Robyn Hood Black - children's author, poet, artist

 

Greeetings, Poetry Lovers!  I've missed you as I've been popping in and out of town and in and out of here recently. This week, I'm on board to celebrate Clara's Kooky Compendium of Thimblethoughts and Wonderfuzz, the latest (and most amazing) collaborative poetic genius-work from Pomelo Books, a.k.a. Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. 

 

I thought I'd have a fulsome review to share earlier this fall, but... Helene.  I'm thrilled to see all the good press this one-of-a-kind anthology has been receiving since it splashed into the kid-literary pond last month, both among our PF family and in the wider world!  In fact, last Friday over at Jama's Alphabet Soup - the crème de la crème of blogs in my book (and lots of others), Clara and her quirky crew were the main course.  So for a really good review and explanations and insights and sneak peeks, please go fill your bowl here. (But then come back and keep reading! And look up other wonderful reviews, too.)

 

It was fun to work on poems for this project, and then wait with bated breath to see what in the world Janet and Sylvia were cooking up.  We knew it was something that took a lot of editorial and creative wrangling, and something that would be unlike any other collection.  

 

When I started reading my own copy, my first thought was, "Wow - I wish I had had a book like this when I was growing up!" This fun and somewhat indescribable treasure offers space for curiosity and creativity to run wild.  I'm glad I'll be able to share it with grandchildren when they're a wee bit older.

 

The line illustrations by Frank Ramspott bring to life all the imaginings and characters and poetry within, but don't overpower all the layers of text.  And I do love all the layers.  I might read and write haiku because I NEED the spareness it requires/provides, but that is probably because I'm actually the opposite of a minimalist. I wonder if Clara is a minimalist or a... maximalist?? Nope, that's not the right word. I'll have to wonder and think on that a bit.

 

Thare are more than 150 poems between the covers of this book, and I'm delighted to share the two I've got in there.  

 

The first was in response to Janet and Sylvia's question, "Can you write a poem about siblings?"

 

SIBLINGS

 

Take the "r" out of brother, and what do you get?

BOTHER! That's what. He makes me upset.

 

Take the "i" out of sis, and what does it make?

 "Ss" – like a hiss - the sound of a snake!

 

Please take them both, take them out of my sight.

Then I know everything will be all _ _ ght.

 

I said, everything will be all _ _ ght.

Hmmm.

 

Okay, please put back the "r," and return the "i," too –

I have to admit, I would miss those two.

 

©Robyn Hood Black

 

I dearly love my brother, Mike, though growing up, we probably both sometimes felt the way the narrator of this poem feels!  I got TWO bonus sisters when my mother remarried right before I went off to college - Carla and Sharon.  Love them too!

 

My other poem was a response to writing about syllables.  I do love me some syllables. And a challenge. 

 

 

ONE-ON-ONE

 

"I am Worm,"

said Worm.

"I have no feet.

"I am long and smooth.

"My name has one sound."

 

 

"Caterpillar!"

announced Caterpillar.

"Appendages galore.

"Spectacular segments, moving together.

"Melodious appellation!"

 

"Branches beckon," declared Caterpillar.

"Jubilant journeys!"

 

"I am off to the dirt," said Worm.

"Have a nice day."

 

©Robyn Hood Black

 

Thanks for reading. Oh, and speaking of words and wordplay, they require letters.  I've been having some fun in the studio with letters.  (See what I did there?) Just in time for stocking stuffer season, I'm assembling some fun little necklaces using vintage miniature Scrabble tiles. (Here's the link; I've got a rare 20-percent-off holiday sale going on.)

 

Here's hoping your thoughts and wonders leave you inspired and comforted and rested or energized, whichever you need. I'm sure you'll find poems you need over at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town, where our wonderful Ruth is rounding us up from Kampala, Uganda, with her usual thought-provoking, community-building offerings.  Thank you, Ruth!

