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

Greetings, Poetry Lovers - It's a busy day over here, and the Authors Guild web gurus evidently fixed last week's issue that prevented folks from leaving comments.  (So sorry about that!)

First, Happy Inernational Haiku Poetry Day! Be sure to check out The Haiku Foundation's annual "EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration" to celebrate/contribute a poem if you're so inclined. 

And continued Happy Poetry Month.  

For my National Poetry Month project, "Poetry and Art," I've got my third installment of a video on Poetry Friday celebrating a word in someone else's poem and in my own mixed media artwork.  This week's word is "spring."  For Haiku Day, I included an entire poem instead of the one word in my art. 

Click here for the link to my video.  [I know, it is TOO long... let's see if I can make something short and sweet for the last one next week!]

Here is the featured poem by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue.

the setting place
for the spring sun...
wisteria blossoms

(year unknown)

David has tranlated more than 13,000 of Issa's haiku, and you can get lost in the searchable database here! 

But wait - there's more!

I've got our seventeenth line of the Kidlit Progressive Poem today. 

We're halfway through Poetry Month, and halfway through the Progressive Poem! This fun adventure was started by Irene Latham and has been tended in recent years by Margaret Simon.  Like an old-fashioned progressive supper, the poem travels from blog to blog to have a new line added.  Tabatha Yeatts kicked us off this year and also added a map of "The Land of Poetry," which is delightful and has had place names added by Donna Smith and Heidi Mordhorst. (I hope I got all that right.) My blog platform only allows one image per post (boo!), so please scroll on back a few posts if you haven't seen the map, or look for it to pop up again soon.

Carol Varsalona handed me a lovely line which ended stanza four, about "poetry in motion" and how it stretches from "forests to sands." These were the words of a wise Raven who just entered the picture.  In my line, beginning the fifth stanza, I let the Raven have a little more say, while ushering along some movement. (My line makes more sense, too, if you see the aforementioned map!) 

The Land of Poetry

On my first trip to the Land of Poetry,
I saw anthologies of every color, tall as buildings.
A world of words, wonder on wings, waiting just for me!
Birding for words shimmering, flecked in golden gilding.

Binoculars ready, I toured boulevards and side streets
exploring vibrant verses, verses so honest and tender,
feathery lyrics, bright flitting avian athletes
soaring 'cross pages in rhythmic splendor.

In the Land of Poetry, I am the conductor,
seeking oodles of poems that tug at my heart,   

a musical medley of sound and structure,    

an open mic in Frost Forest! Wonder who'll take part?

There's a pause in the program; no one takes the stage
the trees quiver, the audience looks up. Raven lands,       

singing Earth's message of the sage.   

"Poetry in motion will be forevermore, from forests to sands.

"Scatter," she croaked. "Beyond Wilde Pond, to each and every beach."

And now, the poem wings its way to the oh-so-talented Michelle Kogan.  Take it away, Michelle!

Here is the list of contributors.  

April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference 
April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That
April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise
April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink
April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All
April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 20 Buffy Silverman
April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
April 22 Karen Edmisten
April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies
April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet
April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails
April 28 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
April 29 TBD
April 30 TBD

For this week's midway-through-Poetry-Month Poetry Friday Roundup, please make your way to My Juicy Little Universe, where Heidi hosts us all.  Thanks, Heidi.

Remember, Jama and her team of bears and other Alphabet Soupers have rounded up Poetry Month events in the Kidlitosphere here.  Enjoy!

Greetings, Poetry Lovers - is it still Poetry Friday?!  It's after 2 p.m. as I'm posting this, after a prior 48 hours full of techno-challenges and a new AC/heating unit having to get installed at our house.  Thanks for your understanding!  I hope your Poetry Month is off to a great start.

I'm kicking off a "Poetry and Art" mini series on Poetry Fridays with links to short studio videos. (Well, today's is 10 minutes long - I'll try to shorten that in the next ones!) Each week I'll celebrate a different word, sharing a poem written by someone else, along with some art made by moi (such as the journal I made for today's post.). This week I've got a poem by Patricia J. Franz, featuring the word, AND.

These videos are trial-and-error (a fair bit of errors so far!) as I'm planning something more fulsome with artsyletters along these lines soon.  Feedback welcome!

Here is today's link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7aG79O6KS4

And here is the poem I share in it, celebrating the word "AND" with our talented Patricia J. Franz, from here post kicking off 2024.

Ode to AND
 
It's grammatical, dramatical.
It's also mathematical.
 
 
A diplomatic follower of
controversial commas.
 
 
It's optimistic, synergistic.
In the end more realistic.
Characteristically it's found
in multi-taskers.
 
