Hidden Treasures: Finding Poems Within Your Poems by Shutta Crum

One and done, should not be the case for many poems. Why waste such a wealthy resource as a poem by only publishing it once in its entirety, or reprinting it whole? The truth is, like any good non-fiction writer who mines their research and articles for possible other perspectives on the material—poets can do the same. If you’ve got a longer poem, is it possible to pull out bits and pieces of it for a micro-poem? Can you reword a portion of it for a slightly different take on the subject? Or do a blackout poem using your original as the basis?

Mining the old for the new

I wrote a poem called “The Canoeist.” It was first published in the Southern Poetry Review (2020). Here it is as it appeared in the poetry journal:

The Canoeist

He travels the river—

raising only a ripple fore and aft.

His paddle perfects silver spirals

upon the surface. The only sound

the plink and plonk of water

as he dips into stillness.

He passes homes,

manicured lawns, boat docks.

He hears children. People wave,

or stare from their deck chairs.

A heron rises from the reeds.

Now, fewer watch his passing.

He will not return.

They know well what is downstream

where the current stalls,

where cattails, water lilies,

spatterdocks encroach, and roots catch.

Of an evening, some will walk

to the water’s edge and listen

for the distant plying of his paddle,

or the subtle wash of his passage

across the surface of the night.

They will breathe in the river damp,

knowing he is out there

where the dark wild closes in.

And here is a senryu (a type of haiku) I pulled from it, adding only two new words:

reeds, treefall, roots

the dark wild is down-river

he will not return

A successful example

Kristin Lenz met a challenge head-on with one of her poems and came out with a great conclusion. Here is her beautiful poem in its entirety:

Kristin decided to enter a NY Times short poem contest. Initially, when she read the instructions, she thought the poems were limited to fifteen lines. So, she worked on reordering her poem. But when she went to submit it, she saw that it was actually limited to fifteen words!

This time she sorted through her already fairly short poem for the “meat” of it. She looked at three things she’d learned from poetry mentor Heather Meloche:  

1. the subject of the poem 

2. the main metaphor 

3. the epiphany/turn 

Her subject was her daughter learning to ride her bicycle. The main metaphor was learning to ride safely equals learning to navigate through life. The turn was letting her go, out of sight.

Here is the short poem she submitted and had accepted by the NY Times (Yay, Kristin!):

While I absolutely adore the whole poem she’d written earlier, the short snippet also works as a wonderful micro-poem.

Mining older full-length poems is also a way to get unstuck—to get that poetry making mojo working again if you’re staring at a blank page/screen. Try it and see what happens. You just might end up a winner, as did our friend Kristin.

Shutta Crum is the author of several middle-grade novels and many picture books, poems and magazine articles. THUNDER-BOOMER! was an ALA and a Smithsonian “Notable Book.” MINE! was reviewed by the N.Y. Times as “a delightful example of the drama and emotion that a nearly wordless book can convey.” Her books have made Bank Street College lists as well as state award lists. WHEN YOU GET HERE, a collection of poems for adults, won a gold medal from the Royal Palm Literary Awards, 2020 and 2021 (FL). For more information: www.shutta.com. 

Here's Shutta's most recent poetry book for older readers: When You Get Here 

A note from Kristin:

Thanks to Shutta for analyzing my poetry process for me! Shutta adapted this blog post from one she first wrote for the Florida Writers Association. Some of this poetry analysis was prompted by a virtual Poetry Panel for the SCBWI-MI Shop Talk in Farmington. If you missed it, you can watch the recording for a limited time: https://michigan.scbwi.org/events/scbwi-mi-farmington-hill-shop-talk/

We have many wonderful poets in SCBWI-MI, writing for children and adults. You'll see many of their announcements on social media and on the MichKids listserv. Stay involved here: https://michigan.scbwi.org/online/

I'll add another Kidlit example to Shutta's concept of mining for hidden treasures. My YA short story, Spontaneous Combustion, was a runner-up in a 2020 flash fiction contest, max word count: 750. I later cut and revised that story into a poem, "Soccer Rules," that was recently published in an anthology, Rhyme & Rhythm: Poems for Student Athletes. It was a good opportunity to play with character development and descriptive language. It could even be a launching point for a novel!

