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

Life on the Deckle Edge

Poetry Friday - a blue haiku

February 11, 2021
Tags: Robyn Hood Black, artsyletters, bird haiku, bottle rockets haiku, Poetry Friday, Poems

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!

 

I had something else planned for this week, but, alas - glitches and car issues and such, so it can emerge later.

 

And speaking of plans yet to come to fruition, I had many more Valentine-y items I was going to make for my artsyletters shop this year, but they'll keep, too.  I did get some new things in the shop and posted on Instagram, including the freshly baked necklace above with vintage letter charms I couldn't resist working with. (Listing coming this eve.)

 

On a heavier note, I've tuned in to a fair bit of the impeachment trial this week.  I can't imagine the trauma felt by those who were there, as they relive the events of the insurrection and perhaps learn new things themselves about it.  I generally keep politics out of my blog posts, but I do not agree with one my state's (SC) vocal US Senators, who recently stated he is "ready to move on."  Regardless of the trial's outcome, as a country we need to acknowledge what happened, give voice to lives lost and others forever altered, with gratitude for the amazing courage and bravery shown on Jan. 6 by those who faced the mob. Oh, and make the effort to preserve our democratic republic. 

 

So now that I've changed the tone, I'll share a somber haiku just published in bottle rockets.

 

 

one blue feather

then another

then the pile

 

 

©Robyn Hood Black.  All rights reserved.

bottle rockets Vol. 22, No. 2 (Issue #44)

 

I was hoping to make this the year I jumped back into Cornell's Great Backyard Bird Count, but that might have to wait another year, too.  Or maybe I can participate a little bit?!  Anyone can join in and help keep track of our amazing feathered earthly comanions.  (I did learn to identify a new visitor to my new bird feeder this week, using The Cornell Lab's wonderful phone app- a pine warbler!)

 

Thanks for reading along and making safe spaces for the gamut of human (and bird) experiences.  Be sure to visit the lovely Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone for this week's Roundup. (She happens to include a Mary Oliver poem about one of my favorite birds, the Carolina Wren.)

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Poetry Friday - One More Poem Postcard Share & Haiku Workshop

January 28, 2021
Tags: haiku poetry, Poetry Friday, haiku workshop, rebecca herzog, Robyn Hood Black, OCAF, oconee county arts foundation

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers! 

 

First, HUGE Congrats to some of our hometown poetic heroes... Monday was a big awards day in kidlit-land.  THE CAT MAN OF ALEPPO, written by our own Irene Latham & Karim Shamsi-Basha & illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, and published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, was named a Caldecott Honor Book!  And A PLACE AT THE TABLE, by Saadia Faruqi and our own Laura Shovan, published by Clarion Books, was a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable Book.  CONGRATS, you two, and to all who were recognized across all the categories. 

 

Speaking of nice surprises, I received another New Year Poem Postcard this week!  Rebecca Herzog sent this energetic collage/haiku combination above.  I was humming along to the excerpted lyrics floating in the art on the front (love those layers!!) before reading her own musical poem on the back. 

 

 

 

A QUIET MORNING

REFLECTIONS ON A NEW YEAR

MUSIC TO MY EARS

 

 

 

Image and poem ©Rebecca Herzog.

 

 

Thanks for the uplifting mailbox gift, Becky!

 

And, speaking of haiku, I'm excited to share that I'll be leading a free online two-part haiku workshop for the Oconee County Arts Foundation (Watkinsville, Georgia) at the end of next month, February 23rd and 25th, from 1-2:30 p.m. each day. It's part of a wonderful month-long program, "Small Works Inspired by Poetry."

Click here for more info, and here for the description and registration page.   The foundation director says local and non-local folks are welcome to register. (These free workshops will not be recorded by OCAF since participants will be potentially on the screen and permissions would be required, etc.)

 

Now, tap your toes and warm up your voice - our beautiful Jan at Bookseedstudio has the Roundup today on a theme that Becky's poem and art complement perfectly! 

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Poetry Friday - Helping Hand Haiku and a World of Thanks

November 5, 2020
Tags: Robert Epstein, Robyn Hood Black, artsyletters, haiku poetry, kindness poetry, thanks cards
I've got the anthology link on Amazon below, and here's a link to my Antique Map "A World of Thanks" cards. (I also have those as part of a pack with USPS Thank You Forever stamps, and gold swirl seals.)

