The Poetry of Science: Recommended Reads for Young Learners

Children playing in science exhibit. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016.
quest.eb.com/search/139_1947244/1/139_1947244/cite. Accessed 4 Aug 2017.

A collection of poems for history, geography, science, and math is the first step to bringing a human element and a personal, often humorous touch to the topics you are studying. This helps students retain information and vocabulary — they now have vivid and/or humorous mental images that forge remembering connections... Second, poems are short and cut to the heart of a topic. You can use a poem to connect students to your content topic in powerful and memorable ways... Third, and perhaps most important, poetry helps students explore important issues in your content area, issues that extend beyond the classroom into their lives, communities, and the world.
~Laura Robb and J. Patrick Lewis,  Poems for Teaching in the Content Areas: 75 Powerful Poems to Enhance Your History, Geography, Science, and Math Lessons

Using poetry to help teach science might not be the first way you think to approach your child's education, but it has been shown to be a useful approach! Children's book publishers Scholastic and Reading Rockets, a national multimedia literacy initiative, both have suggestions for using poetry in the classroom for other subjects besides English - both organizations talk about classes reading poetry together, discussing the topics raised, and then writing their own poetic responses. Reading Rockets even mentions taking a "poetry walk," to get sensory impressions to use in writing haiku about nature. Additionally, the American Library Association [ALA] mentions that both science and poetry require "keen observation" and notes that, of  National Science Education Standard's "seven major areas of science that are critical to the K–12 curriculum...poems can serve to initiate a topic or enrich and extend it," and they have a booklist to prove it.

Want to encourage your child's power of observation and interest in science? Why not start with the following recommended picture books and see if they pique your youngster's interest?

The Blood-Hungry Spleen and Other Poems About Our Parts by Allan Wolff

Water Sings Blue by Kate Coombs

Hey There, Stink Bug! by Leslie Bulion [eBook]

Ubiquitous: Poetry and Science About Nature's Survivors by Joyce Sidman

Animal Poems of the Iguazú by Francisco X. Alarcon

Bees, Snails, and Peacock Tails by Betsy Franco

Science Verse by Jon Scieszka

Scien-trickery by J. Patrick Lewis

Spectacular Science by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars by Douglas Florian

Our Food by Grace Lin

Monarch's Progress by Avis Harley

For more science books for kids and teens, check out Picture-Perfect Science Lessons, Expanded 2nd Edition: Using Children’s Books to Guide Inquiry, 3–6 by Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan (which explains the 5E instructional model - Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate - explaining why kids can read picture books in the classroom), the library's Science Project Help LibGuide, and the National Science Teachers Association's [NSTA] Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12 list.

The Poet as Visionary





Image Provided by the South Broadway Cultural Center

“We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries—the realists

of a larger reality.” - Ursula K. Le Guin

 

Ever since I came across this quote from Le Guin I’ve been obsessed with visionaries. And because April is poetry month I'm particularly focused on visionary poets and what makes a one a visionary.  In searching the internet I found all kinds of visionaries: painters, writers, leaders, activists, CEO’s, even politicians.  The most common characteristic that they share is an ability to see the future, or a different future than most. And not necessarily in a woo-woo kind of way. They just dream about how things could be, like Martin Luther King, Jr. or Oglala Lakota medicine man, Black Elk.

Quotes about Visionaries

A visionary is one who can find his way by moonlight, and see the dawn 

before the rest of the world. — Oscar Wilde 

If you have the same ideas as everybody else but have them one week earlier than everyone else then you will be hailed as a visionary. But if you have them five years earlier you will be named a lunatic. — Barry Jones, Entrepreneur

Like the poet William Blake, my anger is visionary anger. It gives direction

 to my work. —  Adrienne Rich

Poets, as I hear them, speak out honestly from the intensity and clarity of their own vision—magicians, shamans, healers, seers, prophets, alchemist. — Kenneth Lincoln

Visionary Poems 

"The Visionary" by Emily Dickinson

Recorded tribute to Frank Lima: City Lights podcast. 