Coming up on The Mitten Blog:

Book Birthdays, Writer Spotlights, Ask the Editor, Social Media Marketing for Every Season, and more.

 

The Mitten Blog will have a new editor on November 1st! 

We're giving her one more week of behind-the-scenes-transition-time, but we'll introduce her next Friday. See you then!

SCBWI 2016 Magazine Merit Award Winner: an Interview with Neal Levin by Charlie Barshaw

Neal Levin is a freelance children's writer and illustrator in Michigan. As a writer he specializes in poetry and short stories (mostly for magazines and anthologies), and as an illustrator he specializes in cartooning. He has had over 250 stories, poems, articles, puzzles, and cartoons published in a variety of places, ranging from Highlights For Children to The Saturday Evening Post.

Question in rhyme (limerick-style):
There once was a poet named Neal
His limericks were the real deal
He’s published the most
In The Sat. Evening Post
Now tell me, Neal, how does it feel?

Thanks for asking, Charlie. It's a lot of fun! For those who don't know, The Saturday Evening Post has a limerick contest in every issue (six times a year) where you have to write a limerick to go along with a certain picture. I think I won about 15 times so far, although only four were official "winners" and the rest were runners-up. Although this is not actually a children's publication, it's still good writing practice. Anyone who wants to try it can find the contest online: www.saturdayeveningpost.com/limerick-contest

And, a follow up: do you have a special affinity for limericks?

Not necessarily. I love writing children's poems, but I don't write a lot of limericks, apart from that contest.

Okay, on to normal questions:
Who were your favorite poets when you were young?

Shel Silverstein, of course! But to be honest, I didn't read a lot of poetry as a kid. I did write poems starting at a young age, however.

Tell us more about the SCBWI awards. You won a Merit Plaque for poetry for your poem Cavemanners, which appeared in Spider. You also won (the only name to appear twice in the announcement, congrats!) an Honor Certificate for Messy Messages a poem appearing in Highlights.

SCBWI gives out an annual Merit Award and Honor Award in five different categories for magazine work published during the previous year. The categories are fiction, nonfiction, illustration, poetry, and YA. They also give out a few Letters of Merit. In 2015, I received a Letter of Merit for poetry (and coincidentally, the poem that won the Merit Award that year was one I had illustrated, but didn’t write). Then in 2016, I received the two awards you mentioned above. Any SCBWI member who publishes original magazine work is eligible, and again you can find information online: www.scbwi.org/awards/magazine-merit-award/

Aside from originating from the mind of Neal Levin, how are your cartoons and your poetry related?

That's a good question, because they often aren't. Most of the poems I've had published were illustrated by other people, as assigned by the editors. I always enjoy seeing how other illustrators interpret my writing -- sometimes in ways I didn't anticipate. I also enjoy seeing how different illustrators interpret the same poem when it's republished in more than one place. There have even been times that I've been assigned to illustrate poems other people wrote. I hope to get around to illustrating more of my own poetry one day.

In a Debbie Diesen interview, you mentioned doing cartooning workshops after school for kids. What do kids gain when they learn to cartoon?

The cartooning workshops I teach are usually one-day classes, so they serve as an introduction to drawing and hopefully inspire kids to practice more on their own, which is how I learned to draw. Since many of the students have never drawn cartoons before, I think the biggest thing kids gain is the discovery that cartooning is actually not that difficult to learn, as well as the confidence that they can create finished drawings on their own by the time they leave the class.

You’ve been published in a number of poetry anthologies, especially ones edited by Bruce Lansky. Can you tell us about your working relationship with Bruce?

I have to give credit to Bruce Lansky (and his former poetry editor Angela) for starting my professional poetry career, as they were the first ones to publish my poems and encourage me to keep writing them. This was about 10-15 years ago, when Bruce's company Meadowbrook Press was putting out a number of anthologies and eventually included around 18 of my poems in eight different collections. Some of those poems were also resold through Meadowbrook Press, and through their agreement I retain copyright and also get royalties from resales. Since then I've had poems published in anthologies from other companies, including Disney/Hyperion, Little Brown, Scholastic, Pomelo Books, and Chicken Soup For the Soul.

