Children

As I child, I loved nursery rhymes—“Hickory dickory dock./The mouse ran up the clock./The clock struck one./The mouse went down./Hickory dickory dock.”... Goosey, goosey gander/Whither shall I wander/Upstairs and downstairs/And in my lady’s chamber...”—and so many others. When my daughter was little, we leaned into Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein. These days my two young grandsons sing right along with poems set to music (or is it music set to poetry?).

During this past pandemic year, I began to write poems for my grandsons. I wanted to entertain them, but I also needed a little comic relief from sad news on the TV, radio, and print media. The grimmer the news —the more outlandish and fun my poems.

The result is my new chapbook of poems for children: The Galloping Garbage Truck (Daffydown Dilly Press/Kelsay Books).

The collection—cover art and inside illustrations by my daughter, R.E. Anderson—includes the whimsical “How to Make a Grumpy Boy Smile”... “I Love Me Best”... “A Herd of Turtles in a Cloud of Heifer Dust”... and my personal favorite “The Girl with the Bow in Her Hair.”

There are encounters with raccoons (“Could We Be Friends?”), a nod to the U.S. presidential election (“She Can Be President, Too”), encouragement of healthy lifestyle choices (“Kale Salad”), and more. And there is a helpful glossary of word definitions at the end.

I loved writing these poems and am so grateful to Kelsay Books for publishing the collection. Most important of all, I am glad to know that parents and children will be sitting down together with The Galloping Garbage Truck—reading, laughing, and learning.

Also available via Amazon!