Tag: poem
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May 10, 2023
I had a fantastic time meeting readers of all ages last week at the Barnes and Noble in Maple Grove, Minnesota. One of my favorite moments was when an 8 year old boy stood in front of me and shouted: “He will defend the defenseless! He will protect the weak! He will write a poem!”…
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January 4, 2022
New Year’s Day. The frost on my windowpanes looked like feathers to me. Feathers make me think of hope and Emily Dickinson. This poem is filled with good words for a new year. “Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And…
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November 2, 2021
I’ve been walking around lately with the words of Billy Collin’s “Aimless Love” in my head. The poem begins, “This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,/I fell in love with a wren/and later in the day with a mouse . . .” And that is what I’ve been doing these autumn days, walking along…
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April 6, 2021
“Baby Lincoln said that a good story had to have a main character who was full of both curiosity and courage.” I’ve thought a lot about Stella Endicott over the last year, how in a difficult situation, she reminds herself, again and again, to default to curiosity and courage. Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem…
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October 14, 2020
The first poem I had to memorize was Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees.” That was in sixth grade. Later, in high school, came bits of Shakespeare and Frost and Berryman. As I aged, I became grateful for those words forced into the grooves of my brain. They were there whenever I needed them—illuminating, clarifying, comforting. I actually…
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September 16, 2020
You know what I miss? I miss putting a book into someone’s hands. It’s such a simple gesture, and it can have such profound consequences. I think of all the librarians and teachers who put the right book in my hands at the right time. I’m going to be putting copies of Louisiana’s Way Home…