I always love when one of my poems is published, ready to be discovered by young, and young at heart readers.  Sometimes, that joy gets to be repeated when that same poem is republished, and shared with a new batch of readers. But how lucky am I to have that happen, with an extra cherry on top?

My poem Marmalade and Marmaduke was first accepted and published in  the School Magazine Blast Off in 2015.  I remember my delight at it being illustrated by the amazing Matt Ottley, and have shown it off many times since.

Fast forward to 2020 and I had an email asking for permission to reuse it in Countdown, another of the School Magazine’s publications. Of course I said yes, and was very chuffed. But mail is slow at the moment, and I wasn’t aware that the republication had happened – I am still waiting for my contributor copy.

So I was triply delighted when I was tagged in a Facebook post by the School Magazine alerting me to the fact that, to coincide with the publication, the poem had been recorded, read by Geoffrey McSkimming. What a fabulous reading – and a chance for me to share the poem here on Poetry Friday.

I love those cats – and yes, this is a poem about cats, and sunshine, and even punctuation, but it’s also a moment of coming together over finding something small in common. I’m working on gratitude at the moment, and today I’m grateful for poem videos,  Poetry Friday and  moments of peace.

Today’s Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Tricia  at The Miss Rumphius Effect. Tricia is sharing a thoughtful Golden Shovel poem, as well as linking to the other poetry goodness around the blogosphere.