Thursday, March 10, 2022

Poetry Friday: Things We Eat

Welcome to our Poetry Friday celebration! Janet (Wong) is hosting with me today and we'll be visiting all the blogs who link with us today. Can't wait!

Meanwhile, Janet and I are also celebrating the release of a new book, but first... FOOD!

When Janet and I get together, we always enjoy eating together. Janet is a "foodie," so she'll introduce me to amazing new restaurants (pre-COVID!) and we'll share dishes and try new things. But she'll also join me in eating yummy Tex Mex dishes and we couldn't resist In-n-Out burgers (since she grew up in California, the home of In-n-Out)! Here are just a few photos of us EATING! 












So, it made perfect sense for us to focus on FOOD with our latest project: THINGS WE EAT, a poetry anthology featuring food poems from A to Z, avocados to zucchini!

This is a collaborative project that is part of our new workshop initiative. In our Anthologies 201 course, we work with poets on the process of creating anthologies-- from the writing process (with mentoring from Janet) to navigating the technology required to create a poetry anthology and publish it. We were also honored to have several guest poets join us on this venture, including Rebecca Balcárcel, David Bowles, Nicola Davies, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Georgia Heard, George Ella Lyon, Jama Kim Rattigan, and Jacqueline Woodson. Here's a list of ALL the poets featured in Things We Eat. 


This is an ekphrastic collection of poems written to photo prompts of diverse children eating, cooking, picking, growing, or (in one case) warning about foods! It's a picture book designed to be shared with our youngest readers (but also a fun model for older children to try in creating their own poetry books). PLUS, one of our favorite aspects of this book is that all profits go to the IBBY Children in Crisis fund, needed now more than ever. 

Here's just a TASTE of the fun poems in this collection: 


Congratulations and thank you, poets, for working with us to put more poetry out into the world! 

Meanwhile, let's see what y'all have been up to-- as we prepare for National Poetry Month next month! Add your blog to the Inlinkz party below. Don't worry about the "Ohh, no!"-- just click on the blue link to add your blog link. Thanks! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

34 comments:

Tabatha said...

What a happy post! The photos of you loving food make me smile! The sly poem of Jama's...I think that's going to have to be a Poem in my Pocket.

jama said...

Drooling at all those photos of you two eating. Wow. You guys don't mess around. I've yet to eat at an In-n-Out Burger; keep hearing so much about them.

Thanks so much for the chance to participate in this alphabetically delicious project! Such a great cause.

Now I want a chicken hat. And thanks for hosting this week!!

Linda Mitchell said...

Ha! I am one of those people that can't wait. I love Poetry Friday...having my post all set to go so that I can start reading Friday morning. You two poetry ladies are just so cute! All those food photos make me smile. And, what a great idea for an anthology on many levels. We are lucky for the energy and fun you bring to poets looking to publish. Can't wait to see the new book!

Robyn Hood Black said...

How wonderful! Congratulations, Sylvia and Janet, and all of the Poetry Chefs in this new tasty endeavor. Love this sneak peek (giggling at Jama's!) and looking forward to reading more. Thank you two for hosting this week, and for sharing all those great pictures, too!

laurasalas said...

WOw, this looks delicious! Can't wait to see it! I just gifted GREAT MORNING and a couple of other Pomelo anthologies to some schools I visited a couple of weeks ago. They were very excited!

Thanks for hosting today!

JoAnn Early Macken said...

Oh, you two look like you are really enjoying yourselves! I'm so glad to be a contributor to this happy and worthwhile project. I can't wait to read the rest of the poems! Mine is on my blog today.

Matt Forrest Esenwine said...

Looks like a fun book - congratulations! And a fun, delicious method of research. ;)

Michelle Kogan said...

Wow, one could gobble up all this good energy wafting off of your post, and I love the pics of the two of you, yum! Congrats on this new book, the poems here are wonderful– got a good chuckle from Jama's and love all the rooty goodness coming from George Ella Lyon's Nut poem! I'm looking forward to reading all the poems. Thanks for hosting this week.

Dianne Moritz said...

What a fun collection! I would love to be included when you do the next anthology as I have hundreds of fun poems in my files waiting to be read. TY

Dianne Moritz said...

PANCAKES!
By Dianne Moritz

Mix the batter,
Slippity slop!
Toss in berries,
Plippity plop!

Pour on griddle,
Drippity drop!
Turn them over,
Flippity flop!

Stack on a plate,
Syrup on top.
Pancakes! Pig out!
Too good to stop!








Carol Varsalona said...

Janet and Sylvia, you both are the supreme poetry chefs. I miss seeing you at conferences and joining your presentations. The last NCTE Convention I saw you at was 2019. Congratulations on your new endeavor. The book looks fabulous and has a terrific line-up of poets, and a great cover. Mmm Good.

