A Month in Verse: In Conclusion

Things officially wrap up here tomorrow, with my participation in the Kidlit Progressive Poem, but for today I wanted to share my reading experiences, thank my guest post authors, and give out some prizes during our Month in Verse.

Reading Experiences:
For the month, I planned on reading three verse novels: THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN (which I decided wasn’t a verse novel but was a lovely book nonetheless), SONG OF THE SPARROW (which made it back to the library, to be read another year), and NEW FOUND LAND (which I’m close to finishing).
    
NEW FOUND LAND: LEWIS AND CLARK’S VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY is told in the multiple voices of the explorers’ expedition and even includes Lewis’s dog, Seaman. As I’ve read, I’ve marked figurative language I’ve especially enjoyed. Here’s a taste:

The arrows passed through him as if
his body had been river mist.

Sandbars began to rise from the water like huge loaves of bread.

And the squirrel,
wet as a fresh turd, is humping it up the slope
and twitching his tail like a victory dance
and chattering curses and chittering boasts
on account of his besting the big dog, I guess.

This great river is like a strange language
that I can neither read nor understand.

White men move about the woods
like buffalo during the mating season.

The baby was swaddled and at his mother’s breast.
The slightest sight of the child’s tiny ear —
how it humbled me.
It was delicate and strong all at once.
A single crocus bloom in the snow.
A miracle.

Wonderful, no?

What I’m also enjoying is the way author Allan Wolf successfully takes people from all walks of life and unifies them through their labors and experiences. There are several poems with the same structure but told through different voices — a rowing poem, a tree-felling poem, and (because I might have looked ahead), a poem about seeing the Pacific for the first time). Sentences are also truncated to show exertion. The writing is really quite remarkable.

Guest Post Authors:
Thank you to Mia at Pragmatic Mom, Rebecca Gomez, Carolee Dean, Holly from Goodreads, Sarah Tregay, Margarita Engle, Lisa Schroeder, Jeannine Atkins, Joanne Fritz and any and all others who contributed around here this last month. I so appreciate your perspectives and the time you took in writing posts for me.

Prizes:
When this month started, I promised some prizes to those who committed to reading along. A number of you have posted about your reading on your blog. Some of you have ended up as I have — not necessarily reading all you meant to, but learning and enjoying regardless. No worries, I put all your names in the hat.

The five winners of the May B. journals are as follows:
Rebecca Gomez
Carolee Dean
Holly (Goodreads)
Kim (Goodreads)
Megan (Goodreads)

The winner of the verse novel of her choice is Lauren Ledet Bordelon.

Please email me personally, so I might get your books to you! Thanks again, everyone. Be sure to stop by tomorrow for the true grand finale, the progressive poem.