Treasuring Poetry: Meet children’s author, illustrator and poet, Judy Mastrangelo #review #poetry #childrensfiction

Today, I am delighted to welcome talented children’s author, illustrator and poet, Judy Mastrangelo, as my Treasuring Poetry guest with her new book of poems for children.

Which of your own poem is your favourite?

SWAN BOAT                                                                                     

by Judy Mastrangelo

A Graceful Swan Boat                                                                

glides through quiet waters.

***

Sing to me my little ones of

Lands where Dreams are Born.

***

Sky Dreams, Cloud Dreams,

Castles full of Fairy Tales.

Lands where Elves dwell,

and Fairies dance till morn.

This is a beautiful poem, Judy.

What inspired you to write this poem?

Being an illustrator/artist, plus an author, I often begin a creation with an image that appears in my imagination.  I call it a “Mind Painting”. This little poem came to me along with the Fairy image, with its lyrical song-like verse.  The rhythm of the words seemed to go along with the gentle rocking of the Fairy Swan Boat as it floated down a magical stream in Fairyland.

What are your plans for your poetry going forward?

I’m now working on some books of original fantasy poems that I’m illustrating with my artwork.

What is your favourite poem?

THE FLY-AWAY HORSE

by Eugene Field

Oh, a wonderful horse is the Fly-Away Horse–
Perhaps you have seen him before;
Perhaps, while you slept, his shadow has swept
Through the moonlight that floats on the floor.
For it’s only at night, when the stars twinkle bright,
That the Fly-Away Horse, with a neigh
And a pull at his rein and a toss of his mane,
Is up on his heels and away!
The moon in the sky, as he gallopeth by,
Cries: “Oh! What a marvelous sight!”
And the Stars in dismay hide their faces away
In the lap of old Grandmother Night.
***
It is yonder, out yonder, the Fly-Away Horse
Speedeth ever and ever away–
Over meadows and lane, over mountains and plains,
Over streamlets that sing at their play;
And over the sea like a ghost sweepeth he,
While the ships they go sailing below,
And he speedeth so fast that the men on the mast
Adjudge him some portent of woe.
“What ho, there!” they cry,
As he flourishes by
With a whisk of his beautiful tail;
And the fish in the sea
Are as scared as can be,
From the nautilus up to the whale!
*** 
And the Fly-Away Horse seeks those far-away lands
You little folk dream of at night–
Where candy-trees grow, and honey-brooks flow,
And corn-fields with popcorn are white;
And the beasts in the wood are ever so good
To children who visit them there–
What glory astride of a lion to ride,
Or to wrestle around with a bear!
The monkeys, they say:
“Come on, let us play,”
And they frisk in the coconut-trees:
While the parrots, that cling
To the peanut-vines sing

And fan a cool wind with their wings!

***
Or converse with comparative ease!
***
Off! scamper to bed — you shall ride him to-night!
For, as soon as you’ve fallen asleep,
With a jubilant neigh he shall bear you away
Over forest and hillside and deep!

Eugene Field is a new poet to me, but I loved this poem best from your new collection.

Why do you like this poem?

I feel that Eugene Field is one of the most beloved poets who wrote only for children.  I feel a connection with him in that respect, among other aspects of his art, since the majority of my books are also geared toward the “Young and Young at heart”. 

His poems are beautiful, imaginative, and full of a dreamy quality that children love.  He’s known as the “Poet of Childhood”. This poem speaks to me with its childlike fantasy that conjures up some delightful images in my mind, and I thoroughly enjoyed creating paintings to illustrate it.

But tell us, my dear, all you see and you hear
In those beautiful lands over there,
Where the Fly-Away Horse wings his far-away course
With the wee one assigned to his care.
Then grandma will cry
In amazement: “Oh, my!”
And she’ll think it could never be so.
And only we two
Shall know it is true–
You and I, little precious! shall know!

