The Crafty Poet: A Progress Report

This morning it went sailing off to my publisher! At last. That is, the manuscript for my forthcoming craft book, The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop. This is the accumulation of about two and a half years of work, most of it culled from this blog and my monthly Poetry Newsletter. The challenge in doing this book was the organization of a good deal of material into a sensible whole. I spent a long time just staring at piles of paper on my kitchen table, thinking and thinking. Then weeks of outlining, rearranging, breaking one section into two, joining two into one, filling in some holes. Then the big job of compiling all the separate pieces into one humungous file on the computer. Then because I don't trust myself to proofread accurately on the screen, I printed out the whole thing and proofread, fixed, reprinted, proofread, fixed, etc. Numerous times.

While stylistic differences from one newsletter to the next don't matter, in a book they do. So I spent a lot of time making things consistent. What's the difference between "into" and "in to," "onto" and "on to." Did I want "line breaks" or "linebreaks," "free write" or "freewrite"? And oh my, which numbers should appear as numerals and which as words? Should numbered lists be indented or at the left margin? Some were one way, some the other. I had to take notes about how many line spaces to leave between different kinds of headings. Then go back and be sure I'd done it the same way from one section to the next. Finally, I reached the point where it seemed about as right as it was ever going to be and I said, Time to let her go.

 

Side view. Look how plump she is! 

That pile in the middle is all the previous print-outs. Obviously, I've gone broke on paper and ink cartridges. That pile does not include the finished manuscript.

This has been a long process—and still isn't over. I've spent months putting this book together. It's a different kind of challenge than putting together a book of poems. But it has been exciting and hugely gratifying. I have around 100 amazing poets in the book. I am so grateful to each one for his or her contribution. Names and contents to be released in a later post.

Now the manuscript is with my publisher and I will wait to get it back for some more proofreading after he whips it into shape. Yes, more proofreading! The book should come out this summer. In the meantime, it's back to poetry for me. And a celebratory dinner out tonight seems in order.

Praise for a Teacher

Two weeks ago I spent time at Chatham High School as the visiting poet for Mrs. Lori Roper's English classes. On both Monday and Friday I spent one hour with a group of seniors and then one hour with a group of freshmen. We talked a bit about poetry. Then I took the kids through two different writing activities. They were such terrific groups! They read their poems, and I was very impressed. But no surprise, really, as that's what happens when a teacher brings poets and poetry into her classes. There is simply no better way to get kids thinking creatively and playing with language. So kudos to Lori Roper for initiating the Guest Writers Series at her school.

When Mrs. Roper began teaching at Chatham High School, she inherited the school's dormant literary magazine. She held an Open Mic night and brought the journal back to life. Then she went a few steps beyond and applied for and won an Unsung Heroes Grant. With the money which is given for her discretionary use, she began the Guest Writers Series and a Poetry Festival. Not one festival per year, but two! One in the fall and one in the spring. It was my pleasure to be part of last Friday's spring Poetry Festival.

The event was held in the auditorium which was packed with approximately 500 students. Students came in for a single period as they were able to be excused from classes and/or during free periods. Each one-hour session included students who had signed up to read poetry or sing. The poetry could be something the student had written or simply something the student liked by someone else. The music was a wonderful addition to the festival. There were individual singers, duets, and groups. Lots of instruments. And in the background was a large screen where student art was projected. What a wonderful mixture of poetry, music, and art. My role was to read 3 of my own poems. It was quite thrilling to read for such a large audience—as well as a bit terrifying, especially in a dark room where I could not see any faces.

I loved being Chatham's Guest Writer and then reading at the festival. I hope the administration and students realize how fortunate they are to have Lori Roper on the faculty.

The Chatham Courier ran an article about my visit.

Here's the poem read by Mrs. Roper at the festival:

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

——William Ernest Henley

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Visiting Poet

I've just finished two days of a terrific school visit. This visit was like dessert. The school is Mount Saint Mary Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in Watchung, NJ. The address is Rt. 22, a heavily traveled highway, so I expected something looking sort of like a factory. Big surprise. And the school isn't really on the highway. I turned off the highway, then drove up a long, winding, tree-lined side road and found the school situated on the top of a hill.

This is the main building, what I first saw as I approached the top of the hill. As you can see, it doesn't look anything like a factory.

As I entered the building, I saw immaculate marble floors and polished dark wood. Up a short stairway I found this lovely entryway.

Here is the main lobby. Not anything like any of the public schools I've visited. Real oriental carpets, brocade chairs and sofas.

To the right of the entryway I found this gorgeous living room. Those are two pianos at the end, each to the side of a harp. Students go here during free time to practice their music. I went here during my unscheduled time, and I visited one combined class in here.

Here's a close-up of the music end of the living room.

On the first day I visited 3 classes of 9th graders. On the second day I visited 4 classes of 9th graders. It was just so lovely to be with big kids again. Classes were all small and the girls were wonderful. I'd sent three poems ahead of my visit, and the girls had read them. So I began with a short reading of those poems. Then we had a Q&A. Great questions—how did you become a poet? who are your favorite poets? how did you develop your reading style? is everything in your poems true? how does it feel to see your own book in a bookstore? why do you write about fruits and vegetables?