"I Am Waiting" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

 If you've never heard "Howl" read aloud by Allen Ginsberg, you can listen to it now. Or read  Howl: a Graphic Novel.

Books by Visionary Poets

I’ve culled the library’s catalog to highlight a few visionary poets who through the alchemy and language and conviction have formed their own larger reality. 

The Complete Collected Poems by Maya Angelou  Angelou is a true visionary writer and performer who changed the landscape of the both the literary, political, and cultural world. 

The Collected Poems of Audrey Lorde.  Lorde has been called a "black feminist visionary and 'mytho-poet'."

 
Incidents of Travel in Poetry by Latino poet and visionary, Frank Lima. 

A Map to the Next World by Joy Harjo whose “visionary justice-seeking art transforms personal and collective bitterness to beauty, fragmentation to wholeness, and trauma to healing.”

Words Are My Matter by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Poetry Events in April 

Poetry Open Mic: The Poet as Visionary 

Celebrate poetry month by reading your own visionary poetry with special guest host, Mary Oishi, Albuquerque poet, visionary, activist, and KUNM Radio personality. At South Broadway Library, Friday, April 14, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. (The event will be held in the cultural center auditorium, down the hall from the library.)



Oishi will emcee the open mic and read from her book, Spirit birds they told me. 

In Depth Poetry Discussion Group

Join Lynn Mallory for a discussion of the life and poetry of Adrienne Rich. Discuss how Rich's groundbreaking 1970's feminist poetry guides contemporary readers to explore the ways that culture and history shape our views of ourselves. The poem to be discussed is Transcendental Etude. The title can be found online. The In Depth Poetry Discussion group meets quarterly on the 4th of the month. North Valley Library, Tuesday, April 25, 12:30 - 2 p.m.

Poem in Your Pocket Day!

A drop-in event at Cherry Hills Library. Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day! Artistically illustrate or simply copy a favorite poem to carry and share in the spirit of the day. Or, contribute to our Poem in Your Pocket display  just by writing down your favorite poem! Thursday, April 27, noon - 5p.m.

Celebrate National Poetry Month!

Dr Douglas Hyde conference. Photography. 

Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 17 Mar 2016. 

Poetry can refine our experience through expressive, heightened, rhythmic and shifting tonal structures of language. It can wake us up.  —Anne Waldman, Academy of American Poets Chancellor 

Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.—Rita Dove

If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry—Emily Dickinson

Poetry is an act of peace—Pablo Neruda
 

Poetry not only can soothe your soul and it can blow your mind. April is National Poetry Month and poetry lovers around the country are poised to celebrate this unique and ancient art form. Maybe you’re a seasoned poet or just tinkering with idea of writing your first poem. Maybe you adore listening to sonnets or maybe you would rather cheer on bawdy poets in barroom slams. Whether your poetic proclivity leans toward the Provencal, the Romantic, the Lyric, or the Beats, our collection offers a variety of ways to tickle your poetry fancy this month. 

From Homer to Dickinson, Kerouac to Angelou, we’ve got your poetry! Can’t decide who to read? Grab the Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry. For a taste of local poets pick up the Harwood Anthology or the Corrales Writing Group 2014 Anthology. For a laugh read Poets Ranked by Beard Weight, for good cry read The Poets’ Wives, or seize the day and watch Dead Poets Society.

And don’t forget to check out our Poetry Guide to all things poetical, including links to our catalog, local poetry events, and poetry websites. One site you don’t want to miss is the Academy of American Poets where you’ll find Poetry Near You, Poem in Your Pocket Day, and 30 ways to celebrate national poetry month.

Poetry events at your library:  

Tony Hillerman Library offers a monthly poetry writing class for children and adults. Find out more at Poetry Around the World.

 Poetry Open Mic at Los Griegos Library meets every 4th Sat. Come read a poem or just listen to other poets. 