Have you considered publishing an anthology of your poetry? Possibly interspersed with your cartoons?

I would love to do that! However, selling a poetry collection is a lot harder than selling individual poems.

Tell us about being published in Mad Magazine For Kids. Was it a lifetime dream, or just another magazine sale?

Mad Kids was a short-lived magazine that only put out a few issues around 2007-2008. It was a younger kids' version of Mad Magazine with the same style of humor. This was one of those instances where other people illustrated my work. I had three poems published in three different issues and then was assigned a special feature: a whole set of funny poems about food to satirize the movie Ratatouille. It's unfortunate that the magazine folded, although the regular Mad is alive and well.

You were published in the anthology, Poems to Learn by Heart, apparently edited by Caroline Kennedy. The Caroline Kennedy? Did you get to meet her or talk to her?

You're right, that book was edited by President Kennedy's daughter, although I did not get to meet her. Apparently she had discovered my poem Baby Ate a Microchip and eventually decided to include it in her book.

Last, your website mentions that you retreat Up North all summer to work on a daily newspaper at Camp Walden. Can you tell us more?

It's true! I won't say how many years I've been going there -- okay, it's been 32 -- and yes, I put out a daily "newspaper" for the campers and staff. It's no more than a two-sided sheet of paper run off on a copy machine, but it gives me the chance to write funny stuff, draw pictures, and be creative all summer long. And, of course, the campers and staff help contribute. If you put together all those newspapers over the years, it would amount to over 3,000 pages of material! The majority of it, however, would only make sense to you if you went to that camp.

Read some of Neal's poems here:
Creepy Pizza
Swimming Lessons
Help the World

I began this interview with a question in rhyme, so here's a silly doodle ending:
There once was a group, smart and spry
Who'd create poems and stuff on the fly.
They're writers and drawers
Not ooh-ers and aw-ers
And they're called ess see bee douba you eye.

Charlie Barshaw loves to write posts for The Mitten, and interview people who really do something, like Neal Levin. This gives him an excuse for still struggling to finish the stubborn first draft of his YA novel. Thanks to editor Teresa Crumpton, his SCBWI-LA critique group, and The World's Greatest Critique Group, he's still plinking away at it.







Thanks for all of your hard work, Charlie! Pssst, Charlie has some book news. He has several stories published by Amazon's new children's reading app. Learn more at https://rapids.amazon.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/amazonrapids/.

Have you seen Neal Levin's kidlit inspired cartoons for adults? He has his own special page, Kiddie Litter, right here on the Mitten blog.

We'd also like to extend congrats to SCBWI-MI member Lori McElrath Eslick. She won a 2016 SCBWI Magazine Merit Award for Illustration. Kudos, Lori!

***Important Deadline***
Dec. 15th is the last day to apply for the SCBWI Annual Winter Conference Shutta Crum Scholarship. 
(Michigan members only.)
This scholarship will fund one Michigan SCBWI member's tuition for attendance at the Annual SCBWI Winter Conference at the Grand Hyatt in New York, NY. Dates: February 10-12, 2017. (Info: http://scbwi.org .) Early bird registration starts Oct. 24th. (Full early-bird registration fee only: $430.) Note: MI-SCBWI will fund transportation for the recipient up to $400.

And we have another busy weekend full of SCBWI-MI Merry Mitten Holiday events!

Saturday, December 10th

Book Beat

Lincoln Shopping Center  26010 Greenfield Rd, Oak Park, MI 48237 (248) 968-1190

Saturday, December 10th, 1PM-3PM

Jean Alicia Elster

Bookman

715 Washington Ave, Grand Haven, MI 49417 (616) 846-3520

Saturday, December 10 12PM-2PM

Lori Eslick

Amy Nielander

Kim Childress

Kazoo Books

2413 Parkview Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49008  (269) 385-2665

Saturday, December 10 11-2pm

Ruth McNally Barshaw

Leslie Helakoski

Deb Pilutti

Kristen Remenar

Matt Faulkner

Heather Smith Meloche

Buffy Silverman

Schuler Books & Music: Grand Rapids 
2660 28th Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49512 616.942.2561

