Poetry Friday: “Let Them Play With Words,” my Kids Discover interview

On April 23, 2026April 30, 2026 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry17 Comments

As I mentioned last Friday (and the week before, as well), I was invited to visit two schools here in New Hampshire over the course of five days, as their writer-in-residence. I spoke to all the classes about poetry and creative writing, and we all worked on creating our own poems right on the spot.

But amidst all the goings-on of speaking, writing, and dreaming (and book-signing!), I also had the opportunity to sit down with one of the teachers, Thom Smith, for a blog interview! Thom, I learned, writes for Kids Discover, an online company that creates science and social studies-based nonfiction educational books.

He asked if I’d be interested in chatting about poetry and its value in the classroom – how to teach it, why we should teach it, why too many teachers are intimidated by it – and I said, Sure!

We talked about rainbows, dust bunnies, basketball and Poe – and a lot more, too, like allowing students to choose what they read, to choose what to write about, and to choose how to write about it.

Some kids love (or need) structure, so forms like ballad stanzas and cheritas will be what they gravitate towards. Others need wide opens spaces free of form, syllable count, and complete sentences! For them, free verse is perfect. It was quite a conversation, so I hope you’ll check out his blog post.

Today’s poem actually comes from Thom, himself. As a developing poet he has written on myriad topics, including an industry near and dear to many of us here in the Granite State:

Where Dairy Cows Grow

dairy cows wait, lined up in a row
in a barn, on the farm, where dairy cows grow;
.
they wait for the farmer to bring them outdoors
to a sky without walls, to a field without floors;
.
they live on a hill where their view is unmatched –
the mountains are glued to the meadow that’s patched
.
with buttercups, dandelions, big black-eyed susans… (continue reading HERE)

Irene Latham is hosting today’s Poetry Friday roundup at Live Your Poem, where she is celebrating her new book Some Starry Night by channelling Emily Dickinson!

(If we’ve not yet connected on Instagram, please find me! I’d love to keep in touch. From new releases to blog posts to poetry and more, Instagram is a great way to learn more about your interests, and to connect with the folks who interest you.)

My schedule of school visits for the 2026 Spring Semester is filling up!

I love sharing with students my love of poetry, the writing process, dinsoaurs, and lots of other things! So if you think you might be interested in having me visit your school – either in-person or virtually – check out all the presentations I offer below, then email me at Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com!

I love chatting with elementary and middle school classes about writing: why poetry is fun to read and write, the importance of revision, and how imagination and creativity can lead to fantastic things! My presentations are tailored to fit the needs of the classes and students’ ages. One day I might be sharing details of how a picture book like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) was created; the next, I’ll be showing students rainbow-colored bacteria, discussing dinosaur breath, or crafting origami sea turtles!

Student presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
How a Child Saved a Book
“Once Upon Another Time”
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
“I Am Today”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human”
“Everybody Counts: Counting to 10 in Twelve Languages”
“A Universe of Rainbows!”

Adult presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
Free Yourself with Free Verse
Tight Language, Loose Narratives: Crafting a Non-Traditional Picture Book
The Journey of a Children’s Author

Learn more at MattForrest.com!

=====================================================

Order PERSONALLY-SIGNED copies of my books
from my local independent bookstore!

=====================================================

I’m also on BOOKSHOP:

And I’m very happy to be part of the BOOKROO family, too!

=====================================================

Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

You can purchase personally-signed copies of Flashlight Night, (Astra Young Readers, 2017), Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books, 2018), and nearly EVERY book or anthology I’ve been part of!

Click here to view all my books and to order!

Just click the cover of whichever book you want and send a comment to the good folks at MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, NH requesting my signature and to whom I should make it out. (alternatively, you can log onto my website and do the same thing) They’ll contact me, I’ll stop by and sign it, and then they’ll ship it! (Plus, you’ll be supporting your local bookseller – and won’t that make you feel good?)

======================================================

Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

To keep abreast of all my posts, please consider subscribing via the links up there on the right! (I usually only post once or twice a week – usually Tues. and Fri. – so you won’t be inundated with emails every day) . Also feel free to visit my voiceover website HERE, and you can also follow me via Twitter , Facebook, Instagram, and SoundCloud

Poetry Friday: Celebrating National Poetry Month with student poetry – Part 2!

On April 16, 2026April 17, 2026 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry11 Comments

National Poetry Month continues to roll on, and after last week’s post about my recent invitation to be a writer-in-residence at an elementary school in New London, New Hampshire, I’ve been looking forward to TODAY’S post, as well.

Because I hadn’t been invited to just ONE school – I visited two!

Over the course of a week, I spoke to all the classes about poetry: why I enjoy reading it, what you can do with it, and how to write it. I also shared some poems and used some fun poem-building exercises.

But I only spent 4 days at the New London school; one of those five days was spent at the elementary school in Sutton, NH, which is part of the district but has a much smaller student population. And yes, we wrote poems all day, too!

As I mentioned last week, one of the methods of poem-writing we used was the Most Boring Object Ever, where we pick a subject so boring, no one could possibly come up with a poem for it – and yet we do, every time! I’ve written extensively about the MBOE in past blog posts.

We also created poems in two other ways. For the 2nd and 3rd-graders, we utilized my friend Georgia Heard’s 6-Room Poem Organizer from her book Awakening the Heart (Heinemann, 2024), in which students pick a subject then write down different ways they envision the subject and how it makes them feel. Once their rooms are filled in, they have a poem! (Learn more HERE)

For the kindergartners and most of the 1st-graders however, we created color poems – a simple , fun way to get young minds thinking like poets. The class chose a color, and then used the five senses to describe the color. The end result: a poem!

