It’s Poetry Friday and it’s being hosted by Tanita S. Davis at fiction, instead of lies. Thank you, Tanita! On her December 3rd blog post, you can sign up for the “New Year’s Poetry Challenge.” Check it out!
Though my work has been published in Highlights for Children and other magazines, I thought I would share my poem, First Responder, which was included in THANKU: POEMS OF GRATITUDE, edited by Miranda Paul. The illustrations by Marlena Myles are stunning. The thirty two poems by diverse and talented poets, such as Naomi Shihab Nye, Charles Waters, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Renée LaTulippe, to name just a few, are written in a different form. I knew what a tanka and a found poem was, but a fibonacci poem was new to me, as were others, and each form is clearly described. It’s a useful resource for students of poetry.
The poem I wrote is an hyperbole. I began this poem at a Highlights poetry workshop as a prompt by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Georgia Heard. They are great and kind teachers. In my poem, “First Responder,” I exaggerated and elevated the purpose of an every day, ordinary, object:
FIRST RESPONDER
Like an ambulance on my desk,
waiting to fix a torn page
or a broken book.
At my service,
armored helper,
cradling a bold, circular
heart, ready
for any emergency,
holding still
for the yank
and the quick rip
of a smooth piece that will
save a poem, a story,
or an injured photograph.
You park nearby
ready to
help again.
Thank you for the opportunity to share it. It feels fitting to be grateful for this book about gratitude.
Oh, I love the idea of tape as a first responder!
I have an entire box of tape and glue and I like knowing exaaaaactly where it is, In Case Of… anything. I like your hyperbole!
Thank you, Tanita!
Love your poem, and congrats on being included in the anthology. I will have to look for it. Just so happens I used a LOT of tape today, wrapping holiday gifts. 🙂
Hi, Janice. My students love playing with hyperbole when we write odes. “Armored helper” — what a great way to describe tape. I can see it.
Congratulations on writing & publishing this poem, Janice. A first responder must feel like they are yanked into action when the call comes. You really captured it! Thanks for sharing.
Congratulations on your poem in Thanku. I really love that book.
Thanks!
Congratulations, Janice. It’s always wonderful to see (and share!) your work in print. I will never look at sticky tape the same, again. 🙂
Thank you, Kathryn!
I love this look at tape as first responder! Your poem goes quite well with the Sunday Swaggers prompt this month, too. Thank you for sharing this look with new eyes at a common object.
Thanks, Kay, for reading.
Your poem is so fun! I am in love with this book!!
Charming! Thanks for sharing it, Janice. (Your poem made me think of one I wrote about an aloe plant, which was also standing ready to help!)
Ha ha! So clever and true and written beautifully. Nice poem. I will share this one with my middle schoolers!
Fantastic poem, Janice! Congratulations on being a part of this terrific book. I’m looking forward to reading it over the holidays.
Congrats on having your poem in this lovely book! What a fun poem Janice, I like your showing appreciation for this everyday object. A while back I wrote an ode to a pencil.
Congratulations on having your poem in the anthology! I love that it expresses gratitude for such an everyday object. Especially like these lines:
cradling a bold, circular
heart
Thank you, Carmela for reading. I need to look at the Marilyn Singer book again.
Janice, congratulations on having your poem placed in the anthology. How interesting to call tape a first responder. It was great meeting you at NCTE19.