When my oldest was just a tiny thing, she didn’t quite get the concept of bare feet. She was positive for oh-so-long, that going without her shoes meant "bear" feet. And oh how she wanted to be a bear! All the time. Everywhere.

It makes me smile to remember her saying, "Are you being a bear, Mommy?"

“Bear” feet

Walk like a bear

When there’s warmth in the air

When the green grass grows

its springy invitation

Slip out of your shoes

Leave your socks over there

Sink down to your ankles

And walk like a bear

           –Kristy Dempsey (all rights reserved)

For the beauty of the Earth
For the glory of the skies
For the love which from our birth 
over and around us lies
Lord of all to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise. 

For the wonder of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child;
Friends on earth and friends above;
For all gentle thoughts and mild;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For Thyself, best gift divine,
To each race so freely given,
For that great, great love of Thine,
Peace on earth, and joy in heaven:
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise.

          — lyrics by Folliot Sandford Pierpoint

I’m on a spring kick — can’t help it; have you looked outside?? — and so I bring another springy poem today from Karla Kuskin. She was a gem, that Karla, and this poem is how I feel every time I look outside.

(On a side note, if you haven’t read Rebecca Kai Dotlich’s Lemonade Sun, especially A Circle of Sun which reminds me of this Kuskin poem, you’re missing another sunshine-y treat.)

Be sure to read the rest of Kuskin’s poem at the Poetry Foundation website. (I’ve included the link below.) Here I’ve only shared the poem through my favorite line. Happy Spring!

Spring

BY KARLA KUSKIN

I’m shouting
I’m singing
I’m swinging through trees
I’m winging skyhigh
With the buzzing black bees.
I’m the sun
I’m the moon
I’m the dew on the rose.
I’m a rabbit
Whose habit
Is twitching his nose

Read the rest here.

1. I read THE PENDERWICKS ON GARDAM STREET this week. Loved it but had a weird emotional breakdown afterwards. I think it had to do with my husband’s recent heart attack and realizing I’m not an astrophysicist.

2. Good news from my Philomel editor, Tamra: ME WITH YOU was licensed by Scholastic Book Clubs! My little book is going to be in the book clubs! WHOOO-HOOOO!

3. Still waiting to hear on my latest pb submission. Glacial pace, this business. (Okay. I exaggerate. But slower than I wish.)

4. Had follow-up doctor visit this morning after hand surgery last week. I am fine. I asked the doctor if it was okay to start washing dishes again. And he said “Absolutely not.” Indefinitely. Really. Why would I lie? 🙂

5. Received uncorrected proofs from Bloomsbury UK for MINI RACER, my forthcoming pb illustrated by Bridget Strevens-Marzo. The art is ADORABLE. Can’t wait to share them with you. I expect to receive Bloomsbury US proofs soon, which will be slightly different because the text is slightly different in the two versions. I will share as soon as I can.

It seems odd as the weather is turning warmer and the trees are budding and the flowers are blooming to post a poem about winter trees. But during our time here in the US since July 2009, one of the most apparent differences (for me) between Brazil and the US has been the trees. Don’t get me wrong. We love the trees in Brazil in all their greenness and palm-ishness and home-for-monkeys-ness. But here in the US, the trees actually change. There are seasons. And in each season there is a beauty that is unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been. William Carlos Williams captures the beauty of winter in Winter Trees.

Winter’s been nice but it’s even nicer to see those buds that were sleeping all winter begin to peek their faces out into the sun.

Winter Trees

BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.

I don’t have a perfect plan for Poetry Month this year, no special events, no original poetry from a schedule of poetry veterans. But I will be reading a lot of poetry this month and sharing it with others. And more than likely it will spill over here each day.  A favorite from this past week of reading:

Part Two: Nature

XCVII

TO make a prairie it takes a clover

      and one bee,—

One clover, and a bee,

And revery.

The revery alone will do

If bees are few.

      -Emily Dickinson

To celebrate Poetry Friday today, one of my favorite Robert Frost poems (on what would have been his birthday — Happy Birthday, Bob) , perfect for this time of year, this time of Springish delight, of new warmth and new growth and the feeling that it’s time to put your hand to the plough. 

I am putting my hand to the plough in my own way this spring by working to finish a discovery draft of my novel WIP. I had to step back this week and figure out where I’ve gone wrong because I feel like I’m moving in circles. 

This week as I enjoy the hint of spring in the air, I think I’m going to imagine myself as Frost did, working in concert with others to point toward something beautiful and fragrant. And maybe, just maybe I’ll find it.

The Tuft of Flowers

BY ROBERT FROST

I went to turn the grass once after one
Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.

The dew was gone that made his blade so keen
Before I came to view the levelled scene.

I looked for him behind an isle of trees;
I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.

But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,
And I must be, as he had been,—alone,

As all must be,’ I said within my heart,
Whether they work together or apart.’

Read the rest here.

1. I’ve felt like something big was supposed to happen all week, but nothing has really materialized. Oh wait, ME WITH YOU was nominated for the SIBA 2010 Book of the Year award in the children’s/YA category. I’m very excited about that. Yes. But still, I’ve had this feeling I can’t shake, so maybe one of you will get good news before the end of the day.

2. I got art for my upcoming pb, MINI RACER, that I’m dying to share with you, but I don’t have permission yet. So instead, I’ll let my illustrator do it for me. 🙂 Bridget Strevens-Marzo shared some of the art on her blog a week or so ago and then Cynsations posted an interview with her as part of the SCBWI Bologna series. Be sure to check both of them out!

3. Cynsations also posted an interview with my fabuloso literary agent, Kendra Marcus, of Bookstop Literary. She shares a sweet story about me that made me blush (though she doesn’t use my name.) It’s nice to have an agent that makes you feel good about yourself, huh? 

4. So have you noticed yet that lots of people I know are going to the Bologna Book Fair but not me? 😦 Pooh.

5. My agent just sent out my latest picture book manuscript. I am insanely excited about this story. I’ve had the idea/title in my head for years and have worked and reworked and worked and reworked and then finally the story just came together the other day. I wrote, revised, rewrote, revised, had it critiqued, revised, sent it to agent, revised, talked with agent, revised some more, and now it is OUT THERE. Oh boy.

Okay, so for the first time ever my agent read the synopsis of my novel WIP today. And when she was through, she did not ask to de-agent me. Whew.

Someone — I ain’t saying who– put a bee in my bonnet to submit an application for Work-in-Progress grant from the SCBWI. Glory, it’s taken me all day but I think I’ve finally pulled it all together.

In the mail, tomorrow. Whew.