I’ve spent most of my time lately trying to understand the world of publishing. From reading The Minders of Make-Believe to browsing current release catalogs to studying metadata and XML, I’ve immersed myself in the past, present, and future of “publishing” to figure out exactly where I fit into it … or might soon try to change it.
One of the things that I am convinced of (with another nod to Thad McIlroy at The Future Of Publishing) is the need to make it easy for readers to find the exact thing they’re looking for, discover something that they think they want but can’t exactly name, and become aware of new things that match their preferences, mood, or need even when they aren’t actively seeking them out. The common element involved in serving each of those three needs is metadata (i.e., data about data), which in our case means “facts and opinions about books.”
For my first ever Poetry Friday roundup, I thought I’d apply these ideas in a very simple way and see what happens.
Readers: Use the table below to FIND what you want or DISCOVER something new! (And if you’ve arrived here via search engine or referral, then we’ll call that a MARKETING success!)
Contributors: Complete the form below for each link that you wish to share.
Poetry Friday Links for November 9, 2012
| Contributor | Title/Link | Summary | Category | Mood |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ed DeCaria | Waiting ... | This field left blank intentionally. | Original Poem | Peaceful |
| Matt Forrest Esenwine | First Time For Everything | Ever jumped in a leaf pile? Then don't be surprised if this happens to you... | Original Poem | Autumnal |
| Myra from GatheringBooks | I am the Book! | My Poetry Friday contribution in GatheringBooks is a compilation of lovely poems by the amazing Lee Bennett Hopkins' "I am the Book" - perfect for our current bimonthly theme on Books about Books. | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | Booklove |
| Vikram Madan | Lost: One Sense of Humor | Title says it all ... | Original Poem | Frivolous |
| Diane Mayr/Random Noodling | We Done Good | Election euphoria. | Original Poem | |
| Kurious Kitty | "Prayer in My Boot" | A poem by Naomi Shihab Nye. | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | hopeful |
| KK's Kwotes | Poetry Friday | A quote by Naomi Shihab Nye. | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | |
| Charles Ghigna - Father Goose blog | Apatosaurus! | A new dinosaur poem for kids, teachers and parents. | Original Poem | Funstructional |
| Charles Ghigna | Art is a Mirror | A new poem about art for all ages | Original Poem | Introspective |
| Tara @ A Teaching Life | Celebrating Election Day with Alice Walker | The election - what it means to me this year. | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | Ruminative |
| The Poem Farm | I, TOO, AM AMERICA | Today's post is a giveaway and a give. By commenting, you will be entered in a drawing for a signed-by-the-illustrator (Bryan Collier!) copy of the picture book of I, TOO, AM AMERICA, a poem by Langston Hughes. You will also find a link where you can join your favorite illustrators in rebuilding classrooms devastated by Hurricane Sandy. | News/Announcement | Giving |
| Linda Baie | Praise to the Unsung | Thinking of the repairmen who are working so hard to help people get their electricity, and other services. | Opinion/Editorial Piece | thankful |
| Lorie Ann Grover, On Pointe | Cratered Hope | Hope in the midst of trial | Original Poem | Hopeful |
| readertotz | Patrick Stewart, To B or Not to B | Around the block with Sesame Street and Patrick Stewart | Other | Silly |
| The Write Sisters | Lodestone by Robin Schectman | Ursa Major. Ursa Minor. | Original Poem | Icy |
| Ed DeCaria | What Is Your Favorite Shel Silverstein "Big Book" Of Poetry? | Almost forgot -- please visit the homepage (left sidebar) and answer this question ... I need it for "a project". Thanks! | Other | fast |
| Greg Pincus | Etto's Voice | Etto had a realllllly deep voice.... | Original Poem | silly |
| Marjorie (PaperTigers) | PaperTigers 10th Anniversary: My Top Ten Picks by Sally Ito | Listen to Sally reading title poem from her Alert to Glory collection. ***Deadline for 10th Anniversary Draw is tomorrow | Other | |
| Tabatha | Piloting Yourself from Stone to Stone | poetry by Fredrick Zydek | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | contemplative |
| Poetry for Kids Joy | The Friday Dance | It is Friday, let's dance. An exercise for making your own happiness. | Original Poem | |
| Mary Lee @ A Year of Reading | Instrumental | A very clear yet undecipherable message sent to me in a dream. | Original Poem | dreamy |
| Laura @ AuthorAmok | Songwriting with Mary Amato | Author Mary Amato gives us a lesson in the poetics of song-writing. She has a new YA novel, Guitar Notes, which centers around two high school musicians. | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | Upbeat! |
| Enjoy Embrace Learning | Poetry Friday - Cooperation | A reflective piece about teacher and parent relationship in working with a student. | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | Reflective |