Join the New Mexico Poetry Alliance as they present their new anthology at Cherry Hills Library. Find out more at Author Reading: Muse with Blue Apples.

Poetry Experience: For adults (16 & up) at Central & Unser Library in the Community Room. Wednesday, April 20th at 5:30 p.m. Fold a poem for your pocket, listen to poetry, learn about different types or poems and create a poem or book spine poetry.

Poetry in the Digital Age

I know I said I was going to post a guide to YA fantasy novels, and I still am, but today, I have to talk about something new (to me) in the poetry world.

Recently, the New York Times published an article about young poets publishing their poetry on social media sites such as Instagram and Tumblr, and the success those poets have seen as a result. For example, according to the New York Times article, poet Tyler Knott Gregson has 560,000 followers on Tumblr and Instagram, and his first book, Chasers of the Light, has more than 120,000 copies in print. A post on Gregson's website states that his book All The Words Are Yours is a semifinalist for the 2015 Goodreads Choice Award for Poetry Book of the Year, an award that Goodreads members vote on.

The New York Times article has dubbed poets like Gregson "Instapoets," a term I find fascinating. Much like vloggers on YouTube and musicians on Myspace, Instapoets are becoming online celebrities, and I'm curious about what this means for poetry.

I've had several conversations with colleagues about this, and the general consensus is that these Instapoets will not be a gateway for readers who might search out other poets, like Louise Gluck, Ted Kooser, and Mary Oliver. It's also been the general consensus that the quality of poems written by Instapoets might not be that good--and after reading Chasers of Light, I have found that Gregson's poetry does lack depth, and that much of it is cliched.

As the New York Times article mentions, the chances of Instapoets impressing literary critics is small, but perhaps this is beside the point. The amount of online followers Instapoets like Gregson have, and the amount of books Instapoets are selling both indicate that these poets are filling some kind of need for their readers. Presumably, writing poetry also fulfills a need for Instapoets, because otherwise, why would they be writing? For me, it becomes problematic when those writers then share their poems without first revising them at least once.

The key to poetry, and to any writing, is knowing when to revise, and knowing when to let something go (or, as many writers may call it, knowing when to kill your darlings). I have to wonder about Instapoets: How often do they revise their poetry, if they revise it at all? If they don't revise their poetry, why? Is it because they think they have written something that is perfect, which rarely happens in first drafts of anything? Is it because they simply don't know how to? There are so many possibilities, and I have my opinion about why Instapoets might not revise their work (assuming, of course that they don't).

At the end of the day, Instapoetry doesn't work for me. Despite how it's shaping poetry in the digital age, and despite the positive response Instapoets are getting, I just can't get behind it. When I read poetry, I want to read about ideas I haven't read before. When I read Instapoetry (or, as one of my coworkers calls it, pop poetry), I feel like I'm reading the same poems over and over again.

I'm also curious: What would happen if traditionally published poets like Ted Kooser and Mary Oliver tried what Gregson does, and posted their poems on social media? Would they get the same following, or would they not get much attention (or, perhaps they would get attention solely for doing what the Instapoets have done, and not get attention for their poetry)?

What are your thoughts? Do poets like Tyler Knott Gregson, Lang Leav, and Robert M. Drake appeal to you, or do you think Instapoets are just a fad that will soon disappear? Let me know in the comments!

