I’m not big on practical jokes. 
They make me nervous — and not just having them played on me, but also playing them on others. 
I say "April Fool’s" before the joke is even finished, lest my victim spend a millisecond worried or confused. 

This morning when my Small One went off with her "broken wrist" wrapped in an ace bandage, it took great restraint not to follow behind her saying, "She’s just joking, folks. Carry on. Nothing to look at here…"

I’m well aware that this makes me kind of a scrooge on a day like today, but here’s the thing. I like surprises that make people float, rather than knock them off balance, surprises that make people expand rather than contract, surprises that delight.

And I really, really like surprises that come wrapped up in poems. 
So, it may not be my day but it’s definitely my month: National Poetry Month!

Here are some surprises for you:
Get a poem-a-day in your mailbox from Knopf
Get a poem-a-day in your mailbox from Poetry Daily
Get today’s list of Poetry Friday features at The Poem Farm.

And, if you’re so inclined, you can get a haiku-a-day right here. Today marks the beginning of my third annual April Haiku Series in celebration of National Poetry Month, and I’m even extending the practice to haibuns this year — at the invitation of one of my poetry sisters, Andi Jazmon at a wrung sponge.

A haibun is the practice of complementing one’s haiku with a little prose. A little commentary, or journalling, to frame or extend the idea of the haiku. Basho created the haibun style as he needed a way to add a little narrative to his imagistic revelations. Sometimes I need that, too.

4/1/2011

cat in the foxgloves
thinks he’s hidden, quiet, pink
ears like white flags fly

Don’t we all think our disguises are a little bit better than they are? Our self-perpetuated myths? Our masks and pen names? When really, we can’t help but walk around revealing ourselves. Showing our cards and our hearts. Waving our white flags….

Today was a pretty sweet day.
A chilly morning.
A fourth-grade field trip.
Something garlicky-gingery in the slow cooker for tonight.

And then I got an email that took the day from just plain sweet to super duper sweet to the power of ten.

I’ve got an illustrator for my next book with Beach Lane Books and she is the amazing Stephanie Graegin!
My editor showed her my text for Happy Birthday, Baby and she said YES!!!
Horns!
Confetti!
Dancing!
More dancing!
More dancing!
More dancing!

I’m so excited…

Sometimes folks will ask how a new book is doing — and they mean sales-wise — but it’s months before a royalty statement comes and even then we might not have the foggiest idea how to read it.

So, I always say, "It’s doing very well… in my family."

That truth took a hit after my grandmother died.
(She’d been on a quest to single-handedly distribute my books to every sentient being in the state of Wisconsin.)

But my mom has taken up the task with gusto.
These are just some of the copies of Noodle & Lou she is giving away:

Pretty sweet, huh?

One of the big bennies of doing so many school visits this winter?
Lots and lots of cute, funny, clever letters from kids at those schools.
I shared a few little snippets last week, but have since received another packet and I can’t resist:

Dear Ms. Scanlon

Dear Mrs Scanlon,

Dear Mrs. Scanlon

Love Molly
 

It is Spring in Austin, Texas! 
My kids are on vacation in about 7 hours!
I have a new book out (I’m sure you’ll all be surprised to know that it rhymes!)
And I pressed send on a new manuscript last night, right about as the clock struck twelve!

What better way to celebrate it all than with a poetry party.
Wanna come?

Leave your link in the comments and I’ll round ya up throughout the day…
Welcome, and thanks, for coming!

Now here’s a little somethin’ to get you started:

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…)

Now, here’s an original from Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town

At Carol’s Corner, you’ll find an Edgar Guest Poem

Laura Salas celebrates with a book trailer for her new book Bookspeak (!!!) and, as always, here’s her 15-Words-Or-Less contribution.

Robyn Hood Black’s hanging out with Rebecca Kai Dotlich (lucky her!)

Amy at The Poem Farm shares a "sweet" original.

Tabatha Yeatts brings us Lisel Mueller today.

You’ll find some Victor Hugo at Dori Reads.

Check out the digital poetry at Random Noodling, a discussion on making poetry at Kurious Kitty, and an Eavan Boland quote at Kurious K’s Kwotes.

Oh, and enjoy the book spine poem at 100 Scope Notes!

Our friends at Paper Tigers highlight Mongolian poet Dashdongdog Jamba.

Jama’s celebrating my favorite fruit today, at Alphabet Soup!

