In my regular “Everyday Poetry” column for Book Links magazine, I wrote about pairing and comparing poetry in the most recent (January, 2008) issue. It’s entitled “Pairing Poems Across Cultures” and here’s a brief excerpt:

Seeking out the poetry of parallel cultures enables children to see firsthand both the sameness and the differences that make the human landscape so dynamic and fascinating. Poets of color are using the language, experiences, and images of their cultures in ways that are fresh and powerful. The special succinctness of poetry is also appealing, and powerful points about prejudice, identity, and cultural conflict can be made in very few words.

Sharing poems in pairs can help children to engage their critical thinking skills by comparing the topics, themes, points of view, or language of the two poems. Selecting poems that reflect cultural details adds an additional layer of meaning and interest. Of course, reading and enjoying the poem for its own sake is the first step. Responding, comparing, and analyzing often follow naturally when children read, hear, and recite poetry together. Repeated readings could incorporate choral reading arrangements and child participation. Here is one sample poem pairing:

Compare Poems about Poetry
• “Wish” by Linda Sue Park, from Tap Dancing on the Roof; Sijo Poems (Clarion, 2007)
• “A Blank White Page” by Francisco X. Alarcón, from Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems / Iguanas en la Nieve y Otros Poemas de Invierno (Children’s Book Press, 2001)

“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.

and

“A Blank White Page”
by Francisco X. Alarcón

A blank white page
is a meadow
after a snowfall
that a poem
hopes to cross

Look at how poets have captured the beauty of poetry itself and what a poem can be and do. Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park explores the Korean poetic form of sijo to describe poetry’s impact, “from brain all the way to heart,” while Francisco X. Alarcón uses images of “a meadow / after a snowfall” to describe the page a poem is written upon. Children can try writing their own “definition” poems modeled on the sijo or free-verse format of these two examples. Next, create a “dictionary” anthology of all of their “defining” poems.

Picture credit: ala.org/booklinks

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Last night I wrote a thirty second scary story. Actually I wrote a 90 second REALLY scary story, then chipped at it, hacked and deleted and rephrased until it was thirty seconds long. Afterwards I wished I'd saved the 200 word version.

This morning I went to the local NPR radio station and recorded it -- we cut out another sentence, and I slowed down a hair -- for an NPR Hallowe'en special...

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I believe that the curious can see the whole, uncut, me getting an award at Scream 2007 thing at

Neil Gaiman Receives Hell's Dildo - Scream 2007

Posted Today

Neil Gaiman accepts "Hell's Dildo" at the 2007 Scream Awards.

It cuts off before I welcome Roger Avary and Ray Winstone to the podium to introduce Beowulf, but if it hadn't you would have seen Roger wearing his "Scary Trousers" tee shirt in front of a billion people.



(Cat Mihos blogs about the awards at http://furrytiger.blogspot.com/2007/10/birthday-girl-scream-awards-dream-life.html. Lovely photos, but my Big Pupil Thing means redeye all the way...)

I should mention that the amazing Cat's Neverwear site is over at http://www.neverwear.net/ and you can get your Kendra Stout "Scary Trousers" or your Dagmara Matuszak "Anansi Boys" tee shirts there. (I suggested that Cat should do a tee shirt with the full "I believe" speech from American Gods on it next...)

Which reminds me -- I've now finally seen the bound insides of the Hill House ANANSI BOYS (you can see pictures at http://hillhousepublishers.com/hh-update-22oct07-01.htm) and they are astonishingly beautiful. Hill House are still trying to get straight answers out of the Polish printer about when he's actually going to have the books bound and delivered to the US -- he's made too many promises to them that haven't come through -- but it looks like it's getting closer and closer to being a reality.

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Ross Douthat replies to my post of the other day at http://rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/10/dumbledore_is_gay_ii_1.php

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This is more of a marmite locating datalet then a question.

There is a large and rather unusual store near Cincinnati, OH called Jungle Jims.

Along with Jim's collection of large animatronic singing creatures, there is a decently size section of foods from England in the international part of the store.

They have a website at junglejims.com at which you can view some off the strangeness under the attractions section.

Marmite, of course, is there and also Hobnobs and various and sundry other foods of interest.

I feel like I'm writing a pamphlet for a tourist attraction now, so I'll stop.

Whenever I drive across America -- which isn't often -- I try and stop in at Jungle Jim's on the way back. And not just for the UK food, but for the amazing variety of world food. It's an amazing place. Would that all supermarkets could have that magic.

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I just heard about the event chronicled in http://117hudson.blogspot.com/2007/10/show-must-go-on.html
We were lucky in that the actor who was hurt was the only one who was sort of understudied (as one of the wolves had also played Lucy's brother in an earlier production) so they reconfigured the second half for seven people instead of eight to do the wolf party...


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Mr. Gaiman,

I checked to see if you've mentioned it yet this year, and saw that you hadn't-- would you mind taking a second to remind your fans who haven't already signed up that National Novel Writing Month begins in a week?

I'm a first-timer, but a lot of your journal entries recently have really inspired me to sit down and write, and NaNoWriMo is a great way to combine your advice and a great community. Figured I'd send in reminder in case there are others who feel the same way I do. Thanks!


