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Each week, I say to myself, I need to do the Poetry Stretch at The Miss Rumphius Effect. And then somehow the week is gone.

But yesterday, I forced myself to commit a few minutes because the form this week is short--sijo--and I've written a couple of them before and liked them. I was thinking they wouldn't be too tough, but I struggled with them. I couldn't think of the twists...the punchlines.

Oh well. Here's what I came up with:

Our selection last month once again had us travelling all over the world and this time included poetry, fiction and non-fiction.

First of all, in honor of Poetry Month in the US, we chose Linda Sue Park’s Tap Dancing on the Roof as our reading-together book. We’ve all had great fun dipping into it and taking it in turns to choose and read the poems to each other. There were some gem moments like Older Brother discovering the sijo about how annoying it is to be summoned out of bed to go and clean your teeth – minutes after being subjected to the same treatment himself! The more we explored the poems, the more I marvelled at Linda’s knack for getting the words just right – whether she’s describing a very ordinary, every day event or taking off on a flight of whimsy and metaphor. I’ve already blogged about Tap Dancing on the Roof so I won’t say any more here, but pass on to…

… Older Brother’s choice, which was Grandpa Chatterji by Jamila Gavin, illustrated by Peter Bailey. Here’s what he (aged 9 1/2) has to say:

I really enjoyed Grandpa Chatterji and I thought it was very funny sometimes, especially the part at the fair when Grandpa and Sanjay went on the rockets and they flew up into the air – when they came off they were green! Then in the evening Sanjay said, “Shall we have another go next time?” and Grandpa replied, “Maybe.”

I learned that in India some people pray standing on one foot and then when they pray they say, “Om” and the O is like the shape of the sun. People think of God as the sun because he is bright and the light of the world.

I would recommend reading it because I think people would enjoy it. Now I want to read the other two Grandpa Chatterji books.

In the meantime, Little Brother has enjoyed dipping into and absorbing the Australian Creatures of the Rainforest:Two artists explore Djabugay country by Warren Brim and Anna Eglitis:

I love books, especially encyclopaedia books about animals. This book has some animals in that I love, like echidnas and kookaburras and bandicoots. I learned that some ants are edible (the green ants) and I learned some words in Djabugay like gurrina, which means echidna, and badil, which is a zamia palm tree. Luckily at the end there is a guide to how you say their letters.

The book is by two artists – first there are lino cuts then there are original aboriginal pictures. It is very good.

So, as you can see, we are very much enjoying the PaperTigers Reading Challenge and I know my boys are finding the books they’ve chosen to be fun and enriching. Do let us know how you are getting on – only a couple more months to go!

You may have heard of Linda Sue Park. She picked up a little thing called the Newbery Award for her book, A Single Shard, a historical novel set in twelfth-century Korea. But for the upcoming Texas Library Association Poetry Round Up she dons a different hat, that of poet. But first, a bit of background info. She was born in Illinois, is a Stanford grad, married an Irishman, is the mother of two, worked as a journalist and teacher, and is an avid reader, reviewer and blogger. Her previous works include: the novels: Seesaw Girl, The Kite Fighters, When My Name Was Keoko, Project Mulberry, Archer’s Quest, the unique collaboration Click, and her latest book, a "sports" novel set in 1950’s Brooklyn, Keeping Score. She also has several picture books to her credit including The Firekeeper’s Son, Bee-Bim Bop, and Yum! Yuck!

When it comes to poetry, she has long been a contributor to literary journals and has now published her first work of poetry for young people, Tap Dancing on the Roof; Sijo Poems—a unique collection of traditional Korean poems with surprises in the last line. Her extensive author's note at the end is especially wonderful and offers history, advice and encouragement. Here’s a lovely sampling:

Wish
by Linda Sue Park

For someone to read a poem
again, and again, and then,

having lifted it from page
to brain-- the easy part—

cradle it on the longer trek
from brain all the way to heart.

From: Park, Linda Sue. 2007. Tap Dancing on the Roof; Sijo Poems. Clarion.

Isn't that beautiful? It reminds me of other poems about poetry-- a topic I love. Here are two other favorites:

The Poem as a Door
by Eve Merriam

A door
is never
either/or.
A door
is always
more.

You cannot skip over,
you cannot crawl under;
walk through the wood,
it splits asunder.

If you expect it to be bolted,
it will be.

There is only one opening:
yourself as the key.

With a sigh of happiness
you pass through
to find on the other side
someone with a sigh of happiness
welcoming you.

from Merriam, Eve. 1992. The Singing Green: New and Selected Poems for All Seasons. New York: HarperCollins.

and

The Bridge
by Kaissar Afif
translated by Mansour Ajami

Poetry is a river
And solitude a bridge.

Through writing
We cross it,
Through reading

We return.

From Nye, Naomi Shihab. comp. 1998. The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings From the Middle East. New York: Simon & Schuster.

What are your favorite poems about poetry?



Picture credit: search.barnesandnoble.com

In Sept. '06, La Bloga received 4,468 hits. Today as you read this post, La Bloga has reached our first month of 10,000 visits.

In the expanse of a planet-wide WWW, 333 and a third hits per day is not earthshaking, so to speak. Nor I do know how this compares to other Chicano or Chicano lit sites, but for us it's more than comforting to know there's that much interest in the "news, views and reviews" that the Bloguistas produce on this site.

Each contributor volunteers their time and posts the fruits of hours and hours of work necessary to keep La Bloga fresh. While being the lightest contributor to the site, I have watched and read as mis compadres have created something great where before there was only null pixels.

I take this opportunity to ask the other Bloguistas to take a well-deserved bow:
Manuel Ramos - who created and set the standards that guide the quality of La Bloga postings.
Michael Sedano - who's become resident tech guru and was there at the launching.
Daniel Olivas - whose scholarship and literary contributions boosted our Internet presence.
Lisa Alvarado - who's added the Midwest perspective and made us more than a bunch of good ole Chicano boys.
René Colato Laínez - whose major contributions in children's literature give La Bloga added perspectives.
Gina Ruiz - who, though no longer with us, gave much time and countless reviews (also no longer with us).

Please take a moment to send them your own congratulatory messages. They've done a considerable body of scholarship that next year should well belie today's 10k hits.

RudyG