| No Water River | "When the Moon Is There" | A bedtime poem for little people and moon lovers everywhere. | Original Poem | Moony |
| Joy Acey | The Friday Dance | It's Friday, time for a little dancing. Can you write your own happy dance poem? | Original Poem | joyfulness |
| Heidi Mordhorst | good honest work | post-election raking with Question 6 and Amy Ludwig Vanderwater | Other | elated |
| Ruth (There is no such thing as a godforsaken town) | Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful? | I take frivolous song lyrics from Rodgers and Hammerstein and overthink them into musings on why we love and the effect love has on us. | Opinion/Editorial Piece | Thoughtful |
| Laura Purdie Salas | Think Big! (Liz Garton Scanlon) | A rhyming picture book about creativity and fun | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | Celebratory |
| Laura Purdie Salas | 15 Words or Less Pomes | Drop by to write a short first draft of a poem inspired by a photo:>) | Other | Adventurous:>) |
| Jeff@NC Teacher Stuff | The Snow Storm | A weather forecast by Edna St. Vincent Millay. She also uses the word hexagonal which I thought was really cool. | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | |
| Liz Steinglass | To Her Fawn | Peaceful content, peaceful form | Original Poem | Reassuring |
| Write Time | Where Ideas Come From | Today I'm sharing an interveiw and video of Sandra Cisneros explaining how she got the idea for her latest book. | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | inspiring |
| Jama's Alphabet Soup | Two Smooth Talkers, a Chunky Hunk, and a Hot Salsa Mama | Peanut Butter poems by Charles Ghigna, Matt Forrest Esenwine, David L. Harrison and Marilyn Singer | Original Poem | Festive |
| Irene Latham | Einstein's Daughter Questions Her Father's Theory | Art inspired by a poem I wrote about Einstein's daughter | Original Poem | artsy |
| Samuel Kent | Five new poems this week! | I posted five new poems this week along with their corresponding lunchbox doodles. Tops include: a looooong dog, shoes not making the runner, an uninvited bear, a Dolittle cousin, and my camping experiences. | Original Poem | Witty |
| Sylvia Vardell | Poetry panel at upcoming NCTE conference | Invitation to NCTE poetry session next week | News/Announcement | excited |
| Sylvia and Janet at PFA | Week 11 | Featuring a whole, fun poem, "Sack Lunch," from THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY | Original Poem | fun |
| Andromeda Jazmon @ A Wrung Sponge | Melancholy Haiku for Autumn | Original haiku/haiga (photo + poem) with a feeling of autumn. | Original Poem | Melancholy |
| Doraine Bennett | An Early Poetry Friday | [no summary; sent via e-mail] | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | |
| Stephen Withrow | Fun challenge from Steven Withrow (and daughter!) | A song parody/what-if poem I wrote for my daughter at David L. HarrisonÂ’s blog (try the form; itÂ’s lots of fun) | Original Poem | |
| Karen Edmisten | Anne-with-an-e Leaves Me a Note | A note written in the style of Wm. Carlos Williams' "This is Just to Say" .... | Original Poem | fun |
| MotherReader | Forget-Me-Nots | Review of "Forget-Me-Nots: Poems to Learn by Heart" | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | Recommendation |
| Matt Goodfellow | Bath Time! | The joys of the bath! | Original Poem | fun |
| Robyn Hood Black | Nikki Grimes | poem and link to interview | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | Inspiring |
| JoAnn Early Macken | Write a Poem Step by Step Poetry Tip, Poem, and Book Giveaway! | Today's post includes an excerpt from my new book Write a Poem Step by Step, a poem written by a student in one of my poetry workshops, and a Book Giveaway! | News/Announcement | Yippee! |
| Janet Squires | Silver Seeds | “Silver seeds : a book of nature poems” is written by Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer with paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. | Coverage Of Another Poet (Poem, Interview, Book Review, etc.) | |
| Violet Nesdoly | Leisure these days | A poem that talks back to the classic poem "Leisure" by W. H. Davies | Original Poem | Reflective |
| Wild Rose Reader | A Poem about Night | My post includes an original poem about night that I wrote recently...and an explanation for why I've been absent from blogging for a few weeks. | Original Poem | Tired but Happy! |
| jone | Poetry Friday: In November | Students create a poem based on the Rylant book, In November. | Original Poem | Happy |
| Sally Thomas | Poetry Friday in the Month of All Souls | "Grandmother Rising," a poem from my new book, Brief Light | Original Poem | elegiac |
| Jeanne Poland | I'd Like To Heat Old Bones With Fire | Imperatives for Storm Sandy Recovery (A song parody) | Original Poem | Hope |
| Ed DeCaria | Pop-Up Poetry Competition | Fitting for election week ... impromptu polls for four pairs of Poetry Friday original poems! | Original Poem | Madness |
Contribute to Poetry Friday
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You just make me smile sometimes. It was fun to fill out the table, and I look forward to checking it out as it fills… The “one word” was my favorite part. Love your blank verse too.
