A (Found) Ode to Signed Books

This week, I went to a reading by the esteemed poet Rita Dove.

1. It was free. Thanks, HoCoPoLitSo!
2. There was music by young composer and violinist Joshua Coyne.
3. RITA DOVE

Poetry Friday

Today's Poetry Friday round-up

is at Cathy's blog,

Merely Day by Day.

I'd been meaning to buy and read Dove's historical novel-in-verse Sonata Mulattica for several years. (Read the NY Times review here.) She spoke about the book and its subject, child prodigy George Polgreen Bridgetower (1780-1860), on the Diane Rehm Show when Sonata Mulattica was first released.

The selections she read at the event were beautiful. Some of the poems include multiple voices. They are funny, piercing in their portrayal of the society that celebrated Bridgetower, then erased him from history.

But what I really want to talk about is signed books. I did buy a copy of Sonata Mulattica last night and Rita Dove signed it.

Sonata Mulattica by Rita Dove

That got me wondering. Why do we love signed books? I have dozens of them. Some were already favorites when I sought out the author to have the book signed. Others I had never heard of, but fell in love with at a reading or writers' conference. They were bought and signed on the spot.

Are these books a little more special than their unsigned shelf-mates?

I think so. A signed book is similar to a photograph. Every time I open the book and read the personalized dedication, I remember meeting the author and sharing a word or two. I remember asking poet Mark Doty to sign a book and wanting to hide in a giant hole when he pointed out that I'd handed him someone else's book by accident. I remember meeting children's poet Heidi Mordhorst, now a dear friend, for the first time.

Today, I'm presenting a gallery of dedications for you to enjoy. Following the photographs is a little found ode that I wrote. It combines titles of these signed books with words and phrases borrowed from the dedications.

The Song Shoots Out of My Mouth: A Celebration of Music
by Jaime Adoff

Pumpkin Butterfly: Poems
from the Other Side of Nature
by Heidi Mordhorst

The East-West House: Noguchi's Childhood in Japan
by Christy Hale

I Am the Running Girl
by Arnold Adoff

She Had Some Horses
by Joy Harjo

And here is my found poem. Words I added are in bold. Everything else is strung together from the dedications and the book titles.

When You Sign My Book

by Laura Shovan

The song shoots out of my mouth

with great appreciation for everything:

Gr8 to meet you!!

Enjoy!! God bless!!

Looking forward to your next book!

(and thanks for the new horizons).

I am a pumpkin butterfly,

flying East-West in a celebration

of word music.

I am the running girl,

watching with joy,

listening for your sonata.

Poems journey like childhood ghosts

or horses

from the other side of nature.

And, following poet Brenda Hillman's example, here are some drippings -- phrases from the titles and dedications that I wasn't able to weave into the poem.

The House: Noguchi’s in Japan

at SCBWI 3/6/10 Poems

Keep for

She Had Some

Some horses for your

Enjoy

Mulattica

I'd love to hear your thoughts on signed books and book signings. If you have a treasured signed book, or a memory about a book signing, please share in the comments.

A Stay-cation @ the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society

You know how a vacation's sort of not really a vacation? (For example: Visiting Florida so you can change your adorable nephew's diapers, as we explored in the last post.)

This week, Author Amok is en vacances at the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society -- aka HoCoPoLitSo -- blog. 

This was HoCoPoLitSo's most recent event. By all accounts, amazing performance.

I'm guest posting about being a visiting writing teacher at the local GT Summer Institutes, working with fourth and fifth grade poets. The title is "Summer School Spark."

This is a blogging stay-cation for me because HoCoPoLitSo is based in my home town. But it's the kind of stay-cation where you get to spend time hanging out at your big sister's best friend's really nice house, which has an awesome library, and if you're lucky somebody famous might drop by because her family has connections. As long as it's not Billy Collins, because I defy him a little bit in my post.

Disobedience, Ms. Amok!

