I like to dust;
I like to clean.
I love to make things
shimmer and glean.
My sister Nat is different;
she likes a good mess.
So sometimes I clean for her,
I confess.
Once I took her to the cleaners,
not her old coin Laundromat,
but they made a mistake,
and laundered Nat!
I came back the next day.
There she hung, with the clothes:
Spotless and pressed,
from her head to her toes.
Now we share the housework,
But Nat gets the clothes cleaned.
For we’ll never forget
that day she was steamed.
from the manuscript The Party In Your Lunchbox copyright Heather Grace Stewart, Art by Kayla Stewart, age 5. I’m trying to get a bit of traffic and knowledge about my new blog, “A Children’s Poetry Place,” could you please visit there, and tell others about it too? Thanks so much. Here’s the link:
Did you guys know I write childrens’ poems? I love it. In fact, my first published book was a children’s e-book, Bubble Mud and Other Poems (available as a PDF file for anyone interested). The publisher no longer exists, and the rights to those poems have reverted to me. I’ve included some of the best of these poems in my children’s poetry manuscript, The Party In Your Lunchbox, and am in search of a publisher for this anthology of poems for preschoolers to 10 year olds.
In the mean time, I’d really like to share some of the poems from “The Party In Your Lunchbox” with you readers, and with my daughter, who asked me about the book the other day.
“Can I draw pictures for your book? I could do it! Let me do it!”
We spent this Saturday reading my poems out loud, with her brainstorming about how she could interpret them with her own illustrations. I thought she might create one drawing. She whipped off five.
I love it when stuff like that happens. Please visit A Children’s Poetry Place to see the first of the results, and leave a comment there if you do.
I may just have to hire my own kid to illustrate my book of kids poems… 😉
I started A Children’s Poetry Place a few months back, but haven’t been able to devote as much time to it as Where the Butterflies Go. Watch for more children’s poetry there in 2011. You can subscribe to the feed, or even follow the blog on Networked Blogs.
To end the year in style there, here are some Haiku. Don’t miss the delightful Murkles either. Thanks for reading! If you can, please let others know about this new blog, and of course, spend some time there with your children.
Thanks so much for visiting from all over the world, for your comments, and for your friendships. Let’s keep our love of poetry alive & well in 2011 and beyond.
Happy Holidays,
Heather
'Santa, Please Stop Here' by Heather Grace Stewart
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I’ve always been in love with poetry –but I loved words at a very young age, and my first experience being told to write a poem was a very positive one. My grade one teacher took us to the local arena, and when we returned, she asked us to write an “expressive limerick” about it. Then she explained that meant, “just write what you felt.” I wrote down, “I felt grand!” and away I went, titling the poem, “At the Arena.” Now an avid inline skater and a published poet, I’d like to think I was a natural at both skating and poetry (and I actually come up with a lot of my ideas for my poems while inline skating along the river.)
I also think the way poetry was first taught to me gave me such a positive experience that I didn’t ever fear it. All of my creative writing teachers let me be expressive. They didn’t force the rules. They taught me what I “should” do for a certain type of poem, but let me throw in my own style, too.
I’ve met (or cyber-met) a lot of people from many walks of life while on this journey of writing and promoting my poetry. Many tell me they didn’t think they liked poetry–feared it, even– until they came across mine –and somehow, it spoke to them, and they realized it wasn’t as intimidating or as dull as they’d imagined.
Do you remember the first time you were told to write or recite a poem? Tell me about it. Were you intrigued, or scared out of your mind? Thinking about your experience, what do you think teachers and poets need to do to excite children about poetry, so that feeling stays with them for a lifetime?
I’ll be visiting some schools this year as part of the League of Canadian Poets’ ‘Poets in the Schools’ program, and I think your stories will help me keep the children engaged.
I’m asking this question on my Facebook Author Page too–come join in the discussion!
Heather Grace, 5, "At the Arena"
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Heather Grace Stewart 