Poems to Dream on by Judy Mastrangelo

What Amazon says

Artist Judy Mastrangelo’s magical and colorful paintings beautifully bring to life this collection of famous and beloved poetry, written by great poets of the past. Here are a few of her favorite poems she has chosen to illustrate for this enchanting anthology:

From Robert Louis Stevenson’s volume “A Child’s Garden of Verses”, you can have fun flying up in the air with “The Swing”, and looking for tiny Garden Fairies in his poem “The Flowers”. Eugene Field, known as “The Poet of Childhood”, recounts a comical “Duel” of the whimsical Gingham Dog and Calico Cat. And his lovely “Rock-a-By Lady from Hushaby street” takes us to visit her wondrous Land of Dreams. Joyce Kilmer expresses the beauty of “Trees” who wear “a nest of robins in their hair” in his celebrated poem. You will recognize the popular lines “All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small”, in the poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. The funny “Three Little Kittens” will give you a chuckle as they search for their mittens, and you will marvel at the beauty of the “road from earth to sky” in “The Rainbow”, by Christina Rossetti. The poem “Toyland”, written by Glen MacDonough, contains the familiar verse “Toyland, toyland, Little girl and boy land”. Thiswas set to music for the charming operetta “Babes in Toyland” by Victor Herbert.

Judy has also included some of her own original poems that she wrote and illustrated, such as the “Graceful Swan Boat”, in which you can sail away “to lands where dreams are born”. From her series “Garden Gates”, you will enjoy playing with children in the Buttercups, having a Foxglove Tea Party, marching in a Tulip Parade, and making a wish on a Water Lily Pond.

Both Children and Adults of all ages will delight in reading this engaging medley of poetry, as well as looking at Judy’s captivating, detailed, and stunning artwork, which enhances and illustrates it so perfectly. In her “Poems To Dream On”, she has created an endearing and tender book, which will be cherished by readers for many years to come.

My review

Poems to Dream on is a beautiful edition to Judy Mastrangelo’s family of books. She has selected several delightful poems and songs by a variety of poets, including a few contributions she penned herself, and illustrated them with her wonderfully colourful illustrations.

Although I am a great lover of children’s nursery rhymes and poems, several of the poems in this collection are new to me, including The Fly-Away Horse, The Duel, and The Rock-a-By Lady by Eugene Field and The Sandman by Margaret Thomson Janvier.

One particularly gorgeous verse from The Fly-Away Horse is as follows:
“And the Fly-Away Horse
Seeks those far-away lands
You little folk dream of at night.
Where candy-trees grow,
And honey-brooks flow,
And corn-fields with popcorn are white.”

My favourite of Judy’s own poems is Buttercups:
“Buttercups are magical.
They’re gifts from
Heaven above,
Which bring us Joy and Happiness
In golden cups of Love.”

This book is perfect to introduce children to the magic of poetry and fantasy with Judy’s fantastic illustrations to bring the words to life. 

Purchase Poems to Dream on

Amazon US

Judy Mastrangelo Amazon Author Page

About Judy Mastrangelo

Judy Mastrangelo has written and illustrated several books, which include themes of Poetry, Fairytales, and Fairies. She follows in the tradition of “The Art of the Golden Age of Illustration”. Some of her titles include: a series of four Fairy books: “Portal to the Land of Fae” which include Flower Fairies, Fairy Tale Fairies, Secrets of the Fairies, and Mystical Fairies. Additional books include “What Do Bunnies Do All Day?”, “Enchanted Fairy Tales”, which she illustrated and adapted, “The Star”, illustrating the poem Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and her new fairy tale “The Magic Blanket”. Besides creating books, her artwork has been used in several Inspirational Oracle Card Decks, as well as some that she has also written herself. She licenses her artwork for many products, including Art Prints and Wall Murals. Judy has taught Creative Drama and Dance as well as Painting, to Children and Adults, and has directed her own Community Theater for all ages. As part of her work, she enjoys encouraging people to develop their own Imagination and Artistic Talents.

You can visit her at www.judymastrangelo.com.

About Robbie Cheadle

Robbie Cheadle is a South African children’s author and poet with eleven children’s books and two poetry books.

The eight Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.

Robbie and Michael have also written Haunted Halloween Holiday, a delightful fantasy story for children aged 5 to 9 about Count Sugular and his family who hire a caravan to attend a Halloween party at the Haunted House in Ghost Valley. This story is beautifully illustrated with Robbie’s fondant and cake art creations.

Robbie has published two books for older children which incorporate recipes that are relevant to the storylines.

Robbie has two adult novels in the paranormal historical and supernatural fantasy genres published under the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle. She also has short stories, in the horror and paranormal genre, and poems included in several anthologies.

