Trying Them Out - Poems in Action

This week I've been thinking about upcoming school visits and tweaking my planning. Just as when I was teaching, I don't use a one-size-fits-all approach; I adjust and amend my sessions according to group sizes, length of time, children's ages etc. But what I find really useful is experience gained from sharing my poems in schools.

Just as a teacher might consider teaching a lesson in a slightly different way to better get a message across, occasionally I will decide that a poem needs looking at. I've been doing that with my poem Reading is my Superpower this week. It always goes down well. It's a lively one, full of fantastical images and it makes its point well. BUT (or should I say butt), it has two slightly cheeky lines, one of which comes very near the end. The end is important, the end says LOOK! you don't need anything fancy for any of that wonderfulness, you just need to read a book! (not the actual lines). And for it to be absorbed as a message, it needs to be heard. What happens currently is that I need to wait for the laughter to subside before I can make the important message at the end of the poem, because a line about pants is getting in the way.

I was advised early on by poets who know their stuff, that too many bums and farts in poems might not a well-respected poet make. It's all about balance. I have left in the line about flames shooting out of your bum, but the pants have gone (burnt to a crisp, I expect). What it means is that half way through the poem, there's a delightful chuckle (she said BUM!! tee hee), but their interest is held all the way through to the ending, which is now has a flea in it, rather than a line so giggle-inducing that the important final message isn't heard.

While you're here, a word about poem endings in general. They are often a kind of punchline, and I love writing poems like that. But endings can be powerful and effective in many other ways, too. I have read several poems recently which capture something wonderful, only to turn at the last moment because the poet feels that humour is necessary. Be brave and try to finish a poem another way. The options are endless.

Happy poeming and thanks for reading,

Attie x

Jellytastic and Strawblicious?

First-off, thank you to anyone reading this who has pre-ordered a copy of Blue Jelly and Strawberries. That’s what this blog post is about, really. That, and the weird limbo of pre-publishing, and the rollercoaster that is trying-to-get-published in the first place.

I am typing this as I wait for the printer to churn out another wodge of pages for Cornflakes and Gravy – my practice book baby, if you like. The Tiny Tears (gosh I’m old!) to my actual firstborn. I’ve got a school visit at the end of this week and need to take the usual clutch of copies to sell after school. I can’t wait until I can take (or even arrange to have sent!) some copies of Blue Jelly which have already been printed! The luxury! (I’m imagining this in a Yorkshire accent, don’t ask me why).

I got rather excited over the weekend as my book (still in its gestation period, due date 6/3/25) briefly got up as far as no.3 in the Amazon chart for Hot New Releases in Children’s Poetry. It’s a niche sector, and I suspect one doesn’t need to sell that many books to get into the top ten. But I was there with ACTUAL REAL AUTHORS whose names and book covers I recognised, and I got a proper thrill from it, so thank you to anyone who helped to get it there. (The no.50 spot in Hot New Releases: Children’s Books was even more short-lived, but who’s counting 😉.)

Important to mention at this point, that independent bookshops are always the best places to buy books, for SO many reasons. With any luck, libraries will choose to stock my book, too. I hope it finds its way into lots and lots of schools more than anything, but teachers who have read my article in the current issue of English 4-11 Magazine will know that I’d love it to be picked up for pleasure, rather for simile-spotting or general dissection, where possible.

The number of emails pinging between myself, the publisher, designer, publicist and so on, reassures me that Blue Jelly and Strawberries is Go! But, as I’ve written about before, I signed two small press poetry contracts early on which never materialised into books due to unfortunate closures. So, for now the strawberry bunting (yes!) and the strawberry-print shoes (oh yes!) remain in the back of the cupboard, but as the end of 2024 approaches, the excitement is beginning to rumble a little louder in my house.

Apologies if my excitement overwhelmed your social media feed over the weekend. It’s just a great feeling to have a big old ‘up’ on the publishing roller coaster and to know that this book is actually going to make it to shelves.

Happy reading, writing, and poeming,

Attie x

Blue Jelly and Strawberries Pre-order here:

Blue Jelly and Strawberries by Attie Lime, Kate Sheppard | Foyles

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Jelly-Strawberries-Tickle-Tastebuds

 https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/blue-jelly-and-strawberries-poems-to-tickle-your-tastebuds-attie-lime/7774671?ean=9781915659583

Cats, Balloons, and Bunyips

Probably what I get asked most often is "Where do you get your ideas from?" and it's not a straightforward answer. It could be a phrase I hear my 7yo say, or an everyday observation, or something creative is stirred by reading a poem by someone else, or by the rhythm/beat of something, or...or...

Occasionally, I can tell you precisely when and how the idea came about. My poem The Balloon, published in the Toys edition of The Toy Magazine, began with a real pink balloon spotted on the school run. I took a quick snap of it on my phone because it was such a striking image. The poem came quickly - one of those rare 'it wrote itself' kinds.

One of my first published poems, What the Cat Knows, published on The Dirigible Balloon website, and in their first charity anthology, Chasing Clouds, came about after locking eyes with my cat through the kitchen window. It got me thinking about what he might be thinking, and a story grew from there, becoming my poem about a broken vase and who might be to blame.

I've been talking in schools (and to the Women's Institute!) lately about writing for the Macmillan anthologies Heroes and Villains and Gods and Monsters. When the opportunity arose to write poems to submit to G&M, I had no poems already written on myths, and very little decent knowledge of anything mythological. That was a very different kind of poetry-writing altogether. I squirrelled myself away and studied: researching, discovering, learning, and only then actually writing. Two of the five poems I submitted were accepted, AND now I know more about myths than I did before. Win-win.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Happy reading, writing, and poeming,

Attie x