{"id":3219,"date":"2013-09-26T00:01:49","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T06:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3219"},"modified":"2013-09-26T21:30:08","modified_gmt":"2013-09-27T03:30:08","slug":"to-face-the-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3219","title":{"rendered":"“To Face the Lions”"},"content":{"rendered":"


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From “Sleep Charm”: “This bed is the perfect bed. \/ Sink into its healing \/
cloud-softness, \/ cheek against cool pillow-white. \/
Forget anything you ever wanted, \/ hoped, or feared. …”<\/em><\/center>
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\nLast week, I chatted here<\/a><\/strong> at Kirkus<\/em> with author and poet Joyce Sidman<\/a><\/strong> about her newest poetry collection, What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms & Blessings<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Houghton Mifflin), to be released in early October. The book is illustrated by two-time Caldecott Honor recipient Pamela Zagarenski<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

Today here at 7-Imp, I’ve got two spreads from the book (including the poems), as well as some details from some of Pamela’s paintings. I thank Pamela for sharing them. <\/p>\n

Also below is one question for Joyce I didn’t have room for in last week’s column, as well as a trailer for the book, which features even more of Pamela’s artwork. <\/p>\n

*[This post’s title comes from “Song of Bravery,” one of my favorite poems in the collection: “…But here I go— \/ bones clicking quietly together, \/ blood flowing dutifully \/ from heart to hands and back again— \/ here I go, stepping out \/ through the door \/ of my own shadow: \/ into the glare of the arena \/ to face the lions.”<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Enjoy. <\/p>\n

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“You don’t want my heart? \/ Fine. I will climb a hill \/ where the sky is wide. \/
The sun will be setting \/ and the wet grass will drag at my feet. …”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread and see poem in its entirety)<\/center><\/p>\n

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“Come, friend, forgive the past; \/ I was wrong and I am grieving. \/
Tell me that this break won’t last— \/ take my hand; forgive the past. …”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge spread and see poem in its entirety)<\/center><\/p>\n


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From “How to Find a Poem”: “Wake with a dream-filled head. \/
Stumble out into the morning, \/
barely aware of how the sun \/ is laying down strips of silver \/
after three days’ rain, \/ of how the puddles \/ are singing with green. …”<\/em><\/center>
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Jules<\/font><\/strong>: What’s next for you, Joyce?<\/font><\/p>\n

Joyce<\/font><\/strong>: I\u2019m excited about my next book, Winter Bees and Other Poems Of The Cold<\/em> (Fall 2014), which is in the process of being illustrated by Rick Allen<\/a><\/strong>, who did Dark Emperor<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. He lives even further north than I do in Minnesota and is creating lush, snowy linocuts of moose, tundra swans, and chickadees. It will be a gorgeous book. <\/p>\n

Beth Krommes<\/a><\/strong> has started work on the following book, tentatively titled Slow and Delightful and White<\/em> (Fall 2015), a picture book about waiting for snow. <\/p>\n

So, things are getting chilly!<\/p>\n

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