Happily busy with artsy/Etsy orders this week, so I didn't get a post up.  Planning to share some KOOKY Pomelo love next week!  Please visit our lovely Karen Edmisten for this week's Roundup.

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  I've missed you as I've ducked in and out these couple-few weeks.  In the midst of all the stress in the news, we've had happy family events to look forward to - a baby shower for daughter Morgan & family last weekend, and a little celebratory lunch for Son Seth & his love that we're hosting on Saturday, after they get married at the courthouse TODAY/Friday!  (They'll have a ceremony and reception in the Spring.) 

 

I was among those who met late Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning with numbness and a bit of despair.  I texted with a few friends, and there were lots of messages with hubby Jeff's sibling group.  What struck me was that it seemed to be the impulse of several folks to respond to this state of overwhelm with... poetry.  Tuesday night as results started rolling in, my sister-in-law Patti shared "Holding Vigil" by Alison Luterman, written in response to the experience, I believe.  Among the poems ending up in text messages the next morning were "The Peace of Wild Things" by Wendell Berry, a favorite among our PF folks. Jeff shared a post on social media by Chelan Harkin that started with, "It's when the earth shakes...." Other folks sent spiritual passages that read as a mix of poetry and prose. 

 

I wanted to post something on Facebook, but nothing I could come up with myself seemed right, or appropriate. Then I ran across Janet Wong's post, where she shared her wonderful poem, "Looking for Birds," and it resonated with the feelings and tone I wanted to share.  So I shared the post and asked if I could share the poem again here today.  It's from the wonderful Pomelo Books collection, HOP TO IT. Janet and Syliva Vardell are the power team behind that publishing venture, and several of us are lucky to have poems in those anthologies.  I love how a poem, originally conjured up with a certain topic or sensibility in mind, can also meet another experience not dreamed of when it was originally penned. 

 

 

Look for Birds

 

It could be worse. 

It is worse 

somewhere

for someone.

 

Today will blend into tomorrow.

Tomorrow will become next week.

Everything happening now

will become just one page

 

in a history book

in a hundred years.

 

Let's look out the window.

Come, let's look for birds.

 

 

©Janet Wong

 

I suppose one reason I took this poem to heart on this occasion was that Wednesday morning, I took my dog Rookie on his usual walk.  I realized that for him, nothing had changed.  He was immersed in whatever smells, sounds, sights and tracks caught his attention in the moment. It was okay for me to just be on a walk for a few minutes, noticing the natural world.  (And Rookie's used to my stopping now and then to try to see some woodpecker I've just heard, or to try to suss out what bird made some unusual call.) 

 

In a few lines, Janet's poem helped me take a breath and a brief big-picture break.  But more importantly, it helped me remember that implications from this election might have a much more dire impact on people more vulnerable than myself, particularly those who weren't born here, those whose gender identities bother or frighten some people, and my daughter, daughter-in-law, and soon-to-be-born granddaughter, and all women in those generations. All younger folks, of course, when one thinks of the climate crisis. And then we must think about the rest of the world - those in Ukraine, Gaza, Taiwan ... and all countries, really.

 

Back to the poem. Take comfort from the woods and from birdsong, we must.  Simply noticing can make us grateful and more calm.  But we can't stay on our wooded paths, or behind a window, indefinitely.  Others need us to look out for them, too.

 

 At Merely Day by Day, you'll find a powerful original poem by Cathy on this topic, and you'll find the whole Roundup.  Thank you, Cathy, for hosting this week. And many thanks to Janet for letting me share her poem! 

 

Oops - I said I'd be back this week, but I'm trying to get a baby quilt finished before Morgan's shower this weekend. ;0) See you NEXT Friday! This week, our lovely and thoughtful Patricia has the Roundup over at Reverie. Happy November!