One of the most wonderfully satisfying things for me when it come to my poetry workshops is the incredible imagination and word choice such young kids come up with, when you allow them to just think and mind-wander:

*^{Did I mention the New London school has an official school dog??}*

A poet’s mental struggle between the joy of sunshine and darkness of rain when contemplating spring.
The concept of the color “lake blue” (which the class chose themself) smelling “damp” and tasting like a “blue raspberry.”
The sensation that the color yellow feels like “paint” and “petals.”
The conceit of a “screaming snowman!”
The excitement a child gets when they ask if they can write a poem about a scary character they love – in this case, Old Bonnie from Five Nights at Freddy’s – and they’re told, yes!
My favorite line: “Color is my way.”
I LOVE THAT.

I still have several dates available in May and early June, so if you think you might be interested in having me visit your school (in-person or virtually), just check out the info below, and send me a message!

Soeaking of teaching poetry, I hope you’ll head over to My Juicy Little Universe where Heidi Mordhorst is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup with a video conversation with friends and fellow teachers Jone Rush MacCulloch and Margaret Simon about reading, teaching, and celebrating poetry!

My schedule of school visits for the 2026 Spring Semester is filling up!

Student presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
How a Child Saved a Book
“Once Upon Another Time”
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
“I Am Today”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human”
“Everybody Counts: Counting to 10 in Twelve Languages”
“A Universe of Rainbows!”

Adult presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
Free Yourself with Free Verse
Tight Language, Loose Narratives: Crafting a Non-Traditional Picture Book
The Journey of a Children’s Author

Learn more at MattForrest.com!

=====================================================

Order PERSONALLY-SIGNED copies of my books
from my local independent bookstore!

=====================================================

I’m also on BOOKSHOP:

And I’m very happy to be part of the BOOKROO family, too!

=====================================================

Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

Click here to view all my books and to order!

======================================================

Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

Poetry Friday: Celebrating National Poetry Month with student poetry – and LOTS of it!

On April 9, 2026April 10, 2026 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry16 Comments

Last week, we kicked off National Poetry Month 2026 with the first year Book Birthday celebration of my debut children’s poetry anthology, A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2025) – and what do you know, School Library Journal is celebrating NPM, too!

On April first, SLJ published an article spotlighting all 16 of the 2026 Notable Poetry Books and Verse Novels from the National Council of Teachers of English.

I’m still so thrilled and honored (and humbled!) that Rainbows was one of the select few chosen as one of the best poetry books of the year!

If that weren’t enough, the Children’s Book Council posted a list of poetry and verse titled “In Full Bloom,” to help celebrate the ocassion, and my book gets to share space with friends and fellow poets like Marilyn Singer, Charles Ghigna, Irene Latham, Charles Waters, Laura Purdie Salas (all of whom are contributors to Rainbows), Eric Ode, Leslie Bulion, Pat Zietlow Miller, Kat Apel, and Suzy Levinson – as well as luminaries like Frost, Millay, and Dahl!

For someone whose first children’s poem was published in print a mere 11 years ago, I’m as amazed as anyone at how far my career has travelled. Thank you to all of you who have been supporting me!

As you may know, I got into the business of writing for children through my poetry. I’d been writing poetry since I was a kid and had several adult poems published in various journals and anthologies, but wanted to figure out how to publish my children’s poems. One thing led to another and now here I am, with a dozen books out and more than 40 children’s poems published.

So it’s always fun to be invited to present poetry workshops at schools! I do lots of school visits each year about all my different books, but poetry workshops are a little different.

For example, I was recently invited to be a writer-in-residence for an entire week at an elementary school in New London, NH, and during that time I spoke to each and every class about why I love poetry, what you can do with it, and how to write it! I shared several exampels of my own poetry as well as that of friends like Georgia Heard and Douglas Florian, and we used three tried-and-true methods of poem-building. And the kids did not disappoint!

This week: The MBOE

I don’t want to overload you so I’ll share more of the students’ poetry next week, but today I’m focusing on the the 3rd, 4th, and 5th-graders. For this group, we used the Most Boring Object Ever, about which I’ve written extensively here at the ol’ Triple-R. The students decide upon a subject that is so boring, so uninteresting, so mind-bogglingly mundane that no one would ever even consider writing a poem about it! And yet, we do.

We talk about what the object is, what it reminds us of, what else it could be (all the questions a poet might ask) and I write them down on the white board. Once we’ve brainstormed our ideas, we pick and choose which ones connect with each of us, and the kids have at it! In past school visits, we’ve written about old hair ties, chewed up pencils, and candy wrappers. This time around – well, let’s just say these students’ creativity could not be contained:

I loved seeing all that revision – all those words written and crossed out, changed and rewritten – in the next-to-last photo.

I alsoloved the fact that we chose subjects like used band aids and lost pebbles – yet the kids went off on their own, writing poems about the subjects THEY wanted to write about. Several asked if this was ok. I responded, THAT’S THE POINT!

Ha, seriously – I want poetry to be fun and accessible, so I told them that if another subject was tickling their brain and they wanted to write about something completely different, they should go for it. And look at some of these lines the kids came up with:

*^{They even have an official school dog – how cool is that??}*

A personified used band-aid tells us, “I’ve been through it all.”
Another mask poem personifies a button and asks the riddle, “What Am I?”
The extraordinarily simple, “tea together / tea for me / tea for you / tea for two.”
A poem that connects its thoughts tenderly and profoundly: “Nothing is silence / silence is quiet / quiet is nice.”
The sad realization that a dust bunny is “gray and lonely.”
And speaking of sad – what about that poor little pebble that was skipped across the water and is now “scared and alone, no place to call home”?
Oh, so many more wonderful lines and images!

As I said, I’ll share more poems next week using Georgia Heard’s “Six Room Organizer” – so I hope you’ll check it out. No stranger to student poetry, our friend Jone Rush MacCulloch is hosting today’s Poetry Friday roundup with an ars poetica (an intriguing form of poetry I need to try) and news about her NEW BOOK, Tilt!

