Entries close 30 July 2010, and first prize in each category is $50!
The poems will be judged by Australian writer, Katrina Germein. Visit her website for more information.
Get writing!
Today is ‘Poem in Your Pocket Day’! And we’re thrilled to have a wonderful poet visiting the blog today: Jackie Hosking. You can find one of her poems in the current issue of Alphabet Soup magazine (issue 6).
Welcome, Jackie! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am a Nigerian born, Cornish, Australian. How can that be? Well, my parents are Cornish, they were living in Nigeria when I was born, they moved to Victoria, Australia when I was ten where I became an Australian Citizen. I left my parents’ home with my kitten, Gizzy when I was 18 years old. Gizzy lived to be 21 years old and I wrote a poem, ‘My Cat,’ in her memory. Now I live in a beautiful seaside town with my puppy Rex. Rex is a Blue Staffy and he wrecks (Rex) everything. I love walking by the sea and in the bush and discover many of my poems this way. I also love to read.
How long have you been writing poetry?
I have been writing poetry for about 25 years. I wrote my very first poem when I was 17. I have been writing for children for about 5 years.
You seem to love rhyming poetry in particular. Can you tell us why?
I grew up reading poems by A.A. Milne. He wrote the ‘Winnie The Pooh’ books, and I always enjoyed discovering when a poem rhymed. I thought it was really clever and so doubly satisfying. Even though I love rhyme, I like the rhyme to be incidental, a bonus, not the whole focus but the icing on the cake.
Do you prefer writing poems to writing stories?
I much prefer to write a poem. I think it might be because I have a short attention span. I love how a poem can condense thoughts, feelings and descriptions into a powerful piece of writing. Poems are bite sized stories to be consumed greedily.
Why do you like writing poems for children?
I think because I never really grew up. Also I think when I write a poem, I try to write with a fresh eye, a child’s eye. Instead of having a bird’s eye view, I write with a child’s eye view. I have also written poems for adults, a few serious ones but mostly funny ones for parents with small children.
Did you like poetry as a child?
I didn’t really enjoy reading adult poetry as a child but I always enjoyed the children’s poets. I’ve mentioned A.A. Milne and there’s also C.J. Dennis, Dr. Seuss, C.S. Lewis and Roald Dahl.
Who are some children’s poets you admire today?
Of course, all of those mentioned above, as well as – Lorraine Marwood, Meredith Costain, Claire Saxby, Sally Murphy, Janeen Brian, Stephen Whiteside, Sherryl Clark and Edel Wignell, just to name a few.
Do you have a favourite style of poem when you are writing?
I like to think about my poetry as an artist might think of a painting. Poetry, to me, is painting with words. I’ve written all types of poetry, funny, sad, pretty, long, short, limericks but what is most important, for me, is the rhythm or the meter. It has to be perfect and I enjoy the challenge of getting it that way.
Have you ever done anything unusual with one of your poems? (e.g. purposely left one on a train … )
Funny that you should mention a train. Two of my poems are travelling around Melbourne on the trains as part of the ‘Moving Galleries’ project. It’s such fun when someone contacts me to let me know that they’ve seen one. I also entered a very personal (and a little bit rude!) valentine’s poem into a competition where it ended up being included in the anthology.
Do you have any advice for kids who want to write poetry?
Think of poetry like making gravy – it needs to be reduced. It needs to be the essence of what you want to say. Less is always more where poetry is concerned. Use strong, sparkly words, become friends with metaphor and simile and don’t be afraid to be unique. Never use clichés – never say that something was ‘as cold as ice’. Find a new way like … the water was as cold as money.
Where can kids find your poems?
Many of my poems have been published in The School Magazine.
Alphabet Soup has published ‘The Moon’ and ‘A Raindrop Race’.
The Poem a Week Project – ‘To Catch a Dewdrop’.
I also have a blog! http://www.versatilityrhymeandrhythm.blogspot.com
How do you get ideas/inspiration?
Ideas can come from anywhere. Walking stirs up lots of ideas, as do my pets. Nature is a favourite, the flowers, the birds, the beach. I love to capture all of these things and display them on the page.
Today is ‘Poem in Your Pocket Day’. Would you share one of your poems with us today?
Here’s one I prepared earlier …
‘I had a little poem’
I had a little poem
I held it in my hand
It whispered muffled secrets
Only I could understand
I had a little poem
I kept it in a locket
And every time I went outside
I popped it in my pocket
© Jackie Hosking
You can find out more about Jackie Hosking at her website: www.jackiehoskingpio.wordpress.com. Her most recent publication – ‘At the end of the Street’ is included in the anthology, Short & Scary.
Be sure to come by on Thursday. It’s Poem in Your Pocket Day and we’ll have children’s poet, Jackie Hosking visiting!
(If you have a current copy of Alphabet Soup magazine – issue 6 – she has a poem published on page 7.)
Don’t miss it!