Robbie Cheadle contributes two monthly posts to https://writingtoberead.com, namely, Growing Bookworms, a series providing advice to caregivers on how to encourage children to read and write, and Treasuring Poetry, a series aimed at introducing poetry lovers to new poets and poetry books.

In addition, Roberta Eaton Cheadle contributes one monthly post to https://writingtoberead.com called Dark Origins: African Myths and Legends which shares information about the cultures, myths and legends of the indigenous people of southern Africa.

Robbie has a blog, https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com. where she shares book reviews, recipes, author interviews, and poetry.

Find Robbie Cheadle

Blog: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com

Twitter: BakeandWrite

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyFo_OJLPqFa9ZhHnCfHUA

Facebook: Sir Chocolate Books

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Want to be sure not to miss any of Robbie’s “Treasuring Poetry” segments? Subscribe to Writing to be Read for e-mail notifications whenever new content is posted or follow WtbR on WordPress. If you found it interesting or entertaining, please share.

Winners of the Haunted Halloween Holiday Wordcrafter blog tour giveaway

Thank you to everyone who participated in Robbie and Michael Cheadle’s Haunted Halloween Holiday WordCrafter book tour.

The winners of the giveaway are as follows:

The winners of the $10 Amazon Gift vouchers are: A.C. Flory, Diana Wallace Peach, and Dan Antion.

The winners of the paperback book are: Esther O’Neil, Toni Pike, and Marian Beaman.

Please contact Robbie Cheadle at sirchoc[at]outlook[dot]com to claim your prize.

Treasuring Poetry – Meet teacher and performance poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Today, I am delighted to introduce teacher and performance poet, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, as my July Treasuring Poetry guest. Welcome Rosemerry!

Which of your own poems is your favourite?

Watching My Friend Pretend Her Heart Isn’t Breaking

—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

On Earth, just a teaspoon of neutron star

would weigh six billion tons. Six billion tons

equals the collective weight of every animal

on earth. Including the insects. Times three.

Six billion tons sounds impossible

until I consider how it is to swallow grief—

just a teaspoon and one might as well have consumed

a neutron star. How dense it is,

how it carries inside it the memory of collapse.

How difficult it is to move then.

How impossible to believe that anything

could lift that weight.

There are many reasons to treat each other

with great tenderness. One is

the sheer miracle that we are here together

on a planet surrounded by dying stars.

One is that we cannot see what

anyone else has swallowed.

first published in Braided Way

And here is a cinepoem version of this

What inspired you to write this poem?

The poem began with a fact—about the weight of a teaspoon of neutron star. I am often inspired by science, and I find that if I let myself fall into research about the world and how it works, it will almost always suggest something to me about the human experience. It’s important to me to not know too much about the poem when I start—I like to let the poem know more than I do. It’s the opposite of that famous advice, write what you know. I so disagree. I want to write into what I don’t know—that is how epiphany happens. And so it is that with this poem, I was surprised when it became a poem about tenderness, about how we treat each other, about generosity of spirit.

What are your plans for your poetry going forward?

Since 2006, I have had a daily poeming practice, and for the last ten years or so, I have shared those poems on a blog, A Hundred Falling Veils. And I plan to continue that. What I have learned is that the practice itself is more important than the poems—the practice of showing up, the practice of being curious, attentive, heart-forward, open. The poems are a happy by product of that practice—and it’s the practice that makes the biggest difference in my daily life. It informs how I meet the world, my willingness to meet paradox, to embrace tension, to be inspired. So I suppose I would say my plans for poetry are really plans to stay committed to a daily practice—and see where it leads.

What is your favourite poem?

[You darkness, that I come from,]​

—Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Robert Bly

You darkness, that I come from,
I love you more than all the fires
that fence in the world,
for the fire makes
a circle of light for everyone,
and then no one outside learns of you.

But the darkness pulls in everything:
shapes and fires, animals and myself,
how easily it gathers them! —
powers and people —

and it is possible a great energy
is moving near me.

I have faith in nights.

from Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke (Harper Perennial, 1981)

Here’s a version of that poem that saved me, “You Darkness, That I Come From,” read by Meryl Streep.

Why do you like this poem?

