Southern Breeze Poet Sandra Havriluk

Welcome to this Poetry Friday. I am very excited to be hosting the round up today. I have the special privilege of introducing you to SCBWI Southern Breeze poet and author, Sandra Havriluk. I was browsing through the literary journal from the Alabama Writer's Conclave a few weeks ago and found Sandra's award winning poems, excepts from her novel in verse. I was immediately hooked by the main character, Belle's honest Southern voice. You're going to love these girls, meaning Sandra and Belle!

Here's the first stanza of "From Cradle to Grave."

~ 1 ~

June 21, 1934: Thirteenth Birthday
My mama pushed me into this world and
herself out of it thirteen years ago
today. The way Daddy sees it, he got
the raw end of that deal. Netty, who cooks
and cares and cleans for us, sees into my
heart like only somebody who loves you
like a mama can. She balls up her
hands onto her skinny hips. Her curved, dark
arms shine with summer day sweat, her muscles
ropy like twists of licorice candy.
“Belle Downing,” she says to me, “you didn’t
ask to be born. Your mama’s dying ain’t
your fault.” She holds my hand between hers.
We call it our moon pie, my marshmallow
white squeezed between her chocolate covering.
She lets go, sighs. “We all have our lot in life.
So’s time you be accepting yours, chile.” But
that’s hard to do when the June day’s heat wraps
you up, smothers you like a blanket of blame.

You'll want to read more at alalitcom. Scroll down to page 40 where Sandra's work begins.

Sandra agreed to chat about herself and the project. I hope you enjoy getting to know her a bit, as I have.

WHY DID YOU CHOSE TO WRITE FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE IN VERSE?

Every time I have a chance to meet with agents at various conferences to pitch this manuscript, I am asked this question, followed by the agents informing me how hard it is for them to sell verse novels, not to mention historical fiction written in this format. My answer to this “why question” is always the same: Belle’s voice came to me in this way, starting with the first line. Writing the story in blank verse seemed to fit the restrictions, isolation, and despair of Belle’s life.

I’ve always heard “write what you know.” The idea of writing a story about the surviving child of a mother dying while giving birth had always been on my heart because of my father, for that was his story. He always carried a sense of loss and guilt over his mother’s death, and his father always held him accountable for the loss of his wife. Although From Cradle to Grave is entirely fictional, there is much of my father’s pain and guilt in Belle, as well as his on-going search for redemption and acceptance.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES IN WRITING A NOVEL IN VERSE?

Telling a complete story in verse presents difficulty in balancing plot with poetic structure. Each scene must move the story forward, yet it must read as a poem. Dividing the story into three parts and ending with an epilogue helped with the forward motion of the story. The hardest thing I had to do was to eliminate some poems I loved for their poetry but which did not add any depth to the story.

WHO ARE MENTORS AND / OR INFLUENCES?

Obviously, Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust cannot be overlooked as an influence in my attempting a verse novel. I have loved that story since I introduced it to my middle graders when it first came out and won the Newbery. My MFA thesis was entitled “YA Novels in Verse: Poetry or Prose with Line Breaks?” I spent hours analyzing what works and doesn’t work in YA verse novels for my thesis. A few of my favorites include Steven Herrick ‘s By the River, Meg Kearney ‘s The Secret of Me, Helen Frost ‘s Keesha’s House, The Braid, Pamela Porter’s I’ll Be Watching, Elizabeth Alexander and Marilyn Nelson’s Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color.

I completed the first version of From Cradle to Grave as my MFA Creative Thesis under the working title Benevolence. Thanks to Susan Campbell Bartoletti for her encouragement to develop the character Otto Rimsky more fully and to Joyce McDonald for her critique of my poetry. I also thank my MFA workshops and my writing groups from the bottom of my heart for their input and inspiration.


More about Sandra:
Sandra earned her AB in English from the University of Georgia and her MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. Sandra’s mentors have included Joyce McDonald (award-winning Swallowing Stones and The Devil on My Heels) and Susan Campbell Bartoletti (winner of Newbery Honorfor Hitler Youth). In addition to the MFA program, Sandra has attended the Chautauqua Writers Foundation, the Rutgers One-Plus-One Conference, the Big Sur Writing Workshop, and SCBWI conferences. An English teacher, Sandra has taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and at present is an adjunct instructor at Gwinnett Technical College. She holds professional memberships in the Atlanta Writers Club (AWC), the Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Sandra has won 3rd place in the Atlanta Writers Club Juvenile Fiction writing contest for The Secret of Elijah (YA Historical Fiction) and 1st place for From Cradle to Grave (YA verse novel) in both the Atlanta Writers Club and the Alabama Writers Conclave Juvenile Fiction contests. Her work-in-progress is Side by Side, a verse novel about the impact of the Montgomery Bus Boycott on the lives of two little girls, one black and one white. She is actively seeking representation for her manuscripts.

