Do you remember the first time you read Percy Bysshe Shelley’s sonnet “Ozymandias”? I do. The compelling, mysterious “a friend of a friend” style opening drew me into the poem. Strong visual images made me feel like I was the one standing in an empty desert, staring down at the half-buried face of a forgotten […]
Poetry Friday
Friday, 8 January 2021
Thursday, 31 December 2020
Happy New Year to all of my Poetry Friday friends. There were many things to celebrate in 2020. For me, having our two 20-something kids living with us full time was the highlight of the year. But we all experienced losses. Loss of jobs and income. Loss of food security. Loss of plans for travel, […]
Thursday, 10 December 2020
Happy Hanukkah, Poetry Friday friends. Our family’s celebration is bittersweet this year. Although 2020 had its joyful moments, we also experienced several transformative losses during the pandemic. Last week, we had to say goodbye to one of our dogs after an unexpected medical emergency. Many of you knew our beagle, Rudy, through my Poetry Friday […]
Thursday, 12 November 2020
Hey, poets and readers. Quick post this week. I am working on a guest article for the website Reading Rockets. It’s going to be all about books … and dogs. Of course, I have to include a few dog poems. During the pandemic, Sam (the Schnauzer) and Rudy (the Beagle) have been joining me on […]
Friday, 30 October 2020
Hi, poets and poetry lovers! We have two big events coming up in the next few days. Tomorrow is Halloween. (Check out this Baltimore Sun article about how Halloween was celebrated during the 1918 flu pandemic.) And, of course, Tuesday is Election Day. After the 2016 presidential election, I signed up for election judge training. […]
Thursday, 15 October 2020
Happy book birthday to HOP TO IT: POEMS TO GET YOU MOVING, by the creators of the Poetry Friday anthology series, Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong! There are 90 children’s poets with work in this collection. I’m excited to be one of them. You can read the full list of contributors here. (High five to […]
Friday, 9 October 2020
Welcome, Poetry Friday friends. My friend Michael Rothenberg introduced me to a new-to-me poet, Virgil Suarez. Michael is a poet, founder of 100 Thousand Poets for Change, and art-collaborator with me on the monster poems I’ve shared in the past. I visited Michael in Tallahassee, Florida in January — a few short weeks before the […]
Thursday, 1 October 2020
It’s October, Poetry Friday friends. Poet Irene Latham is on my mind this week. I hosted a stop on her THIS POEM IS A NEST blog tour, and even tried writing a nestling. You can read that post here. It’s October first as I write this, and Irene + Octo = her wonderful book, Love, […]
Thursday, 24 September 2020
Hi, Poetry Friday friends. Jone Rush MacCulloch is hosting us this week at her new blog! Please click through to find poetry posts from around the kidlitosphere. I am guest posting at Ethical ELA this week with a food poetry prompt. Thanks to Sarah Donovan and to all of the educators — including a few […]
Thursday, 17 September 2020
Happy Poetry Friday and Shana Tovah! This evening marks the start of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The greeting “Shana Tovah” means “good year.” If you’re curious, you can read more about this phrase and the significance of Rosh Hashanah in Jewish culture in this article. It wouldn’t be a festival without special foods. […]
Laura Shovan is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Her second book, Takedown, is a Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selection. Look for A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi, in 2020. Laura is a poet-in-the-schools Maryland.
