Personal Hall of Fame Poets and More

I have new photos on my website--Personal Hall of Fame Photos!


Click here: http://www.consideration.org/sottile/photos/201110/last-seen.html


Thanks for checking them out!


Joe

Do You Want to Be Famous?

Do you want to be famous? Do you want to be a famous star? On the silver screen? On stage? On TV? In what context do you want to be famous in? I really like the following poem. As for me, I want to be famous in the eyes of my wife and children. More simply, I want to to be loved like a buttonhole...

Famous

by

Naomi Shihab Nye

The river is famous to the fish.



The loud voice is famous to silence,

which knew it would inherit the earth

before anybody said so.



The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds

watching him from the birdhouse.



The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.



The idea you carry close to your bosom

is famous to your bosom.



The boot is famous to the earth,

more famous than the dress shoe,

which is famous only to floors.



The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it

and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.



I want to be famous to shuffling men

who smile while crossing streets,

sticky children in grocery lines,

famous as the one who smiled back.



I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,

or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,

but because it never forgot what it could do.



From Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Portland, Oregon: Far Corner Books, 1995).

Copyright © 1995 by Naomi Shihab Nye.

The Book Festival (Part Three--About Gratitude)

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."  That quote by Melody Beattie is one of my top ten favorites.

The Rochester Children's Book Festival feels like "home" to me because I have been there a number of times at my assigned table striving to get readers more interested in poetry and the ten-year-old inside me that writes poetry.

I feel very grateful to all those that contributed to this marvelous event, especially Sibby Falk, Kathy Biasi, MJ, Christine Horton, Natisha LaPierre and many Dedicated Volunteers, and many more unsung heroes of The Day. We were all showered on that Saturday  with sunshine, energetic readers, and happy adults. Those six hours at the festival were action packed with many memorable moments. For me, as indicated in "Part One", I meeting my personal writing hero, Steven Kellogg, who I first me in 1978 while he visited a school in the area. But my love for his books and my two daughters love for them didn't end there. When such talented writers and illustrators create a large body of work (like Steven), it is such a blessing! I am grateful to him and others like him who are both prolific and immensely creative. Our RACWI group is bursting proudly with many members that fit that description.

I am also thankful for the girl (about ten-years-old) who pointed to the two books on my table Waiting to See the Principal and Other Poems and Picture Poetry on Parade! And then she said, "I have this one and this one, and the one that's not on the table!" (The one not on the table--Bathroom Vacation--is out of print.) After that she ran off, leaving me with a moment to treasure.

Vivain Vande Velde is a member who I treasure because I first met her at my first children's book festival in 1999 sponsored by the Democrat and Chronicle on the grounds of the Memorial Art Gallery. I was happily selling my first book Bathroom Vacation under a large tent and encouraging the book lovers to read at least one poem along the way. If they did, 50% of the time they chose to purchase the book. This didn't go unnoticed by Vivian who was stationed nearby. After greetings were exchanged, she asked me if I would like to attend the Rochester Children's Book Festival which she was in charge of. Of course, I was over-joyed at that possibility, and I have been a member ever since. Besides being the person to ask any question about publishing, she is creative, prolific, funny, and charming. And she always shares a flood of photos from the festival--organized and labeled like a storyboard. Thank you, Vivian. You're quite an asset to the RACWI organization!

I also need to thank the Purple Balloon Lady, Debra Ross, and her helpers for making the day extra special for all our visitors. And, if you're not getting her weekly KOA newsletter, you're missing out on how much fun the Rochester area can be. And as RACWI' s special promoter, you're missing out on promoting what you do as an author or illustrator. In addition to her newsletter, promoting, writing, and being a wonderful mom, she is an excellent critic and editor. I certainly value what she has to say about poetry and writing in general. She can even make dreams come true such as reading your poetry on the radio! So you can sign up right here...

http://rochester.kidsoutandabout.com/email-list-signup.php.

I have one more quote for you. It's from Albert Einstein, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

I would consider it a small miracle if you signed up to be one of my "followers." Why would you want to do something like that? This blog isn't just about poetry. I am a former teacher, but I haven't lost my class forever. I love to perform poetry. I will come to any class for free in the Monroe County area, and I'll leave them laughing. After nine years of not teaching daily, I miss the kids and the ambience of the classroom. So the more people that know how eager I am to spread poetry, the more I will be sharing the joy of poetry. Poetry for kids is win-win.

At night I periodically share whatever I have learned during the present 24 hours right here. The more followers that I have, the more likely I will write at night before or even during the Charlie Rose Show.

It’s important for you to read this blog now and then because I need to write and find out what I know. That might sound a bit self-centered. But I am sure Anne Lamott agrees with me. She says, "We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason why they write so little."

According to Bonnie Friedman, "Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties."

If I stumble across any golden writing nuggets, I’ll share them here first with you!

We are better than sheep lice.

Joe Sottile
joe-sottile.com

Steven Kellogg Comes to Town! (Part One) Steven!

If you don't already know, Steven Kellogg is my all-time favorite children's author. He has illustrated/published over 90 books. I first met him when he was a young author at the first school that I taught at in 1978. As the years rolled by, I bought a number of his books and shared them with my class and two daughters. It all started with The Island of the Skog for us. And I was smart enough as an elementary teacher to read picture books to my students, no matter what grade I was teaching that year—from grades 2-6.


Steven Kellogg defined a “magic book” as when the text combines with the illustrations in a way that was totally balanced, woven together like a magical carpet which sweeps the reader away on an imaginative journey. His books did that for my students, children, and many others.

So it was great fun seeing him at the 2009 Rochester Children’s Book Festival meeting people and signing books. He actually drew, as per usual, a mini-picture on every book he signed and smiled cheerfully at each person he met. I can only imagine what kind of cramps he had in his writing hand after that. He signed books for six straight hours with one major "break." He did a show for 30 minutes where he drew poster board illustrations of his latest book for an adoring audience!

Did we get a chance to talk? I briefly talked to him before he started signing books, when the crowd hadn’t yet formed. I happily asked a passerby to take the photo which is posted with this blog.

His face has "weathered" the years, but he looks like a Greek god to me. Just add the robe. What do you think?