Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts

Thursday, September 3, 2020

Forget Me Nots



Recently a dear new friend recited a children's poem 
in Polish to me, called Niezapominajki. 
Forget Me Nots.

I made this little drawing/painting to thank her.

 But now this seems like a serendipitous little post.   I may not make many more as the new format for posting is too complicated for me. I'd rather spend time with my art, though I love the 8 years I've been Sketchbook Wandering. 

(The name is copywrited & you may see it somewhere else along with my own name in the future.)

Niezapominajki were a favorite flower of my dear mother's. 

I loved seeing their lightness this spring during my early quarantine-time neighborhood walks. 

Niezapominajki
to są kwiatki z bajki!
Rosną nad potoczkiem,
patrzą rybim oczkiem.

Gdy się płynie łódką,
Śmieją się cichutko
I szepcą mi skromnie:
„Nie zapomnij o mnie”.

Monday, May 27, 2019

A Library in Québec & a French Translation of Love That Dog



Perhaps one doesn't think of a public library as thrilling...
but I WAS thrilled 
visiting the newly rennovated Bibliothèque Gabrielle-Roy 
in a lower, non-touristic section of hilly Québec City.
I found a French version of a favorite all-time book, 
Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech.

They totally changed the title. 
Translation is such a subjective art form. 
 They added illustrations. I did not prefer this.
The beauty of the non-illustrated original is 
in the words & the story.
They added borders & changed the location of the poem
"The Red Wheelbarrow".
I did not prefer this either.
The original book is pure & unadorned. 
The formatting & the white of the page 
work beautifully with the story, which is in verse.

Do read Love That Dog & you'll see!

(Like Jack in the story, I'm enjoying expressing my opinions!)



It's a beautiful book for adults, as well as for children.
 Poetry is the art form I least understood in school. 
The wonderful Miss Stretchberry, through Love That Dog
has helped me as an adult to understand more!
It says that Sharon Creech is an award winning author. 
But, unlike in the English version,
 it omits the information that she was a teacher. 
That is so important to this book! 
Love That Dog is used in many classrooms, 
along with her other books. It is about teaching,
finding one's voice, expressing oneself through writing,
feeling, learning, growing...

(See her website & her social media 
for more about teaching with her books.) 

My complaints aside, 
I'm thrilled that French language readers
have the chance to love this book by Sharon Creech
& that I found it at Bibliothèque Gabriel Roy in Québec!