a.
I’ve been looking forward to your hosting all week, Ed. I knew it would be a delightful experience. Thank you, & I too love the shout out for the blank page.
Thanks for hosting! This was a fun forum. Best in your search and writing!
Thank you for hosting – I know this round-up will be a success all round
Hi, Ed. I love the table! Great idea.
I’m featuring Mary Amato’s latest YA book, Guitar Notes, today. She is sharing a guest post about the poetry skills used in writing song-lyrics. http://authoramok.blogspot.com/2012/11/poetry-friday-songwriting-with-mary.html
Hi Ed, I put in my info but don’t see my listing on the form. Could you check into that for me. Here’s what I entered:
No Water River
“When the Moon Is There”
A bedtime poem for little people and moon lovers everywhere.
Moony
The URL: http://www.nowaterriver.com/poetry-friday-when-the-moon-is-there/
Thanks! I do love this form. Is it usable by others or is this a patented thing?
Not patented. Here’s the recipe …
1) Use WordPress Form Manager plug-in to create whatever form you want. I created mine using the fields shown above, but it’s fully customizable.
2) Periodically download .csv file from WP Form Manager to hard drive. Use Excel formula to merge Post Title and Link URL and force links to open in a new window. Save back to .csv format. (I am happy to provide the transformation file if someone wants to try this.)
3) Upload that .csv back into WordPress using WP-Table Reloaded plug-in.
That’s it. Maybe 3 minutes of work on my end each time I refresh. The Form Manager plug-in notifies contributors (and me if I want) that their entry was received.
I’m sure there’s a way to automate all of that using some clever combination of MySQL and PHP (neither of which I know how to program at this point), or maybe some other combination of plug-ins, but this was certainly good enough for me …
Thanks for the fortune cookie.
Hi Ed,
Thanks for hosting today. I have an original poem, “To Her Fawn,” at http://www.lizsteinglass.com/
Happy Poetry Friday!
Liz
Thanks for hosting, Ed, and for letting us be marketing guinea pigs–fun! I filled out the form twice for two different entries, but neither has shown up yet. Hoping there’s just a brief delay before entries add to your list and that I didn’t do something incorrectly:>)
Liked your poem! Thanks for hosting. I, too, filled out the form but my entry didn’t show up. Time lag?
I can’t wait to come back after work tonight and read your post. It looks like fun.
I added my link for Poetry Friday, but I don’t see it yet. I’ll check back later to see if it appears! Thanks for hosting!
Thanks for hosting, Ed. Always fun and interesting to stop by here
!
Thanks for hosting, Ed. I have a song parody/what-if poem I wrote for my daughter at David L. Harrison’s blog (try the form; it’s lots of fun):
http://davidlharrison.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/fun-challenge-from-steven-withrow-and-daughter/
Ed, you’re awesome. Love the roundup thingy – especially the “word to describe.” Thanks for always adding something new and valuable to this community!
I love an organizing genius with a sense of humor. Thanks, Ed. A GREAT way to hop around on Poetry Friday. Can’t wait for March.
