It’s here! It’s here! It’s here!!!!! Our son’s first poem has been published!
Back in November, we walked down to our village library one afternoon. After returning our books, relaxing, and doing a little table work it was time to choose some new books to check out. While we were up at the counter chatting with our friendly librarians, I noticed a leaflet about a poetry contest so out of curiosity I picked one up and brought it home.
The contest was UK wide, and the topic was to write about your hometown. English has never been my strong subject, but that doesn’t mean I don’t consider it to be important. I thought it might be a bit of fun for Tristan to compose his first poem. I tried to explain what a poem was to him, and I transcribed the poem he composed. At the time he was four years old, and his topic was about the birds and the lighthouse in our village.
We sent the poem in – all it cost was the price of a postage stamp – and didn’t expect to hear anything back. Christmas passed, and then in January I received an email that at first look like spam…but then it clicked…it was about the poetry contest. I tried hard to contain my excitement until we received written confirmation later in the month from United Press Ltd.
Then the letter came…confirming that Tristan had not been chosen as top poet, but his poem had been chosen as ‘best of the rest’, and they wanted to publish Tristan’s very first poem in a book! There were over 10,000 entries from across the United Kingdom, and there are just over 200 poems included in this book. We are very proud of Tristan!
Now the day has arrived…more precisely, the advance copies of the books have arrived! It’s called “Homeland. A Collection of Poetry.” Tristan’s poem is on page 124. Would you like to read his poem? Tristan has happily agreed for me to publish it here in exchange for an afternoon of fun with Mom.
WE FEED THE BIRDS IN WHITEHEAD
Collared doves are in our garden.
They poop everywhere.
In our garden.
Our house is in Whitehead.
It is on Hillside Rise.
We love peregrine falcons.
In Whitehead.
Down at the birds.
We love the Lighthouse
With the light up.
The noisy horn
On the Lighthouse.
We were so proud of Tristan that we made an ‘event’ out of his achievement. Over the past few days he and his sister have coloured pictures of lighthouses and collared doves. We turned these into a banner; also note what the collared doves are doing! The children also made a lighthouse of their own using paper towel rolls, but I’ll write more about this at a later date.
We packed everything up and walked down to the local library and asked our lovely manager if we could set up a table for the ‘book signing’. She was so impressed with Tristan’s accomplishement that she offered up the library’s resident lighthouse to use as well. She became so wrapped up in our excitement that she even to her own photos!
It’s a small event, but family members have requested signed copies, so we’re having a little fun where this journey began! Who shall the first copy go to? Nana and Papa!
He is walking in his cousin’s footsteps. Cousin Andy (17) likes to write Haiku. You can see an example of his work here.
I wonder what future visits to the library will hold for us? There is always something interesting happening. Last year we spoke of their touchable art exhibit, and coming up they will hold a couple of art classes. Perhaps Tristan can be their new writer in residence and hold his own classes? Who knows where his future will take him?