 
It coordinates.
It conjugates.
It could be said it consummates
 
 
phrases matched to clauses,
interjections with soft pauses.
 
 
A uniter, not a fighter.
Softer on the ear.
Gentler than BUT.
 
 

AND —my word this coming year.
 

                                                                                                                  ©draft, Patricia J. Franz

Here is Patricia's whole wonderful post. And it just so happens Patricia has today's line of the Kidlitopshere Progressive Poem right here - follow along for all the fun!  (My day to contribute a line is April 17.)

You can find all of this week's posts rounded up by Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme, where he's reflecting on a year of rainbows! 

Remember to check out all the Poetry Moonth goodness in the Kidlitosphere over at Alphabet Soup.  Thanks for rounding these up, Jama & crew!

If you wanted to look up a couple of things I mentioned in my video this week, here is a link to mixed media artist, teacher, and author Seth Apter, and here's a link to a lovely small women-owned scrapbooking and mixed media shop in the mountains of north Georgia, Scrappy Shak. 

Happy Poetry Month, and wishing blessings to all, especially those celebrating Easter or Passover this week.

Greetings, Poetry Lovers!  Thanks to Heidi Bee Roemer today, we have something for the youngest young readers, older young readers, young adults and the young at heart.

Hot off the press this week from Highlights Press is Heidi's latest book, SILLY PUPPIES - Baby's First Giggles, a delightful rhyming board book sure to be a hit with little dog lovers, like my own two baby grands.  I can't wait to share it with them!  It's a fun, bed-time themed romp through puppy mischief. Photos are from Getty Images and the charming line art is by Jana Curll.

Goodnight, Sun.

Hello, Moon.

Is it bedtime?

Pretty soon!

But first, there's a bath to be had, a bedtime snack to be munched, and some (oops!) chewing to be done. Then, of course - a bedtime story and song. I am quite sure this little book will be met with a chorus of "Again!"s by our own wee ones. Click here for more info. 

You can learn more about Heidi and her books for kids (and other published writing - did you know she's sold nearly 500 poems?!) here at her website.  

But, wait - there's more!

Heidi is also the founder of Steam Powered Poetry for students and teachers!  She and her creative, accomplished team offer all kinds of poetry video and activity options in the realms of science, technology, engineering, art, and math.  And, their offerings are tailored to grade levels:  early education (& "wee steamers"!), primary, middle grade, and intermediate. The mission statement begins, "Across the curriculum, 'S.T.E.A.M. Powered Poetry Videos for Pk-8' promotes poetry in the classroom using multiple methods and strategies."

Steam Powered Poetry's annual poetry video contest runs from October through April.  Know any creative junior high, high school, college, or grad students who are video-savvy?  Here's how they can participate; registration for this year opened a couple of weeks ago.  

Students may enter individually, or teachers can register their classes. Then participants can download the Poetry Packet with 40 STEAM poems. Each video creator then chooses a poem and makes a one-minute video for grade school students.  Entries are due by Thursday, April 30, 2026.

The 40 poems are by "e-STEAM-ed poets," and I'm thrilled to be one of those myself this year.  (Heidi Mordhorst is in the mix this year, too - Hi, Heidi!)

You can learn more about the contest here - Share the link! :0)

The infographic above, made by Heidi, features my poem in the packet.

Collage Camouflage

by Robyn Hood Black

Inks and paints hide on the shelf.

Blank paper lies in wait.

I think I will surprise myself.

Hey, Fingers – let's create!

I play around with clippings,

designing as I go.

I drizzle inky drippings

and let wild colors flow.

Orange pops right next to blue;

a focal point takes shape.

My hands sport every sticky hue,

arranging washi tape.

I stencil, stamp, stroke, and streak

with paintbrush, pen, and brayer –

a playful game of hide-and-seek

pressed into every layer.

©Robyn Hood Black, but freely available, of course, to STEAM Powered Poetry folks!

As many of you have also discovered over the years, mixed media art is a rabbit hole of wonderfulness from which one might never escape. Don't bother sending down a rope; I'm pretty happy down here with fingertips constantly inked. In fact, I've been immersed in gel plate printing this month, especially in a two-week online frenzy of workshops with lifetime access to the videos - The Gel Printers Summit put on by artist Drew Steinbrecher.  (You can actually still "sign up" for access to this year's videos through Oct. 19, or maybe make a note on your calendar for next October.)  I even found a Poetry Friday friend in the private Facebook group, Tricia Stohr-Hunt - Hi, Tricia! :0)

Speaking of Poetry Friday friends, whether brand new or old-timers, be sure to enjoy all the wonderful posts rounded up here this week by the lovely Sarah Grace Tuttle. 

Thanks for coming by.  I'll be away on the road next week but back via Halloween broom on the 31st! Mwah ha ha....