Aside from my picture book review of HI, KOO, last Friday, I haven’t been very active in poetry month this year. Before May is upon us, I wanted to rectify this and highlight a poet on the blog. Today’s interview … Continue reading
Add a Comment
new posts in all blogs
By: JOANNA MARPLE,
on 4/28/2014
Blog: Miss Marple's Musings (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children, Interview, children's books, poetry, adults, Cancer, children's poetry, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lee Bennett Hopkins, J. Patrick Lewis, Dorothy Parker, Job Loss, Kane Press, Donna Marie Merritt, poet interview, A Caregiver's View, A Fury of Motion by Charles Ghigna, A Journey in Poetry, Byrd's Books, Carl Sandberg, Her House and Other Poems, Hickory Stick Bookshop, Job Loss; Cancer, Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, Robert Hayden, Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins, Stairwell Books, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Too Tall Tina, What's Wrong with Ordinary? Poems to Celebrate Life, Add a tag
.jpeg?picon=2982)
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 10/4/2010
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: poetry, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, Darcy Pattison, novel-in-verse, Stephanie Hemphill, Add a tag
By: Gina MarySol Ruiz,
on 8/31/2007
Blog: AmoxCalli (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: poetry, Poetry Friday, Edna St. Vincent Millay, poets, Add a tag
By: Becky,
on 4/6/2007
Blog: Farm School (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: poetry, Poetry Friday, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Add a tag
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Edna St. Vincent Millay, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 4 of 4
By: JOANNA MARPLE,
on 4/28/2014
Blog: Miss Marple's Musings (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children, Interview, children's books, poetry, adults, Cancer, children's poetry, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lee Bennett Hopkins, J. Patrick Lewis, Dorothy Parker, Job Loss, Kane Press, Donna Marie Merritt, poet interview, A Caregiver's View, A Fury of Motion by Charles Ghigna, A Journey in Poetry, Byrd's Books, Carl Sandberg, Her House and Other Poems, Hickory Stick Bookshop, Job Loss; Cancer, Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, Robert Hayden, Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins, Stairwell Books, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Too Tall Tina, What's Wrong with Ordinary? Poems to Celebrate Life, Add a tag
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 10/4/2010
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: poetry, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, Darcy Pattison, novel-in-verse, Stephanie Hemphill, Add a tag
...happened to me this Saturday.
I got an email from a friend, asking me if I might write a post or two about creating verse novels. Though I'm no expert, I jotted down a few things that have worked for me and planned to devote this week to writing stories through poetry.
Then the second thing:
I read Stephanie Hemphill's YOUR OWN, SYLVIA: A VERSE PORTRAIT OF SYLVIA PLATH
and promptly felt like a fraud.
Stephanie is a master craftsman, a scholar, a poet, a writer extraordinaire. I had a high school English class knowledge of Sylvia before reading this book and have walked away with a real sense of her style, her drive, and her heartache. For me this book was a combination of THE DIARY OF EMILY DICKINSON, a novel I read in one sitting and wanted desperately to be real, and SAVAGE BEAUTY, the fascinating, bizarre biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay.
I have really had no training in poetry. Outside of my own meager reading for pleasure, I read even less in college (and my degree is in middle school English education). What I'm trying to say is I don't know much at all about this whole poetry business, and reading a book like Stephanie's firmly reminds me of this.
Last fall, when I attended a revision retreat led by Darcy Pattison, we had a brief conversation about our writing. I shared with her I had, up to that point, sold two poems to children's magazines and had a verse novel out with a few agents. "So you're a poet," she said, and I panicked. Because I'm not a well-studied, well-read mind. I'm a person who likes to play with language. I'm a person fortunate enough to have written a novel that clicked with a few people who could make something of it. That's it.
