Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday: An Invitation to Learn about Collaboration

 

Matt at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme is hosting Poetry Friday this week. Check his site for all of the links! 

Haiku of the Week

Chinese paperbush

stars in the sun-drenched garden

yellow bursts of spring

–Haiku and photo by Marcie Flinchum Atkins

Photo taken at Enid A. Haupt Garden

Collaboration: An Invitation

The Mid-Atlantic SCBWI is hosting Irene Latham and Charles Waters for a webinar on collaboration. As you may know, Charles and Irene have collaborated on several poetry collections together, and they have a new historical fiction novel-in-verse AFRICAN TOWN. Each time I read their books, I have such admiration for their work, and I have so many questions. How DO you collaborate? What does that look like? They’ll be sharing their collaboration process with us on April 26. Come join us. Here’s the link to sign up.

What I’m Reading

I just finished reading AFRICAN TOWN by Irene Latham and Charles Waters this week. I also downloaded on LibroFM. It was a recent selection for their educator program. I have so many thoughts. The story itself is eye-opening. I’m so glad they brought the story of the enslaved people who came to this country on the Clotilda, endured the unimaginable, and then established their own community in Alabama. I learned so much.

But this is also a novel-in-verse, and I’m in AWE of the structure of the poems individually. Each voice has its own style of poetry. There was so much thought and care put into each individual person represented. It’s a masterful work to read as a fellow writer. I’ll hope you’ll pick up your own copy. The audio (which I’m about halfway through) is also amazing. I do like to listen to poetry when I get the chance. There are multiple voices cast for the characters in the book. I’d recommend it as well.

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