Robyn Hood Black - children's author, poet, artist

Apr 10, 2020 1:47 AM EDT

Thank you for sharing this, Robyn. I love the cleverness of your title, the sumptuous word choice (Chartreuse!) and the pleasure of hearing and seeing you read on your porch swing.

- Sally Murphy

Apr 10, 2020 7:07 AM EDT

What a fun poem. I don't remember seeing the murals on our trip to Philadelphia, but it has been quite a few years ago. Sounds like I need another trip just to check these out!

- Kay Jernigan McGriff

Apr 10, 2020 7:58 AM EDT

Robyn, your expression in that pic is so very YOU! Love it. Thank you for all you're giving the world during this time. (Also, an aside: I have tried to comment on your blog the past several times, and it never will post... I don't know what's going on with that, and I am sorry! xo)

- Irene Latham

Apr 10, 2020 8:29 AM EDT

On buildings bare and bridges wide/ where history and hope collide. Love these lines and thanks, Robyn, for introducing me to this poetic form, new to me. .

- Janice Scully

Apr 10, 2020 9:48 AM EDT

Oh, my goodness....I want to hear how you wrote in the midst of a hurricane evacuation. What a funny place/time to be inspired. It's really nice to hear your voice and be introduced to the kyrielle in this way. Thank you.

- Linda Mitchell

Apr 10, 2020 10:01 AM EDT

I love that your poem focuses on a community art project!

- Holly Thompson hatbooks.com

Apr 10, 2020 10:38 AM EDT

--Hi there, Sally - hope you and yours are well. Thanks so much for the kind comments! Any excuse to get to use "chartreuse".... ha! :0)

--Kay, I'll go with you! :0) Thanks for traveling over here today.

--Dear Irene, I'm sorry for all the trouble! Argh. I was hoping that issue was improving, but I'll keep tabs. Thanks for reaching out on Twitter, and for leaving this very lovely comment today. Big virtual hugs!XO

--Thanks so much, Janice! It's a rewarding form to try. Been around forever, as it is liturgical, but I enjoyed exploring. :0)

--Thanks for the comments, Linda, here and on FB! And, oh - that was a crazy, crazy fall. It was a tight deadline, and my first submissions for the book, sent off just before the Children's Poetry conference out in Washington state that first weekend in Oct., were gently - rejected. I had a week to send something new. Back home to coastal SC from Washington a few days into that week, and five minutes later (felt like!) - boom! Hurricane Matthew on way. We loaded up pets and stuff and headed right back out the door to family in North Georgia, where I unpacked and got critters settled, then headed straight to the library with resource books ordered the week before (and delivered while we were gone). I spread out at an upstairs table with my laptop, notebooks and books (& some of theirs), and wrote, wrote, wrote, wrote til closing time, and managed to wrangle this poem out of it! ;0)

--Hi, Holly! Thanks. It grabbed my heart as well as my eye. Hope you and yours are well.

- Robyn Hood Black

Apr 10, 2020 11:53 AM EDT

Yet another book I am broken-hearted that is in my classroom. :-( What a wonderful project this was. Thank you so much for sharing it, Robyn! Cheers!

- Christie Wyman @ https://wonderingandwondering.wordpress.com/

Apr 10, 2020 12:42 PM EDT

It's wonderful to hear your voice and see you in this video, Robyn! Have you shared your videos with Susan Tan? She has a YouTube channel called "Authors Everywhere" for kids to access during the shelter-in-place.

- Laura Shovan

Apr 10, 2020 1:59 PM EDT

Am so loving all your poem videos, Robyn! I wasn't aware of this particular art project in Philly, so was glad to hear your poem about it. Need to get my hands on this anthology!

- jama

Apr 10, 2020 2:46 PM EDT

Robyn, I enjoyed listening to your video before reading the poem. These lines struck me immediately: where history and hope collide/shine songs of freedom, fame, and fun. I admire graffiti art that is so representative of a neighborhood. Thanks for sharing.

- Carol Varsalona

Apr 10, 2020 3:50 PM EDT

Since I could not get this to send off, I am trying it again.
Robyn, I enjoyed listening to your video before reading your poem. These lines resonate with me: where history & hope collide/shine songs of freedom, fame, & fun. I admire #graffitiart because it is so representative of a neighborhood. Thank you for sharing.

- Carol Varsalona

Apr 10, 2020 3:51 PM EDT

I love the repetition in your poem! I have been enjoying your videos! THANK YOU!

- Mary Lee

Apr 10, 2020 4:29 PM EDT

Beautiful reading of your poem Robyn, I like the "history and hope" colliding, and especially that hop. I'll have to try that new poem form on kyrielle, thanks Robyn!

- Michelle Kogan

Apr 10, 2020 4:55 PM EDT

I love learning new poetry forms. Thank you for introducing me to the kyrielle.