Memoirs in Verse

An examination of poetry memoirs for young readers uncovers a wide variety of approaches and themes. Many writers have found poetry to be the ideal vehicle for exploring issues of culture, ethnicity, and race. Others have framed difficult subject matter, such as personal trauma and family problems, in the form of poem memoirs. ...[A]dult writers have used poetry to capture coming-of-age experiences in their growing-up years.
~Sylvia M. Vardell, "Memoirs in Verse", Booklinks April 2015

We've come across novels and memoirs in verse with a lot more frequency lately - Jacqueline Woodson won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for her memoir in verse last year, and Thanhha Lai won the same award for her memoir in 2011. We know that all ages are reading Young Adult these days, and don't ignore novels in verse - there are a lot of good ones out there! But why not start with a memoir?  Thanhha Lai, who has since written another children's book in a traditional narrative style, says this about writing her memoir in verse:

I have very specific reasons for writing in prose poems for "Inside Out And Back Again." You know, for years and years and years I could never get the voice right and I was working on this other novel. And finally one day I'm standing on a playground at 110th in Central Park and suddenly all these images started coming back to me. It would be sharp, quick images, like red and yellow hot dogs. And I realized, you know, I'm back inside the mind of that little girl who's standing on a playground in Montgomery, Ala., when I first entered this country. And I thought that's my voice. And I didn't know it was called prose poems and I had no idea tons of writers have been writing like this for years. This just tells you where my brain is. I thought that's how I'm going to convey that she's thinking in Vietnamese.

Take a look at some of the memoirs in verse in the library catalog, aimed at a variety of age groups, and see how you feel about their use of poetry to find their voice and capture their experiences.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (J)

Enchanted Air: A Cold War Memoir by Margarita Engle (YA)

Calling the Doves = El canto de las palomas by Juan Felipe Herrera  (J, international collection)

House of Houses by Pat Mora

Inside out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (J)

How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson (YA)

A Movie In My Pillow = Una pelicula en mi almohada by Jorge Argueta (international collection)

Tai Chi Morning: Snapshots of China by Nikki Grimes (J)

Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall (YA)

Honeybee: Poems & Short Prose by Naomi Shihab Nye (J)

Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford   (YA)

Like poetry? Don't forget to check out our Poetry LibGuide!
 

National Poetry Month: Literary Spotify

Welcome to National Poetry Month 2015, celebrated every April by poetry lovers and the Academy of American Poets since 1996.  How will you be celebrating?  Poets.org recommends 30 ways to celebrate, including: #9, Learn more about poets and poetry events in your state (Poetry & Hip Hop with Keshet Dance Company, anyone?); # 15, Chalk a poem on the sidewalk; and # 27, Watch a poetry movie (not on their list but in the library catalog: Black Butterflies).

You can also celebrate Poem In Your Pocket Day, which is Thursday, April 30th. "Every April, on Poem in Your Pocket Day, people throughout the United States celebrate by selecting a poem, carrying it with them, and sharing it with others throughout the day as schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, and other venues ring loud with open readings of poems from pockets." Don't have a poem for your pocket?  Poets.org features many downloadable poems, or you could sign up for their Poem-A-Day.

One of the ways you might not have thought to celebrate poetry is to listen to poetry being read on Spotify! Spotify, as part of their Browse feature, has listed under Genres and Moods a section called Word. Word compiles playlists like "Short Stories", "Guided Meditation", "Learn Spanish", "Mythologies", "Self Help Gems", "Vintage Radio Dramas", and "Once Upon a Time". Also included are playlists like "Love Poems", "A Hipster's Guide to Poetry", "Modern Poetry", and "Langston Hughes In His Own Words". These make a great jumping off point to explore poetry - including poems read by the poets themselves, going all the way back to Walt Whitman - which is often most enjoyable when read aloud.  Alternately, you can also search Spotify using the keywords "poetry" or "poems" to find more.

If you have Spotify, check out our "Literary Spotify" list and celebrate National Poetry Month with poetry readings by poets (including local poets like Jimmy Santiago Baca) and more! You can also find audiobooks of poetry in the library catalog.



Links

Poets.org: National Poetry Month

Sweet Literary Tracks on Spotify [Book Riot]

Poetry Month: Poetry Audio for Kids

Young Adult Poetry Display at Cherry Hills Library

Want to get your children interested in poetry? Why not try listening to a poetry audiobook? The library catalog has many poetry offerings for children - from the soothing tones of Julie Andrews to the whimsy of A.A. Milne to the raucous rhymes of Shel Silverstein.  A sports fan might enjoy Casey at the Bat, and the poems of Jack Prelutsky are kid favorites!  Some people feel poetry is best as a spoken art - now you and your kids can decide that for yourselves!

