How to use this Page

Anakin Skywalker regains his soul and learns it's not easy to be a good dad. Happy Father's Day!

A very happy Father's and Grandpapa's Day to my father, and a happy Father's Day to Tom, with whom I'm also celebrating 13 lucky years of wedded bliss. He and the kids -- who made us a fabulous breakfast of homemade pancakes and bacon with whipped cream and fresh pineapple -- went out this morning to see our new bull, bought from a neighbor on Friday, and later today there just may be some

I missed Poetry Friday last week in the thick of things -- Spring busy-ness on and off the farm -- but saw yesterday via Poetry Friday founder Kelly at Big A little a that our own Susan Thomsen at Chicken Spaghetti has a terrific article on the origins of Poetry Friday, "Thank Goodness It’s (Poetry) Friday", at the Poetry Foundation website. Included with the article is a sidebar of "A Few of

Father’s Day is coming up, so I dug around for a favorite poem about dads. Right away I thought of my favorite collection of dadly poems for kids, In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers (New York: Lee & Low, 1997). I can’t believe it has been a decade since that book was published! The beautiful, textured collages of Javaka Steptoe (son of author/illustrator, John Steptoe, Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, another favorite of mine) won him a Coretta Scott King Illustrator award for his very first picture book. And the compilation of poems by a variety of African American poets is fresh and appealing—across cultures, across ages, across generations. Here’s one of my personal favorites.

Artist to Artist
by Davida Adedjouma

I write books, now, because my father wanted
to be an artist when he grew up & he was good
at it, too. Drew people with meat on their bones
in flesh-colored tones from my 64-colors box
of crayons. But
every night - & sometimes even weekends & holidays -
he dressed in the blue uniform & black shoes
of many other fathers who also weren't doctors or lawyers,
teachers or preachers, & rode the 10:00 p.m. bus
to the downtown post office. Sorted mail by zip code -
60620, 60621, 60622. He sorted mail all night &
into the day because we had bills to pay. For 30 years
my father rode the bus feeling black and blue. He
never drew and his degrees in art & education sat
hardening on a shelf along with his oils
& acrylics. But
along with his gapped teeth, his bow legs & and his first name
with an A at the end, he gave me the urge to create
characters with meat on their bones, in flesh-colored tones
written in words as vivid as a 64-colors box of crayons.
I write, he drew. Daddy, thank you!
& now that you're
retired ...
... what do you want to be?

Picture credit: Lee and Low Books

Still stuck figuring out what to buy your father for Father's Day? I have an idea that's kind of crazy, but crazy enough to work... 

Papercuts just initiated a weekly series where writers list their favorite songs, beginning with short story wizard, George Saunders. While I don't think listening to Saunders' favorite music will help you write a perfect Saunders story (here's an example); I think writers can always use more music.

For me, writing and storytelling are always connected--my best ideas come while walking with my iPod and I play quiet music while writing.

Here's my idea: Why not make a playlist out of Saunders' father-friendly choices? Buy a copy of CivilWarLand in Bad Decline and wrap it up with the CD, it's the perfect combination of sentimental music and uncanny prose to please the writer in your life.

You can thank me later for this Perfect Father's Day Gift. Here's a taste:

"Love and Happiness, Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler. Do not listen to this song if your daughter has just left for her first year of college and you are driving alone across Texas, or you may have to pull off the road, due to sobbing."  

just in time for Father's Day

in text both spare and sure