(Would you be interested in having me visit your school? Just check out the info below, and let me know!)

My schedule of school visits for the 2026 Spring Semester is filling up!

Student presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
How a Child Saved a Book
“Once Upon Another Time”
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
“I Am Today”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human”
“Everybody Counts: Counting to 10 in Twelve Languages”
“A Universe of Rainbows!”

Adult presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
Free Yourself with Free Verse
Tight Language, Loose Narratives: Crafting a Non-Traditional Picture Book
The Journey of a Children’s Author

Learn more at MattForrest.com!

=====================================================

Order PERSONALLY-SIGNED copies of my books
from my local independent bookstore!

=====================================================

I’m also on BOOKSHOP:

And I’m very happy to be part of the BOOKROO family, too!

=====================================================

Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

Click here to view all my books and to order!

======================================================

Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

Poetry Friday: More student poetry (MY student, that is!)

On February 19, 2026February 21, 2026 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry18 Comments

My daughter has always been an artist.

When she was barely 2, she drew a hand picking up stones – it looked like lines and squiggly circles, but that’s what she said it was. I tested her a week or so later, and she confirmed this to be true! I realized that even at that young age, she was drawing with intention. (You can read more about this, along with the poem I wrote to go with it, HERE)

Since then, she has continued to show great skill – and she hasn’t even hit her teens yet!

(By the way, those two pencil sketches were drawn in about 30-35 minutes, each – how that’s even possible, I’m not sure)

You can understand, therefore, why I was so happy to learn that one of her school projects was to write a poem – and she did a fantastic job!

Using photos from IPAC’s “Astropix” website, the students were told to write “Astropoetry,” poetry about the cosmos – from stars and planets to nebulae and black holes. My daughter found a photo she liked, and then wrote her poem:

Untitled

It’s a galaxy full of dots, a flowing void with eyes.
A giant glittery ocean, an overwhelming sky
pink and pretty, shiny and bold –
a glass of pink lemonade, calming and cold.
It’s just like summer, with clouds and such.
A colorful scenery, the perfect touch.

– © 2026 Esenwine, all rights reserved
.

I don’t recall that she’s written a poem before, as she has only begun truly enjoying reading in the past year, now that she’s discovered manga. She’s always been a good reader, she just never enjoyed it – so I’m happy this seems to be lighting a fire. Her older brother (who used to claim he didn’t like poetry, sigh) started writing poetry when he was around her age, so who knows what either of them will end up creating in the future. I’m eager to find out!

For today’s complete Poetry Friday Roundup, head on over to Chicken Spaghetti where Susan Thomsen is hosting the festivities with a draft of an original poem celebrating ‘winter flurries.”

My schedule of school visits for the 2026 Spring Semester is filling up!

I love chatting with students about creativity, poetry, the writing process, dinsoaurs, and lots of other things! So if you think you might be interested in having me visit your school – either in-person or virtually – check out all the presentations I offer below, then email me at Matt (at) MattForrest (dot) com!

I love chatting with elementary and middle school classes about writing: why poetry is fun to read and write, the importance of revision, and how imagination and creativity can lead to fantastic careers! My presentations are tailored to fit the needs of the classes and students’ ages. One day I might be sharing details of how a picture book like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) was created; the next, I’ll be showing students rainbow-colored bacteria, discussing dinosaur breath, or crafting origami sea turtles!

Student presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
How a Child Saved a Book
“Once Upon Another Time”
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
“I Am Today”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human”
“Everybody Counts: Counting to 10 in Twelve Languages”
“A Universe of Rainbows!”

Adult presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
Free Yourself with Free Verse
Tight Language, Loose Narratives: Crafting a Non-Traditional Picture Book
The Journey of a Children’s Author

Learn more at MattForrest.com!

=====================================================

Order PERSONALLY-SIGNED copies of my books
from my local independent bookstore!

=====================================================

I’m also on BOOKSHOP:

And I’m very happy to be part of the BOOKROO family, too!

=====================================================

Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

Click here to view all my books and to order!

======================================================

Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

Poetry Friday: Ringing in 2026 with a “Stargazing” award!

On January 8, 2026January 8, 2026 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry17 Comments

I hope you had as nice and restful a break as I did these past few weeks. I’ve been thinking a lot about unanswered prayers lately – but I’ll get to that later.

I took the holidays off from blogging and focused my energy and time on Christmas, our family, and recharging. And after a busy, busy year that included a new anthology, the NH Book Festival, the Chappaqua Book Festival, the Newton (MA) Book Festival, and more school and library visits than I’ve ever done in a single year – whew, it was a much-needed respite, to say the least.

No sooner had 2026 begun, when I learned – the evening of Jan. 1, no less – that my friend Charles Ghigna, with whom I wrote Once Upon Another Time (Beaming Books, 2021), had won a Northern Lights Book Award in the “Best Picture Book, 4-8 category” for his semi-biographical Bound to Dream: An Immigrant Story (Schiffer Publishing, 2025).

When I congratulated him, he returned the kindness, congratulating me for my book, The Thing to Remember about Stargazing (Tilbury House, 2023).

I said, “Excuse me??”

Yes, it was true – Stargazing had won in the “Best Picture Book, Mindfulness category!”

This was quite a surprise, certainly, but it was even more of a shock because my A Universe of Rainbows (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2025) had just received recognition as as NCTE Notable Poetry Book at the National Council of Teachers of English convention this past November – and I was not ecpecting to have two boosk win two different awards right before the end of the year!

So for Poetry Friday, I thought I’d share the genesis for Stargazing – which was a poem.

Way back in the summer of 2014, four of my nieces and nephews had visited our home here in rural NH. After a long day, they stepped outside to leave around 9pm – and stopped, staring at the sky. Living just outside of Boston, they had never seen so many stars!

