In the Land of Words - Eloise Greenfield

POETRY
New and Selected Poems
Illustrator: Jan Spivey Gilchrist
2004 (Why have I never seen this before? ? ?)
Rating: 5, oh yes
$16.99
Catalogued 811.54G

The library just purchased this book - I'm the first one to borrow it, it looks brand new. I've never seen or heard of it, but it was published in 2004. Where has it been hiding? It includes over twenty wonderful poems, many about poetry and poems and words and story. And Jan Spivey Gilchrist, who has teamed up with Eloise Greenfield in many of her books, has created fabric collage illustrations! She uses a running stitch about a quarter inch from the cut edge, and they look wonderful. This sure makes another great model - have kids find (or write) a poem they love and illustrate it by cutting felt. If kids are younger they can glue to adhere, but stitching could be done of at least the largest cut piece. Wonderful, wonderful.

How can I choose just one poem to include here? I can't.

In the Land of Words

In the land
of words,
I stand as still
as a tree,
and let the words
rain down on me.
Come, rain, bring
your knowledge and your
music. Sing
while I grow green
and full.
I’ll stand as still
as a tree,
and let your blessings
fall on me.

Story

I step into the story,
I leave my world behind,
I let the walls of my story
Be the walls around my mind.

New faces and new voices,
I listen and I see,
and people I have never met
mean everything to me.

I worry when they worry,
I quake when danger’s near,
I hold my breath and hope
that all their troubles disappear.

I don’t know what will happen,
I never know what I’ll find,
when I step into a story
and leave my world behind.