Quick wave from Florida - I'm visiting my Florida Fam this weekend but will be back next week. Enjoy all the poetry magic this week at Beyond Literacy Week with  our wonderful Carol. :0)

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers! Many thanks to all for the kind comments, thoughts & prayers in recent weeks as our region (and our family) has been dealing with hurricanes.  We got internet back last Friday evening, and Seth and Ginnie (Asheville area) got power back on then as well. They're still waiting on internet and well water testing, but they have running water to use for everything but drinking. My Florida family is cleaning up from Milton, but everyone is safe and well.  My brother Mike and his partner Scott in St. Pete went to a hotel there at a higher elevation; with 100 mph winds, not only did the power go out as expected, but water blew in their room through the AC and window seals, soaking the carpet, the wind blew the lobby doors in, and at around 1 a.m., a piece of roof was banging against their window.  But they're okay! Please continue to send good thoughts for those who are grieving and for so many who have lost their homes and businesses.  It's going to be a long road.

 

This month, I got another FaceTime from the wee laddie (our two year-old grandson) with a fun surprise from their mailbox (second time this has happened!).  Highlights HELLO reprinted another one of my poems, this one from six years ago.  Many of you have seen it, but since they reprinted it, I will too!

 

 

 Spider, Spider

 

    by Robyn Hood Black

 

 

   Spider, spider,

   Weave and spin

   Down, around,

   And up again

 

   Spider, spider,

   Time to rest

   in your round

   And webby nest.

 

©Highlights for Children

 

Maria Neradova illustrated the poem. 

 

I wrote this poem about a golden orb weaver who graced the outside of our kitchen window in Beaufort.  We have various orb weavers here in the mountains (& they built webs much earlier than usual this year).  But I haven't seen my "traditional" golden orb weavers this fall, with their gilded webs. You know what I'm finally seeing in abundance? Joro spiders.  They arrived in this part of the country from Asia about a decade ago. They are large and their webs are large!  There is some concern that the joros are displacing native spiders; studies are ongoing, I believe.  Do you have them where you live?  I think they've been making their way up the East Coast.

 

As far as comparing these two weavers of the woods, here's an article from last year discussing their attributes. And while my daughter Morgan was brave enough to take a photo of the HELLO spread, she'd just as soon not run into any REAL spiders, thank you.  I, on the other hand, find them fascinating and am a spider relocator when they insist on making webs at eye level in the back (or front!) door jambs.  (They can be territorial, though, and often come right back.)  And even though these two types of spiders might give you a Halloween fright, they're not harmful to humans. 

 

I also dropped in a little insert of a Halloween-y necklace I've just listed on Etsy. I happened upon some fun random spider web designs in the endpapers of a 1927 educational book, and, well, I couldn't help myself. 

 

Matt is awfully busy this month with MANY new books and such at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme, but he's kindly hosting the Roundup this week - Many Thanks, Matt!

  Greetings, Friends & Poetry Lovers - For the third Poetry Friday in a row, I'm afraid instead of poetry I just have a personal update from my phone. Whew, what couple weeks it's been. The Helene update is that the region is still reeling in the aftermath, but Greenville County (SC) is making progress. Schools opened here again on Wednesday. County trucks have picked up 40,000 metric tons of debris as of a couple days ago, and they'll continue until Oct. 31. There are still huge stacks on our little road. We still don't have internet/WiFi in our part of the county, those of us who have Spectrum anyway. More folks are getting power back. Our Seth & Ginnie up in the Asheville area have been volunteering a lot & are still waiting on power. I hope they get it soon, as nighttime temperatures are taking a big dip.

 

 I have a personal Milton update too, as my family is spread out over Central Florida. (I grew up in Orlando.) I didn't sleep much Wednesday night; they certainly didn't! But everyone in our family is okay. Lots of downed trees and power outages.  My niece's family is hoping their lake stays in its banks in coming days.  My brother Mike & his partner Scott live in St. Pete. They left their home to ride out the storm in a hotel there with an elevation of about 50 feet. They lost power, as expected, but then the 100-plus-mile-an-hour winds blew through the lobby doors and blew water through the window seal and air conditioner into their room, soaking the carpet on that side. An edge of the roof hung down and banged against their window. Then the city shut off all water at midnight because of a line break. I'm sure it's a night they won't forget any time soon. But they are good and their house didn't sustain major damage, though water did come up to the doorstep as evidenced by the water line. 