-Laurie

I can do even better than that. I can point people to http://www.nanowrimo.org/
And I can finish my Letter Of Encouragement to the troops...

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I'm trying to finish a book right now (it's a very short book called Odd and the Frost Giants and is due on Tuesday) so postings may be a bit erratic, or may vanish completely for a bit.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/apelad/1481245335/in/set-72157600296941365/
is really funny. I bet General Zod would post it on his blog too, if he had one.

Variety reviews The Wolves in the Walls -- "a thrilling, frequently beautiful stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's merrily creepy picture book." -- http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117935039.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

as does Theatermania http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/11767
and the New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/article/64257 which begins, Chalk it up to Americans' overly anxious views of parenting, but here's a phrase one tends not to hear in the States as the childrens' bedroom lights are switched off: "If the wolves come out of the walls, it's all over."

I want to make one of these. If I finish my book in time before the ground here freezes, I shall make one. If not it'll wait until spring...

Sharon Stiteler and I went out today and did what will probably be our penultimate beehive visit before the winter sets in (next time we'll be insulating the hives against the evil midwestern winter). Sharon has claimed for as long as I've known her that we have a Saw-Whet owl around here, and finally, yesterday, she saw it (and so did I).

I was fascinated by this article in the New York Times -- both by what it says about science, food and dieting, and even more, what it says about people.


Lisa Snellings-Clark is having a hallowe'en sale, which includes a Neil Rat with Glow in the Dark eyes. And she's interviewed here.

Gilbert Hernandez is profiled in the LA Times.

And from the Forbidden Planet blog I learned that the second volume of ABSOLUTE SANDMAN comes out, well, now. (And someone just wrote to tell me that if you preorder it from Amazon you get an additional 5% off, bringing it to 42% off. Which is not as good a deal as the 87% off they accidentally offered Volume 1 at, but it's not bad...)

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Hurrah. I'm not yet sure if I'll be there -- I'll only just have got back from the massive traveling-everywhere-trip to China, Italy, Sweden, Japan, and the UK, and there's a point where it's nicer to be home than in New York, even if it is New York. But Wolves is a wonderful show. And I really do want to see what they've done to The Wolves In the Walls during the recent rehearsals. (I believe this version will be closer to the one that premiered in Glasgow in the Spring (as discussed here) than the one that toured in the Autumn.)

...

Let's see -- a few people wrote to ask why I hadn't announced here that Hard Candy director David Slade was going to be directing Neverwhere, as widely reported on the web. For example...


Yes, it is a bit early I'm afraid.

It's my fault; I'd mentioned to the journalist from MTV, after the filmed interview was over, that Lisa Henson and I would be seeing David Slade, who loves Neverwhere, at Comic-Con, but I'd assumed that bit of the conversation was off-the-record. And we did see him, and he's enthusiastic, and so are we, but nothing's set and signed yet, so it isn't news. (And this will, I suppose, remind me to say less when the cameras aren't rolling.)

And on the subject of things that aren't news, I was fascinated today by a new definition of "reportedly", which is apparently now a synonym for "we just made this up". As in several newsfeeds suggesting that Stardust's budget "reportedly ballooned to $200 million". (The budget was $70 million, and that, I'm afraid, was that; Matthew Vaughn's MARV films put in half, Paramount put in half. If it'd ballooned even to an extra million, we'd have had a Lion and Unicorn battle.) (Here's an article on the Visual Effects in Stardust for the curious.)

The curious can keep track of Stardust's takings around the world over at http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=stardust.htm

(My favourite strange Stardust story was the journalist interviewing me in the UK a few months ago who wanted confirmation on the rumour he'd heard that Matthew Vaughn had proved so willful that he'd been quietly removed toward the end of shooting and that "the producers" took over directing. Even after I pointed out that the producers on the film were, in order of power, Matthew Vaughn, rather distantly followed by Lorenzo Di Bonaventura -- who was mostly off in the US dealing with Transformers stuff, and who doesn't direct -- Michael Dreyer -- who was rather busy producing Stardust -- and, er, me, and I wasn't going to try and fire Matthew and direct Stardust, not for all the little plastic toys in China -- and this was obvious nonsense, he still gave me the unconvinced Where's There's Smoke look, because a friend of a friend had told him...)

My favourite movie discovered today is an animation of the Bayeux tapestry -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDaB-NNyM8o

There are review sites I've never dreamed existed. STARDUST was rated Very Offensive at the Christian Spotlight website, while the Catholic Bishops Conference seem to find it less so (while warning of both implied premarital sex and a character born out of wedlock as a result of said implied premarital sex).


Teri

That's good to know. We buried them deep in the pumpkin patch.

Hello, Mr. Gaiman,
Regarding the Coraline musical, do you know if Mr. Merritt intends to release it as a CD? It's extremely unlikely that I'll be able to get to go see it live, but I am a huge fan of both of you, and would love to be able to hear the musical, even if I can't witness the spectacle for myself.
Thank you!

