POETRY FRIDAY: Things to Do If You Are a Book

I’ve been away from blogging at Wild Rose Reader and Blue Rose Girls for so long that I thought I might forget how to post. It has been an eventful year for me. We finally moved into our new home in June. It was—at first—difficult saying goodbye to my home of thirty-seven years…and even more difficult boxing up and moving all the “stuff” we had collected in nearly four decades. The heaviest things to tote to our new place were the thousands of children’s books that I owned and cherished—books that I’ve been sharing with my granddaughter Julia. We had a number of bookcases built for our in-law apartment so I could keep my books on display…and easily accessible. 

NOTE: For Mother's Day, my daughter gave me 

a lovely drawing of our old home. 

We’re fortunate that our apartment is more spacious than most in-law suites. Still, it’s much smaller than our old place. At my age, it has been good to “downsize.” My apartment is much easier to clean than my other home. It’s the perfect size for two old fogeys! 

It’s so wonderful living next door to my daughter and son-in-law. I get to see Julia every day. It’s such fun watching her change and grow…reading books with her…helping her make puzzles…listening to her vocabulary grow.

Lots and Lots of Book Shelves!

THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE A BOOK

By Elaine Magliaro

Be filled with words that tell a tale

of a little mouse and a giant whale

of a runty pig and his spider friend

who was true and loyal to the end

of a badger who loved eating bread and jam

of a funky guy, green eggs, and ham

of a spunky girl named Ramona Q.

of a boy and the Jabberwock he slew.

Be filled with words and tell a tale

that will let my imagination sail.

Be a mystery

or a fantasy

or sing with sounds of poetry.

Between your covers

let there be

a story that’s just right for me.

Over at Wild Rose Reader, I’ve posted an original poem for the holiday season titled Under the Tree.

It Snowed and Snowed: An Original Poem

Here’s one of the “weather-inspired” poem that I wrote two years ago. The winter of 2011 we kept getting one snowstorm after another here in Massachusetts. There was so much snow piled up around our house that we had no place left to shovel it. I didn't go out much for a while. I DID stay inside a lot and write poetry though.

Here are some pictures that I took in early February of 2011:

Seeing the picture that Anna posted of Tilda out in the snow inspired me to share the following poem, which I wrote that snowy winter:

It Snowed and Snowed

It snowed all day.

It snowed all night.

It snowed and snowed.

Two feet of white

covered everything in sight.

Our yard,

our deck,

our walk,

the road

don’t look the same

because it snowed

and snowed

and snowed

and snowed

and snowed.

I dress up in my winter wear

and step out in the frosty air.

I look around and what I see

is a marshmallow world

waiting for me!

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At Wild Rose Reader, I have a “forgotten” mask poem that I wrote some years ago titled Dinosaur Egg.

Matt has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme.

Things to Do If You Are Santa Claus: An Original List Poem

The year 2011 has indeed been a great one for me. I became a grandmother--which was truly a thrill! I also sold my first book--a collection of "things to do" poems--to Chronicle Press. I signed the contract in the fall. I thought I'd wait until now to make the announcement.

One of the most interesting things about the sale of my poetry manuscript: I didn't submit it to Chronicle. Grace Lin did! She sent it to her editor there--who liked the collection.

I also wrote a biographical poem about Jonas Salk  that will be included in a Kane Miller anthology that is due to be released next fall. The book is to be titled Dare to Dream...Change the World. You can read about the anthology at this Wild Rose Reader post: Dare to Dream…Change the World: A Poetry Anthology Coming in 2012.

As the year 2011 comes to a close, I'd to thank two good friends who helped critique and give me suggestions about my "things to do" poetry collection: Janet Wong and, of course, Grace Lin. I also want to thank my daughter and son-in-law for giving me the most adorable granddaughter in the world!

My Granddaughter Julia Anna

I thought I'd write a special "things to do" Christmas poem to celebrate the sale of my poetry manuscript. I still have to work on the ending. Note: I don't have as much time for blogging and writing now because I spend half the week providing daycare for Julia Anna. She's the gift that keeps on giving!

Things to Do If You Are Santa Claus

Have a big round belly,
Cheeks rosy red.
Wear a furry cap
On top of your head,
A wide black belt
With a buckle of gold.
Live at the top of the world
Where it's cold.
Grow a bushy beard
That's white as snow.
Be jolly and laugh
With a Ho-Ho-Ho!
On Christmas Eve,
Set off on your sleigh
With a red-nosed reindeer
Leading the way
Through a midnight sky
On a chilling night
When a guiding star
Blazes bright.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Dori Reads.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

SAVING SUMMER: A Memoir Poem

In September of 1984, my mother’s father passed away. I was devastated. I had spent many of my happiest childhood days at the home of my maternal grandparents. Two of my cousins lived on the other side of my grandparents’ duplex. We three cousins played together in my grandparents’ yard, made a clubhouse under their porch, picked apples and pears from their trees. We also had great times inside their house celebrating holidays like Easter and Christmas Eve. My grandparents took great joy in their granddaughters and loved watching us have fun together.

Dzidzi, my grandfather, had a big vegetable garden behind the house. He loved working there. He enjoyed having us kids pick tomatoes and peppers and onions and carrots and beets from his garden. Babci, my grandmother, would preserve many of the vegetables and fruits reaped in late summer and early fall.

After my grandfather died, I so wanted to write a story in verse about my Babci and Dzidzi. It didn’t work out too well. Some years later, an image from my childhood of my grandmother working in the cellar preserving tomatoes in mason jars popped into my head. That image gave me the inspiration for writing the poem Saving Summer—and for an entire collection of poems about my grandparents, their house, their yard, their garden—and the happy times I spent their with my cousins and sister. The collection takes me through a year at their house. The unpublished collection is titled A Home for the Seasons.


