NPM 50 State Tour: Maine

Maine, the 23rd state, is as big as the other five New England states combined. It's "birthday" is on the Ides of March -- 3/15/1820.

You know I'm a fan of the Weird States series ('cause it started in my beloved New Jersey). This blog chronicles weird news in Maine.

And I loved this little factoid: "The Desert of Maine in Freeport is a natural desert which was once covered by a 300 acre farm. Years of land-clearing, overgrazing, and failure to rotate crops revealed this desert. According to geologists, a glacier moved through the area about 11,000 years ago depositing the sand and minerals that now make up the Desert of Maine." This is the source.

The Pine State only instituted a poet laureate's position in 1995. The current PL is Betsy Sholl. Her poem welcomes (and warns) a newborn baby.

Lullaby in Blue
by Betsy Sholl
The child takes her first journey through the inner blue world of her mother's body, blue veins, blue eyes, frail petal lids. Beyond that unborn brackish world so deep it will be felt forever as longing, a dream of blue notes plucked from memory's guitar, the wind blows indigo shadows under streetlights, clouds crowd the moon and bear down on the limbs of a blue spruce. The child's head appears— midnight pond, weedy and glistening— draws back, reluctant to leave that first home. Blue catch in the mother's throat, ferocious bruise of a growl, and out slides the iridescent body—fish-slippery in her father's hands, plucked from water into such thin densities of air, her arms and tiny hands stutter and flail, till he places her on her mother's body, then cuts the smoky cord, releasing her into this world, its cold harbor below where a blue caul of shrink-wrap covers each boat gestating on the winter shore. Child, the world comes in twos, above and below, visible and unseen. Inside your mother's croon there's the hum of an old man tapping his foot on a porch floor, his instrument made from one string nailed to a wall, as if anything can be turned into song...   You'll find the rest of the poem here.    I'm spending today at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. My daughter is competing in the Maryland Engineering Challenge with a model roller coaster based on Alice in Wonderland.   I think she's getting tired of me reciting "Jabberwocky" at her. What can I say -- I'm a poet, not a cheerleader. See you tomorrow for our National Poetry Month 50 State Tour visit to Missouri.

NPM 50 State Tour: Alabama

The more I get to know our state poets laureate on our National Poetry Month tour, the more I like them.

In Illinois, we met poet and literary critic Kevin Stein. We're moving on to Alabama -- 22nd state.

Alabama's poet laureate, Sue Brannan Walker, also writes about literature and is the publisher of Negative Capability press. She is a friend to poets, publishing  many new voices. Her own book Blood Will Bear Your Name was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. (Walker is pictured with Alabama governor

I'm sharing Walker's award-winning poem, "Grandfather's Thumb." When I work with elementary schoolers, we do a food poem workshop. (The description is here.)

I ask the kids to go beyond their five senses and think about a person they associate with a special food or foods. Here, Walker mentions the foods she associates with the grandfather to create a sense of comfort and sweetness.

Grandfather’s Thumb

She said
her grandfather’s thumb
was a chapter in the story
of his life, a black digit,
a hammer with which
he sometimes hit the nail,
sometimes not. She remembers
once when she was a child,
she reached out and touched it,
wondering how something ugly
could be a part of something
she loved. She said Grandpa
told her the thumb was hard labor,
and she thought he was tough—
but he was also trips to the bakery,
cream puffs and macaroons;
he was pink grapefruit
served with brown sugar
and games of checkers
on summer afternoons

The rest of the poem is at the Persimmon Tree magazine.

NPM 50 State Tour: Illinois

The Prairie State has had a poet laureate since 1936. Past P.Ls include Carl Sandburg and Gwendolyn Brooks.

Illinois' current poet laureate is Kevin Stein, who is a well respected literary critic as well as a poet. Read an interview with Stein here.

Before we check out Stein's poetry, here is a youth poem featured on his website. Stein is a champion of kids writing poetry -- you'll find some great work by children on his site. Yay!

Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School, 6th grade
by Rebecca


Aged Cheese
 

People are like cheese.
When cheese is first made, it does not have
strong flavor.
When a child is born, it has not discovered
all its senses.
As the cheese ages, it gets more flavor.
As the child grows, it explores the world.
When the cheese is sold, it lives in
a refrigerator.
When people become adults, they get a job,
have a family, and buy a house.
Eventually, the cheese gets forgotten,
it gets moldy and is fed to a dog,
or eventually when you are old,
your kids move away
and after a long hard life
you lie down to rest
for the rest of your life.

And here is a poem by Kevin Stein -- a sort of dual character sketch. What does the open space breaking up each line signify to you?

It Didn’t Begin with Horned Owls
Hooting at Noon

by Kevin Stein

Though in them he heard       the weird symmetry

of loss and love’s becoming,       a great silence

between one call and the       other’s reply.

So he laid block, framed       studs into walls:

plumb, square, on line.       He stayed up late,

straightening bent nails       on the lip of a block

with his ballpeen hammer,       the way a contractor

with a sprung back had shown       him. Evenings

he went next door to talk,       toting his thermos

of bitter coffee and a picture       of his son

who’s dying of AIDS. Son       he’d failed, son

he’d pounded on and never got       right.

The rest of the poem is at the Poetry Foundation.

Anastasia Suen is hosting Poetry Friday at Picture Book of the Day. Stop by for some rockin' verse.

NPM 50 State Tour: Mississippi

Mississippi, the 20th state, joined the Union on December 10, 1817.

The Magnolia State's poet laureate -- a lifetime post -- is Winifred Hamrick Farrar, who began her appointment in 1978. She is co-author of a book called "Poems Past Eighty."

I couldn't find any poems by Farrar on the web, so here is an imagery poem about the Mississippi River.

On the Mississippi
by Hamlin Garland
Through wild and tangled forests The broad, unhasting river flows-- Spotted with rain-drops, gray with night; Upon its curving breast there goes A lonely steamboat's larboard light, A blood-red star against the shadowy oaks; Noiseless as a ghost, through greenish gleam Read the rest at the Academy of American Poets.   I did find something while researching Farrar. A group of state poets laureate have started a blog, United Poets Laureate. Check it out!

NPM 50 State Tour: Two for the Price of One

Some states have a poet laureate. Others don't -- see my poetic wall of shame (boo!)

But Indiana must be the only state with two poets laureate. One official -- Norbert Krapf. One unofficial -- Peggy Martin -- whose title is "Premier Poet." Confused? So was I.

Read this explanation and you'll still be confused. To distill -- Indiana's state poet laureate is appointed by the Indiana Arts Commission, the Premier Poet is elected by the Indiana State Federation of Poetry Clubs.

The Hoosier State is definitely an over-achiever when it comes to poetry. The Hoosier nickname comes from John Finley's poem, "The Hoosier's Nest." That's your "learn something new" for today (and here's the source.)

Here is Krapf's poem, "Chamomile," which reminded me of Pablo Neruda's simple odes.

Chamomile
by Norbert Krapf

Along the border
of an Indiana garden
beside a cold frame

my great-grandparents
cultivated you for
the herb-blossom tea
they believed cured
most of their ills.

Oh calmer of nerves
and delirium tremens,
soother of headaches
and preventer of nightmares,
repeller of insects
and softener of hair

Read the rest of the poem or listen to an audio reading here.

Enjoy a cup of chamomile tea. We're heading to Mississippi -- 20th state on our National Poetry Month tour of poets laureate.