This poem changed my relationship with the dark. I had been afraid of the dark for most of my life. For Rilke to say in those first lines, “You Darkness, that I come from, I love you—” blew my heart wide open. Really? I love you? This was paired in my mind with a Rumi text, “Night when you get there, tell them how I love you.” And I remember being very curious about this love affair with the night. This particular poem, which articulates the cohesive, communing power of the dark, has become a part of me. I learned it by heart and often recite it—once while deep in a cavernous cave with no light on—and it’s as if each time I say it, it works its magic on me even more, helping me fall even more deeply in love with darkness myself. I don’t think it is too dramatic to say that it saved my life, this poem. When I was going through a very hard time, what we call the dark night of the soul, this poem was my companion and it helped me treat that very difficult chapter with gratitude and curiosity. If I could fall in love with the literal dark, could I also find meaning, purpose, even beauty in grief and despair? Yes. This poem has been such a profound guide. In fact, though you didn’t ask for it, here’s a poem I wrote thanking Rilke.

Why do I urge you to do what you are passionate about

And do you know that you’re actually going to make more of a difference by focusing on politics than on the culture you’re passionate about? You don’t know what you might help make happen. Our world is full of the result of unintended as well as intended consequences.

—Yo-Yo Ma, “Yo-Yo Ma and the Meaning of Life” in The New York Times Magazine, Nov. 20, 2020

When Rilke travelled through Russia

and studied Saint Francis

and fell in love with the married Salomé

and wrote poems for The Book of Hours,

he could not have known

that over a century later

a woman on another continent

would find herself wrestled by darkness

and find in his poems encouragement

to lean even deeper into darkness

until she could fall in love

with what she feared most.

He could not have known she would

tattoo his words into her memory

and scribe them into her blood

so whenever she walked or lay in the dark

she would have his words ever with her,

and they made her not only more brave

but more wildly alive than she’d been before.

And what if, as his parents had pushed,

Rilke had joined the military

and turned his back on poetry?

And what if he had not gotten himself expelled

from trade school so he could go on

to study literature and art?

What would have become of the woman

a hundred years later

had she not found his poem

and learned from him to love the dark?

My review of Naked for Tea: Poems by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

What Amazon says

Naked for Tea, a finalist in the Able Muse Book Award, is a uniquely uplifting and inspirational collection. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s poems are at times humorously surreal, at times touchingly real, as they explore the ways in which our own brokenness can open us to new possibilities in a beautifully imperfect world. Naked for Tea proves that poems that are disarmingly witty on the surface can have surprising depths of wisdom. This is a collection not to be missed.

PRAISE FOR NAKED FOR TEA

Most anyone can make lemonade out of lemons. However, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s welcoming voice, receptive heart, artistic mastery, and empathic vision become an alchemy of being. Out of mudslides, misunderstandings, the exploits of Wild Rose, deep loss, and chocolate cake that sinks in the center, she makes courage, care, joy, and compassion. When “what’s the use” breaks down the back door, she is there, her great good soul encouraging us to sigh, laugh, renew our attention, and feel grateful for and delighted by any cake that sinks in the center.
    — Jack Ridl, author of Practicing to Walk Like a Heron and Saint Peter and the Goldfinch

Heart-thawingly honest, deliriously sexy, and compassionate down to the fingertips. A book of kindness and bewilderment and delight from one of our best poets.
    — Teddy Macker, author of This World

There is still rich ore in the Colorado San Juans. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is a treasure. In an era of seeming nonstop, subject-matterless, first person mirror dancing at the Temple of Narcissus incomprehension, it is a delight to find a poet who can tell a crackling story laced with gorgeous imagery and euphony that will appeal to the ancient seats of learning: the heart, belly, and brain. These are poems Sappho and Horace would love: they delight and instruct. They can be read and sung, and they will echo from the proverbial Colorado mountaintops through the archetypal red rock canyons of your mind. Prepare thyself to be smitten and to fall in love.
    — David Lee, Utah State Poet Laureate emeritus, author of Last Call and A Legacy of Shadows

Reading Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is to float upon a never-ending waterfall of wonder . . . Pay attention. The elegance of her simplicity will blind you to her mastery. Then, she will let you fall, head over heels, in Love. With everything.
    — Wayne Muller (from the foreword), author of Sabbath and Legacy of the Heart

My review

Reading Naked for Tea: Poems was a unique and gratifying poetic experience for me. The poet’s exploration and consideration of every day experiences and emotions threw a different light onto my own similar experiences. Many of the poems got me thinking about how I view life and how that influences how I experience my life. It was marvelous to read a collection where every poem had me stopping and wondering: How did she think of this? How amazing to see this situation this way? It was a most interesting journey of personal discovery for me.