Titles are Audiobook on CD unless otherwise noted. Audiobooks and music CDs usually do not come with a print book, but Read-alongs indicate a book in combination with a CD.

Joyful Noise; I Am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman

Planet Middle School by Nikki Grimes

Don't Take Your Elephant to School by Steve Turner

When We Were Very Young; Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne

Flamingos on the Roof: Poems and Paintings by Calef Brown

Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies selected by Julie Andrews & Emma Walton Hamilton  [eAudiobook]

The Spider and the Fly: Based on the Poem by Mary Howitt [Read-along]

Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 by Ernest L. Thayer   [Read-along]

A Child's Garden of Songs: The Poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson In Song by Ted Jacobs [Music CD]

Ferdinand the Bull and Friends; Carnival of the Animals & Mother Goose Suite by Nina Flyer, cello; Chie Nagatani, piano; stories and poems read by David Ogden Stiers [Music CD]

The Children's Suite: Inspired by the Verses of A.A. Milne by Phil Woods [Music CD]

The Best of Shel Silverstein: His Words, His Songs, His Friends chiefly by Shel Silverstein [Music CD]

A Pizza the Size of the Sun written and performed by Jack Prelutsky [Music CD]

The Days Gone By: Songs of the American Poets by Ted Jacobs [Music CD]


Happy National Poetry Month! Don't forget today is Poem In Your Pocket Day!

  

Poetry Month: New & Novel Poetry Books

Happy National Poetry Month! April 24th is Poem In Your Pocket Day, when  people throughout the United States select a poem, carry it with them, and share it with others throughout the day - are you ready? If not, perhaps you'd like to consider checking out one of our latest poetry acquisitions to find a likely poem?  Here's some of the library's latest verse finds:


The Gorgeous Nothings by Emily Dickinson

Dog Songs: Thirty-Five Dog Songs and One Essay by Mary Oliver

2014 Pushcart Prize XXXVIII: Best of the Small Presses edited by Bill Henderson with the Pushcart Prize editors

Singing at the Gates: Selected Poems by Jimmy Santiago Baca

His Day is Done: A Nelson Mandela Tribute by Maya Angelou

The Iliad by Homer; translation by Barry B. Powell

Taps on the Walls: Poems from the Hanoi Hilton by John Borling, Major General, USAF, Ret.

The Cineaste by A. Van Jordan

Transfer of Qualities by Martha Ronk

The World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness Into Flowers (New Poems) by Alice Walker

Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary by Harryette Mullen

Poetry of the First World War: An Anthology edited by Tim Kendall

Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins

O What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound by Garrison Keillor

Failure and I Bury the Body: Poems by Sasha West

Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire by Brenda Hillman

Hyperboreal by Joan Naviyuk Kane

Collected Poems by Denise Levertov

The Loving Detail of the Living & the Dead: Poems by Eleni Sikelianos

Engine Empire by Cathy Park Hong

Joie de Vivre: Selected Poems, 1992-2012 by Lisa Jarnot

Poems 1962-2012 by Louise Glück          

Testimony, A Tribute to Charlie Parker - With New and Selected Jazz Poems by Yusef Komunyakaa


Don't forget to visit our Poetry LibGuide!  It can help you find new books in the library catalog, poetry events, resources for writing poetry, and more!
       

Poetry Month: Young Adult Verse Novels

I love poetry. As a result, I like to read young adult verse novels, even though I don't always enjoy them. In celebration of National Poetry Month, I thought I would share my favorite young adult verse novels, as well as my favorite young adult novels that incorporate poetry in some way.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Outsiders is the book that got me interested in poetry. The Robert Frost poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" plays a somewhat large role in the book, and when I first read it, I fell in love with it and with poetry.