Saturday, Dec. 10 2PM-4PM

Erica Chapman

Janet Heller

PJ Lyons

Sunday, December 11th

Book Beat

Lincoln Shopping Center  26010 Greenfield Rd, Oak Park, MI 48237 (248) 968-1190

Sunday, December 11th 1PM-3PM

Patrick Flores-Scott

Schuler Books & Music: Okemos

Meridian Mall 1982 Grand River Ave Okemos, MI 48864 517.349.8840

Sunday, December 11 2PM-4PM

Erica Chapman

Peggy House

Kristin Lenz

Coming up next on the Mitten blog: The final Hugs and Hurrahs of 2016! We want to trumpet your success. Send your writing, illustrating, and book related good news to Patti Richards by Tuesday, December 13th to be included.

Cheers!

Kristin Lenz

Buffy the Poetry Slayer

Buffy Silverman is a longtime SCBWI member and former assistant Regional Advisor for the Michigan chapter. This spring, she participated in the 2015 March Madness Poetry event through the website Think, Kid, Think and advanced to the sixth and final round. Facebook friends cheered her on and dubbed her, “Buffy the Poetry Slayer.” I asked Buffy to tell us more about the experience.

Here's Buffy:

This is the fourth year of the March Madness Poetry tournament, and my third year participating in it. I was initially drawn to the tournament because it offered what motivates me best in my writing: a deadline!  Every "authlete" in the tournament is given 36 hours to write a poem that uses an assigned word. Then the public, school classes, and fellow authletes vote for their favorite poem. The winner of each match goes on to face another authlete.

I managed to win several matches in past years, but I was quite surprised to find myself competing in and winning the finals this year. The experience was both exhilarating and exhausting--especially since I had some school visits and a trip scheduled during the tournament. There's nothing like returning to your hotel room after a full day of speaking and forcing your brain to get in gear! But I managed to write six poems during March that I would not otherwise have written. A couple of them are probably worth revising at some point. And I greatly appreciated all the enthusiasm and support from my Michigan pals who followed the madness.

How did you get started writing poetry, and how do you continue to improve your craft?

I did not consider myself a poet or think about writing poetry when I began writing for children. Like many moms who read picture books morning, noon, and night, I was drawn to writing fiction picture books. Since I had taught biology and been a naturalist, I eventually found my way to writing nonfiction (and started getting published regularly!) For the past several years my nonfiction writing has led me to writing nature and science-inspired poetry. Twenty-five years after my first attempts to write for children I think I have discovered my writing path (although I would hesitate to call myself a children's poet, and continue to write a lot of nonfiction.)

What has most helped me understand children's poetry and learn to write it is reading a lot of great children's poetry books. I often look at writing a poem as similar to solving a puzzle--when I keep tinkering with a poem, I get closer and closer to writing something that is satisfying. I'm lucky to belong to two critique groups that give wonderful feedback--an in-person group called The World's Greatest Critique Group, and an online group that focuses on children's poetry.  

What advice can you give to a writer who wants to better understand poetry or get started writing poetry?

I think that the best way to learn about children's poetry is to read a lot of it. A few of my favorite children's poets are J. Patrick Lewis, Joyce Sidman, Douglas Florian, Deborah Ruddell, and Barbara Juster Esbensen. Go to the library and discover what children's poets speak to you. Analyze the rhythm and rhyme scheme of poems that you admire and use them as a model for your own poetry. Read a few craft books and experiment with different poetic forms. I've learned a lot from Myra Cohn Livingston's Poem-Making: Ways to Begin Writing Poetry and Ralph Fletcher's Poetry Matters. You can also join a welcoming community of children's poets and poetry lovers by reading Poetry Friday blogposts (the weekly round-up of Poetry Friday blogs can be found at http://kidlitosphere.org/poetry-friday/.)

What's next for you?

I'm working on a new series of poems right now, and I've got several nonfiction books in the works with Lerner Publishing. And I'm still hoping to achieve my original dream of having a picture book out in the world!

Buffy Silverman is the author of more than 70 nonfiction books for children.  Her poems, stories, and articles are featured in poetry anthologies, popular children's magazines, and educational resources. To learn more about her writing please visit: www.buffysilverman.com