enthralled 
So many people are doing so many cool things across the kidlitosphere in honor of National Poetry Month! I need to find a centralized list to share. (Addendum: Laura Evans at Teach Poetry K-12 has a comprehensive list in the righthand sidebar--check it out!) Meanwhile, I'm traveling a lot in April, so I'm keeping it fairly simple. Every day, M-F, I'm sharing one poem I love from a kids' or YA poetry book. I'm happy to kick off the month with one of my very favorite poets!
| Joyce Sidman has done it again. Joyce is one of my poetry idols, and her new collection, Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors (Houghton Mifflin, 2010), is a captivating combination of poetry and nonfiction, deliciously illustrated by Beckie Prange. It's hard to choose a favorite from this very varied collection, but here's one where I love the poem and art equally: The Mollusk That Made You Shell of the sunrise, sunrise shell, yours is the pink lip of a pearled world. Who swirled your whorls and ridges? Was it the shy gray wizard shuttered inside you? I hear he walks on one foot and wears a magic mantle, trailing stars. O Shell, if only I could shrink! I'd climb your bristled back, slide down the spiral of your heart. I'd knock on your tiny door and ask to meet the mollusk that made you. --Joyce Sidman, all rights reserved |  |