Golden by Jessi Kirby

Golden also plays with Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay," but even more than that, its inspiration comes from the Mary Oliver poem "The Summer Day." Throughout the book, Parker Frost tries to determine what it is she will do with her one wild and precious life, after reading the line "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" from Mary Oliver's poem.

And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard

And We Stay is about a girl, Emily, who loves Emily Dickinson, but who is also a poet herself. Emily (the character, not Emily Dickinson) writes poems that are presented throughout the story.

Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara

Amy McNamara is a poet, in addition to a young adult fiction writer. The title Lovely, Dark and Deep is taken directly from a Robert Frost poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Even though it's written in prose, McNamara's book reads much like poetry.

Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Audition isn't the first young adult verse novel I've read, but it was the first one I read that I actually loved. Because it's about ballet, there was something about the musical aspect that tied in really well with the poetry in the book.

The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder

This is the other young adult verse novel that I love. Unlike most verse novels I've read, I felt like The Day Before really played with poetic elements. On top of that, the story was great, and lent itself well to verse.

There are plenty of other young adult verse novels in the library catalog. Some popular authors to check out are Ellen Hopkins, Lisa Schroeder, Micol Ostow, and Nikki Grimes.

Poetry Month: ePoetry

Our eBook collection is growing all the time - you may have already checked out and downloaded a bestseller, or a cookbook, or a Young Adult novel (it's okay to read YA as an adult! We don't judge).  But did you know you can also download poetry to read on your eReader?  April is National Poetry Month, and we'd like to share with you a sampling of some of the ePoetry available to you - you don't even have to come into the library to check them out if you have internet access at home and a valid library card! All titles listed are eBooks in our catalog unless otherwise noted.


Litany for the City: Poems by Ryan Teitman

Need Machine by Andrew Faulkner

Holy Heathen Rhapsody by Pattiann Rogers

Faces of Love Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz by Dick Davis

Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll

That Said: New and Selected Poems by Jane Shore

Night of the Republic by Alan Shapiro

Waiting For the Moon: Poems of Bo Juyi translated by Arthur Waley

The Story of a People: An Anthology of Palestinian Poets Within the Green-Lines edited and translated by Jamal Assadi

Fast Break to Line Break: Poets on the Art of Basketball edited by Todd Davis

Voodoo Inverso by Mark Wagenaar

Our Andromeda by Brenda Shaughnessy

The Door by Margaret Atwood 

Hiphop H.A.I.K.U.: Volume 1 - Higher Awareness is Kept Underground by ShaIfa Mami Watu

The Essential Brendan Kennelly: Selected Poems by Brendan Kennelly

Poems 1960-2000 by Fleur Adcock

Out of the Blue: Poems 1975-2001 by Helen Dunmore

I Won't Let You Go: Selected Poems by Rabindranath Tagore

The Hands of Strangers: Poems from the Nursing Home by Janice N. Harrington

Songs and Stories of the Ghouls by Alice Notley

The Spoken Arts Treasury - Volume I: 100 Modern American Poets Reading Their Poems [eAudiobook]

The Spoken Arts Treasury - Volume II: 100 Modern American Poets Reading Their Poems [eAudiobook]

Yeats Reads His Own Work by W.B. Yeats  [eAudiobook]


 For more poetry eBooks, check the library catalog. Ditto poetry eAudiobooks!