The poet’s style of writing is as unique as the poems themselves. They read like a stream of consciousness and the thoughts run into each other and over each other, but still come together to make perfect sense.

The following short extracts are beautiful and thought provoking examples of the style of the poems:

“Then one day you hit against the same
impassable wall you always hit, and this time you fall
to your knees, not because you are weak’

but because at last you are ready to be opened.
Oh sweet failure, how it leads us.”
from Though It IS Tough to Choose It

And

“… As if
we all drank the same sad tea.
As if our loneliness also makes

us blind and deaf to each other
unable to see that everyone else
is as broken and blemished as we are.”
from We Do It until We Don’t

And lastly

“It was an accident, of course, the kind
that makes every one of us think
we are lucky to be alive, lucky to stand
wherever we are standing, whether
it’s in line for a bus or beside the road
or in front of a chalkboard or
in the middle of the kitchen stirring
blackberry jam. How could I not fall in love
with the heat, with the color of blackberries?”
from How It Goes On

Other stand out poems for me were: After My Friend Phyllis Shows Me the New York Times; Perhaps It Would Eventually Erode, But …; United; Not Only with Matches; Positively; and That’s Right.

Purchase Naked for Tea: Poems by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

https://www.wordwoman.com/books/

Amazon US

About Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer lives in Southwest Colorado with her husband and daughter. She served as the third Colorado Western Slope Poet Laureate (2015-2017) and was a finalist for Colorado Poet Laureate (2019). Her poetry has appeared in O Magazine, on A Prairie Home Companion and PBS News Hour, in Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry,” on stage at Carnegie Hall, in back alleys and on river rocks. Her poetry collections include Hush (winner of the Halcyon Prize for poetry of human ecology), Naked for Tea (finalist in the Able Muse Book Award), Even Now, The Less I Hold, The Miracle Already Happening: Everyday life with Rumi, Intimate Landscape and Holding Three Things at Once (Colorado Book Award finalist).

She travels widely to perform and teach for clients such as Think 360, the National Storytelling Festival, Ah Haa School for the Arts, Camp Coca Cola, The Mission in Santa Barbara, Taos Poetry Festival, wForum, and Business and Professional Women. She loves co-leading retreats that combine poetry with meditation, art, and play therapy. She served as San Miguel County’s first poet laureate, directed the Telluride Writers Guild for 10 years, co-directs the Talking Gourds Poetry Club, co-hosts Emerging Form–a podcast on creative process, and co-founded Secret Agents of Change–a group devoted to surreptitious acts of kindness. She has been a satsang student of Joi Sharp since 2010.

Rosemerry performs with Telluride’s eight-woman a cappella group, Heartbeat, and sings more often (and more publicly) than her children wish she would. Since 2005, she’s maintained a poem-a-day practice. Her MA is in English Language and Linguistics. Favorite one-word mantra: Adjust. Visit her at www.wordwoman.com . Watch her TEDx talk The Art of Changing Metaphors: Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer TEDx Paonia

You can contact Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer here:

Website: wordwoman.com

Daily poetry blog: A Hundred Falling Veils

Podcast on creative process: Emerging Form

Thank you, Rosemerry, for being a wonderful guest!

About Robbie Cheadle

Robbie Cheadle is a South African children’s author and poet with 9 children’s books and 2 poetry books.

The 7 Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.

Robbie has also published 2 books for older children which incorporate recipes that are relevant to the storylines.

Robbie has 2 adult novels in the paranormal historical and supernatural fantasy genres published under the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle. She also has short stories in the horror and paranormal genre and poems included in several anthologies.

Robbie writes a monthly series for https://writingtoberead.com called Growing Bookworms. This series discusses different topics relating to the benefits of reading to children.

Robbie has a blog, https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/ where she shares book reviews, recipes, author interviews, and poetry.

Find Robbie Cheadle

Blog: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com

Twitter: BakeandWrite

Instagram: Robbie Cheadle – Instagram

Facebook: Sir Chocolate Books

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Want to be sure not to miss any of Robbie’s “Treasuring Poetry” segments? Subscribe to Writing to be Read for e-mail notifications whenever new content is posted or follow WtbR on WordPress. If you found it interesting or entertaining, please share.