Irene Latham shares a stepmom original at Live. Love. Explore!

Tanita Davis is working her way through some tricky T.S. Eliot this lenten season.

There’s a review of Eileen Spinelli’s newish novel-in-verse over at Secret’s and Sharing Soda.

The Write Sisters and Basho join so many of us, thinking of our brothers and sisters in Japan.

Happy Birthday to Heidi at my juicy little universe. She celebrates with an original.

And Elaine is being original (and seasonal) over at Wild Rose Reader, and also at Blue Rose Girls!

You can read some George Herbert at Semicolon today.

Jeannine Atkins is discussing poets as protagonists. Cool!

Read an original Charles Ghigna at Bald Ego.

The wonderful Mary Lee at A Year of Reading is in with another spring poem — or, rather, a waiting for spring poem.

Blythe Woolston brings us a powerful video and an original poem.

Carlie at Twinkling Along shares an original, too.

And check out the Mother Goose take-offs at fomagrams!

Julie Larios has a Lorca poem at The Drift Record.

You can read a Schulyer poem at Learning to Let Go.

Get your groove on with April Halprin Wayland over at Teaching Authors.

My friend Andi at a wrung sponge reviews Dave the Potter today.

Jone brings us more spring, via William Carlos Williams, at Check it Out.

You can read some Lorine Niedecker as part of Women’s History Month at The Small Nouns.

Carol Rasco (of RIF) shares a piece by Kevin Young, from Ardency. 

A first-timer from Books, Dogs and Frogs shares haiku, with good thoughts toward Japan.

Tara at A Teaching Life offers us Mary Oliver.

Sally Thomas at A Castle in the Sea shares an original piece.

And you can go get your Irish Fix at All About the Books with Janet Squires.

I’ll add any last additions late tonight or in the morning.
In the meantime, be well and happy reading!
Namaste….

Just a couple of late additions:

You can read an original at pearlygirltoo.

And at The Quill and Crayon? A post on the camellia flower.

Thanks for stopping by friends!

As I mentioned the other day, I’ve had a guest at my house this week.
Well, formally she’s a "mentee," but we’re not actually all that formal around here.

Together since Monday, we’ve written and revised and visited with first graders and now, to round out the experience, we’re blogging together.

So, welcome, Maggie! I’m so honored you chose to be here for your "Project Week".
(No jokes about me being a project or needing work, please, folks…)

I think it’s pretty unusual for a 7th grader to be able to immerse herself in something like this and, even more importantly, to want to immerse herself the way you did. You’ve been on fire!

Let’s chat a little bit about how it’s been…

L: How did it feel to be an author for a week?

M: It was a really rewarding experience, I mean I wrote a whole book in one week. It was really interesting to get into the perspective of a child, because the kind of books that you write and I was experimenting with writing, kids don’t start out reading them to themselves but they are meant to be read aloud to teach new vocabulary and skills such as rhyming and rhythm. Basically it was a really fun and academically enhancing week.

L: Were there any surprises?

M: There were not really any surprises this week, except for how quickly we produced this book. I mean less than half way through the week (2 days) all of the initial writing was done. (Of course it took longer to polish it up!)

L: What was most challenging?

M: The most challenging part was probably the brainstorming and then writing the first draft. Getting a definite plot-line down on paper was defiantly the most difficult part.

L: What was most fun?

M: For me the most fun part was on Tuesday when I just sat down with you and we turned everything into rhyme and just cranked out most of the text that would need to be completed for the story. It was a very satisfying morning.

L: That’s nice of you to say, and I had a great day that day, too! But honestly, YOU turned it into rhyme yourself. I just supported you! 
So, how will this week affect your writing in general — and affect you as a writer?

M: I think I will now think more about the audience that I am writing to before I just start writing down my ideas. I also think that this experience has improved my editing skills a lot.

L: Yes, you really were willing to do the hard work of revision. That impressed me. Do you think you’ll work on other picture book manuscripts in the future?

M: I most certainly will continue writing picture book manuscripts. It was really fun and I learned a lot, also I think is a good way to get an idea down without having to write a whole novel.

Thanks so much, Liz,
Maggie

Thank you, too!
It’s been really fruitful for me to spend a number of days being more conscious about what it is that I do, and working to articulate that.
Plus, I loved having a sidekick!
Come back soon!