After the Q&A I had the girls do a writing activity, followed by a reading of some of the drafts. I used 3 different activities so that the two teachers would be able to use two additional ones on their own.

Lunch each day was in the dining room, also very nice, carpeted, wood tables, nice choice of dishes—and free! A free lunch is a teacher perk in this school. Although teaching staff is all laypeople, there were many nuns as they run the school, serve in various capacities such as principal and bookstore manager, and live in the apartments upstairs.

It was a very friendly place and I loved it. I thank Karen Engelmeyer for arranging the visit. What a pleasure to be with a teacher who loves poetry and knows that there's a big difference between just reading the poems and having the poet in the building. It makes me quite happy to know that within two days something like 120 new poems were written by the girls of MSM.

On Being a Famous Poet

On the first day of the third grade residency I did this past week, one boy asked me, “Are you a Famous Poet or a Regular Poet?” I was at a loss for an answer. I was quite sure I didn’t qualify as “famous,” but wasn’t sure what “regular” was, though it was clearly the less appealing position. So I just mumbled something about being in between.

We then moved on to doing our poems: a color poem, a third eye poem (based on the prompt designed by Ron Padgett), a galaxy poem (the kids had just been to the Planetarium), and a Memory poem based on school days and suitable for reading at the end-of-the-year graduation program. To the left you see a picture I showed to stimulate thinking for the third eye poem. It got everyone's attention.

On the last day I read my poem Blueberry as an example of a memory poem. The poem is from my book, What Feeds Us. When the boy who’d asked if I was famous saw that I was reading from my own book, he called out, “So then you ARE famous!”

I’m glad that’s settled once and for all.

And as if that weren’t proof enough, yesterday Google sent me an alert to a link where I discovered that someone named Monique Guzman has written and posted an essay she wrote entitled Ambiguity in Art. The essay was written for her English 203 course. In it she analyzes the mixture of clarity and ambiguity in three poems, one of which is mine! She chose My Husband Discovers Poetry (scroll down to Friday, August 3) and has lots of cool insights into the poem. It is really gratifying to the ego to find one’s poem the subject of a close analysis. And she’s placed me in some very nice company: If I Should Learn, In Some Quite Casual Way by Edna St. Vincent Millay and Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell.

So this clinches it: I’m a famous poet. I give Ms Guzman an A+.

If you’re going to be in New York this Tuesday, please come to my reading. I’ll be reading with Sally Bliumis-Dunn and JC Todd as part of the Indie Press Series at McNally Robinson Booksellers. This must be a large store as they’ve booked Mark Strand for the same night, same time (7:00 PM). So you’ll have to choose which famous poet you want to hear.

Poetry Residency—Part 2

Today was the last day of my two-week residency at the Lyncrest Elementary School in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. This week was just as wonderful as last week. Students learned about similes, metaphors, imagery, personification, diction, and stanzas. They learned some revision strategies and some techniques for effective oral reading of poetry. They wrote autobiographical poems in metaphors, nature poems using personification, and riddle poems. As a follow-up activity, they will have a poetry slam to which parents and other students will be invited. Students are also working with the art teacher to make visual displays of their poetry.

A student's poetry folder. Every student had one with his or her own design.

The reception in this school was astonishing and heart-warming. I had interest from the ESL teacher, from aides and resource room teachers, from the office secretary, and from teachers whose classes I did not visit. The principal sat in two classes. The district superintendent visited a class. The local newspaper sent a reporter and a photographer. The students were very enthusiastic and wrote amazing poems. The teachers whose students I worked with were welcoming and warmly appreciative. Today they invited me to be their guest at lunch. The principal gave a lovely talk and then so did my wonderful contact teacher, Deborah Kempin, who beautifully made all the arrangements for the residency. She presented me with a magnificent bouquet. Lovely from start to finish.

Poetry lines the halls of the school. The above is in the front hallway. Walls outside of classrooms are filled with poems.

My beautiful bouquet

My bouquet on my fireplace at home

Poetry Residency

This week and next I have a poetry residency at the Lyncrest Elementary School in Fair Lawn, NJ. I knew it was going to go well when I entered the building and saw the above sign. It's nice to be welcomed that way. This is a challenging residency because I'm working with three different grade levels—third, fourth, and fifth. So there's a good deal of juggling of lesson plans, plus the usual moving from room to room. So far I've only shown up at the wrong room twice. But it's all going really well. The teachers in this school are very friendly and enthusiastic. They all pay attention to what I'm doing and some of them also join in on the writing. I wish all teachers would do this as it's wonderful for the kids to see their teachers participating.

The kids are so excited about poetry. One boy today came up to me after class and said, "Wherever did you learn all those words?" He was quite impressed with my vocabulary in the poem I read. When I first started working as a poet-in-the-schools, I didn't feel comfortable reading my own poems to the kids. But now I try to read at least one of mine as it seems to get the kids very interested in me, my work, and poetry. It generates a lot of energy. So far all classes have written two poems. We've got poems about roses in a multitude of colors, outdoor image poems, and poems about fruits and vegetables. And more to come next week. Then I will lay low for a week and take lots of naps.