So I pointed out some of the constellations and the Milky Way, and they were fascinated; I thought, there might be a poem here. So I got busy writing and sent the poem off to Paul Janezcko, who was early in the process of putting together the anthology that would become The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog (Candlewick, 2019).

As fate would have it, Paul passed away just days before his book came out. He had been in hospice prior to this, so I had no way of knowing why my poem never made it into the book – and I would never find out. But a mutual friend of ours, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, really liked the poem and suggested I flesh it out a bit and turn it into a picture book manuscript.

And that’s exactly what I did!

What better way, then, to kick off a new year of Poetry Fridays with the original poem, that eventually became the book:
.

A Beginner’s Guide to Star Gazing

It’s important the conditions be just right.

Wait for a cloudless, moonless night
or one with just a silver sliver
or even a full moon,
round and glowing…
come to think of it,
even a few clouds
aren’t a problem.

Really, any evening that features
at least a few stars
is perfect.

Go outside with someone special
or a pet
or no one at all
and find a patch of grass
to lie upon
or bring a blanket
or chair
or you can even stand there with your head
craning toward the sky,
and begin counting the stars.

On second thought, you don’t need to
count them;
try connecting them, dot-to-dots
and see what pictures are hidden high above.
The constellations will be watching, although Orion
will be busy protecting the Seven Sisters
from the Bull
while the Dragon writhes between Dippers
and Dogs
and this is all
very important
but not really
because the most important thing
to remember
about star-gazing is

to do it.

– © 2014 Matt Forrest Esenwine, all rights reserved
.

If you read my book, I hope you’ll take the time to note the significant changes between poem and book – I definitely like what I did with the text, making it much more poetic and vivid and developing its narrative structure.

Oh, and did you notice that it was originally titled “A Beginner’s Guide?” Well, when Beaming Books editor Naomi Krueger (who worked with Charles Ghigna and me on Once Upon) read my manuscript for Stargazing, she liked it but didn’t feel it would fit the mission of the publishing company. But she loved the title!

So she asked if I’d be interested in writing the book A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human (Beaming Books, 2022), instead – at which point we both recognized the necessity of changing my poem’s title, ha!

Remember, aspiring writers: just because something you create doesn’t turn out the way you expect, doesn’t mean it won’t live on in another form. Keep writing, keep revising, keep repurposing! And always be ready to pivot. A poem I wrote for an anthology never made it in – however, I ended up with not one, but TWO picture books that would never exist, had I gotten my wish.

Unanswered prayers, indeed.

Ruth is hosting today’s Poetry Friday roundup at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town with a spotlight on birds and wordplay (notice a little internal rhyme for ya there) from J. Drew Lanham’s book, Sparrow Envy. The poem she shares is full of musical wordplay and short, staccato lines – reminiscent of a bird’s song!

I am booking school visits for 2025-26!

I love chatting with elementary and middle school classes about writing: why poetry is fun to read and write, the importance of revision, and how imagination and creativity can lead to fantastic careers! My presentations are tailored to fit the needs of the classes and students’ ages. One day I might be sharing details of how a picture book like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) was created; the next, I’ll be showing students rainbow-colored bacteria, discussing dinosaur breath, or crafting origami sea turtles!

Student presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
How a Child Saved a Book
“Once Upon Another Time”
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
“I Am Today”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human”
“Everybody Counts: Counting to 10 in Twelve Languages”
“A Universe of Rainbows!”

Adult presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
Free Yourself with Free Verse
Tight Language, Loose Narratives: Crafting a Non-Traditional Picture Book
The Journey of a Children’s Author

Learn more at MattForrest.com!

=====================================================

Order PERSONALLY-SIGNED copies of my books
from my local independent bookstore!

=====================================================

I’m also on BOOKSHOP:

And I’m very happy to be part of the BOOKROO family, too!

=====================================================

Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

Click here to view all my books and to order!

======================================================

Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

Poetry Friday: Back from NCTE with Frost-y poetry – and an award!

On December 4, 2025December 5, 2025 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry20 Comments

Well, this was a surprise:

Look at that beautiful little cover, nestled in-between so many incredible books of poetry!

I am so, so grateful to the NCTE award committee for selecting A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2025) as an NCTE Notable Poetry Book. To have something like this recognized as being outstanding among others gives me hope that I can continue writing and sharing even more poetry with the world.

Although it’s my name on the cover, the award really goes out to all the contributors – each who helped make the book what it is in their own, unique way – as well as my editor, Kathleen Merz, and the entire Eerdmans family. Moreover, illustrator Jamey Christoph’s uber-saturated watercolors brilliantly capture the beauty of the amazing subjects within the book; my gratitude to him for his hard work, superb talent, and genuine friendship. He’s a good guy.

NCTE 2025: A quick retrospective in photos

So many friends – so little time!

I can’t possibly tag each and every person in this gallery, but if you see yorself, I hope you’ll leave a comment and say hi.

Now then – today’s poems! (Yes, there’s more than one!)

As I mentioned two Fridays ago (my first day of NCTE), I was part of a panel presentation on free verse with poets Georgia Heard and Allan Wolf, and Poetry Friday friend Carol Varsalona. One of the suggestions we offered in helping students understand free verse and have some fun with it was to take a well-known poem and re-write it as free verse. We thought it was a creative way for students to play with words and free themselves – literally – from the constraints of formal rhyming verse.

So we each took up the challenge ourselves, and shared our responses during our presentation! To read Frost’s original, check out my previous post)

First up, Allan’s response:

These Woods Are Owned

These woods are owned
by a man in the village.
And so, he won’t wonder
why I’ve stopped in the dark,
far from any farmhouse,
which elicits an inquisitive knicker
from the road-weary pony
who has carried me here in the cold.

What’s madness to a horse
is simple beauty to a human.
To our right, the lake frozen over.
To our left, the snow-covered trees.

