This week’s “Verses of Everyday Life” guest is Georgia Heard, who lives on Singer Island in South Florida. Georgia started writing poetry when she was 10 years old and gave her poems to her family as birthday presents. She loved working on her new book, “Welcome to the Wonderhouse,” which she wrote with her friend and fellow poet Rebecca Kai Dotlich. She also loved working on “Boom Bellow Bleat: Animal Poems for Two Or More Voices.” Because we discovered surprising facts about animals and their sounds, including that the second loudest creature on earth is the giant horned shrimp. of the little finger. An interesting fact about Georgia is that she was a professional ice skater in her youth and went on to college teaching hockey players how to ice skate. ~David L. Harrison
hidden wonders
When they asked the poet William Stafford, “When did you become a poet?” he answered, “When did you become a poet?” “That’s not really the right question. The question is, when did you stop being a poet? We’re all poets when we’re young.”
Children are born poets. Like poets, they find the extraordinary in the ordinary, are full of wonder about the world, and pay attention to the little things. If you’ve ever taken a long walk with young children, you’ll notice that it can take up to 30 minutes to walk one block while the kids stop to pick up rocks, look at ladybugs, and watch bugs crawling on the sidewalk. You probably know that there is. Wandering around the streets, they ask a lot of questions. Why do ladybugs have spots? How do trees grow from seeds? Or they might pick up a leaf or an acorn to examine it closely.
I myself remember wondering as a child. I spent many days exploring the stream next to my house in Virginia. I didn’t realize it at the time, but perhaps I found poetry here. There was a secret world in the stream where I was drawn to endless exploration.
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A crayfish lived under the rock. These secret creatures that live in the mud and darkness were a mystery to me. Time passed quickly as I gently lifted the rock and peered under it, searching for the crayfish hiding behind it. Once I found it, I scooped it into a jar of water and stared at it. Its huge claws and black bead-like eyes perch on delicate stems. Sometimes it would turn to meet my gaze, as if interested in me and the world beyond the stream. It sometimes seemed like an extraterrestrial visitor and I felt a common connection with it.
Even after I released the crayfish into the stream, the mark stayed with me. The stream and the crayfish opened up a world of poetry and curiosity. Thanks to them, I have come to love the creatures and things in the world hidden beneath the surface. It may seem strange at first, but if you look closely, it brings a kind of tenderness and love for all the wild things in the world.
In my new children’s book, “Welcome to the Wonder House,” I share my gratitude for these wild animals, especially the creatures that frighten us and are often misunderstood, like the crayfish I spent my childhood observing. I wrote a poem of praise with all my heart. However, although the crayfish itself is not mentioned in this poem, the crayfish is there in spirit.
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A centipede with its hair standing on end,
Blue bubble man-o-war,
Spitting insect.
Hooray
stir your hair,
terrible,
strange,
And wild.
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If you want to write poetry, pick up a notebook, go for a walk, slow down, write down what you notice, and look at the world with childlike wonder.
Georgia Heard is the recipient of the 2023 NCTE Award for Excellence in Children’s Poetry and has written more than 20 books. She is the founder of the online platform The Poet’s Studio, where she and invited guest speakers host writing workshops for both new and veteran writers. To learn more about Georgia, visit her website www.GeorgiaHeard.com and follow her on Instagram and X @georgiaheard1.