As we mentioned earlier, April is National Poetry Month in the US, and we’ve borrowed the idea because we rather like poetry. Later in the week we hope to have a real live poet visiting the blog, so be sure to check back!
In the meantime, here is a fantastic book by Paul B. Janeczko (illustrated by Chris Raschka).
This book is a collection of poems with a brief explanation about the rules for each form included. 29 forms are covered – some of them are ones you might already recognise, like Haiku, Tanka, Cinquain, Villanelle and List Poem. Perhaps you can find a copy of A Kick in the Head at your library. Be inspired to write your own poem, and then you can carry it around with you on Thursday for Poem In Your Pocket Day! (Or leave a short poem in our comments, and we’ll pretend it’s an online pocket!)
Here’s a couplet I wrote after reading A Kick in the Head:
I wish that it were chocolate cake –
but CAULIFLOWER is in to bake.*
*Actually, I love cauliflower cheese. It’s just that sometimes I’d rather have cake …
This book was selected for review from the Editor’s own collection.
While you’re in the mood for poetry (April being [Inter]National Poetry month and all), you might like to think about sending your best poem in to the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards.
The theme is ‘I hear music.’ There are categories for lower primary and upper primary. And prizes from $300, plus a trophy!
You can find out more by visiting the website. Entries close 9 July 2010.
The WA branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) is holding a fun book-based quiz in the style of the hit ABC show Spicks & Specks.
Bring your family and friends! Meet local authors and illustrators!
When: 2 – 4pm, Sunday 27 June 2010
Where: St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School, Karrinyup WA
Cost: $10 adults $5 children/school students
Bookings: Jan Nicholls (jnicholls@stmarys.wa.edu.au)
For more info, see the website of the CBCA (WA).
This book is so much fun! The Editor, Jim Haynes, has collected over SIX HUNDRED poems in it, including a mix of old favourites (see if your parents and grandparents know them!) and more modern verse including games and chants, limericks, nonsense verse, poems about animals and birds, gross and gruesome poems … and more!
Here are a few of our favourites (but with over 600 poems, there are many more to choose from):
Fancy Dress (Anonymous)
There once was a fellow named Paul
Who went to a fancy dress ball.
He thought he would risk it
And go as a biscuit,
And a dog ate him up in the hall.
—
The Drovers by CJ Dennis
Out across the spinifex, out across the sand,
Out across the saltbush to Never Never land
That’s the way the drovers go, jogging down the track,
That’s the way the drovers go. But how do they come back?
Back across the saltbush from Never Never land.
Back across the spinifex, back across the sand.
—
Why? (Anonymous)
Why does a clock face not have a nose?
Why do foothills not have toes?
Do all-day laundries close at night?
Will the teeth on a garden rake ever bite?
Why can’t a needle wink its eye?
Why can’t the wings of a building fly?
What is the sound of a gum tree’s bark?
Can you leave your car in a national park?
—
I’m pretending not to notice the poem by Hilaire Belloc on page 334 called ‘Rebecca (Who Slammed Doors For Fun And Perished Miserably)’. Do you know it?
Tell us your favourite poem, and we can celebrate [Inter]national Poetry Month together!
~ Rebecca, Editor, Alphabet Soup magazine
Big Book of Verse for Aussie Kids, edited by Jim Haynes, Allen & Unwin, 2009
You might have heard about April being National Poetry Month. (Actually, it’s National Poetry Month in the US, but we thought we’d borrow the idea and quietly turn it into INTERnational Poetry Month!)
So, for the rest of April, you’ll find us posting about our favourite poems, cool books of poems, poetry walls, and Poem in Your Pocket day on 29 April 2010.
Did you know that there’s a poll over on the home page of the Alphabet Soup website? Vote and let us know how often you read poems (or have someone read poems to you)!
The 2010 Byron Bay Writers Festival (NSW) will host Australia’s best kids writers in the kids marquee on Saturday 7 August from 9.00am – 2.30pm.
AGES: Kids between 6 and 16
ACTIVITIES: storytelling, activities and an opportunity to meet authors during book signings.
COST: $25 or $20 for members of the Northern Rivers Writers’ Centre. (Each Kids Pass accommodates one accompanying adult allowing access to KIDS SESSIONS)
The full Festival program has not been released yet, but discounted Early Bird 3-day passes are now available. The full program will be released on 4 June 2010. For more information, you can visit the Writers Festival website.
Children from Palmyra Primary School in Western Australia recently visited the Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre, where they attended a workshop with author-illustrator, Narelle Oliver.
The students were enthusiastic about Narelle Oliver and her books, and wrote in to Alphabet Soup to tell us about the visit. We are pleased to share three of their letters with you!
Thanks for writing in to tell us about your visit, Bridie, Charli and Bellinda. We’re glad to hear that you love Narelle Oliver’s books – perhaps one day you will be writing and illustrating your own books!
Rebecca (Editor, Alphabet Soup)
alphabetsoup.net.au 