Are you ready for the 40th Virtual Poetry Circle this week? I hope you are because we’re continuing the celebration of National Poetry Month.
If you missed my earlier announcement (don’t worry, it’s a sticky post), you can check out the 2010 National Poetry Month Blog Tour details here.
Today, we’re going to visit with a contemporary poet.
Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.
Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s books suggested. Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.
From Richard Blanco’s City of a Hundred Fires (page 16):
She scratches the oranges then smells the peel,
presses an avocado just enough to judge its ripeness,
polishes the Macintoshes searching for bruises.She selects with hands that have thickened, fingers
that have swollen with history around the white gold
of a wedding ring she now wears as a widow.Unlike the archived photos of young, slender digits
captive around black and white orange blossoms,
her spotted hands now reaching into the colors.I see all the folklore of her childhood, the fields,
the fruit she once picked from the very tree,
the wiry roots she pulled out of the very ground.And now, among the collapsed boxes of yuca,
through crumbling pyramids of golden mangoes,
she moves with the same instinct and skill.This is how she survives death and her son,
on these humble duties that will never change,
on those habits of living which keep a life a life.She holds up red grapes to ask me what I think,
and what I think is this, a new poem about her–
the grapes look like dusty rubies in her hands,what I say is this: they look sweet, very sweet.
Let me know your thoughts, ideas, feelings, impressions. Let’s have a great discussion…pick a line, pick an image, pick a sentence.
I’ve you missed the other Virtual Poetry Circles, check them out here. It’s never too late to join the discussion.
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Please also stop by today’s National Poetry Month Blog Tour stop at Booking Mama where she will review some children’s poetry books as part of her regular feature Kid Konnection and Write Meg! will feature Kim Addonzinio.
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A recent article in 
combines written verse with audio recitation of poetry by the poets themselves on CDs spark young readers’ love of poetry and verse. Readers between the ages of 11 and 14 will find poems in this volume that speak to their struggles with love, family, growing into adulthood, and making friends.
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This is my 24nd book for the 
Despite the mix of contemporary and classic sonnets, I think there is enough in here to count for the 
— hits stores today, April 6. The protagonist, Veronica Czalicki, is a housewife who soon finds herself on her own when her husband leaves her for another woman — the love of his life. She’s now a financially struggling single mother, but she has other problems too. She just happens to look like a famous star. Veronica receives some respite from her daily struggles when she’s asked to become the star’s double.
by Rachelle Rogers Knight is an excellent organizing journal for passionate readers, but maybe not for book bloggers. As an avid reader with a to-read list in the hundreds, there are not enough pages in this book to house all of my reading wants and needs. An online version of this book may have been a better product, allowing readers to continuously add pages to their loaner and recommendation lists. . . but then wouldn’t we call it 
in 2007, and earned the Bronze Medal for “Independent Publisher of the Year” from Independent Publisher Online Magazine in 2008. Sourcebooks, Inc. is releasing new and improved editions of the self-published hit this April. 
by Aviva Goldfarb for a tour in April around Earth Day!
by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni for review in June.