- Rose Cappelli

Apr 10, 2020 5:04 PM EDT

Oh my friend! How lovely to think about this poem now that our eldest is taking a class about graffiti art. I will share this with her this evening. I loved visiting your YouTube channel and seeing your face and hearing your voice again. Lots of love and health, friend. xx

- Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Apr 10, 2020 5:50 PM EDT

I love the kyrielle form & the wordplay in the title, Robyn. Much to learn and love in that book, celebrated in your poem. Thanks, love seeing your porch and the green background surrounding!

- Linda Baie

Apr 10, 2020 6:37 PM EDT

I absolutely love this poem, Robyn. "Where history and hope collide" is a great line. I think we all need to read "Mural Compass" to help us reset our moral compass.

- Catherine Flynn

Apr 10, 2020 8:49 PM EDT

-- Hey up there, Christie! And, oh - I bet that's happening a LOT with you teachers, snatched away from your classrooms in these surreal days. Thanks for coming by!

--Hi, Laura - Thanks so much! And thank you for that info. I recently submitted this to the SCBWI 'collection' of online kidlit activities, as they were trying to get to 1,000, but I didn't know about Susan Tan's - I'll track that down. :0)

--Thank you, Jama! You'll see lots of PF names in this book if you end up with it. And Mr. C. can do all kinds of bear-y fun armchair traveling... ;0)

--Thanks for your persistence with my persnickety blog, Carol. A couple other folks had issues this week, too, and I appreciate y'all letting me know... so I'll contact the Authors Guild tech wizards. Glad you enjoyed the poem, and the art! Thanks for all the poetry and art YOU share for all to enjoy. :0)

--Hi, Mary Lee - Thank YOU for watching them! I fell in love with that rhyming line in the kyrielle form, too.

--Glad you enjoyed, Michelle, thank you! This form has been around a long, long time, as it's a liturgical form, but I'd never heard of it, or at least never tried it before this project. I need to get back to it myself, too....

--Thanks so much, Rose, and I guess we both have to thank J. Patrick Lewis, who introduced it to me!:0) If you get a chance to catch up with 'The Poetry Sisters" projects on some of these blogs, they've explored lots of poetry forms to try. Happy writing!

--Dearest Amy, thanks for rounding us all up this week, and providing special poetry magic EACH DAY this month over at your sparkling-with-words-and-art Poem Farm. :0) (And - that sounds like a fun and interesting class...! ;0) )

--Thank you, Dear Linda. It's a marvelous collection, isn't it? And I'm wondering if your green got covered with white....! On the cool side today here, after a warm week, and it's supposed to storm all over the Southeast on Easter Sunday. Definitely typical Spring days here. We still have buckets of pollen. XO

--Oh, what a kind thing to say, Catherine. Glad you enjoyed! When I researched this project, I felt so inspired by its founders and artists again and again.

- Robyn Hood Black

Apr 11, 2020 8:17 AM EDT

Thanks for the 'trip' to Philadelphia, Robin. I hope to someday to see this mural in real life...and to hear your hurricane evacuation poetry writing tips! Be well and thank you for your mini movies. : )

- Bridget Magee

Apr 11, 2020 11:07 AM EDT

Hi, Bridget - thanks so much for traveling over here today! Here's hoping for calm weather in your neck of the woods to write by.... ;0) And hoping you and yours are safe and well.

- Robyn Hood Black

Apr 11, 2020 4:31 PM EDT

Love your porch swing location, Robyn, and happy to have your Poetry of US poem come alive like that! I couldn't quite get started with mine and have a lot of catching up to do...hope you and yours stay well!

- Heidi Mordhorst

Apr 11, 2020 4:39 PM EDT

What a great collection of poems from everywhere! I need to pull my copy off the shelf and go on a trip. In our small town, murals are beginning to pop up. I helped an artist in the early weeks of quarantine with painting his shapes. Chartreuse is a great word! Colorful and curious.

- Margaret Simon

Apr 11, 2020 7:21 PM EDT

Great poem! I love the title!

- Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com

Apr 11, 2020 8:30 PM EDT

--Hi, Dear Heidi - thanks on all fronts, and best wishes for continued health to you and yours as well. I was behind on following your videos, so now I've caught up! Watched and liked each one and "subscribed." :0)

--Margaret, you are such a generous, creative soul. I'm sure any mural will be better for your touch! This is definitely a good time to do some armchair traveling. I'm trying to catch up with a travel book I asked for for Christmas -- from the very early 1800s! It's rather lively.

--Thanks, Ruth - glad you enjoyed! Stay safe and well.

- Robyn Hood Black

Apr 12, 2020 3:04 PM EDT

That last stanza! Mercy.

- Laura Purdie Salas

Apr 12, 2020 8:31 PM EDT

Glad you enjoyed, Laura - thanks so much for coming by! XO

- Robyn Hood Black