SAVING SUMMER

In the cellar
Babci sits on an old kitchen chair
made new with glossy gray paint.
Wearing an apron blooming with faded flowers,
she leans over the tub of steaming water,
plucks out plump tomatoes,
and peels off the wet, papery skins.
She fills shiny jars with soft red pulp,
stretches on rubber sealers,
presses down moon-round lids,
clicks closed the metal clamps.
She places the jars in a wire basket
and lowers them into a pot of bubbling water to cook.


On wooden shelves in a corner
she stores stewed tomatoes beside rows of pickled beets,
golden peach slices, green piccalilli,
and carrots the color of October pumpkins.
Standing there in late afternoon,
sunlight shining through a small side window,
I see her harvest preserved:
a rainbow glistening in glass.
Babci is keeping summer alive in jars.

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Over at Wild Rose Reader, I have a post titled Old Poems & New Furniture.

Sara Lewis Holmes has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Read Write Believe.

COOL POOL: An Original Poem



Fortunately, the weather here has been beautiful the past couple of days. I hate humid summer days when I can barely breathe. I don’t feel like doing anything when the weather is oppressive.


I wrote the following poem a long time ago for an unpublished collection of seasonal poems titled Tasting the Sun.

COOL POOL
by Elaine Magliaro

The sun beats down.
It sears.
It scorches.
Sweating neighbors sit on porches
Sipping ice-cold lemonade
Waiting for the day to fade.
BUT
When I’m hot as steaming tea,
I stand beneath our maple tree,
Remove my sneakers, socks…and wade
Into a cool green pool of shade.

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At Wild Rose Reader, I have Toasting Marshmallows, an original poem that I wrote for another unpublished poetry collection about candy.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is over at A Year of Reading.

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P.S. I published a post titled Go the F**k to Sleep: What's Your Opinion of This Picture Book for Parents? at Wild Rose Reader yesterday. I'd like to get people's opinions about this new book that appears destined to be a really big bestseller.

GRIZZLY BEAR: An Animal Mask Poem



Last week, I had brunch with Grace at one of our favorite restaurants—Henrietta’s Table in Cambridge. Grace has been getting on my case. She’s been encouraging me for months to send out my poetry manuscripts to publishers before I become a grandmother and a part-time daycare provider for my first grandchild. We talked a lot about my poetry during brunch.

Yesterday, Grace and I had a long talk on the phone about which manuscripts I should get back to work on. The discussion reminded me of a get-together I had had with Grace and Janet Wong a couple of years ago. That day, they gave me advice about the poetry collections that I had already written. In fact, they even gave me a great idea for a brand new collection. I returned home and I began work on it right away. The new collection, titled Docile Fossil,  includes poems about dinosaurs and other extinct animals, fossils, the La Brea Tar Pits, and the Petrified Forest. 

One thing I had forgotten about our conversation that day was the suggestion both Grace and Janet had given me about my collection of animal mask poems. They thought the collection included poems about too many different kinds of animals—and that it needed a narrower focus. They thought I should include only poems about animals that children might see in their backyards or neighborhoods. After talking to Grace yesterday, I remembered their suggestion—and got back to work eliminating poems from the collection...and thinking of subjects for new poems. Grace and I decided on a tentative title for the collection: Backyard Voices. It will include poems about earthworms, a butterfly larva, a silkworm pupa, crickets, a snail, a slug, a spider, frogs, a baby bird trying to break out of its shell, and a number of other little creatures.

Here is one the animal mask poems that I had to cut from the collection:

GRIZZLY BEAR
by Elaine Magliaro

I’m grizzly bear. I’m fierce and fat…
And dangerous. Remember that!
My teeth are sharp as sabers.
My curvy claws can cut like saws,
And when I prowl the woods I growl
And frighten all my neighbors.


I rule the land. This forest’s mine!
I ain’t NOBODY’S valentine!
Don’t think that you can be my friend…
My dinner?
Yum!
GULP!


The End

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At Wild Rose Reader, I have a cento poem that I wrote for a retiring music teacher who worked for many years at the school where I taught. She was fabulous!

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Carol’s Corner this week.

Showering a Mother-to-Be with Children's Books!



Two weeks ago, I posted a few of the pictures that I took at my daughter’s baby shower. It was a wonderful event! Everyone who attended commented on the way I had decorated the room…with board books, picture books, poetry books, and alphabet blocks.




I still have plenty more books to give to my daughter and my son-in-law. But they won’t be the only ones reading to my grandchild! I’ve volunteered to take care of my grandchild three days a week when my daughter is back at work after her maternity leave. I plan to read hundreds of my favorite books to my first grandchild. I can’t wait because reading aloud to young children is one of the things that I love to do most. It’s something that I’ve really missed since I retired from my school library position in 2004.

Here is a poem that I wrote many years ago

about the joy of sharing books

with my Sara when she was a little girl:

A BOOK AND A CHAIR

A book and chair

Are nice to share

When the edges of day

Are melting away

Into the night.

A book and a chair

Are nice to share—

Touching and talking,

Reading and rocking

Into the night.

BTW, The Horn Book has an excellent article titled What Makes a Great Baby Shower Book? by Viki Ash and Betty Carter. You can read it here.

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At Wild Rose Reader, I have an original memoir poem titled Rain Barrel.

Anastasia Suen has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Picture Book of the Day.