Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit lovely Violet at
Violet Nesdoly for Roundup.
One of the things I love to do on this blog is showcase Alabama books and authors. Today it is my pleasure to welcome Glenda Slater, author of
FOOLING AROUND WITH SHAKESPEARE (
Negative Capability Press, 2016). These poems are FUN! They are not just for someone who knows and loves Shakespeare. They make a great introduction to him, especially as they are so easy to understand and amusing. Teachers, these poems would be great to pair with actual Shakespeare in the classroom!
First I'd like to share the Preface that begins the book:
You may be long-time lover of the Bard.
You may be youth who thinks His plays too hard.
The poems you will find within this book
Provide for you a new, irreverent, look.
They focus on the foolishness and fun,
The foibles, failings, faults of fools who run
Capriciously cavorting on His pages.
These fools may be, at times, confused with sages.
I warn those who are with His plays besot:
I'e taken liberties with place and plot.
Your entertainment is the poem's intent, so
Frame thy mind to mirth and merriment!
- Glenda Richmond Slater
Isn't that delightful?! And now I've asked Glenda to respond to a few prompts:
The Unexpected:
GS: I remember thinking, when Cold Sassy
Tree by Olive Ann Burns was published, how remarkable that a woman could publish her
first book at the advanced age of 60! And here I am, considerably
older, with my first.
Everything about Fooling Around with
Shakespeare has been unexpected. When I wrote the first poem, in
response to a Pensters [writing group] prompt, I didn’t even turn it in to the
contest. That was “A Midsummer Night’s Scream” and I thought
the judge would not take seriously a poem that rhymed, had meter, and
was a bit of a parody on the play. It would be dismissed as light
verse, I suspected.
The next year, the prompt was
unintentionally repeated and I took the poem to my small writing
group. When we had finished our session and were about to leave, I
remembered it, pulled it out, asked them to listen to it and tell me
if I should try to do something with it. They found it very amusing.
Sue Walker, a member of the group, said, “Glenda, if you will write
more of these, I will publish the book.” [note from Irene: Sue Walker is awesome like that.]
Wow, that was a surprise! A publisher!
Those are hard to come by! I got to work, not knowing whether I could
actually come up with enough poems for a book. I started with the
plays I knew best, all of which, of course, had at least one
character who behaved quite foolishly. These first poems came easily,
which is what I had come to expect with my writing. The plays with
which I was not as familiar were more challenging. I often found
myself having to (gasp, not used to this) discard my first effort and
start all over. With Anthony and Cleopatra, for example, I didn’t
find the right approach until after writing three other versions.
Surprisingly, it turned out that I liked the challenge, the expansion
of imagination, and the growth of my bond with the characters.
Negative Capability Press does not have
a stable of illustrators and I knew a lot of artists, but none who
had illustrated a book. Sue and several people suggested names to me
and I looked at their work and talked to a couple of them, but I felt
a more whimsical approach was needed. I mentioned this at a meeting
of my P.E.O. chapter and one of the members, Dale Goss Mozley, a
gifted artist, said she had never done illustrations, but she would
like to try. I told her I had a vague idea of simple, whimsical
drawings, and they would need to be black and white. She set forth on
this immediately, brought me sketches for two poems, said if they
didn’t work for me, she would understand. They were so far beyond
the vague notion I had in mind! I was delighted with them. I think
her drawings add immeasurably to the effectiveness of the book. And
each is her own idea; I only saw them when she finished.
 |
| Glenda Slater |
The Delicious:
GS: I love rhyme and meter. I love the
poems. I loved writing them, I love reading them silently, I love
reading them to audiences.
Getting back in touch with Shakespeare
has enriched my life. I have always enjoyed the plays, both reading
them and seeing them on stage. If done well, all emotions are
touched. If done poorly, perhaps hard to sit through, but such fun to
critique afterwards. I acted in only one Shakespearean play (Regan,
in King Lear), and found my acting ability did not measure up to my
oral reading, but still it was a pleasure to be a part of what was an
excellent production with a perfect King Lear and a perfect Fool.
I think the book is beautifully
designed by
Megan Cary. I couldn’t imagine how she would handle the
various shapes and various lengths of the poems. I love that it is
hardback and that she used Dale’s drawings on the cover.
I have been delighted by the reception.
At my readings, the audiences have been receptive, responsive and
very much with me, smiling and laughing, having fun. It’s great fun
to do the readings—the poems lend themselves to oral performance.
I took great pleasure in writing them.
Most often, I begin a piece when the first two lines come to mind. I
usually have been mulling over the project and what I think of as the
poetic section of my brain has been activated, with me thinking
rhymes in my head as I go about daily activities. When those first
perfect (at the moment, anyway), lines pop in, I know I’d better
get them down immediately; otherwise, they’re gone. It’s best to
continue the poem right then if I have time. It took me about two
years to write the 20 poems.
The Difficult:
GS: It was hard waiting for the published
product. Even though I knew this can take years, I did get
frustrated. It took about two years from the time I turned in the
manuscript to the August, 2016 launch.
The marketing process is difficult for
me. I love doing the readings, but not the peripherals that are
necessary.
Anything else?
GS: It's never too late to get started. I first joined a writer’s group when
in my fifties and, at that time, wrote children’s poems. I have a
group of “veggie” poems that I took to elementary schools for
years: “Goobers & Tubers & Pickles & Peas.” I tried
to get that published with no success, but still see it as a good
possibility for a poetry book with recipes for children. Just need a
recipe person!
I didn’t start writing fiction until
I moved to Fairhope and joined the Pensters writing group. I do well
with flash fiction and have quite a few stories compiled—many of
them have done well in contests. I continue to write them.
I’ve also written a middle grade
novel, set in 1949 on the Gulf Coast. The first two chapters were
awarded first place in Juvenile Fiction (Alabama Writers’ Conclave
contest) by Watt Key three years ago. I’m looking into publishing
options for it.
I’ve published a children’s play,
The Junk Food King, poems. short stories, and articles on
communicating with children. Not an extensive list—marketing is not
my strong point.
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Thank you, Glenda, and congratulations on the fun book of poems! You are an inspiration.
Glenda Slater was born in Crosby, Mississippi, but
spent most of her early life in Alabama. Currently retired, she has a B.A. (English) and M.A. (Speech and Language
Pathology) from the U of Alabama, and a Ph.D. (Speech and Language
Pathology) from the University of Cincinnati. She currently lives and writes in Spanish Fort, Alabama. She says, "Writing brings me joy!"
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