So, if you can keep that in mind, I'd be happy to talk verse novels with all of you this week.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2989467100534752246-647871080427
</p>
<div class="post-comments">
12 Comments on <em>Two Interesting Things...</em>, last added: 10/5/2010</div> <!-- end post-comments -->
<a class = "displaycomment" href="javascript:toggleLayer( "View comments for this post"){kind=small}
Display Comments
By: Gina MarySol Ruiz,
on 8/31/2007
Blog: AmoxCalli (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: poetry, Poetry Friday, Edna St. Vincent Millay, poets, Add a tag
Yay! It’s Poetry Friday and I get to share another one of my favorite poems. I’ve always loved anything by Edna St. Vincent Millay and today I’m sharing one of her poems. Eel Grass is short, simple and says so much. It’s just beautiful.
Today the Round-up is here.
Eel-grass
NO matter what I say,
All that I really love
Is the rain that flattens on the bay,
And the eel-grass in the cove;
The jingle-shells that lie on the beach
At the tide-line, and the trace
Of higher tides along the beach:
Nothing in this place.
Edna St. Vincent Millay
2 Comments on Poetry Friday, last added: 9/2/2007
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Becky,
on 4/6/2007
Blog: Farm School (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: poetry, Poetry Friday, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Add a tag
I've fallen off the Poetry Friday bandwagon (and a number of other virtual bandwagons as well since real life has speeded up considerably) with rather a thud, for which, if anyone is in fact paying attention, I apologize. Last week I managed to post a poem, but didn't realize until a few days ago that I neglected to find the roundup, send in my post, and then post the link over at Chicken
0 Comments on Poetry Friday: Dazzling mud and dingy snow as of 4/6/2007 3:35:00 PM
Add a Comment
I'll be meeting Darcy at a SCBWI conference this weekend. I'm excited.
Hi Caroline - I can so relate to your "fraud" feeling. Only for me, it was for having written a novel as PROSE... there are pre-published writers who know so much more than I do about the craft of writing! But. There is something to be said for art that is more raw, born more of instinct than of study... it's no less valuable. Just know that you are not alone in this feeling, and you will grow into your role as "poet" as you continue to develop and learn as a writer. Looking forward to what you are going to share this week!
I think we all feel like "frauds" sometimes. But I have no doubt that what you plan to share will be valuable. Don't underestimate yourself :)
The fact that you even attempt it, though! That makes you a poet in my book. Well-studied or not. :)
Caroline, all three of those books look fabulous and I've added them to my "to-read" list. (I'll never be able to manage the "Clear your shelves" challenge!)
You are too humble, my dear, but that's probably why I like you. :)
Yes, I agree you are too humble! But thank you so much for being willing to share your wisdom. Remember: In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Don't doubt yourself. :) I'm so looking forward to your posts!!
Amy
Natalie, are you attending a revision retreat? Enjoy! Please tell me how it goes.
Irene, thank you so much. I have to say I had another fraud moment over the summer (this one related to writing historical fiction). My lovely editor called to bolster my confidence in what I was doing -- a huge boost.
Sherry, you're a dear. Thank you.
Janet, thanks for reminding me we all come to the table with valid work.
Sonia, you HAVE to read these three. Utterly fascinating. After SAVAGE BEAUTY, I went back through Millay's poetry (I inherited her complete collection from my grandmother) and marked up poems with things like "inspired by..." or "written while...".
Today I picked up something new about Emily Dickinson: LIVES LIKE LOADED GUNS.
Natalie and Amy, you're good for my ego and spirit. :)
Oooh, Caroline -- LIVES LIKE LOADED GUNS looks great! Have you read WHITE HEAT, about Dickinson's relationship with Thomas Wentworth Higginson? I found it fascinating.
And I want to echo everyone else's encouragement. You ARE a poet!
You are what you want to be. Own it, live it, love it. :)
Liesl, thanks :)
Sonia, no! I'll have to look for it!
I get that feeling of panic in other arenas as well: I feel like a fraud adult, a fraud mother, a fraud musician. But what else is there for me to do but to continue and hope I am learning enough?
Thanks for this post.