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Among all the other month-long celebrations, April is also National Garden Month with people planting and pruning all around me. Since we moved into this home last December, we are working to get the landscaping renewed and refreshed—watering and fertilizing and planting perennials. We put in a whole new lawn in the backyard where a large shade tree had killed all the grass (and we’re cutting the tree back a bit, too, of course). One of my favorite parts of this process is walking barefoot on the new, soft, cool lawn (of St. Augustine grass).

Going barefoot is such a treat in childhood—freeing and often forbidden (unless you can't afford shoes-- which is another story). A new poetry collection celebrates those barefoot feelings and experiences: Barefoot; Poems for Naked Feet by Stefi Weisburd, illustrated by Lori McElrath-Eslick (Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2008). It includes 27 poems in a variety of forms with appealing watercolor illustrations expanding each one. Many of the poems address the fun, obvious aspects of feet at play, in babyhood, in shoes, jumping, dancing, walking, at the beach, in the pool, plus footrubs, pedicures, and even Mehndi painting. What a fun example of a topic that children can explore in concrete ways from multiple perspectives.

Here’s just a sampling:

Shoe Tattoo
by Stefi Weisburd

Tight shoes,
ribbed socks,
leave lines
embossed.
Streams and hills,
fields of wheat.
A tiny landscape
on my feet!

From: Barefoot; Poems for Naked Feet by Stefi Weisburd, illustrated by Lori McElrath-Eslick. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2008, p. 27.

This is Stefi’s first book for young people, although she has published much notable poetry for adults. Watch for more from this fresh voice.

For more poetry about body parts and movement:
Adoff, Arnold. 1979. I am the Running Girl. New York: Harper & Row.
Brown, Calef. 2000. Dutch Sneakers and Flea Keepers: 14 More Stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Cole, Joanna, comp. 1989. Anna Banana: 101 Jump-Rope Rhymes. Illus. by Alan Tiegreen. New York: HarperTrophy.
Creech, Sharon. 2004. Heartbeat. New York: HarperCollins.
Dotlich, Rebecca Kai. 2003. In the Spin of Things: Poetry of Motion. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press.
Grimes, Nikki. 2000. Shoe Magic. New York: Orchard Books.
Mayo, Margaret. 2002. Wiggle Waggle Fun: Stories and Rhymes for the Very Very Young. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
McCord, David. 1999. Every Time I Climb a Tree. New York: Little Brown.
Sierra, Judy. 2005. Schoolyard Rhymes: Kids’ Own Rhymes for Rope Skipping, Hand Clapping, Ball Bouncing, and Just Plain Fun. New York: Knopf.
Wolf, Allan. 2003. The Blood-Hungry Spleen and Other Poems About Our Parts. Ill. by Greg Clark. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
Wong, Janet. 2007. Twist: Yoga Poems. McElderry.

Try going barefoot again this month!

Picture credit: BestWebBuys

Last week, Jeannine Atkins awarded me a Shameless Lion Powerful Roar award! 



According to the Shameless Lions Writing Circle, the award was created to acknowledge "those people who have blogs we love, can't live without, where we think the writing is good and powerful." The recipients then present the award to five other bloggers,"helping to scream from the mountains the good news about the powerful posts that are produced every day in the blogosphere."

So, I've been thinking about the blogs I love to read. I know some of my very favorite blogs have already received this lovely nod of appreciation and encouragement (one, Susan Taylor Brown's Susan Writes, even got it at the same time I did!). I've tried to pick ones that haven't, but I'm sure I've missed it on some of them.

Anyway, here are five of the many blogs I love:

Elaine Magliaro at Wild Rose Reader is constantly introducing me to new poets and books and poems--or reminding me why I already love the ones she's talking about.

Sara Lewis Holmes at Read * Write * Believe writes clever, thoughtful, thought-provoking posts on everything writing-related. I often find myself thinking about her posts later in the day.

Kelly R. Fineman at Writing and Ruminating shares great info on her works in progress, as well as presenting amazing Poetry Friday posts: scholarly mini-lessons on various poets. I've learned a lot from her!

Andi aka Cloudscome at A Wrung Sponge posts photos and haiku regularly. Her ongoing dedication to photopoetry, which I love, reminds me to look for the poetry in my own life all the time.

And the final spot goes to Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect. Her Poetry Stretch Mondays are a terrific way to start my week, and her Poetry Friday posts are a wonderful way to end it. Thank you for making me stretch as a poet.

You're all powerful, and I hope you all continue to roar for a long time. Thanks for enriching my life!

(You can all snag the lion from above or from my sidebar or visit Shameless Lions Writing Circle to pick out your own.) 

And, even though that uses up my 5 spots, I do want to give a shout-out to Laura Coulter at Writing for the Educational Market. This is a brand new blog that I hope has staying power. It's wonderful that she's generously passing along job postings related to the educational market, and starting discussions on the topic, too. I'm looking forward to participating there!