Book Spine Poetry Challenge

100 Scope Notes put out a challenge to do a book spine poem.

I took at a look at my Hollins writers shelf where all of my friends and professors from Hollins have their own designated shelf in my office for their fabulous books. There are a lot of them, but I picked a bunch and then rearranged them to try to make a poem. So, here is my book spine poem made from some of the Hollins' friends books.

My photography skills are lacking, so I have the text below too.

Border Crossing

The Boy Who Dared

Worth

Seeing Sky Blue Pink

Send Me Down a Miracle

The Other Side of Blue

Something Beautiful

With thanks to the brilliant authors of the books: Jessica Lee Anderson, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, A. LaFaye, Candice Ransom, Han Nolan, Valerie Patterson, Sharon Dennis Wyeth.

Local paper publishes haiku

One of my haiku is featured in our local paper. We were given the challenge to write about Salem in the spring.

Bradford pears burst white
raining petal confetti
celebrating spring


Here's the link to the So Salem blog where it is featured.

Haiku to Welcome Spring #2

first day of sunshine

wraps its blanket around me

promising spring

by Marcie Flinchum Atkins

Haiku to Welcome Spring

dormant, twiggy bush

trades brown bark for a red coat

coming soon: blueberries

by Marcie Flinchum Atkins

LMBO at Chicken Cheeks

Books I Wish I Had Written: #1
I begin a new series of reviews on books entitled "Books I Wish I Had Written". While I was writing in the picture book marathon in February, I read lots of picture books to keep my mind in the "picture book mode." I came across quite a few books that I thought were utterly brilliant and I wish I had written. I will feature them and more as I come across them.

Chicken Cheeks
Written by Michael Ian Black
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
Simon & Schuster, 2009


My ten-month-old was fighting a nap. I sat down with a pile of picture books I had requested from the library. He loves to listen and look at the pictures of books. In fact, he gets down right vocally angry if you leave him out of a book. If my daughter and I are reading a book, he will crawl over and grunt and make loud noises until we let him in.

Chicken Cheeks was next in the pile. I hate chickens. They are my one intense fear in life. I'll save my sob story of roosters clawing at my legs and leaving welps for another time when we talk about why I'm scarred for life over chickens.

But I was willing to give Chicken Cheeks a chance because the cover is so darn funny. Really funny. And my son was enthralled with the bright colors.

This book is HILARIOUS--LMBO hilarious!!!! It's all about BUTTS of animals, but not in explicit detail. In fact you will never find the word BUTT in the book. Instead you see "moose caboose" and "toucan can" and "flamingo fanny" among others. In this 43 word picture book, you will probably read nearly every CLEAN word for butt you can think of. All paired with Kevin Hawkes bright, silly animal illustrations.

This book has to go back to the library soon because I owe nearly $30 in fines for overdue books. But, my little ten-month-old, who kept pointing and smiling at EVERY picture will probably find his very own copy of this book in his Easter basket.

WHY I WISH I HAD WRITTEN IT:
It's brilliant. It's short. It's funny. ALL IN ONE BOOK!

Poetry Stretch--Pantoum

Miss Rumphius Effect handed out a tall order this week--a Pantoum. I wrote two--I'll share one here. The other I might work into my current novel-in-progress. For a clear explanation of this form, see this link.

A Plead for Spring

Vanish, never-ending sub-zero chills,
Perpetual sledding, constructing igloos,
Enough of the snow days, I've had my fill.
Disappear, winter weather in view.

Perpetual sledding, constructing igloos,
Closets cleaned, to-do lists done.
Disappear, winter weater in view.
We must feel the summer sun!

Closets cleaned, to-do lists done,
Skip over March, windy spring days.
We must feel the summer sun!
Enter three months of soaking up rays.

Skip over March, windy spring days.
Enough of the snow days, I've had my fill.
Enter three months of soaking up rays.
Vanish never-ending sub-zero chill!

by Marcie Flinchum Atkins

March Madness

I just ran that writing marathon, and I am tired, but riding on the coattails of some good momentum. I am in the habit of writing everyday now, and that's GOOD. I want to keep at it! I will not be spending my March watching basketball. But I do have quite of bit of "madness" planned for March.

1) Submit poetry--specifically haiku--to two different places.
2) Rewrite the beginning of my novel (my thesis for my MFA). I got some great feedback from my critique group and I will be working hard on this in March.
3) Rewrite at least one picture book. I know I just wrote 26, but that doesn't mean 26 good ones. I want to pick one or two to really rewrite. It's going to take some time and a sharp eye and pen.