Thanks for hosting! I appreciate all you’re doing on the children’s poetry scene– especially your “first line” post! Fun chart approach to Poetry Friday, too. Thanks!
Dear poetry-loving friends,
This blog (link at the bottom of my comment) is written by my mainly online friends, Kim and Jan, and is this week all about the messages in the Dead Poets’ Society film. If you are not “up on the CCSS” initiative yet, you might find some of this instructive on many levels….kind of like a good poem, but than again maybe not so much. Anyhow, beginning on Monday this week’s posts are about poetry and education, children and testing and more. Earlier in their excellent blog (begun last Feb. I think) they created a Haiku version of the ELA standards and so there is a slide show of that, too, which poetry enthusiasts might like to see. They also have a section on poetry and writing, poetry and reading and the CCSS. You may not know but poetry-writing and literary writing in general are more limited in high school (though not totally out) in the CCSS in favor of argument and informative text. I hope you might get a chance to dip into this great blog on CCSS that focuses on our children’s future in our nation’s classrooms. Good news is that the word poetry does show up a number of times in the grade level reading standards and is mentioned at least once in an Appendix for writing standards, so teachers know it can be included as part of narrative writing. There is a lot to think about with the standards (adopted by almost all the states) as well as the testing that will result. This is not without controversy as I am sure you can imagine. I sincerely encourage you to consider becoming informed about this.
http://www.burkinsandyaris.com/category/common-core-state-standards/
Thank you to everyone for contributing so far! I’ll continue to refresh the table throughout the day.
For those wondering where your links are upon submission … it’s unfortunately only a semi-automatic process. I couldn’t quite figure out how to automate it completely, but what I’ve done is actually pretty simple, for those who might wish to replicate it.
Happy Poetry Friday!
Thanks for hosting. My selection is “Silver seeds : a book of nature poems” is written by Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer with paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.
Okay, I have a new challenge for everyone …
Poetry Friday. We all love it. We all show up most weeks to contribute and check out each other’s new content. But in keeping with this post’s theme of Findability, Discoverability, and Marketing, I wonder if we can’t collectively do more to expose Poetry (Friday) to more people.
Most people link back to the round-up site every week, which is great, but I somehow doubt that that brings many new people into the fold.
My experience managing the March Madness thing tells me that there are ways to dramatically expand the visibility of what we all do. Not necessary 1000x week in and week out, but something.
So my challenge is to think about what you can do RIGHT NOW to help “non-poetry people” find and discover poetry. A note, an invitation to interact, a phone call, a full-page ad in NYT/WSJ, whatever.
Right there in the table above we’ve got (so far) links to 21 original poems, 13 posts covering the work of other respected poets, 2 op/eds, 2 announcements (including a free giveaway), and 5 “other” surprise posts.
We’ve got material for people feeling adventurous, elated, frivolous, introspective, melancholy, silly, and upbeat …
What more can we do to bring people into this interesting little world we’ve created?
That is not a rhetorical question …
Here is a thought….put a poetry friday link at the bottom of all our personal emails saying: “check this out” you might really like it.
I mention it at my talks now and pass out my blog lists. Google makes finding it very easy even if you lose the handout from the speaker.
Send it on to the teachers in your kids’ schools and ask them to pass it on to others including parents. Can you imagine sitting down to breakfast with Amy LV’s poem of the day or Renee’s latest video or blog entry or Laura Purdie Sala’s various entries. Not trying to leave anyone out here…but I don’t want to run on, so parents might be another avenue to gain readership.
At a recent conference I told the teachers as well as a NY State Ed Dept. leader who came to my session on my poetry work (Digging Deeper: Engaged Literacy, Poetry and the Common Core)about the wonderful poetry for kids/YA blogosphere and highlighted a lot individual sites. I suggested that they take 5 min. a day to check out one or two blogs, in hopes that eventually they might see the great stuff everyone shares and become a regular. I know many poets who speak at conferences and schools already do this, but making a conscious effort to market is a great idea, Ed. The world needs more pleasure, thoughtfulness, sharing and fun, etc. And I think Poetry Friday hits many marks!