HoCoPoLitSo is a longstanding literary organization in our area and helped give the journal I edit, Little Patuxent Review, its start. They've hosted readings with some stellar writers over the years. I've been to wonderful HoCoPoLitSo events with such luminaries as Terrance Hayes (no one should be that good looking and that talented, seriously) and Edith Pearlman (amazing reader -- see her if you ever get a chance). Wow.

Thanks for the invite, HoCoPoLitSo! Here is the link to my guest post: http://hocopolitso.org/2013/08/14/summer-school-spark/

Fall for Poetry -- Events, Contests, Festivals

Lots of news to share, poetry gang! Here we go:

Sunday, September 26
Laura & Shirley Brewer at the Baltimore Book Festival
POEMS AND GEMS: LETTING IN THE LIGHT - two luminous poets illuminate the writing craft.

4-5 PM in the CityLit Tent
 
The pink is in honor of Shirley. She is fabulous as a person and as a poet. We always have a lot of fun together. Join us and you'll have fun too.
 
Friday, October 1
Deadline
Clarinda Harriss Poetry Prize and Chapbook Competition 2010
Submit 20-25 pages of poetry (and $25)
Prize is $250 and publication. Final judge is Dick Allen.
 
My chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone won the inaugural Harriss Prize. I had an amazing experience with CityLit Press. Highly recommended!
 
Tuesday, October 5
Howard County Poetry and Literature Society hosts poet Mark Doty
 
I'm sad to have to miss this one. Doty is a remarkable poet, but he's also a wonderful speaker. You will leave this evening feeling enriched.
 
Thanks to HoCoPoLitSo to bringing national voices to Howard County, MD. Info: www.hocopolitso.org
 
Thursday, October 7 - Sunday, October 10
13th Biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ
 
If you've never been, do yourself a favor and GO! This is the biggest poetry festival in the nation. It's amazing and Friday is free for teachers. Wow.
 
Info at www.DodgePoetry.org
 
Saturday, October 16 - Sunday, October 17
Women's Poetry Retreat
Harpers Ferry, WV
 
Three of my favorite local poets are leading the retreat: Shirley Brewer, Barbara Morrison and Christine Stewart of the Maryland State Arts Council. For just $99 including lodging and meals, you can't go wrong.
 
Info at http://baltimorewriterscollective.blogspot.com
 
Wednesday, October 27
Deadline: Maryland Writers Association Poetry Anthology
 
The theme is Love, in all its facets.
Members are encouraged to submit 1-3 poems on this theme. Non-members are encouraged to join!
www.marylandwriters.org
 
More exciting news on this anthology in a separate post. I'm very excited to be editing the anthology.
 
 
Monday, November 1
Deadline: Little Patuxent Review
www.littlepatuxentreview.org
 
The next issue's theme is Water.
 
LPR is a beautiful local journal that consistently supports local poets, essayists and fiction writers.
 
Anyone would think it's National Poetry Month! Good luck with your submissions. Get out there and hear some poetry.

Welcome Fall and Hall

It's the first weekend of fall. We'll be outside, watching the kids play field hockey and football. Now that the children are older, I gauge the seasons as much by what sport they're doing as I do by what the weather's doing.

Today, I'm sharing a poem about experiencing the seasons, but not through the weather. For Donald Hall's "Ox Cart Man," the seasons are intertwined with work.

Hall is speaking at Howard Community College next weekend, October 4. Information on the program (sponsored by HoCoPoLitSo) is here: http://www.hocopolitso.org/pdf/Hall.pdf

Ox Cart Man by Donald Hall

In October of the year, he counts potatoes dug from the brown field, counting the seed, counting the cellar's portion out, and bags the rest on the cart's floor.

He packs wool sheared in April, honey in combs, linen, leather tanned from deerhide, and vinegar in a barrel hoped by hand at the forge's fire.

He walks by his ox's head, ten days to Portsmouth Market, and sells potatoes, and the bag that carried potatoes, flaxseed, birch brooms, maple sugar, goose feathers, yarn.