It’s a lovely week at my house because I have a visitor. 
A family friend — a middle-schooler who, as part of her school’s Project Week, is writing a children’s book.
So, she’s spending the week with me. 

We talk all about picture books and rhyme and scansion and revision.
We talk about humour and getting in the groove.
We talk about libraries.

We do writing prompts.
We then, actually, write.
(I wrote quite a lot yesterday because, ahem, I had to set a good example. Y’know?)
And then we revise. Together.
It’s a hoot!

So, stuff’s happening over here and I’m hoping that on Thursday Maggie will tell you about it.
Tomorrow she’s going on a school visit with me. 
And maybe going to the post office with me because, um, that’s a part of my job. 
Right?

The only thing I like just about as much as a good school visit
is the letters I get after a good school visit. 

There is often some very fine crayon art and a good number of exclamation points. 

There is often humor.

There is often wisdom.

There is always love.

Dear Liz,

I learnd a crown is a pretty plase, like the top of my head or the top of a leafe tree.
I am gunna be looking for that book All the World!

Thank you. 

From, Rowan

Dear Liz,

I learned that it can take muns and some times years to finish a book.
Your books gave me ideas for a book I mit write and ilastrate.

It was exiding having you here.

From Darcy

Dear Liz,

I learnd that your editor hleps you fix mistakx and you have to go to your offic and fix your mustak agean.
And agean.
And agean.
And finaleey, the editor sied yes!
You finoleey did it!

Love Kim

See what I mean?

And speaking of my buddy Noodle…

Today, in honor of the worms
and, really, everyone else who "persists, oblivious, in service" —
this poem. 

What if folks really knew "the good they confer" on the rest of us?
What if we tended to each other as if we had a "debt to angels"?
What if nobody waited "for reciprocity"?

That’d be something, wouldn’t it?

Worms

BY CARL DENNIS

Aren’t you glad at least that the earthworms
Under the grass are ignorant, as they eat the earth,
Of the good they confer on us, that their silence
Isn’t a silent reproof for our bad manners,
Our never casting earthward a crumb of thanks
For their keeping the soil from packing so tight
That no root, however determined, could pierce it?

Imagine if they suspected how much we owe them,
How the weight of our debt would crush us
Even if they enjoyed keeping the grass alive,
The garden flowers and vegetables, the clover,
And wanted nothing that we could give them,
Not even the merest nod of acknowledgment.
A debt to angels would be easy in comparison,
Bright, weightless creatures of cloud, who serve
An even brighter and lighter master.

(Read the rest here…)

I have been really, really, really busy.
I mean, everyone always says that, I know, but this has been kind of a breathtaking busy.

I can’t complain, since so much of it has been engaging and terrific work —
conferences, school visits, talks, and critiques.
The beginning of my teaching semester.
Yet another revision.

And then, in the middle of all that, a whopping case of the flu, one daughter’s field trip and another daughter’s standardized test made for a relatively emotional breathtakingly busy time. 

So it was really no surprise that the release date of my latest book kind of snuck up on me and nearly snuck right past. 
Noodle would likely not be surprised, either, to be overlooked and lost in the shuffle.
A worm’s lot, he’d say.

But honestly, I’m pretty fond of this little worm-and-bird, and grateful for them.
For example:

Huge thank yous to Arthur Howard who added such humor and whimsy to the book, who added love and pathos, who added a little green baseball cap to the head of the worm.

And to my editor, Allyn Johnston (at Beach Lane Books) who waited patiently over the very many months it took me to puzzle out the whys of this book.

And to my agent, Erin Murphy, who buoyed me up over the very many months Allyn waited and I puzzled out the whys.

And to Natalie dias Lorenzi who created the fabulous teacher’s guide to accompany Noodle & Lou (and my other books, too)!

And to Jama Rattigan who didn’t forget the release day at all!

And to the folks at Kirkus, and Booklist, and Publishers Weekly, who’ve all had some really swell things to say about the book.

But mostly, thanks to my sister, to whom Noodle & Lou is dedicated, for being the blue jay of my heart.
She stumbled upon the book accidentally, in a little bookstore in Montana, days before it was even due to come out.
And then she stumbled upon the dedication inside.

Isn’t it funny, the way life sometimes works that way?
The way we trip over little surprises, the way we meet the folks we’re meant to, the way the sun comes out just in time?

Lucky us.
You, me and Noodle.
Lucky, lucky us….

Namaste.