Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit radiant Ruth at There is no such thing as a godforsaken town for Roundup.
First: have you heard Matthew Winner's The Children's Podcast Poetry Month series of poems? So many beauties there! Be sure to check it out. I was honored to read my poem "I Followed A Little Cat One Day" from my ArtSpeak: Red year. :)
I'm excited to share with you on this, the final Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month, a visit with French poet and amazing person Zaro Weil!
Now, lucky us, CHERRY MOON is available in the US...and she has a new beautiful book WHEN POEMS FALL FROM THE SKY, published by Welbeck Editions, which is all about climate change and nature and language and hope. You're going to love it!
Not only has Zaro given me permission to share one of my favorite poems with you, she also popped in to respond to a few simple prompts about her experience writing WHEN POEMS FALL FROM THE SKY.
Here's a favorite poem from the collection, which on the page has this lovely arched indented shape that I can't accurately represent here...all the more reason to get thee a copy straightaway!
If You Can Hear Me
By Zaro Weil
If you can hear me
know that I dream
big things for you
skies of pink
whenever you wish
snow-dust stories
whenever you hope
starry blossoms
whenever you wake
but most of all the
pit-a-pat heartbeat of
earth still green
sea still blue
ice still cold
---
Gorgeous, yes? And now please welcome Zaro!
 |
| Zaro Weil |
IL: DIFFICULT
ZW: How do we address the destruction of the planet with children?
How do we see the world of nature from the point of view of nature itself when so much is at stake now?
And when nature is being destroyed every day in every way.
How do we tell the truth? Gently.
These were the questions that kept rolling wave-like over me again and again as I was writing this book.
Knowing how important it was to find the hope.
So children could know there is hope. For it is there.
In the continual renewal of life...in the sunrise which is is also our story.
IL: DELICIOUS
ZW: Imagine going inside the mind and spirit of a hummingbird. Or a tree? Or a seed?
How delicious is that!
And how fulfilling to create different literary forms in the book; little plays, myth, raps, haiku, rhymes and more.
Because When Poems Fall is an expression -a love letter really- to earth.
An earth that is informed, nurtured and inspired by both science and poetry.
And finding the clearest literary and understandable expressions to best illustrate complicated ideas
was an immeasurably delicious undertaking.
IL: FRESH
ZW: Fresh is always and forever the unexpected. The original.
Something that can't help but surprise. Even astonish.
For me as an author, it doesn't start with the words I say.
Or how I choose to say them. It's about the fire-power.
The energy I must summon to ensure that I am on the scent of a fresh idea.
On the hunt for the unexpected.
And for something I hadn't understood, known about
or thought about ever ever ever before.
City Song
We sing in the city
a funny, sunny chorus
across sidewalks
and traffic jams
down garden paths
and up glassy towers
We sing in the city
a blue-sky kind of tune
mothers, fathers
pups and flowers
everyone singing
about the light
that is you
Oh, Irene, I love the singing in the city and especially that ending:
ReplyDelete"everyone singing
about the light
that is you"
Thank you for sharing Zaro and her love for the earth. Her book looks beautiful, and the simple prompts you said that got her talking are perfect. I love that!
Thanks for sharing the wonderful words of poet Zaro Weil in both her responses to your prompts and her poetry. I also love your poem, especially the line "We sing in the city". There's something in that repetition that really works for this country girl.
ReplyDeleteThank you for such a lively introduction to Zaro Weil. I'm in need of her work! I love the beautiful and energetic way she answered your prompts. And, what a lovely, 'City Song.' I agree with Denise, that ending...is a delight.
ReplyDeleteI certainly will get the book, Irene. It looks and sounds marvelous: "of/earth still green. . . Thanks for your intro to Zero Weil! And the painting you're wrote from seems so full of sound, like you wrote, that "funny, sunny chorus" - wonderful thought. Happy Weekend!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry, auto-correct changed Zaro's name - fast!
DeleteThank you for introducing me to Zaro's work! I look forward to reading more of it. "City Song" is delightful too. Happy Poetry Friday!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the introduction to Zaro Weil. And I absolutely love thinking of all the singing going on in the city.
ReplyDeleteThank you for both of these poems and the introduction to Zaro. The fire-power and your singing city dwellers are joyous!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you interview with three words. It yields the most interesting responses! I really must get my hands on this book! It looks gorgeous, and the poetry is simply fantastic. Your city song ends with a big truth!
ReplyDelete