From: Barbara Tobin <barbarat>
Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2000 19:27:37 -0400

I have been lurking for too long, waiting for my planets to align (i.e. find a copy of the book du jour at the same time as a moment to compose a wise thought about it) --- BUT I have been jerked out of my Rip Van Wrinkly hibernation by National Poetry Week!

I loved the delicious message Ginny passed on to us from Eve Merriam's son, Dee Michel -- but it got me to wondering how many sons she had. I know the work of her son Guy Michel, who had earlier created the jacket art for her wonderful _Rainbow Writing_ (1976), and then two years later completed his
"first collaboration" with him mom in _The Birthday Cow_, a delightful book of small poems for very small readers. Guy is, at that time, described as "a young freelance artist."

Now I am wondering what became of this young artist, and if he has ever collaborated with his brother on anything? Does anybody know?

Back in the dim, dark days of graduate school, we were fortunate to have Eve as a keynote speaker for our annual chn's lit conference at the U. of Georgia. I was thrilled to be assigned the role of "looking after Eve". What a wonderful, gracious lady! I think she did more looking after ME. She gave me a photograph of her, and signed my copy of Rainbow Writing "To Barbara, my guide and leader." Maybe that's why I treasure that book, and that poet and her works.

My favorite poem from Rainbow Writing is her brief "Ways of Composing", where she contrasts the noisy typewriter ("a mouthful of teeth chattering/afraid to be quiet"), with the solitude of a pencil that can
"lie down and dream/dark and silver silences". I wonder how she envisioned computers??

The quote that most sticks in my mind from her keynote address back (late 1970s) was:

"A POEM is a can of frozen orange juice -?d three cans of water, and you get PROSE."

I don't know if they are still available after all this time from Atheneum
(copyright 1964), but a little 4-page pamphlet she wrote I have always found very useful for "explaining" the essence of poetry to my students:
"Inside a Poem: An Explanation for Young People and for Those Who Work With Young People." A couple of the nuggets contained therein are:

*Inside a poem are the feelings that we all have but usually don't put into words.

*When something is too beautiful or too terrible or even too funny for words: then it is time for poetry.

*It is possible to be a spectator at many things, to sit back as an observer and watch what is going on. Not in poetry. Here you are always on center stage, directly involved in the action every moment.

*Reading prose once is usually enough... but reading a poem once is only the beginning.

A companion to this pamphlet is another called "What is a Rhyme? : A Read-Aloud Explanation for Children, Teachers, and Parents." (1966). This one reprints her wonderful poem of the same name, first published, I think, in _Catch a Little Rhyme_. "A rhyme is a chime/that rings in time....."

What a magnificent contribution this lady made to the field of poetry. What a sad loss when she passed away some years ago.

 Barbara Tobin
 Graduate School of Education,
 University of Pennsylvania
 3700 Walnut St, Philadelphia PA 19104b16
 email: barbarat at gse.upenn.edu
Received on Sat 08 Apr 2000 06:27:37 PM CDT