I linger to drink in the warmth of my own wonder.
At last, I spur us toward my hungry horse’s hay
which waits, with my ticking, many miles ahead.
The frozen lake and snowy wood, ablaze, inside my head.

Allan felt this speaker is perhaps a bit more articulate than Frost’s speaker, choosing particular words like “inquisitive knicker” to not only create internal rhyme, but provide insight into the type of character speaking.

Next, we have Georgia Heard’s response:

*^{Georgia, Carol, Allan, and I – looking like we’re ready to drop our new album.}*

How to Write a Free verse Poem

Taste a word
let it melt on your tongue
like a single snowflake.
No fences here.
No promises to keep.
Only the sound
of your own words
falling
softly
onto the page.

Georgia admits her poem has a bit of an ‘Eve Merriam vibe,’ as she puts it, as she had included Merriam’s “How to Eat a Poem” in her portion of our presentation. But as we explained to the educators in the audience, a poem will tell you how to write it, if you pay attention.

Heard’s poem was not a strict re-telling of Frost’s, but more of her own poem inspired by Frost and Merriam together. But that was the poem she was inspired to write, so that’s what she did!

Speaking of paying attention to your muse, here’s my response to the challenge:

Watching Woods

Whose woods these are, he knows. He knows.
My house is in the village, though.
He seems to think I will not mind
him stopping midst the evening snow.

The fool presumes I’m mad – or blind –
completely unaware, resigned
to die within wallpapered halls,
this tomb in which I’m now confined.

My buckskin Morgans’ empty stalls,
old rough-hewn fences, stone-built walls
are memories I strive to keep.
Outside, an empty pasture sprawls

beyond my gaze so dark and deep.
The path is long; the hummock, steep.
On nights like this I long for sleep.
Oh, how I long, I long for sleep.

Hmmm….doesn’t really sound like a free verse poem now, does it?

But that’s my point about paying attention to the poem! I was given a challenge to write a free verse poem based on “Stopping by Woods,” yet the poem I was immediately inspired to write was a syllable-for-syllable, rhyme-for-rhyme narrative told from the POV of the owner of the woods.

*^{Irene Latham and I invited all poetry lovers to come hang out at our Poetry Peeps gathering Fri. night!}*

He’s a bit of a surly fellow, too, not too amused to know Frost’s speaker is traipsing through his fields.

You’ll notice I maintain Frost’s meter and chain rhyme scheme (AABA, BBCB, CCDC, etc.) as well as the integrity of the poem – using phrases and imagery familiar with the original. Definitely not free verse, but definitely a poem that wanted to be written! Responding to a poetry prompt is not like a typical academic assignment where you are graded on how closely you follow ‘the rules’, but rather how well you follow your muse.

I would share Carol’s response, but I know she’s planning on posting it on her own blog one of these days – so I’ll let her showcase her poem in due time.

Speaking of free verse (and speaking of Irene!), you’ll find today’s Poetry Friday roundup at Irene Latham’s Live Your Poem, where she’s sharing a poem from Barbara Crooker as well as an original poem inspired by Crooker’s title. (And whaddaya know – we have a poetry prompt now, too!)

I am booking school visits for 2025-26!

I love chatting with elementary and middle school classes about writing: why poetry is fun to read and write, the importance of revision, and how imagination and creativity can lead to fantastic careers! My presentations are tailored to fit the needs of the classes and students’ ages. One day I might be sharing details of how a picture book like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) was created; the next, I’ll be showing students rainbow-colored bacteria, discussing dinosaur breath, or crafting origami sea turtles!

Student presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
How a Child Saved a Book
“Once Upon Another Time”
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
“I Am Today”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human”
“Everybody Counts: Counting to 10 in Twelve Languages”
“A Universe of Rainbows!”

Adult presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
Free Yourself with Free Verse
Tight Language, Loose Narratives: Crafting a Non-Traditional Picture Book
The Journey of a Children’s Author

Learn more at MattForrest.com!

=====================================================

Order PERSONALLY-SIGNED copies of my books
from my local independent bookstore!

=====================================================

I’m also on BOOKSHOP:

And I’m very happy to be part of the BOOKROO family, too!

=====================================================

Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

Click here to view all my books and to order!

======================================================

Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

Poetry Friday: “Late Autumn Fire,” sharing a poem I wouldn’t normally share

On November 6, 2025November 6, 2025 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry14 Comments

You probably realize this already, but I’ll say it anyway: not everything an author or poet writes is meant for (or worthy of) mass consumption.

There have been plenty of stories, poems, essays, and random lines written over the years by numerous folks, both famous and unknown, that likely will never see the light of day. Some of this is by accident – where the project just doesn’t turn out the way the creator had hoped and is scrapped – but some things are written with no intention of ever being shared. (Anyone with a diary knows this truth.)

In my case, I often write poems not for publishing purposes or any sort of higher purpose, but simply to practice, to hone my skills. To stay sharp, as it were.

Today’s offering is one of them.

As I was wondering yesterday what to share for my Poetry Friday post, I decided to use my go-to for inspiration: my phone’s camera roll! I scanned through the pics quickly and noticed a photo I’d taken a few nights ago while my wife were enjoying a few moments outside by the fire.

I looked at the flames, at the darkness, at the mutual feeling of comfort we both shared (especially since this was this first fire we’ve enjoyed all year due to an exceptionally dry summer), and wondered how to combine the images with the emotions. In 15 minutes, I’d written this:

“Late Autumn Fire”

The shorter the day,
the longer the night;
the greater the darkness,
the lesser the light.

The brighter the glow,
the warmer our hearts.
The sooner we kindle,
the sooner flames start.

