Here Comes the Poetry Man, Poems for Young People (Heftet (myke permer))

Fred Sedgwick was born in Ireland and brought up in London. He has been a freelance writer, teacher and lecturer since 1990. He is the author of hundreds of poems in anthologies for children, and over thirty books: about teaching writing, Shakespeare and the Young Writer (Routledge), etymology (Where Words Come From, Continuum) and Art Education. He is a father (to Daniel) and a grandfather (to Malachi).

"Here Comes the Poetry Man" shows a passion for playing with words: how many rhymes are there for the last part of Eloise's name? How many names can you get into one poem? What are your favourite words? Can you write a poem about a beloved cat using a blues structure? It is about the big issues of life - birth, remembering your mother singing, sadness, fear, loss, love: love, that is of friends, family, foreign places, poetry - and a good take-away curry (more lovely words here). It addresses these issues with good humour (in both senses of the phrase) especially in its glimpses of family and school life, from babyhood's first hour, to Grandma and Grandad's golden wedding bash. It celebrates all kinds of human activity: moving house, being in a bad mood, falling in love (though not, please not, with Jenny), loneliness - and dancing the locomotion. It shows that kind of delight in nature that is, perhaps, special to a city boy who began to notice relatively late, once he'd moved to Suffolk, the times when spring came, and how clouds' shapes change, and the way a thaw transforms a landscape slowly but dramatically.It ends with a celebration of three great artists: the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti, the twentieth century poet Charles Causley, and the sculptor Alberto Giacometti. The poems in this book have all been road-tested many times in classrooms. The book will also appeal to individual children, and to adults too, especially if they have felt in the past that poetry ignores them.

He is one of that honourable company of poets ... who succeed in writing poetry for children and not condescending comic joke books. -- John Cotton Fred Sedgwick's poems beguile and delight the reader. They are beautifully crafted, and exhibit a gentle loving humour ! A bejewelled collection. -- Angela Topping

Acknowledgements First thing today Poem for Eloise Auntie's Boyfriend Eloise Alone My Grandparents' Golden Wedding Party Moving House A Disgusting Poem Favourite Words What the Headteacher said ... Loving Gertie Best Fall in love Notice on a Classroom Door Leave Charlie Alone The Fight Victoria's Poem Butterfly Stanley's Blues My cat Stanley My Cat Cleaning Himself Meeting Some Other Ark Once there was a unicorn Hunky-Dory Daly Under Snapshots Three for Winter Cinquain Prayer, February Night Thaw Elegy for Bonfire Night Three for Spring Blossoms Snowdrops Casting a Clout East Anglia The Oak Chest The thunder to the lightning In the house there are Hate sonnet Mr Khan's Shop Dance Poem Poetry Man 'Our God, heaven cannot hold him' Lord of all gardens (Kyrielle) After Giacometti (1901-1966) Requiem for a Cat