin, Jyoti Gopal, and Dianne White, who gave my poetry several shout-outs in their lovely session.
- Georgia Heard and the whole committee for the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, who inspired me hugely!
- My husband, for insisting I go even when I said we really shouldn’t spend the money.
There are many more people deserving of thanks, too. And, as expected, I put my foot in my mouth, didn’t recognize people, etc. In fact, Poetry Friday friend Denise Krebs was in my session and at my roundtable, and I totally bungled getting to chat with her. Missed opportunity. There are always some of those too. :>(
I’m going to share some photos from NCTE and also a quick found poem created in one of the sessions I attended.
And here’s teacher educator MaryAnn Capiello, with a colleague of hers, I believe. They were two of the folks at my luncheon table, and we had to do a short cheer when each book title was read. This was for Puddle Song.
If you’d like to see some more pictures, go here for my full album. You don’t have to be on Facebook to view it.
For my poem this week, I’m sharing a found poem (really more of a cento) that I created in the session given by Megan Litwin, Jyoti Gopal, and Dianne White. Fabulous session! Can you identify where these lines come from?
Morning is
shimmer, glimmer,
glowing light–
Yellow the flower. Yellow the seed.
Its whole song…
is wide and deep.
–assembled/found by Laura Purdie Salas
And for lots of wonderful poetry, don’t miss the Poetry Friday Roundup with Anastasia Suen. I took her amazing picture book class many years ago, and I’ll always be grateful to her for all that I learned there!
17 Responses
Thanks for sharing all the goodies from NCTE, Laura. I missed seeing my friends this year, many of whom I first met there. I recognize some of the lines in your cento. I think you borrowed something from all the presenters in that session, and it reads beautifully.
Laura, you shine in all these photos and in your beautiful books! It’s a tough time in publishing…hang in there because the world needs your only-LauraPurdieSalas-could-do-it poems and stories. xo
Thanks, Irene :>)
So envious of your NCTE trip, Laura! Someday… Thank you for your honesty about how you’re feeling, too. Even in disappointment, we grow, right?
Laura, congratulations on a successful trip and for finding so much to appreciate about the experience. I admire your work, and I am always cheering for you!
I’ve only been a couple of times & I loved being there, now seeing all the people you were with, played and worked with, Laura. I love your books & wish you well with the next one! I don’t recognize the lines but it’s a beautiful celebration of morning sunshine! Thanks for taking time to share so much!
I so appreciate your whole post, with your honest reflections, your photos of so many people I know but have not met IRL, and that fabulous ending poem. I’m a huge appreciator of all things morning/dawn! I especially love the line: “Yellow the flower. Yellow the seed.” What beautiful rhythm. You captured a lot of the energy of NCTE in your post–and while it’s clearly inspiring, I suspect, at least for me, it might also be a bit whirlwindy and overwhelming! I’ve never been, but I have high hopes of attending next year when it’s so close to me. If so, I hope to see you there!
Thanks, Molly :>) I need to put out the word about getting on to some session proposals for next year. Perhaps I’ll see you in Boston!
Thanks for the shout out, roomie. One of the things I never like about NCTE is feeling like I’m missing something, a friend? a good session? a book signing? This year was just as frantic for me and more so when I lost my credit card (which all turned out OK in the end). I love your found verse (cento). The last few days have had all the rain we didn’t have over the summer, so not much glimmer to the mornings. Thanks again. It was a pleasure to be with you.
That was such a stinky thing to happen, Margaret! Yes on the always missing out on something (or several somethings). But lovely to catch up a bit with you!
How fun to see your pictures of NCTE! It feels like forever ago, probably due to spending the last two weeks COVIDing. I’m honored to have made #1 on your list and I’m eternally grateful that the germs that found me did NOT find you! (The colleague with MaryAnn is Erika Thulin Dawes. She was the chair of the Huck Award committee when I served!)
Love that you shared these photos! So glad you chose to go. Love the yellow in your found poem.
Thanks for the picture book workshop shoutout and for sharing NCTE. I wish I could have been there with you and all of those amazing poets.
So much goodness from NCTE!!!! I’m so glad you got to go and connect with so many poetry folks!
Whoops! That’s me, Marcie Atkins, above. Forgot to sign in.
Every photo and word oozes inspiration and community. Thank you for sharing your NCTE experience, Laura. I hope to attend one day…and hopefully meet you (and all the other PF folks) in person! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your exuberayting post of NCTE with energy spilling out, and I’m glad you went too! 💙 your poem, “yellow the flower, yellow the seed,” and the ending–beautiful, thanks Laura!