No, it’s not an award-winning poem. No, it’s not anything outstanding or ground-breaking. And no, very likely not worthy of publishing. I’m not even sure “lesser the light” is even grammatical! But I did manage to put together a rhyming, metrical, and visually emotional (if that’s a term) poem in only 15 minutes. (Right now some of you are thinking, “it reads like a 15-minute poem, too, pal”.)

This was simply an exercise to see if I could construct something reasonably interesting, at least, in a short amount of time – not because I’m trying to win a Fastest Poem Award but because I wanted to try to draw upon my skills as quickly as I could. I wanted to see how easily those skills could be accessed. Muscles have memory and so does your brain, and the more synapses you can get doing what you want, the better prepared you’ll be for those big projects down the road that you DO plan on publishing and sharing with the world!

So don’t dismiss simple practice poems like this one – they keep the brain sharp and the skills readily available.

Oh, and by the way, if you’re in the New England area, I hope you’ll join me and 60 other children’s authors and illustrators at the 2nd annual Newton (MA) Children’s Book Festival on Sun., Nov. 16! This free event is a wonderful opportunity to purchase books for all the young people on your holiday list – and getting books personally-signed is extra-special.

My friend Laura Purdie Salas is hosting today’s Poetry Friday roundup at her blog Poems for Teachers with more news about her brand-new book, Flurry, Float, and Fly!

Going to NCTE 2025??

I’ll be participating in a panel presentation with Georgia Heard, Allan Wolf, and Poetry Friday friend Carol Varsalona on Sat., Nov. 22 from 1:15pm – 2:30pm in Room 705!

FREE YOUR STUDENTS (AND YOURSELF) WITH FREE VERSE: How does one “dream boldly?” By creating stories and poetry that are authentic and unique! Often when we think of reading/teaching poetry, we think of the classic poetic devices: rhyme, meter, syllables. Remove those elements, however, and students are free to write whatever they want, however they want. We’ll reveal the freedom that comes from free verse!

Also on Sat., I’ll be signing copies of A Universe of Rainbows: Multicolored Poems for a Multicolored World (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2025) at Eerdmans’ booth #931 at 11:30am and at the Classroom Library Company booth #1016 at 3:30pm!

*^{NCTE poetry fans: Stop by whenever you’d like, and say HI!}*

I am booking school visits for 2025-26!

I love chatting with elementary and middle school classes about writing: why poetry is fun to read and write, the importance of revision, and how imagination and creativity can lead to fantastic careers! My presentations are tailored to fit the needs of the classes and students’ ages. One day I might be sharing details of how a picture book like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) was created; the next, I’ll be discussing dinosaur breath or crafting origami sea turtles!

Student presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
How a Child Saved a Book
“Once Upon Another Time”
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
“I Am Today”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human”
“Everybody Counts: Counting to 10 in Twelve Languages”

Adult presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
Free Yourself with Free Verse
Tight Language, Loose Narratives: Crafting a Non-Traditional Picture Book
The Journey of a Children’s Author

Learn more at MattForrest.com!

=====================================================

Order PERSONALLY-SIGNED copies of my books
from my local independent bookstore!

=====================================================

=====================================================

I’m also on BOOKSHOP:

And I’m very happy to be part of the BOOKROO family, too!

=====================================================

Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

Click here to view all my books and to order!

======================================================

Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

Poetry Friday: Sharing poems written by folks who aren’t supposed to be able to write poetry

On September 25, 2025September 25, 2025 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry20 Comments

My return from summer hiatus has been a bit different from past seasons.

I tend to primarily share my own work with a few poems by others here and there; however, the past few weeks have been busy with three book festivals including Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival this weekend, and just trying to find the time to post anything at all has been a challenge.

I do like to share poems that mean something, though, and I have two different ones today that, according to our Secretary of Health & Human Services, likely shouldn’t have been written at all.

You may recall that earlier this year, Robert Kennedy, Jr. – while lamenting the “crisis” of autism, declared at a press conference that, “…these are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”

The irony of his statement, of course, is that I actually pay taxes BECAUSE I write poetry! And the facts are that the vast majority of those of us on the spectrum do, indeed, know how to toilet ourselves. But I digress.

The first poem I wanted to share was written by 27-year-old Hannah Emerson who, although he is non-speaking, does like to sing thanks to echolalia, a common trait among those with ASD (myself and my son included) where a person repeats a sound or phrase over and over again until it sounds perfectly similar to the original sound. This is one of her poems, in which you’ll hear some of those repeating sounds she loves:
.

I Live in the Woods of my Words

I live in the branches
of the trees. I live in
the great keeping
freedom of the really
helpful down yearning
in the grownd of the forest
floor. The words fall
from the sky like snow
on this day. They become

(continue reading HERE)

Today’s second poem was written by Adam Wolfond, also non-speaking, and who writes a very personal, poignant poem about his autism and his tics associated with it:

.
The Maker of Wanting Space

I want to say that I want
to amazing space think
about the way I move
to think

I game the space the way
I open with the body and the way
I think which is the way
of water

It touches me open and I am
away with really easy feelings
of dancing for the answering
really rare always rallying
thinking and it is rare with the way
people think

Really way of touching the world is
the way I am wanting with
my tic…

(continue reading HERE)

In both of these poems, I find myself envious of the poets’ abilities to eschew the definitions of standard parts of speech, using prepositions as nouns and nouns as verbs. It truly feels so intimate and liberating, like we’re getting a glimpse inside their minds.

I also immediately took note of Adam’s first line, “I want to say…” as that is a common phrase my son says when he wants to tell me something. Not always, but quite often, he’ll begin a conversation with, “I wanted to tell you something” or “I just want to say…” I felt like I knew Adam without ever having met him.

Be sure to check the link to the Poetry Society of America to read the rest of these poems and others, and to learn more about Hannah, Adam, and their poetry teacher, Chris Martin.

It’s finally happening, tomorrow!