Down the line, I hope so, yes. It's a bit early to say. I'm not completely sure where it will premiere, but I'd love to hear an original cast album...

...

There are now ripe tomatoes, although I'll be in China when we get that magical surplus of tomatoes that leads to Salsa making day. I'll miss the grapes ripening on the trellis, and the apples on the tree. And it's the first decent grape crop we've ever had.

At least I'll have the Birdchick (and Occasionally-Beeing Bill) to keep me informed on Honey, bees and birds and suchlike. (Sharon's latest post about birding out here is at http://www.birdchick.com/2007/08/benefits-of-dead-tree.html)

I'll also miss my family and I'll definitely miss my dog (I know I ought to miss the cats, but they never seem to mind me leaving). I won't miss Holly as much though, because by the time I wash up in the UK she will have moved there for good, and she probably will be looking for a job and a flat, and a father who can be hit up for a meal will definitely be a good thing.

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Just a few things....

Lucy Anne pointed out that there was a tiny promotional film up for Wolves in the Walls at the New Victory site. I just popped it up on YouTube, suspecting that they won't mind at the New Victory, especially if a few of you watching it are impelled to order tickets... (http://www.newvictory.org/show.m?showID=1028522)



YouTube embiggened it slightly, I'm afraid.

I was both saddened and sort of glad he was properly remembered when I saw that Melvin McCosh had died and had a nice obituary and photo in the Star Tribune. I loved going to McCosh's house of books (his motto, You Need Them More Than I Do) as long as it, and he, were there. I bought my favourite book in the whole world there (it's a huge 150 year old 500 page leather-bound blank accounts book. Either I will write a novel in it, or I will want to write a novel in it until I die. Either's fine). The obituary is up at http://www.startribune.com/west/story/1221731.html -- you may have to log in to read it.

Many years ago I put a character based on Melvin McCosh into an SF TV series I never made (it was called Back of Beyond), because I had never before met anyone so transparently fictional in real life. And my love for John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester's poetry goes back to buying some books from McCosh, and when he looked at the pile he wandered off into a back room and put a book of Rochester's poetry on top of the books I was buying. "If you like all that, you'll like this," he said.


Hey Neil,
I picked up American Gods this weekend and have been really enjoying the book. What's been bugging me, however, is the chili recipe you describe in Chapter 2. It sounded delicious and I'm pretty curious to try it. Is it a personal chili recipe you use? And if so, are you willing to share it?

Thanks,
WDW

It was my variant on the Silver Palate Chili for a Crowd recipe (which I just googled and found at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_collections/simply_delicious/recipe_arch/06_01_29_R#r_1) I could never be bothered with the olives or sausage meat, and everything else was a sort of generalised "adjust quantities to taste", which is how chili works best anyway. I still don't think the dill ought to work in a chili, but it does, magnificently.

Neil,

Today is the World's End Message Board's 6th Birthday, and I just wanted to thank you for providing a place for all these lovely people to get together.

Thank you :)


amy/aitapata

Which is one of those unexpected side effects of something like this. You turn around and there's a whole community there, and I tend to forget they exist until they turn up at signings bearing red balloons and alcoholic beverages and chocolate and suchlike. Happy Birthday... (They can be found at http://neilgaimanboard.com/eve/forums for anyone not using the neilgaiman.com website as a way to read this.)

Just a short one ... did you know that there is a book out there, written by some Miss Laurell K. Hamilton, (fantasy and quite different from your writing) that is called DANSE MACABRE?

(It's not one of my faves by her, I admit, but I remembered the title and wondered how it comes that both of you got to it ... have to check my French and see whether it is some saying or ...)

BB

There are many, many things called Danse Macabre out there. Stephen King's excellent non-fiction book about horror, for a start, not to mention a very wonderful piece of music by Saint-Saëns. It refers to the Dance either of the dead, or of the dead with the living, to remind people that they are mortal. It goes back to the Fourteenth Century, to the plague times. Lots of interesting stuff in this Wikipedia article. Did you know that our word Macabre comes from the dance, and was a reference to the Maccabees? S'true.

And it was originally pronounced macabray. (More details at http://thomondgate.net/doc/companion/Companion.htm#dance)

Rich and poor dance in the same way, said poet John Lydgate in The Dance of Death, and that squashed together in my head with Shelley's "I met murder on the way..." and instead of thinking "He had a mask like Castlereagh" I thought "I met murder on the way, come to dance the macabray..." and suddenly there was a story in my head where there wasn't one before.

Which is too much information, and won't make much sense until you've read the story, but there are probably a few word-buffs out there who will take as much joy in it as I did.

Hey Neil,

Its not so much as a question as shameless self promotion. I did an interview with Barron Storey today. It was for my radio show Inkstuds. The show is all about interviewing alternative and underground creators. I thought your fans would be interested in this interview. We talk a little bit about the 15 portraits of Despair.

Here is a link directly to the posting. http://www.inkstuds.com/?p=173
Cheers,

robin

Of course. (And if you don't know what Barron Storey's work looks like you can find some of it at http://www.geocities.com/negsleep/main/links/barron/barron.html)

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