Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Janice at Salt City Verse for Roundup.
Today I'm happy to welcome Mia Wenjen, aka PragmaticMom to the blog! You may know Mia as the woman behind the annual Read Your World Day celebration, which showcases multicultural books for kids.
She's got a new book called Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime, illustrated by Kai Gietzen (Eifrig Publishing, May 26, 2024) that came about as a result of a Kickstarter campaign. (Mia makes things happen!) Paperback copies available here.
BOXER BABY is Mia's ode to boxing, stay-at-home dads, toddlers who hate napping, and figurative language. It features MANY well-known idioms that have boxing origins! Talk about a poet's playground! The book trailer is here.
Welcome, Mia!
DIFFICULT:
MW: Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime! is my ode to stay-at-home dads like my husband who stayed home for two years with our oldest, now 24 years old! He agrees that taking care of children is the hardest job you’ll ever love. However when we had our second child, he threw in the towel and went back to work, and I stayed home!
FRESH:
MW: Boxer Baby will do anything to resist naptime, bobbing and weaving to escape from Dad. She’s no lightweight and she never seems to get tired!
DELICIOUS:
MW: Our treat for readers is the “Easter Egg” we planted in the hallway: Leila Ali, Clarissa Shields, and the great Katie Taylor. I spill the beans in my author’s note.
ANYTHING ELSE:
Today's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem is written as a Square Couplet, which is basically the same number of syllables per line as the number of lines. (Here it's eight lines of eight syllables each.) I'm revisiting work by George Voronovsky, and, after a very busy season, I find myself (again) writing what I need to learn. Thanks for reading!
Spring Reminder
Spring is a busy time, a let's-get-things-done time. Spider spins, sun
simmers. Mushrooms pitch their tents.
Herons intercept schooling fish
as sailboats skim morning ripples.
Bluebells ring the nest awake—soon,
nestlings! Their gaping mouths will re-
mind us to slow down. Trust. Wait.
Irene, thanks for the three-word interview with Mia Wenjen. It's a lot of fun, and gives us such a taste of her and this sweet book.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the first two lines of "Spring Reminder", I thought of the busyness of spring cleaning. Then Spider and mushrooms and herons and bluebells really do help me to "slow down. Trust. Wait." Beautiful!
That baby is a tough cookie! : ) It is wonderful that people are finding alternative ways to get their stories published. It certainly takes determination.
ReplyDeleteYou are a magician with your ArtSpeak poems, Irene! Your poem is perfect for that artwork, and you notice the tiniest details. Mushrooms pitching tents and bluebells ringing!
Ha, I had a boxer baby. I remember a photo of her from when she was about 18 months old—she was holding a magazine open to an article called, "The No-nap Baby." :D Huzzah for Mia and her new book! Your ArtSpeak poem is so evocative of the beauty of spring, Irene. Just lovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks for featuring Mia's book. Looks adorable! And I love the folk art this week (Voronovsky is new to me). My fave part: "Bluebells ring the nest awake." :)
ReplyDeleteMia's book will make a fun baby shower gift, early parent prep! I love your poem, Irene. It feels like spring is a skipping season! Here we go!
ReplyDeleteSlow down indeed. What a perfect ode to spring. I especially loved the image of mushrooms pitching tents. Thanks too for the glimpse at Boxer baby.
ReplyDeleteI'm sooooooooo looking forward to slowing down a bit as spring rolls into summer. I've had a strong season of get things done. Thank you for interviewing Mia Wenjen. Another book that got started by Kickstarter. That's wonderful! And, does she know MY 24 y.o.? They might be related! Oh, those naptime, bedtime games. No wonder I'm pooped even decades later!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your reminder poem! Under my oak right now "Mushrooms pitch their tents." and yesterday on our walk, we looked for the itty bitty fish in the wee tiny brook at the bottom of the ravine and found none...then walked ten steps further and just there just off the edge of the path standing on the bank of the brook was a heron! No wonder the itty bitties were hiding!
ReplyDeleteI love to spy mushrooms pitching tents in our forest -- yes, a sure sign of spring! And thank you for the wonderful interview; so creative to come at it from four words. Thanks, Irene!
ReplyDeleteYes to mushrooms pitching tents!
ReplyDeleteI also I'm so intrigued by a square couplet form! Yes to new-to-me forms.
Bluebells ring the nest awake--I love that! So full of joy and expectation :>)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for featuring Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime! on your blog, Irene! It's an honor to be here!
ReplyDeleteLove, “slow down. Trust. Wait.”
ReplyDeletein your poem Irene, this new Square Couplet form, and the art too!
Wishing Mia all the best for “Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime!”