I’ll be in the ‘Orange Tent’ with friends like Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, and even the Pragmatic Mom herself, Mia Wenjen! The Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival promises lots of fun, lots of books for every age, and lots of creators – more than 150! (And decent weather in the forecast, as well.)

Speaking of friends, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is hosting today’s Poetry Friday roundup at The Poem Farm, so head on over for all of today’s poetry links and fun!

One final reminder: Voting in the New Hampshire State Literary Awards’ “People’s Choice Awards” wraps up next Wed., Oct. 1!

I’m very honored that The Thing to Remember about Stargazing (2023, Tilbury House) is nominated, but if you choose to vote, please select whichever books you feel are deserving of the honor – whether that’s my book or someone else’s.

I’d certainly appreciate the support, but my autistic sense of justice would be upended were I to learn that someone voted for my book simply because they knew me.

(And if we haven’t yet connected on Instagram, please find me! I’d love to keep in touch!)

I am booking school visits for 2025-26!

I love chatting with elementary and middle school classes about writing: why poetry is fun to read and write, the importance of revision, and how imagination and creativity can lead to fantastic careers! My presentations are tailored to fit the needs of the classes and students’ ages. One day I might be sharing details of how a picture book like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) was created; the next, I’ll be discussing dinosaur breath or crafting origami sea turtles!

Student presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
How a Child Saved a Book
“Once Upon Another Time”
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
“I Am Today”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human”
“Everybody Counts: Counting to 10 in Twelve Languages”

Adult presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
Free Yourself with Free Verse
Tight Language, Loose Narratives: Crafting a Non-Traditional Picture Book
The Journey of a Children’s Author

Learn more at MattForrest.com!

=====================================================

Order PERSONALLY-SIGNED copies of my books
from my local independent bookstore!

=====================================================

=====================================================

I’m also on BOOKSHOP:

And I’m very happy to be part of the BOOKROO family, too!

=====================================================

Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

Click here to view all my books and to order!

======================================================

Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

Poetry Friday: “In Lieu of Flowers”

On September 12, 2025September 16, 2025 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry15 Comments

Well, I’m finally back from my summer hiatus – spending time with the kids, enjoying some vacation time, doing lots of library visits – and I come back to see the country is on fire.

Again.

So I decided to alter my plans for today’s return to the blog and thought I’d share a very meaningful poem you might have never seen.

It’s by Canadian poet Shawna Lemay, from her book The Flowers Can always Be Changing (Palimpsest Press, 2028), and it’s based on the premise that, when a person is deceased, they often will request that mourners do something other than purchase flowers. Hence, the title.

However, it just felt like we all need to do more of these things Lemay lists – as a normal course of our life, as a way of not only enjoying the lfie we have, but recognizing the joy that comes from simple things. Again, for some reason, this just felt appropriate for this week.

In Lieu of Flowers

Although I love flowers very much, I won’t see them when I’m gone. So in lieu of flowers: Buy a book of poetry written by someone still alive, sit outside with a cup of tea, a glass of wine, and read it out loud, by yourself or to someone, or silently.
Spend some time with a single flower. A rose maybe. Smell it, touch the petals.
Really look at it.
Drink a nice bottle of wine with someone you love.
Or, Champagne. And think of what John Maynard Keynes said, “My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne.” Or what Dom Perignon said when he first tasted the stuff: “Come quickly! I am tasting stars!”
Take out a paint set and lay down some colours.
Watch birds…

(continue reading HERE)

Rose Capelli is hosting today’s Poetry Friday roundup at her blog Imagine the Possibilities – and she is, indeed, doing some imagining, so I hope you’ll check out all of today’s links and poetic ponderings.

I also hope you’ll consider voting for your favorite books in the New Hampshire State Literary Awards’ “People’s Choice Awards!”

I’m very honored that The Thing to Remember about Stargazing (2023, Tilbury House) is nominated, but please understand: I am NOT asking you to vote for my book. I am asking you to vote for whichever book(s) you feel are deserving of the honor – whether that’s my book or someone else’s.

Yes, I would appreciate the support, but I appreciate honesty and integrity more.

You can see all the nominees HERE, but don’t wait! Voting closes Oct. 1!

I am booking school visits for 2025-26!

I love chatting with elementary and middle school classes about writing: why poetry is fun to read and write, the importance of revision, and how imagination and creativity can lead to fantastic careers! My presentations are tailored to fit the needs of the classes and students’ ages. One day I might be sharing details of how a picture book like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) was created; the next, I’ll be discussing dinosaur breath or crafting origami sea turtles!

Student presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
How a Child Saved a Book
“Once Upon Another Time”
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
“I Am Today”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human”
“Everybody Counts: Counting to 10 in Twelve Languages”

Adult presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
Free Yourself with Free Verse
Tight Language, Loose Narratives: Crafting a Non-Traditional Picture Book
The Journey of a Children’s Author

Learn more at MattForrest.com!

=====================================================

Order PERSONALLY-SIGNED copies of my books
from my local independent bookstore!

=====================================================

=====================================================

I’m also on BOOKSHOP:

And I’m very happy to be part of the BOOKROO family, too!

=====================================================

Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

Click here to view all my books and to order!

======================================================

Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!

Poetry Friday: Looking to the past, and the future (and to my summer hiatus)

On June 19, 2025June 20, 2025 By Matt Forrest EsenwineIn poetry20 Comments

We all had to start somewhere, right?

I’ve been trying to clean my office in preparation for our annual week-long familay vaca in York, Maine later this summer, and I happened upon more ~~ancient artifacts~~ ~~relics~~ issues of my college newspaper, The Spartan. It’s changed a lot since I was the managing editor back in the late-’80s (such as being online now), but I’ll always cherish the time I spent with my friends (and editor-inchief girlfriend) putting it together every other weekend.

As managing editor, I was overseeing all the nuts-and-bolts of layout – making sure stories and photos and ads all fit into place – and doing quite a bit of actual writing and editing of news stories, as well.