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!

 

What a week.  In the midst of the chaos and anticipation and general global angst, bright spots have been found.  First, a big THANKS to Jama Kim Rattigan, who kindly included some of my artsyletters wares in her "Nine Cool Things on a Tuesday" post - she does find the COOLest things, with help from Mr. Cornelius, of course. I enjoyed the delightful diversions!

 

Also, I've just started perusing the latest haiku anthology from Robert Epstein, THE HELPING HAND HAIKU ANTHOLOGY (Including Senryu, Tanka, and Haiga).  The collection includes poems about kindness between humans and non-humans alike.  It's hot off the press, and I've not had time to read much yet. But it's a refreshing tonic for these stressful days!

 

Robert was kind enough to include three of my haiku:

 

 

sorting darks and lights

my love note

in his pocket

 

HSA Members' Anthology, 2019 - A Moment's Longing, edited by Tanya McDonald.

 

 

 

blue mask she smiles with her eyes

 

 

 

hatchlings - 

beyond orange tape,

the sea

 

Frogpond 42:3, Fall 2019

 

 

And, finally, I'm running around trying to get my shop ready for our November First Friday event.  (Masks required!)  As we did last month, we'll have a table set up with cards and pens for folks to write holiday notes to deployed service members.  I was running shy of the total Thank You cards I wanted to send this month, so I asked my daughter Morgan if her third graders might want to write some. 

 

They were excited to participate, she said, and wrote them this week.  (She made a lesson out of it.)  That daughter of mine also enlisted fellow third-grade classrooms, so she'll be mailing me a whole bunch to send!  I can't wait to receive them and send them on with others I've been collecting.  Now I can get the December batch going.

 

I am grateful for TEACHERS, for all the active duty MILITARY who serve, and for our VETERANS (Happy Veterans' Day next week!).  I'm grateful for kindnesses great and small.  I'm grateful for poetry.  And, for YOU!

 

Fellow Etsy shop owner Susan has our Poetry Friday Roundup over at Soul Blossom Living today - thanks, Susan!  (You can find her on Etsy at SoulBlossomLiving - she even has a fun felted mouse kit! And circle back here next week, where I'll be Rounding Up with some HOP TO IT fun & poetic holiday gift ideas.)

 

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Poetry Friday - Coupla More HSA Haiku :0)

October 29, 2020
Tags: Frogpond, Haiku Society of America, Robyn Hood Black, haiku poetry, Poetry Friday

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers! 

 

Whew.  It's been a wild ride in the Southeast the last couple of days.  Sending love & prayers for those whose lives have been forever altered by Hurricane Zeta. 

 

I couldn't believe that here on the Lowcountry coast, we were texting our kids early Thursday morning about the TROPICAL Storm that was shredding their corners of real estate in the Appalachian foothills.  Is this still 2020 or what?! [AND, at almost Halloween - past the peak, or so we all thought.]  Our crew is fine - but trees are down everywhere in their part of north Georgia. 

 

Our Cobb EMC/Gas South Literacy Week - all vitual this year - was going great... until everyone in the region (also north of Atlanta) lost power and we had to cancel/reschedule all the Zoom visits set up for Thursday and Friday.  

 

In the Lowcountry, a couple-three hundred-ish miles from the storm, we did get some wind Thursday morning. In fact, I had been putting off calling some tree folks to take care of the heavy live oak branch that was precariously balanced above our fence in the back yard... Mother Nature did not care about my excuses.  (Um, picture above.)

 

Well, to calm all our nerves, I'll share another recently published Frogpond poem, this one from the current issue. It has to do with rain but was inspired by quite a less intense afternoon of weather. 

 

 

gentle rain the wren sings through it

 

 

©Robyn Hood Black

Frogpond Vol. 43:3, Fall 2020

 

 

And, speaking of the Haiku Society of America  (Frogpond is the HSA's journal), the Members' Anthololgy for 2020 just landed in our mailboxes.  

