sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday: Walking the Dolphins

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Every Friday I have to drop my son at work very early. this is a good excuse for me to have an early morning beach walk – usually at my favourite dolphin-spotting beach. The dolphins dictate how far I walk, because if there are no dolphins (which is rare) I just walk the length of the beach and turn around again. But if they’re there, I tend to walk further, but will change my direction regularly so I can keep them in sight and find it hard to leave the beach while there are dolphins in sight. After these walks I often tell my family I’ve been ‘walking the dolphins’ and, of course, this has lead to a poem.

 

Look closely – there are two dolphins INSIDE the wave, having a ride.

Walking the Dolphins

Some people like to walk their dogs

I see them in the park

From early in the morning

Until late, long after dark.

 

Some dogs on leads; others romp

Or fetch a stick or ball

Some owners watch their dogs from seats

Not walking much at all.

 

Me? I walk the dolphins

The pooches of the sea

Up and down the beach I go

And dolphins follow me

 

I’m on the sand, they’re further out

But I watch them swim and play

Some times they jump and flap about

And sometimes gently sway

 

I hardly note how far I’ve walked

Up and down the shore

Watching cetaceous friends cavort

Just leaves me wanting more

 

And later on it comes to me

As I turn back from the sea

It’s not me that’s been walking them

But they that have walked me.

 

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy 2017)

 

In case you you haven’t seen it before, here’s my favourite bit of video of one of ‘my’ dolphins coming closer to say hello.

 

Have a great Friday. Today’s Poetry Friday Round Up is hosted by Karen Edmisten. SO, to read lots more poetry goodness, head over there.

Postal Treasures – and a Bookmark for YOU

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My postman has been kept busy later, bringing me all kinds of goodies. First, I came home to a bulk package from Fremantle Press. It was filled to the brim with these delicious bookmarks, to promote my forthcoming junior novel, Looking Up:

 

Delicious, aren’t they? If you’d like me to send one your way, I will. All you need to do is take a shelfie (photo of your bookshelf) or a selfie (photo of you) featuring one or more of my books and post it on Twitter, Instagram or my Facebook Page. Tag me (on Twitter or Instagram), then message me privately with your address and I will sign and send you a bookmark. Easy peasy. I’d like to be able to share your photos, so if you are under 18 make sure your parents know what you are doing.

I’d barely recovered from the excitement of having brand new bookmarks, when postie came with another package. This time it was my author copies of my newest book, Sage Cookson’s Fishy Surprise, the third in the series.  I couldn’t wait to line them up with the first two books – and my Sage doll, of course.

 

All three books are in good bookstores now, with three more titles still to come.

 

Much nicer postal goodies than a bunch of bills, wouldn’t you agree?

Poetry Friday: This is Just to Say

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Earlier this week, I posted about mentor text, and how can use them to inspire new poems of your own. Today, I wanted to share another effort. This one is based on what I suspect might be the most-used mentor-text poem ever, and a poem which changed my world.

First, the poem, by William Carlos Williams, which I hope you’ve come across before:

This is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox    (read the rest of this copyright poem here)
This poem, written as a note of apology, was one of the first free verse poems I remember reading. It was my first year of high school, and our teacher gave us the poem to read, discuss and, yes, mimic in poems of our own. I remember being amazed that poems could be written that way. Years later, when I wrote my first verse novel, Pearl Verses the World, I gave that experience to Pearl:
Pearl Verses the World
One day Granny read me
A poem
About a man stealing a plum
Granny, I remember saying
Why are there no rhymes
In that poem?
Granny laughed.
Why, Pearl, didn’t you know
A poem does not have to rhyme?…
A poem, comes
When it is needed
And writes itself
In the way it needs
To get its point across.
(from Pearl Verses the World,  2009, p. 63 Copyright Sally Murphy)

 

Anyway, back to the use of a mentor text. Williams’ This is Just to Say ahs been used in classrooms and by writers as a mentor text many many times.  There have even been books written based on the poem, my favourite of which is Joyce Sidman’s This is Just to Say: Poems of  Apology and Forgiveness.

Here is my own attempt a ‘This is Just to Say’ poem. I stuck with  the food  theme, and also gave an extra nod to Williams’ poem with my mention of plums.

This is just to say

I have eaten

the cake

that was in

the pantry

 

and which

you were probably

saving

for visitors.

 

Forgive me.

We had

no peaches

and no icy plums.

 

(Copyright Sally Murphy, 2015)

 

Have you ever written a This is Just to Say Poem? Or do you have your own favourite mentor text? I’d love to hear about it.

This post is part of Poetry Friday, where bloggers around the world post about poetry every Friday. Later today, you’ll see a round up of all the Poetry Friday posts at Penny’s blog.

Hooray and Huzzah: Roses are Blue is Shortlisted

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It’s a happy day! Actually, every day is a happy day, but today is even happier, with the news that Roses are Blue has been shortlisted for the WAYBRA Awards.

WAYRBA – the Western Australian Young Readers’ Book Awards – are readers’ choice awards, meaning that the shortlisted books are nominated by young readers, and then it is young rea
ders who get to vote for their favourite.  These are my favourite kind of awards because just to be nominated mean that kids like my book. And, after all, the people I most want to like my books are kids – young readers – who I am writing for.

So hooray and huzzah for being shortlisted, alongside other wonderful books from around Australia and around the world. You can see the shortlist here.

Cover Reveal: Looking Up

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What a great start to the year! I am loving 2017. Yesterday it was the release of Something Fishy. Today, it’s the discovery that my forthcoming junior novel, Looking Up, is on the Fremantle Press website.

 

So I figured it was a time to do a cover reveal here on the site. So, drumroll please [ba bump ba bump ba bump ba bump ba bump), here, ladies and gentlemen is the beautiful cover of Looking Up:

 

looking-up

The cover artwork is amazing, isn’t it. The illustrator, Aska, is so very talented!

Every new book is special to me, but there is something super lovely about being published by Fremantle Press. I have been submitting to them ever since I started writing for children. And, finally, I sent them the right book at the right time. Hooray!

Looking Up will be released in April this year. I can’t wait!

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