When the cart is empty he sells the cart. When the cart is sold he sells the ox

The rest of the poem is here. Or, check out the Caldecott winning picture book from 1980.

I prefer Hall's children's book, I Am the Dog, I Am the Cat. When I do elementary school poetry residencies, teachers fall in love with Hall's contrasting cat and dog voices. The language is juicy, fun and kid friendly. Are your younger students learning the 6+ 1 Writing Traits? I Am the Dog, I Am the Cat is a must read-aloud.

Our hospitable Poetry Friday host is Susan Taylor Brown this week. Enjoy!

Amok at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival: II

This was the view on the way to the Dodge Poetry Festival last weekend: There's a reason it's called "driving rain"... Where is the rain driving us? Round the bend. Crazy. Over the hills and through the woods. To an early grave. What is the rain driving? Blue P.T. Cruiser, droplets on fresh wax. Gray VW bug, fat as a raindrop, smooth as sharkskin. How does the rain hold the steering wheel? Press the gas, hit the brakes, turn on its windshield wipers? Can rain see through the rain? Does the rain drive with the radio on? Does it get a rush every time a rock station plays "Riders on the Storm?" How bad does the rain have to be before rain pulls over, turns off the engine, waits until it can bear the sound of its own pounding heart. I parked in a muddy field about a ten minute walk from Waterloo Village. By 10:30 AM -- despite the rain -- the main lots were full. It was Teacher Day. I headed to the registration tent for my free (whoopee!) teacher admission bracelet and free (double whoopee!) Teacher Packet. The packet is one of the amazing ways Dodge supports poetry in the schools. It's filled with poems -- a double sided page for each poet at the festival. These are intended for the high school classroom. We also get a few pages of teaching ideas. The Sawmill I checked my program on the fly and set out for the Sawmill Tent & Joy Harjo, whose work I've long admired. (I read her beautiful "Eagle Poem" at Jason & Bethany's wedding.) Harjo calls herself a reluctant poet. She wanted to be an artist, but her love of music and her mother's songwriting drew her to poetry. You can hear those elements in Harjo's poems. She uses chant, repetition, animal totems and Native American stories in her poetry. Her work is often sensory, like the poem she read, "It's Raining in Honolulu." It begins, "There is a small mist at the brow of the mountain,/each leaf of flower, of taro, tree and bush shivers with ecstasy." The rest of the poem is here: http://www.poetrymagazine.com/archives/2003/March03/harjo.htm Harjo, who wore a black cowboy hat and henna decorations on her right hand, remembered reading Emily Dickinson and Louis Untermeyer's "Poetry for Children" as a child. One of four siblings, she tucked herself into a closet to find a quiet place to read and draw. A member of the Mvskoko/Creek Nation, she was sent to "Indian" school and experienced discrimination there even as Native American culture was beginning to earn respect in the U.S. She told us about her adventures canoeing on the Pacific Ocean. The experience has taught her to listen to the "Wise Self" -- the inner voice that warns you about danger. Harjo is working on a play about a woman who ignores her Wise Self. The main character, Red Bird, leaves her family to take up with the wrong guy. The sections Harjo read from the play were powerful -- particularly how spouses can shift from love to a pattern of abuse. The play premieres in March (NYC?) A teacher in the audience asked how students can connect with the mythological/ancestral family stories in their writing. This would help them learn about themselves. Harjo recommended music (which has ancestral roots) or a symbolic image (an animal) that takes students beyond everyday language. Take a look at the puddle outside the Sawmill Tent. I felt awful for the people in flip-flops. BTW: Joy Harjo is reading in Howard County, MD this weekend, 10/5/08. Info is at http://www.hocopolitso.org/. Look for her children's book, "The Good Luck Cat." She has another one for kids coming out soon, "Poem for a Girl Becoming." Next up: Friday's Poetry Sampler with Jane Hirshfield, Edward Hirsch, Sharon Olds, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ted Kooser, Linda Pastan, Mark Doty and more.