                

Poetry Month: New Biographies of Poets

"A voice exists for every living creature, human or beast.  It is one of the poet's tasks to listen and transcribe: the voice (the diction, syntax and cadence) of the cow and pig, the mollusk, the echidna, the strangler fig, the lyre bird and goose, the tick, the possum, 'The Fellow Human'... [The poet] works toward an accessible poetry, telling stories, attempting secular...and holy communion. [The poet] might respond to Ezra Pound's commandment 'Make it new': 'No, make it present.'"
~Michael Schmidt, Lives of the Poets

Poets - why do they fascinate us? From Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets to today, there are a multitude of personal histories of poets out there.  Emily Dickinson's life has been the subject of multiple biographers. The poets of the Beat Generation still capture our imagination. Based on unpublished diaries and correspondence, Daniel Mark Epstein wrote What Lips My Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay. A few years ago the complete correspondence of Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell was published; you can also read the letters of Langston Hughes and his mentor, Carl Van Vechten. Local poet Jimmy Santiago Baca wrote a memoir A Place to Stand: The Making of a Poet in 2001; Gil Scott-Heron's memoir, The Last Holiday, was published posthumously in 2012, the same year that Joy Harjo published her memoir, Crazy Brave - just to name a few.

To celebrate National Poetry Month, we've compiled a list of the latest biographies of poets in the library catalog.  Hope this will whet your appetite to read more about poets - and more poetry!

E. E. Cummings: A Life by Susan Cheever

An Enlarged Heart: A Personal History by Cynthia Zarin

For a Song and a Hundred Songs: A Poet's Journey Through a Chinese Prison by Liao Yiwu

Pain, Parties, Work : Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 by Elizabeth Winder

American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath by Carl Rollyson

Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson

Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore by Linda Leavell

Tennyson: To Strive, To Seek, To Find by John Batchelor


For more poet biographies, check the library catalog.

Novels in Verse for Adults & Teens

Poetry can be a hard sell. Adults are wont to say they don't "get" poetry, and if teens are exposed to classic narrative poetry in high school, they might find it dry and never crack open anything labeled "poetry" again.  But it doesn't have to be that way! Below read two arguments for introducing teens, especially reluctant readers, to some new and novel narrative verse, and a list of some recommended reads and books from the library catalog that even adults might take a fancy to.

Narrative poetry is as ancient as Homer's tales of the Iliad and Odyssey, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but today's novels in verse are far from boring. Many verse novels tackle difficult topics while others offer lighter stories of love and friendship. Novels in verse are easy to pick up and hard to put down. With fewer words on each page, these books are perfect for reluctant readers and busy teens (and they're great for book reports because they don't take long to read).
~Sarah Tregay, "Novels in Verse"

For many kids, “poetry” is a dirty word. Plenty of my own students tune out, glaze over, roll their eyes, or outwardly groan at its mere mention... When getting the right book (sometimes any book!) into the hands of the right reader can be such a challenge, finding a way to invest students in poetry can be an uphill battle. For some readers, the gateway might just be fiction, and verse novels are a fantastic blend of poetic form and fiction narrative.
~"Top Ten Novels in Verse by Lauren Strohecker"


Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow

Lies, Knives and Girls in Red Dresses by Ron Koertge

Collateral by Ellen Hopkins

Forget Me Not by Carolee Dean

The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf

This Full House by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

May B. by Caroline Starr Rose
(featured on the 2014 New Mexico Battle of the Books Elementary and Middle School booklists)

October Mourning by Lesléa Newman

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan

Pieces of Georgia by Jennifer Bryant


Also check out the Novels in Verse booklist on our Teen Reads Booklist page!

Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver is an American poet born September 10, 1935 in Ohio. Her first collection of poems, No Voyage, and Other Poems, was published in 1963.  Her fifth collection, American Primitive (1983), won the Pulitzer Prize.

Oliver's work turns towards nature for its inspiration and describes the sense of wonder it instills in her. "When it's over," she says, "I want to say: all my life / I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms." [Wikipedia]  Mary Oliver is reckoned to be this country's best-selling poet - in 2007, a list on poetryfoundation.org of the top 15 best-selling poetry volumes in America as of mid-January included five Mary Oliver titles. She has lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts, since the 1960s, & the New York Times has called her "The Bard of Provincetown".


