Friday, July 26, 2013

Poetry Friday





Poetry Friday is hosted today by Simicolon.

For Poetry Friday -- "A fire in my hands: poems by Gary Soto 
 

This revised and expanded edition was published in 2006 by Harcourt and contains poems from the earlier edition and many new works.

Soto begins the book with an introduction in which he discusses his early experiences with poetry, his evolution as a working  poet and the poets and poetry that influenced him.  He concludes the book with a conversational interview of questions and answers in which he responds to inquiries about his work and poetry in general.  His discussion of how he writes, the inspiration for his work, his writing style and so on offer thoughtful insights into his life and art.

Narrative and lyrical poems, drawn from the everyday experiences of Soto's life, will resonate with middle grade, high school and adult readers and inspire writers.  Each poem is accompanied by a short anecdote from Soto's life that connects to the verse.

One of my favorite poems in this collection is "That Girl" with its hesitant yet eager glimpse into a young man's first tentative interest in a girl.

The public library was saying things

In so many books

And I, a Catholic boy

In a green sweater,

Was reading the same page

A hundred times.

A girl was in my way,

And she was at the other end

Of the oak table,

Her hands like doves

On the encyclopedia, E-G.

 

 

1 comment:

Mary Lee said...

This looks like a winner for middle/high school readers!

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