Tim Kulp said...

Congratulations Janet and Sylvia! I love the food focus. So many memories are tied to food throughout life I think it's a great topic for a poetry collection.

Linda B said...

The Anthology sounds like such fun, full of giggles like Jama's poem & whimsical information like the other by George Ella Lyon. I rather like those foodie hats! Thanks for hosting, Janet & Sylvia, and Congratulations!

Rose Cappelli said...

You two are such fun! Love all the food pictures, and congratulations on another great anthology!

Karen Edmisten said...

Congrats on the new book! What a delectable line-up of poets. :) All the photos of the two of you breaking bread (and burgers) together made me smile.
Thanks, too, for hosting!

Elisabeth said...

Thank you Janet and Sylvia for your mentorship to those of us in the course, and for putting this anthology together! It's an honor to be included with so many talented poets. Thank you for hosting today's round up of poetic goodness! I can't wait to dive in and see what treats await us this week.

Gail Aldous said...

I love all the food photos of Janet and you! Now, I'm hungry. Congratulations on THINGS WE DO!
I am so excited about being part of this yummy book of food poetry! Thank you for this opportunity!

Bridget Magee said...

Yay, another poetry collection to spread 'hap-pea-ness'! Thanks for hosting. :)

Marcie Flinchum Atkins said...

Love a book focused on food! Every kid (and me) can relate to that for sure!

Catherine Flynn said...

Congratulations on your new anthology! Things We Eat will be perfect for my granddaughter. Thank you for hosting today!

Amy LV said...

Just yum. The food poems (instructional AND funny!) and the whole process of bringing everyone together around a big old poetry table. Thank you for hosting today and for all you do for poetry and humans who love it. I am now finding myself dreaming of maple glazed bacon....xo

Irene Latham said...

I love all those food pics! And OF COURSE Jama is in with a cookie poem. :) :) :) Thank you for your wonderful work in the world, ladies. You inspire! xo

Mary Lee said...

Multiple gratitudes: for hosting us, for the good work you do in the poetry world, for keeping the FUN in poetry and Poetry Friday! You two ROCK!

Janet Wong said...

Seeing these comments brought back memories of the many times we ate with friends at conferences ... and hauled food back from Trader Joe's to host a mini-party at a hotel or AirBnb apartment. Those were the golden days of conferences! If we have never shared a meal, when things "get back to normal," we MUST eat together! Put it on your calendar: NCTE 2022 in Anaheim? 2023 at TLA?? We WILL make it happen!!

Vicki Wilke said...

Janet and Sylvia - you two are such precious poet people! It was a blast to work with you on this anthology. I learned so much from the classes, and will continue learning. Thank you so much for your dedication to poetry, and your encouragement of writers. I love the food pictures of you two! Yum …

Anastasia Suen said...

In-and-out Burger --and Tex-Mex! What wonderful food memories, Sylvia and Janet! Thanks for hosting this week.

Carol Labuzzetta said...

Congratulations, Sylvia and Janet, and ALL the authors in the new food anthology! The poems you featured are fun and sure to please a young set of readers as well as their teachers and families. And, of course, for those of us who were in Things We Do, adding this book to our collection will be a must! I look forward to working with you again! You two have such a fun collaborative relationship! Thanks for hosting!

Linda said...

THINGS WE DO is such a beautiful book, I can't wait to add THINGS WE EAT to my collection! I love both of the poems you shared and look forward to reading more from this anthology!

Denise Krebs said...

Thank you, Sylvia and Janet, for hosting today. Congrats on a new anthology. I loved seeing George Ella Lyon's and Jama's poems and can't wait to read the other foods represented here.

Sylvia Vardell said...

Hey, y'all! Thanks so much for stopping by, for joining the Poetry Friday party, and for all your kind words! I love Janet's idea-- a party at the next big conference with plenty of food and hugs!

Leslie said...

Another great anthology by another terrific team of writers. Delicious children's poetry is always on the menu with Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.

Heidi Mordhorst said...

Pardon my late comment, Sylvia and Janet--heavy weekend of birthday partying and Green School application. I'm just so excited to add this book to my collection for the youngest readers, and continue to be amazed by the work you do to bring new writers onto the scene. Hope to see you soooooon!

Carmela Martino said...

I'm late to the party! Congratulations on the new anthology, Sylvia and Janet! I look forward to reading it.

April Halprin Wayland said...

Delicious can be more than food. Delicious is this abundant plate of poetry...both in the design of this BEAUTIFUL book and also in the intent--to freely give to children in crisis. The generosity of Sylvia and Janet is never-ending. I'll be at NCTE in Anaheim 2022--can't wait to share a seat at the table!