If you'd like to contact Sandra, you may find her at email: shavriluk@bellsouth.net

On another note:

Starting today, you can read my interview with Cathy Hall, part of the blog tour for the 2012 Writing and Illustrating for Kids (WIK) conference. I’ll be leading a session on the Nuts and Bolts of writing for children. WIK is organized by the Southern Breeze region of SCBWI, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. This year’s WIK conference will be Oct. 20 in Birmingham, AL. It’s a great place to learn more about the children’s publishing industry, meet agents and editors, and connect with a supportive network of writers and illustrators. Check it out at www.southern-breeze.net.

Now, add your Poetry Friday link. I may not be as "present" as usual, as my dad is in the hospital, so I'll be checking occasionally and reading as I can. Enjoy!

Poetry Friday in Oregon

I have spent a lovely week in Oregon with my daughter and son-in-law. A beautiful place, but looking forward to getting home. Traveling today. Enjoy this poem from Oregon's poet laureate, Paulann Petersen.

Primed

It was middle June

during the duration
of a month that was a wait

for each day to come,
during that summer
when I would turn teen,

when I was almost something—
way past twelve and counting.
It was the middle of day,

mid-day heat halfway 
between cool and hot,
a double-handed noonday

stroke: the clock's
count of twelve
reminding me of what 

I was not. Still a multiple
of two, three, four, six,
I was a mere factoring

Read the rest here.


Andromeda hosts today's Poetry Friday Roundup at A Wrung Sponge.

Finding Time to Stand and Stare

Here in my neck of the woods, school is starting soon. Teachers and principals have been in endless meetings preparing for students to arrive. Summer is coming to a close, though you'd never know it by the temperature outside. I think the reason we always started school so late when I was growing up had to do with this August heat and the lack of air conditioning in our buildings. Not so now. Some school systems in the area started last week. The rest will follow quickly. And by Labor Day, the old, official end of summer, students will be celebrating their first holiday.

My friends who are teachers are certainly feeling the crunch as they prepare for classes. And I feel the tension myself as I look at the schedule for fall and wonder, "How am I going to get all this done?"

I'm reminding myself to be careful not to get so caught up in the necessary business that I don't slow down long enough to enjoy the last roses blooming on scraggly stems, the Joe Pye weed ready to blossom the minute the heat breaks, the solitary black-capped chickadee that found a late-hung feeder. 

Leisure
by W.H. Davies

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

I know there will be days of being caught up in the flurry of things that must be done, but I'm purposing to make time to "stand and stare." I hope you will, too.

More Poetry Friday with Violet Nesdoly/poems.

Poetry Friday

It's Poetry Friday, again. Already. This week sneaked right by me. More Poetry Friday offerings at Life is Better With Books. Enjoy.

Alas, Kind Element!

By  Léonie Adams 

Then I was sealed, and like the wintering tree
I stood me locked upon a summer core;
Living, had died a death, and asked no more.
And I lived then, but as enduringly,
And my heart beat, but only as to be.
Ill weathers well, hail, gust and cold I bore,
I held my life as hid, at root, in store:
Thus I lived then, till this air breathed on me.
Till this kind air breathed kindness everywhere,
There where my times had left me I would stay.
Then I was staunch, I knew nor yes nor no;
But now the wishful leaves have thronged the air.
My every leaf leans forth upon the day;
Alas, kind element! which comes to go.

Poetry Friday: Hot Summer Nights

It's Poetry Friday. Well, it will be tomorrow when you read this. I'm posting early as I will be on the road tomorrow. Tara is hosting the roundup at A Teaching Life. Lots of poetry out there today. 

This poem is such a beautiful picture of what are nights are like in the Deep South. They days are scalding and the nights are "Bone-idle and coral pink." I can't find very much information on Mary Hamrick except that  she "was born in New York and moved to Florida when she was a young girl. Her writing often reflects the contrast between her Northern and Southern upbringing." From decomP, a literary magazine.

At the International War Veterans Poetry Archives, I found this quote:

She once read, “We cannot know what quality a thing possesses when it is unknown.” She feels that it is important not to tuck away the things you like to do--one must focus on this moment of discovery (writing poetry) and hope for a startling consequence: professional acknowledgment and/or self-fulfillment.

I'm all for the startling consequence!

Woman on Porch by Clovis Heimsath 

Hot Summer Nights

by Mary Hamrick


It haunts me so
those summer nights
in dim lit homes

where music flows
and tempers flare
and lullabies fill the air.

