POETRY BOOK REVIEW: A POETRY BOOK BY PAUL JANECZKO

POETRY BOOK REVIEW: A POETRY BOOK BY PAUL JANECZKO

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Janeczko, Paul B. 2001. DIRTY LAUNDRY PILE: POEMS IN DIFFERENT VOICES. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. New York: HarperCollins ISBN 0688162517

SUMMARY
In this delightful anthology of poems Janeczko has collected poems from a variety of poets that have written "persona" or "mask" poems-poems written in voices of nonhuman things. There are well known poets included in the collection such as Bobbi Katz and April Halprin Wayland and some lesser known poets such as Judith Pacht and Deborah Chandra.


CRITICAL ANALYSIS
What fun it is to think how an inanimate object or animal might feel about the world if it could talk! Each poem captures the essence of the item’s voice through the use of vivid language and accompanying illustrations. Additionally, the collection provides a variety of patterns for the children to experience—ranging from rhymed to free verse.

Many of the poems in this collection can be paired with books and perhaps even movies. For example, Nina Nyhart’s Scarecrow’s Dream would be a great poem to use to compare with the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz.



Scarecrow’s Dream

I think it’s June—
crows landing in black waves.

Farmer arrives with his .22.
Stop, I say. And put away

that gun, I’ll handle this.
Farmer shrugs, strides off.

For once I’m boss, and we’re
a circle of friends. We discuss,

make deals: a little corn—
a little reticence. Come at night—

save your life. Peaceable
kingdom I’m thinking when

I feel a step on my shoulder,
the first peck in my eye.


Another way to tie poetry into the classroom is to correlate with the curriculum. Cynthia Pederson’s poem Prayer of a Snowflake is a great tie-in for a unit on weather.


Prayer of a Snowflake

Let me land, oh Lord,
on a narrow needle of pine,
or a sheltered slope
where I can memorize
the trim track of a passing fox.
I want more
than a month before melting.

If I can’t have
that long, quiet life,
grant me a sledded slope.
Or better yet, I hope
for my swirling journey to end instantly
on the hot tongue
of some shivering child
out reveling in the return
of my tribe.

Amen.



REVIEW EXCERPT
School Library Journal—“Whether thoughtful or humorous in nature, many of them are on-target descriptions of a variety of unrelated objects-a kite, roots, a sky-blue crayon, a vacuum cleaner, a pair of red gloves, the winter wind. The cleverness of the best of these descriptions voiced by inanimate narrators might entice young people to try to create some similar verses of their own.”

CONNECTIONS

Janeczko has written and/or selected and/or edited many poetry books so this is just a few of many that he has been a part of:
1989. BRICKYARD SUMMER. New York: Orchard ISBN 0531058468
1991. PREPOSTEROUS—POEMS OF YOUTH.
New York: Orchard ISBN0531059014
1998. THAT SWEET DIAMOND: BASEBALL POEMS. Illustrated by Caroll Katchen.
New York: Atheneum ISBN 068980735X
2006. WING NUTS: SCREWY HAIKU. Illustrated by Tricia Tusa.
New York: Little Brown. ISBN 0316607312