Underwear, a Poetryaction

Poetry Friday logo by Linda Mitchell

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)

Ooh, you guys, I was on the radio this morning talking about Finding Family for the MN Reads segment on The North 103.3 FM with Luke Moravec. That was nerve-wracking, and I have no idea how I sounded! I’ll be listening to it tonight after I get home from my part-time job. Eep. The interview is short, and if you’d like to give it a whirl, just click here.

So. Poetry. I just read A History of Underwear with Professor Chicken–now there’s a title where I’d be the one asking, Where did the idea come from? Anyway, it’s funny, fanciful, and full of facts. And I decided to write a poetryaction to it. Here’s my draft.

And for lots of wonderful poetry, don’t miss the Poetry Friday Roundup with the wonderful Rose at Imagine the Possibilities! Recently, Rose said this about my book, Oskar’s Voyage: “Oskar’s Voyage is a delightful story by Laura and illustrator Kayla Harren about an endearing chipmunk whose love of tomatoes causes him to become a stowaway on a Great Lakes freighter. It is full of fun, facts, and lots of emotion.” And then she wrote a poetryaction to it! You can see it here. Sigh. I love that.

19 Responses

  1. It seems that you all the appropriate verbs in the poem, Laura. I love the ‘hidden bits’! And, am happy for you that the “book launch” went so well!

  2. Okay, not sure if I’m interpretting your poetryaction correctly, but if I am… eww! lol — and now I’ll have to go read that book! See what a great “review” can do for a book? Thanks, Laura!

  3. Well, ’tis the season for underwear, clearly, because my pal Jonathan Roth just came out with this companion book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/almost-underwear-jonathan-roth/1144446266 Never was an underwear poem more revealing of its middle aged femal author (if I may be so bold)–I believe kids think of underwear as mere coverage!😆 And what’s this about a part-time job?! Thanks for the highlight, Laura, and congrats on the interview.

    1. :>D Nah, I’m not a fan of Spanx or any other undergarments that work that hard! Well, maybe a bit of lifting up top, but that’s the extent of it. But we sure do expect underwear to do a lot, don’t we? And yeah, my royalty income has been way down since the pandemic. My 4 books that came out during pandemic got lost in the shuffle. I’ve been working part-time at a grocery store since October, just to have a small stream of steady money for when royalties and freelance work aren’t coming in. The life of a writer…

    2. Oh, and Almost Underwear looks amazing. What a great book premise. Use the underwear angle to hook readers, even though it was never underwear, and then immerse them in science and history. Love it! Added to my tbr shelf.

  4. Oh wow, this sounds like soooo much fun! I love it! Thank you for sharing the link to your radio interview — I am more than certain that you were absolutely fabulous!

  5. Lovely interview, Laura! Your underwear poem made me laugh. Agree that the book has a great title. Looks like a lot of fun.

  6. Laura:
    Your interview went really well. Kudos to you!
    When I taught preschool, many years ago, we had a little alphabet computer program, and I could always tell when the kids got to U because U was for underwear. Giggles beyond giggles!
    I read that our humor reflects our level of development, so kids who have just graduated to underwear find underwear jokes hilarious! So, it’s a good subject for kids poetry.
    Thanks for these great offerings.

  7. Laura, well-done! I enjoyed listening to your interview. So smooth and confident, you were! Fun poem and book about underwear!

  8. Laura, based on the interview you linked, I think your radio debut was wonderful. This quote is a winner and I can even here your voice stating: “Even when you don’t know the future, you can make a life for yourself with whatever and whoever is around you.”
    Thank you for Oskar’s Journey. I showed Sierra and told her we will take a glimpse of the book and read it on her return from Montana. She and I boh love the front cover. Many thanks.

  9. Your poem made me laugh and now I’m off to listen to your interview!

  10. Laura, congratulations on your great interview! I loved when you talked about the differences of a common loon and a mallard duck, including mallards and loons aren’t BFs. Yet, those loons nurtured the mallard, anyway. I liked your emphasis on yes, it was a rare occurrence to happen. I think it’s fascinating that even though the mallard didn’t have the heavy bones of a loon for diving, the duck somehow managed to dive. Do you know what happened to the mallard? Did the scientists tag the duck? I’m so glad that you were the author chosen to bring this true story to life in a PB. Congratulations on the award you received, too!

    LOL! Your cute poem made me laugh. “Hidden bits” is the best! How id you come up with that? I looked up A History of Underwear on Amazon and read the sample. It was hilarious and so cute. What a great idea for a NF book, the character of Professor Chicken, the chicks modeling, the juxtaposition.… Thank you for sharing the treats in your post and always for your inspiration. 🙂

    PS Imagine how much fun it would be to listen to the laughter of the children while they were read the book. (I miss teaching children.)

  11. I’m catching up with all the things, and I loved your interview. Go, you!

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