I while away the hours
under the electric swell of light,
(pulse-scorched out).

Bone-idle and coral pink,
this dry spell grills,
but Southern nights do fill me.

Read the rest here.

Mysterious Little Old Ladies

I am a sucker for little old ladies who solve mysteries.

I read every Mrs. Polifax book written by Dorothy Gilman. Bored with her routine life of garden club meetins, she wanders into the CIA to apply for a job and accidentally becomes a spy. The delightful Mrs. Polifax always wears a hat. She's my kind of girl. Rosalind Russell starred as Mrs. Polifax in a 1971 film with Darren McGavin.

Back in 1998, Angela Lansbury starred in a pilot movie called The Unexpected Mrs. Polifax. She would have been a perfect Mrs. Polifax. Unfortunately the writers tried to cram about four books into a two-hour pilot. It wasn't Mrs. Lansbury's fault the series didn't work.

Yes, I watched all those old episodes of Murder, She Wrote, too. What's not to love about a writer who solves mysteries. Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher was always hurrying about in Copper's Cove, Maine, figuring out whodunnit.

Recently my hubby and I have gotten hooked on the Miss Marple series produced by BBC with Geraldine McEwan as the dear little lady. I love McEwan's expressive face. She commands attention, laughter, intrigue with every nuance of that marvelous face. A raised eyebrow, a knowing smile, the tilt of her head that accompanies a simple, "Really?"  I am usually pretty good at figuring out whodunnit, but not in this series. I haven't even come close. Not once. I don't know how she does it. Pick a "she" -- Ms. Christie, Miss Marple, Ms. McEwan. Delightful!

Last week, I was getting ready to take a shower. I sat on the edge of the tub, turned on the water and waited. And waited. When my hubby walked down the hall, I told him something was the matter.We didn't have any hot water. I solved the mystery pretty quickly when I realized I had turned on the cold. Oh dear. Today is my birthday. I wonder how old you have to be to qualify as a little old lady.

Summer Days

I have so enjoyed these summer days. Despite the 102 degree heat, it has been wonderful to have no deadlines looming over my head and no appointments on my calendar. I have been thoroughly lazy, taking a break from everything, including my computer.

I have done some writing, but it's in long hand with a pen on real paper. Just like in the good ol' days!

I had a lovely visit with my daughter last week. We had coffee, went shopping, made dinner on the grill, and watched movies.

Tomorrow I see my five sweet grands!

I'll be back to blogging later in the month. In the meantime, I'm enjoying some wonderful audio books. If you haven't found the free YA audio giveaways for summer, head over to Sync and download this week's selections. Here's the list of titles.

Schedule of SYNC Downloads

SYNC Titles
Summer 2012

June14 – June 20, 2012
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, Read by Dan Bittner (Scholastic Audiobooks)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Frank Galati [Adapt.], Read by Shirley Knight, Jeffrey Donovan, and a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

June 21 – June 27, 2012
Irises by Francisco X. Stork, Read by Carrington MacDuffie (Listening Library)
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Read by Wanda McCaddon (Tantor Media)

June 28 – July 4, 2012
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, Read by Simon Jones
(Listening Library)
Tales from the Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang, Read by Toby Stephens
(Naxos AudioBooks)

July 5 – July 11, 2012
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, Read by August Ross (AudioGO)
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Read by Ian Holm (AudioGO)

July 12 – July 18, 2012
Guys Read: Funny Business by Jon Scieszka [Ed.] et al., Read by Michael Boatman, Kate DiCamillo, John Keating, Jon Scieszka, Bronson Pinchot (Harper Audio)
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories by Mark Twain, Read by Norman Dietz (Recorded Books)

July 19 – July 25, 2012
Cleopatra’s Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter, Read by Kirsten Potter (Oasis Audio)
Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, Read by a Full Cast (AudioGO)

July 26 – August 1, 2012
Pinned by Alfred C. Martino, Read by Mark Shanahan (Listen & Live Audio)
TBA (Brilliance Audio)

August 2 – August 8, 2012
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Read by Khristine Hvam (Hachette Audio)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Read by Simon Prebble (Blackstone Audio)

August 9 – August 15, 2012
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Read by Rupert Degas (Harper Audio)
Dead Men Kill by L. Ron Hubbard, Read by Jennifer Aspen and a Full Cast
(Galaxy Press)

August 16 – August 22, 2012
The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, Read by Jay Laga’aia (Bolinda Audio)
The Call of the Wild by Jack London, Read by William Roberts (Naxos AudioBooks)
 

And enjoy your summer, too.