Find Mary Oliver in the library catalog

Mary Oliver links:

Mary Oliver on Poets.org
Mary Oliver's official Beacon Press website
A podcast of Mary Oliver reading at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe in 2001
Mary Oliver on The Poetry Foundation website

Science Corner: Outstanding Science Poetry for Kids

National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has produced an annual list of "Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K - 12" since 1973.  The NSTA's purpose is the "stimulation, improvement, & coordination of science teaching & learning".  Their book review panel selects the titles from a variety of genres, & notes which of the National Science Content Standards each book matches, such as "Science as inquiry", "Physical science", "Science & technology". 

There have been several works of poetry to make this list since 2001, mostly nature-related, & several are available in the library catalog. Sylvia M. Vardell of Book Links magazine suggests "Share these science-poetry titles in combination with an informational title on the same topic, examining how information is presented in prose & in poetry.  Or consider how the book's illustrations (whether paintings, prints, or photographs) offer details alongside the poetry."

At the Sea Floor Café: Odd Ocean Critter Poems written by Leslie Bulion

What's for Dinner?: Quirky, Squirmy Poems from the Animal World written by Katherine B. Hauth

Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night written by Joyce Sidman

Ubiquitous: Poetry & Science about Nature's Survivors written by Joyce Sidman

Guess What is Growing Inside this Egg written by Mia Posada

Tracks of a Panda written by Nick Dowson

Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow written by Joyce Sidman

Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems  written by Joyce Sidman

Welcome to the River of Grass written by Jane Yolen

Our Big Home: An Earth Poem by Linda Glaser

Albuquerque Poet Laureate

Many states have named poet laureates, but New Mexico is not one of them. However, Santa Fe named Joan Logghe its poet laureate in 2010, and Albuquerque will soon have a poet laureate of its very own when on Saturday, April 14, Albuquerque will announce the city's first poet laureate.

What exactly does the term "poet laureate" mean? Basically it's someone appointed by a government to compose poems for national events, to represent poetry and writing at events around the country, and also to raise awareness of poetry and its importance to culture. In the United States, the Library of Congress decides who will be poet laureate, with input from past laureates and other writers. Poet laureates of the past in the United States (where the position was created in 1937) have brought poetry writing to schools, exposed the nation to poetry through newspapers and advertising, and started poetry workshops for the public. Most recent US poet laureate Philip Levine has posted audio podcasts, bringing the sound of poetry to a new generation.

Joan Logghe, the current poet laureate of Santa Fe, is a great example of a poet laureate. She has taught poetry workshops in New Mexico schools and prisons for years. She is also the project director of Write Action: Writing from the Heart of AIDS, a grassroots organization which offers writing workshops in Santa Fe and education outreach around northern New Mexico. Her poem, "Something Like Marriage", which talks about her love of New Mexico is featured in the amazing collection of New Mexico writings, In Company. She has also published several books of poetry, including one on her local literary press, Tres Chicas. Her energy has brought poetry into the lives of New Mexicans for many years.

Treat yourself and your family to a morning of poetry at the Main Library on April 14 at 11:00 a.m. and hear Albuquerque's poet laureate announced. This event will include poetry readings from New Mexico Centennial Poet, Levi Romero, and Santa Fe Poet Laureate, Joan Logghe. For more information on Albuquerque's poet laureate program visit abqpoetlaureate.org.

You can also check out poetry happening around New Mexico by going to http://www.abqslams.org/ to see what the Albuquerque slam poetry team is up to, or by clicking on http://www.nmsps.org/ to see what's going on with the New Mexico State Poetry Society. Poets.org also has a special New Mexico page on their website. Also, visit our Poetry LibGuide for a list of poetry events at ABC Libraries, poetry writing tips, & links to some new poetry titles in the catalog. Happy reading!

...Just in!  Albuquerque's new Poet Laureate is Hakim Bellamy!  Congratulations to Hakim, & for our blog readers, here's a  video of him at a poetry reading at UNM Bookstore a few years ago.