 

Here's my poem in it:

 

 

nothing

on the line

the fisherman wades back

 

 

©Robyn Hood Black

Bundled Wildflowers - Haiku Society of America 2020 Members' Anthology 

 

 

AND, speaking of all kinds of weather, I've been thinking of our host this week almost every time I've caught national weather news stories lately, as she hails from Colorado.  In fact, I'm not quite sure whether this week she's dealing with smoke from wildfires or a snow storm... but I sure am grateful she's such a vital part of our Poetry Friday community, helping to make welcome poetry friends old and new.  Wade on over to Teacher Dance, where the ever-lovely Linda has the Roundup.

 

(And hang on tight, everyone - whichever way the political winds blow next week, and beyond, we'll need to keep our balance!) Happy Halloweeeeen!

 

(Little Family Update... It's 8 p.m. on Saturday night, and my daugher and her hubby JUST got their power back on!  They were all in blankets - dogs, too.) ;0)

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Poetry Friday - A Haiku That Seems to Work for This (Voting) Season....

October 22, 2020
Tags: Frogpond, Robyn Hood Black, haiku poetry, Poetry Friday

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!

 

Just a short haiku this week.  As I'm posting this before the Thursday night debate starts, I'm thinking that a haiku of mine appearing in a recent issue of Frogpond might be timely.

 

 

decisions, decisions

the weight of ink

on paper

 

©Robyn Hood Black

Frogpond, Vol 43:2, Spring/Summer 2020

 

 

And, unrelated - wish me luck as I venture into my annual week of school visits north of Atlanta next week as part of Cobb EMC/Gas South Literacy Week, along with several other authors.  EXCEPT - this year, we are just venturing to our computer screens for virtual presentations!  I'm still a novice at all this (guessing many of us are?) so all good vibes appreciated - ha!  But I've been learning, and learning from mistakes... so hopefully good moments will outweigh the glitches.

 

Happy Weekending, and DO visit the ever-spirited & thoughtful Jama at her Alphabet Soup blog for the Roundup.  She and I have long shared a love of fall, and today she shares both the colorful moments and the somber shades. 

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Poetry Friday - Haiku and Birdsong

August 20, 2020
Tags: </br>Poetry Friday, Robyn Hood Black, bird haiku, bird poem, bottle rockets haiku

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  I'm still catching up after "losing" a month-plus of work/outside life (see last week's post), but I look forward to catching up on Poetry Friday rounding, and here's a muster of a short post for this week. 

 

You know I'm a big fan of Stanford Forrester and his journal of short verse, bottle rockets. I'm always delighted when a poem of mine appears in its pages.  Here's my haiku in the latest issue, bottle rockets #43:

 

 

 

solitary walk

the rhyming couplets

of a brown thrasher

 

 

©Robyn Hood Black.  All rights reserved.

bottle rockets, Vol. 22, No. 1, August 2020.

 

 

(I just love the cover of this current issue!)

 

I also love birds, and am particularly fond of the glorious music provided by the Brown Thrasher, state bird of our former digs in Georgia.  One game I play on walks is to see how quickly I can determine if the notes I'm hearing are from a Northern Mockingbird or a Brown Thrasher.  The lovely gray Mockingbirds are easier to spot, as they perch out in the open and frequently engage in flashy chases.  Brown Thrashers, with their speckled russet garb and striking yellow eyes, are more likely to be kicking around in the scrub or tucked behind leaves in a treetop.  But ther songs - Oh!  Listen for complex imitations of other birds, but usually with each line repeated once.  So, two lines of this song, two lines of that.... :0)

 

Current affairs can feel overwhelming.  Maybe a walk to listen to birds would be good medicine for us all. 

 

Wishing you birdsong among the din this week! The lovely Ramona is rounding up lots of poetic sounds for us at Pleasures From the Page.  (Thanks, Ramona!)

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Poetry Friday - Mini Movies Blooper Reel - Takes and Mis-Takes!

April 30, 2020
Tags: </br>Poetry Friday, Robyn Hood Black, poem videos, mini poem movies, blooper reel, poem movie blooopers
Click here to see Robyn's "blooper reel" from April's mini poem movies...

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers -  Happy MAY DAY!  We made it through a fulsome April.

 

Thanks for joining along in my National Poetry Month project.  I posted mini poem movies each weekday - On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I featured some of my published poems for kids, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I shared published haiku suitable for kids. 

 

I think that was 22 mini videos... You can find them all here on my YouTube Channel. (I have them in two folders there - 'Poems' and 'Haiku'.)