Continued prayers for all who have been affected by these devastating storms. I love October, and I'm used to a sleepless night or two each year during hurricane season, but this year for us has been another level. Stay safe & dry and go enjoy all the Poetry Friday goodness at Jama's Alphabet Soup! 

Greetings, Friends & Poetry Lovers. Trying to post from my phone. I just have an update this week. We did end up in the direct path of Helene as the storm hit the Southern Appalachians. We had dozens of trees down here, and about 15 cut up and cleared out by our wonderful neighbor and his formidable crew and big equipment. We've gotten to know our neighbors better. Who knew I'd be dragging out our hurricane box here instead of at the coast? We lost power overnight Thursday, which means water for us, too, since we're on a well. We were all safe inside and accounted for; our son & future daughter-in-law came here from the Asheville area to ride it out. (They've been in Charlotte a few days this week.)  We were beyond grateful here to get power restored Wed. night, and I hope more and more folks can say that each day. So many crews are working hard. In Upstate SC, the death tolll from Helene has now exceeded that from Hugo in 1989. We're about a dozen miles from the NC line, and I'm sure you've seen the apocalyptic-looking images of flooding. We've been a bit cut off from news, but it's overwhelming. Seth & Ginnie aren't sure when they can get back to their home north of Asheville in a lovely small town, but they did eventually hear from neighbors that the houses are standing. They are driving to Asheville Friday to distribute supplies they've bought through a Go Fund Me a friend set up. Thanks for all the care & concern via social media; please keep prayers and support coming for those whose lives have been upended. Helicopters have been going back and forth overhead all week, and I imagine that will continue for a while. I hope to get back to Poetry Friday soon; not sure when we'll have internet/WiFi. Please go see Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for this week's Roundup. XO, Robyn (PS - The inner city church where Seth is one of the pastors is Haywood Street Congregation if you'd like to look up and/or support. I believe it's haywoodstreet.org but if I leave this attempt to post I'll lose it. Just discovered that. Thanks!)

Greetings as I post this late Thursday eve; I was SO planning on having a real post this week.  Alas, the pup (well, almost 15 months old now) had some complications after neutering last week that still require lots of TLC and another week in a cone, and then Helene came on the scene.  All my family as well as some friends (including our Jan!) are in Florida.  It's been a busy day of checking in.

And here in the lower Appalachians, we've had a stalled front that was already causing excessive rain, and which then tapped into the Gulf energy and sucked it up like a straw.  Rivers are already exceeding their banks. Our son and future daughter-in-law came down from the higher hills north of Asheville to ride this out with us here in the SC Upstate. So we're all under Tropical Storm Warnings (!) and Flood Warnings.  Schools in areas around us in Georgia, SC, and NC are closed. 

Not sure we'll have power into tomorrow, so let me send wishes for safety to all, and you'll find the Roundup this week with our wonderful Irene.  (Here's hoping the storm is not causing too much trouble in Alabama.)  She's got a peek into a new book she and Charles are launching next week, THE MISTAKES THAT MADE US.

Happy Poetry Friday - I've had my hands full with caring for Rookie, who had the dreaded neuter surgery on Wednesday.  (Vets recommend waiting until dogs are older now, unlike the way it was last time we had male pups. It's better to wait until their skeletons have fully developed.  But I'm discovering it's rougher on THEM - even though it's the responsible and right thing to do, of course.) But Linda Baie's hands have been busy crafting a beautiful poem welcoming Fall, and a lovely host post.  Check it out here at TeacherDance.