Oh and do like poet Janet Wong….go to a site like Burkins and Yaris and mention Think Kid Think!!! Weave it into comments on great blogs for teachers.(I am not talking shamless promotion here, though.) Teachers would love this stuff once they got into it!! Blogs need to be searchable for busy teachers in order to integrate to fullest advantage and I don’t know how hard that is to accomplish. (Google is not fail safe!) Sort of like Syliva and Janet’s Poetry Friday Anthology which by the way was a big hit at my session since I had 5 copies for door prizes from Janet and Sylvia that went to grateful teachers….. who had to share something poetry-related in order to win!! So thanks to all the poets around these parts who contributed to that great resource for teachers. Another way to get the word out!! There is also a great e-book version which I assume you all know about especially thanks to Renee’s amazing post a couple of weeks ago.
Having trouble connecting from a school visit. I have poetry and an interview link with Nikki Grimes today – http://www.robynhoodblack.com/blog.htm?post=882888
Thanks!
Your entry came through, Robyn — it just doesn’t appear in the table right away.
Who’s up for a real-time experiment?
The Facts: Through 11am today, this website has attracted only 110 unique visitors.
The Problem Statement: If you remove the contributors, that leaves a roughly 3:2 ratio of readers to contributors. Are we satisfied?
The Suggestion: Let’s make this more fun and see if we can attract more readers from outside the group. For the 23 of you who have posted original poems today, I’m looking for at least two volunteers to participate in a pop-up March Madness style competition. I’ll put the poems one after the other and post a poll beneath them open to the voting public, same as before. Upside = more people read your poem. Downside = you might “lose”, even though it means more people will have read your poem.
The Test: The test will be two-fold — 1) are YOU more likely to more widely/consistently share Poetry Friday, and 2) are OTHER PEOPLE more likely to visit if they believe there’s something like a vote/competition involved?
That’s it … anyone want to play along? If so, reply here or tweet/message me through the right sidebar.
I loved the table, Ed.
I’m up for anything, Ed! Count me in.
anmd btw…great idea using the table!
Thanks for hosting, and that’s a fun idea. I’d be up for anything — my skin is thick!
Okay, kids, the pop-up poetry madness has begun!
I think this table idea is a great thing. Very user-friendly and helps getting around. Thanks again, Ed.
The table is fabulous. It would make it a whole lot easier to navigate poetry friday every week. Maybe there’s a way to universalize/automate it … ?
Any WordPress blogger can use this or a similar format. See my comment here: http://www.thinkkidthink.com/poetryfriday-2012-1109/comment-page-1/#comment-4226. The Excel stuff isn’t even necessary. You could just dump the inputs and then upload them right back up into the table.
Even simpler: The WP Form Manager actually allows you to directly output a plain text table. It wouldn’t let you sort/filter as the table above does, but it would be a form+table using only one free, low burden plug-in.
Can’t speak to what’s available on Blogger.
Can any of the people who have used the Facebook “Like” button confirm for me that it is doing what you expect back on your Facebook page? Thanks. -Ed
Enjoying these great posts after travelling yesterday – just had to thank you for your welcome white space contribution, Ed, and for your usual extra doses of initiative and enthusiasm! Thanks for rounding up and then some.
So here are the results of the experiment, as best I can tell …
Poetry Friday Tweets: 8
Pop-Up Poetry Competition Tweets: 17
Poetry Friday Facebook Likes: 17
Pop-Up Poetry Competition Facebook Likes: 31
# Initial Poetry Friday unique visitors: 144
# Additional Pop-Up Poetry Competition unique visitors: 123
So, what does that tell us?
I am not sure exactly. You all certainly seem more inclined to share a page with eight poems and some polls on it than you do a page with links to 27 original poems, 14 posts with coverage of other poets, 3 pieces of poetry-related news, 2 poetry-related Op/Ed pieces, and miscellaneous other poetry goodies. Is it the big red countdown timer? That you think people are intimidated by Poetry Friday but excited by a read-and-vote concept?
I’m open to all theories.
The bigger question is what do you all want/expect Poetry Friday to be? An RSS/Reader surrogate? A Happy Hour among friends? A public poetry expo? I am not sure how to answer the question for myself yet …
Lots of good questions here. I, for one, am VERY glad you tried this experiment. I love, love, love the table, and adding the “one word to describe your poem” choice was pure genius!