 

Now, if you caught my video featuring my "Hidden in the Seams" poem from Tabatha Yeatts's Imperfect anthhology, you'll know I generally have to work my way through several snarls of thread and start over when conjuring up creative projects.  That was the case with trying to learn how to make and upload videos, too!  

 

I managed to get the mini poem movies up, but not without plenty of "mis-takes" among the takes. Hope you enjoy in my blooper reel, here. ;0)

 

For a wonderful video featuring poems and creative projects for young readers who love their sports, be sure to check out Elizabeth Steinglass's Poetry Friday host post today, featuring her book, SoccerVerse!  I shared it with Morgan, whose need for some more online teacher-friendly material prompted my April project.  And, mentioning Morgan, I also need to toss out bouquets of thanks to my hubby, Jeff, for helping to film most of the movies, and to son Seth for providing several original guitar music options. 

 

Also check out this year's completed Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem, which was put to music yesterday in its finishing flourish over at Michelle Kogan's place.  And I know I'll be circling back to Jama's Alphabet Soup for her Roundup post of Poetry Month happenings across the Kidlitosphere. 

 

Now that it's May, maybe we'll have time to catch up on all that great poetry!

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POETRY MONTH - Mini Poem Movies Project Winds Up with a Haiku, "sea fog"

April 30, 2020
Tags: National Poetry Month, Robyn Hood Black, haiku poetry, poems for kids, poems for teachers, poets reading poems, I pause for haiku, sea fog poem, sea fog haiku
Click here to hear Robyn read her haiku, "sea fog," from on down the road - Haiku Society of America 2017 Members' Anthology.

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  Can you believe it?  We've journeyed to the end of National Poetry Month!  Thanks for joining me for my Poetry Month project(s), "I Pause for Poems" and "I Pause for Haiku," in which I've posted mini poem movies each weekday in April. They haven't been perfect, but they've been fun to make.  I've been sharing some of my published poems for kids on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and haiku suitable for kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  

 

Today's haiku is "sea fog" from on down the road - Haiku Society of America 2017 Members' Anthology.   Click here to hear!

 

And if you'd like to catch up on the other haiku or poems, check out my YouTube Channel here  and scroll through all the mini movies. Thanks for joining me!  (And, pssst... tomorrow, for Poetry Friday, I'll have the Blooper Reel!)

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POETRY MONTH - Mini Poem Movie "I turn" from The Best of Today's Little Ditty, 2014-15; Don't Say I Didn't Warn You...

April 29, 2020
Tags: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, National Poetry Month, Robyn Hood Black, The Best of Today's Little Ditty, poems for kids, poems for teachers, poetrymonth, Medusa poem, short poem, mythology poem, monster poem
Click here to hear Robyn read her poem, "I Turn," from THE BEST OF TODAY'S LITTLE DITTY 2014-15.

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  Don't say I didn't warn you about today's poem... 

 

It's from THE BEST OF TODAY'S LITTLE DITTY 2014-15, compiled by the fabulous Michelle Heidenrich Barnes.  Be sure to play the video all the way through, as it's... well - you'll have to see for yourself. But be careful. (I might have been slightly under the influence of the "Getty Challenges" - but no actual art was harmed during the making of this video!)

 

Click here for the poem, and while you're there, check out the other mini movies I've been posting every weekday for Poetry Month.  (After today's, you might be glad we've just about run out of month.) ;0)

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POETRY MONTH - Haiku Mini Movie, "hatchlings"

April 28, 2020
Tags: I pause for haiku, National Poetry Month, Robyn Hood Black, haiku poetry, poems for kids, poems for teachers, poets reading poems, turtle haiku, nature poem, Poems for Students, ocean poems, sea turtle haiku, sea turtle poem
Click here to her Robyn read her haiku, "hatchlings," from FROGPOND, Vol. 42.3, Fall 2019.

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  Thanks for journeying on with me in my "Mini Poem Movies" project this month.  Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I've been posting videos featuring some of my published poems for kids; on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it's a haiku suitable for kids.  I hope you enjoy today's!  It's from FROGPOND, Vol. 4.3, Fall 2019.  Click here to hear it.  And click here for my YouTube Channel.  

 

Wishing you a day full of poetry. :0) 

 

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