Poetry Friday: Past the Moon and His Mama and Papa Sleeping Tight....

Three "rabbis" on the set of Angels in America: Tony Kushner, Meryl Streep and Maurice Sendak

 My kids grew up on Maurice Sendak's books. I can't count how many bedtimes there were when we cuddled up and read one of them - Pierre, Chicken Soup with Rice, One Was Johnny, Alligators All Around, Where the Wild Things Are...all wonderful books...but In the Night Kitchen was the one that really got to us. So strange and wonderful, so many buildings shaped like things that we could find in the kitchen - cartons of milk and lemon squeezers and nutcrackers...and up in the sky, that wonderful moon, and little naked Mickey floating around "past the moon and his mama and  papa sleeping tight and into the light of the night kitchen." Now my grandson and I are sharing that book and loving it. Pure magic.

Here's one of Sendak's poems set to music by Carole King. Sendak was a grump and a curmudgeon and a tortured soul with a wild imagination; he was brilliant and we couldn't get enough of him; he'll be missed.

The Poetry Friday round-up is being hosted by Irene Latham at her blog LIVE YOUR POEM. Head over there to see what other people are posting.

Idioms, Anyone?

Over at Books Around the Table today, I'm taking a look at idioms in different languages. Head over there to see what the following photos have to do with it all:

The Poetry Friday round-up today is being hosted by Elaine Magliaro at Wild Rose Reader. Head over there to see what other people have posted.

Poetry Friday: No Water River, but Plenty of Poetry Splash

Renee LaTulippe * No Water River

Over at her blog No Water River,  Renee LaTulippe has been knocking herself poetry-silly all through April with readings-on-videos and interviews of people who write poetry for children: Laura Purdie Salas, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Kenn Nesbitt, Charles Waters, Irene Latham, Lee Wardlaw, Deborah Diesen, Greg Pincus, and J. Patrick Lewis (whose reading and interview will be posted next Monday.) I'm proud to have been included with this group of poets and to have my reading of an unpublished poem,  "No Strings Attached," be part of Renee's video archive now. The interview questions she sent me were special not the usual, and I had a lot of fun answering them.

You can also find Renee at her own No Water River You Tube channel,  at the All About Learning Press blog (where her alter ego, The Chipmunk of Doom, muses and rants) and at the WordSpark Editing site she maintains as part of her editorial work with writers. Busy lady!

Wish I could fly over to Italy, where Renee lives, and buy her a thank-you cappuccino, wish her a belated "Happy Birthday" (yesterday!) and talk about poetry. Or maybe just talk about rivers with no water and the Mediterranean Sea (with plenty of the same.)

Buon Compleanno, Renee!

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The Poetry Friday round-up is being hosted this week by Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference. Head over there to see what other people have posted.

Holding a Book in Your Hands

Isn't a well-made book just a beautiful thing? Practically intoxicating. Watch this!

Poetry Friday: Herrick's Brooks, Blossoms, Birds and Bowers

"I sing of brooks, of blossoms...."

It's blossom-time in Seattle. I'll just let the 17th-Century poet Robert Herrick speak for me this week.

The Argument of His Book

by Robert Herrick I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds and bowers, Of April, May, of June, and July flowers. I sing of Maypoles, hock carts, wassails, wakes, Of bridegrooms, brides, and of their bridal cakes. I write of youth, of love, and have access By these to sing of cleanly wantonness. I sing of dews, of rains, and, piece by piece, Of balm, of oil, of spice, and ambergris. I sing of times trans-shifting, and I write How roses first came red and lilies white. I write of groves, of twilights, and I sing The court of Mab and of the fairy king. I write of hell; I sing (and ever shall) Of heaven, and hope to have it after all.

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Poetry Friday is being hosted this week by Diane Mayr at Random Noodling. Head over there to see what other people have posted. 

"I sing of Maypoles, hock carts, wassails, wakes...."