Celebrating LEAFY LANDMARKS with Michelle Schaub

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit terrific Tanita at fiction, instead of lies for Roundup. 

A couple of reminders: 1) I'm accepting YOUR poems for inclusion in my Poem in Your Pocket public art project through the end of the month! Details here.  So many thanks to those who have already sent me poems...Blount County, Alabama, is going to be awash in poetry!! 2)I got a notice from canva that I just created my 500th project! Y'all! I do love me some canva. :)

Today I'm excited to welcome Michelle Schaub today to Live Your Poem, in celebration of her "tree book," LEAFY LANDMARKS: TRAVELS WITH TREES by Michelle Schaub, illus. by Anne Lambelet, brought to us by the good folks at Sleeping Bear Press. Each spread features a poem and informational text about the tree. Lovely!

One of my favorite poems is the one about Methuselah, located in Inyo National Forest (California). I love "advice" poems!

Advice from an Ancient

by Michelle Schaub

Dear Sprout,

take a look about.

Life is no pruned arbor here.

This arid, barren mountainside

will toughen up your tender hide.

Wind and ice don't play nice.

You'll be mangled, tangled, tattered

bent and battered.

You'll grow haggard and resistant.

And if you are persistent,

in a thousand years or so

you'll come to be

a wizened, wise survivor

just like me.

Sincerely,

Old Bristlecone

And now, here's Michelle, responding to three simple prompts about LEAFY LANDMARKS!

Fresh: Layers are important in a children’s poetry collection. I know this. As I worked on Leafy Landmarks, I tried to incorporate intriguing layers. Poetry: I wrote the poems in a variety of different forms. Nature: I celebrated the importance of trees to our planet. History: I shared each tree’s connection to a historical moment. Yes, my collection had layers. But something was missing: the fresh story that would propel the poems forward and give the collection heart. Then, as I was looking over some photographs of the trees taken during my on-site research, I recalled the fun my family and I had while trekking to find these landmarks. Our “tree travels” had brought us closer together, as family adventures often do. And there was my final layer, the one with momentum and heart, the fresh angle I needed to set this collection apart: a family road trip across the country to discover Leafy Landmarks: Travels with Trees.

Difficult: Speaking of road trips, Leafy Landmarks has had a long, winding journey with many roadblocks and detours. I first started working on Leafy Landmarks in 2007, when I visited my local arboretum and noticed a plaque beneath a stately oak. The plaque explained that the oak had once been a gathering place for the Potawatomi people. I began researching the histories of other trees. I collected these tree stories in a nonfiction, prose manuscript and send it out. Eventually, after several rejections, a publisher expressed interest. They wanted to publish the book with photographs of the trees to accompany my text. While I was eager to be published, the direction of the project didn’t feel right. I envisioned the story with vibrant illustrations. After some difficult soul searching, I put on my turn signal and exited. My “tree book,” gathered dust in my manuscript garage for several years. In the meantime, I started writing poetry and honing my poetic voice. I decided to revisit the “tree book” as a poetry collection. Lots of rejection. A few nibbles. One publishing house offered a contract and then didn’t follow through. (This was the lowest valley on the book’s journey.) Detour: I re-mapped the collection as a road trip. More rejections. I was just about to cut the ignition for good when I signed with my current agent, Lisa Amstutz. Lisa really liked my “tree book” and wanted to take it for a submission spin. The book caught the eye of Barb McNally at Sleeping Bear, who made an offer. Leafy Landmarks’ 18-year ride has reinforced what I’ve heard so often on my publishing journey: the race does not go to the swift, but those with patience and persistence to endure.

Delicious: Anne Lambelet’s illustrations are simple scrumptious! I love how she weaves together the modern story of the family on a road trip with the historical events surrounding the trees. On each spread, Anne captures the vibrant personality of these leafy landmarks. Through Anne’s art, their stories nearly jump off the page.

Thank you, Michelle! So many congratulations!!!

For those who enjoy Book Buddies (as I do!), a lovely companion to this book would be THE WITNESS TREES: HISTORIC MOMENTS AND THE TREES WHO WATCHED THEM HAPPEN by Ryan van Cleave, illus. by Dom Dom (Bushel & Peck Books).

And now for today's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem! I've been learning about Bessie Nickens (1906-2004) from a lovely article by Kevin Grogan in the Spring 2003 edition of Folk Art Messenger. 

In addition to her paintings, Bessie also wrote a book called Walking the Log: Memories of a Southern Childhood (Rizzoli International Publications, 1994). In an effort to honor Bessie's multiple modes of creativity, and the creative spirit she and I (and you!) totally have in common, I decided to go with a Golden Shovel poem, featuring one of her quotes. Thanks so much for reading!

You Should Know (Poem for My Friend Who May Have Forgotten)

I wake before dawn sometimes,

pull out my paints and brush. When

my hand starts moving, I

simply follow it. Sometimes I sit

all day, never setting the brush down,

coaxing colors, asking my memories to

swirl and twirl into shapes made of paint.

If you call and I don't answer, it's because I

am spilling stories onto the page. Don't

worry, I'm not lost or found. Do you know

what that feels like? If you're nodding, yes, exactly,

then you should stop reading this poem, get to what's

really important: creating! Doesn't matter who's coming

or how dirty the floor. Get those stories out!

- Irene Latham