I also occasionally found myself the subject of a story. As I was also the program director of the college radio station WIUV (which is now also, sadly, online only):

The summer in-between my junior and senior college year, I was hired by the college to completely revamp the student handbook. So I lived on campus and worked in the admin office writing, formatting, and organizing with a desktop publishing program we used on our Apple IIc computers.

Yes, folks, that’s how ~~archaic~~ classic the technology was at that time.

It was a lot of fun, though, and I learned so much about the process beyond just “writing.”

These days, Castleton State College is now known as the Vermont State University Castleton Campus (it’s gone through a multitude of name changes over the decades), but no matter what they call it, it will always be a place that holds special memories. One of my special memories that goes back even farther than college is a poem I wrote in April 1985 – just two months before I was to graduate high school.

Now, I’ve already shared some of the ridiculous things I wrote in my high school English journal, and even referenced today’s poem a few weeks ago – but up until today, I though this masterpiece of lyrical prowess had been lost to history.

Were this a merciful existence you’re living, the poem would have remained lost; alas, I stumbled upon it this week and knew I just HAD to share…”Ode to a Dishrag”:

Yes, it’s faded with age – don’t rub it in.

That’s ok, I’ll translate for you:

Ode to a Dishrag

Oh limpy piece of terrycloth,
stained from last night’s chicken broth,
how I love to hold you, thus;
I clean pans and you don’t fuss,
and tho’ you soak in many a sud
ne’er do you complain of the crud.
You don’t mind the soggy bread,
burnt-on Spam, of which I dread,
bits of egg and moldy cheese –
you put up with all of these;
coffee grinds, potato skins,
parts of fish (like eyes and fins);
then, of course, there’s pots and pans
that always seem to stick to hands.
All these things, you clean with care;
you touch things I wouldn’t dare.
So if I’ve never let you know,
dishrag, how I love you so!

.
Let me tell you something: no student, anywhere, loved semicolons more than this dude. But seriously, knowing I wrote this when I was 17 years old, is it any wonder I have the career I do??

On that note, I’m going to get ready for my blog’s summer hiatus! With the kids home from school and lots of library visits lined up, my summer is going to be busy and I feel like it’s the best time to take a break. That means this, of all the poems I could have chosen, is the last poem I’ll share until September!

Before I go, I did want to remind you that if you’re going to the ALA Convention next weekend, I hope you’ll try to track me down – I’ll be having a conversation with my A Universe of Rainbows editor Kathleen Merz at the Diversity in Publishing Stage, “Exploring Neurodiversity through Science, Poetry, and Bookmaking.” A book signing will follow at Booth 2411 about half an hour later, so if you can’t get to the presentation perhaps you’ll make it to the signing.

This is just how my summer is starting, though! I’ll also have numerous library visits scheduled throughout New Hampshire, I’ll be participating in the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival for the first time ever in September, I’ll be part of a panel discussion at the 2nd annual NH Book Festival in October, and I’ll be presenting at NCTE this November!

But, wait -there’s more!

I also need to thank all the wonderful folks who have included my books on their summer reading lists, like Reading Rockets, who included A Universe of Rainbows on their 2025 Summer Reading Guide, We Are Teachers, who continue to show love for Flashlight Night on their annual reading list, and St. James Episcopal School in Corpus Christi, TX, who also encourage young readers to check out Flashlight Night.

Oh, and if you haven’t checked out “Poetry from Daily Life,” the weekly column created by Missouri State Poet Laureate David L. Harrison, you’re missing out on some creative, insightful, and educational posts from some of the country’s premiere children’s poets!

You’re also missing out on mine. 😉

Just last weekend, I wrote about how I get students excited about extremely boring things (you’ve read posts here about the MBOE, so I decided to share that concept with the world). about a year and a half ago, when David was first getting the colum up and running, I wrote an article about the two most important words one can ask, to generate ideas.

There have been a multitude of fantastic columns, though, and you can hear some of the writers sharing them on video at the “Poetry from Daily Life” YouTube channel. I hope you’ll like and subscribe!

Until September, I hope you have a wonderful summer! I do wish I could keep the blog going, as I have some SUPERAWESOMEINCREDIBLE publishing news I’m dying to share – but you’ll just have to follow my social media for the details.

For more (and hopefully better) poetry, head on over to Carol Labuzzetta’s place, The Apples in My Orchard, for the complete Poetry Friday roundup!

I am booking school visits for 2025-26!

I love chatting with elementary and middle school classes about writing: why poetry is fun to read and write, the importance of revision, and how imagination and creativity can lead to fantastic careers! My presentations are tailored to fit the needs of the classes and students’ ages. One day I might be sharing details of how a picture book like Flashlight Night (Astra Young Readers, 2017) was created; the next, I’ll be discussing dinosaur breath or crafting origami sea turtles!

Student presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
How a Child Saved a Book
“Once Upon Another Time”
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
“I Am Today”
“A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human”
“Everybody Counts: Counting to 10 in Twelve Languages”

Adult presentations include:

The Making of a Picture Book
The Most Important Thing about Writing Poetry
Free Yourself with Free Verse
Tight Language, Loose Narratives: Crafting a Non-Traditional Picture Book
The Journey of a Children’s Author

Learn more at MattForrest.com!

=====================================================

Order PERSONALLY-SIGNED copies of my books
from my local independent bookstore!

=====================================================

I’m now on BOOKSHO P!

=====================================================

I’m also on BOOKSHOP:

And I’m very happy to be part of the BOOKROO family, too!

=====================================================

Ordering personalized signed copies online? Oh, yes, you can!

Click here to view all my books and to order!

======================================================

Did you like this post? Find something interesting elsewhere in this blog? I really won’t mind at all if you feel compelled to share it with your friends and followers!