Review
Inside Out: Children’s poets discuss their work(Walker Books)
The Rhyme Inside
Ailbhe Darcy re-awakens her inner child with this collection of children’s poetry from around the world.
How my heart thrilled when I saw this many-legged, multi-coloured octopus-seahorse of a book! It is gloriously produced, with curves for corners and a skin that thirsts for touch. All the grown-up tomes pale beside it on my bookshelf.
Jon Arno Lawson has brought together 24 poets from across the English-speaking world (there seems to be a disproportionate contingent from Guyana, for some reason) who each contribute a poem and several pages of their secret thoughts about it. Some do better than others. Jeanne Steig made me laugh out loud on the train, with her bickering brigand and bear. “The best thing by far,” bawled the brigand, “is baklava.” / “Bosh!” boomed the bear. “It can’t possibly be.” Lawson’s own poem made me thrill all over again and set to work learning it off by heart:
They danced, they danced – the Octopus-Seahorse dance – in their many-legged multi-coloured barnacle-covered pants…
Best of all, this book is distinctly not patronising. I wish I had it when I was growing up. I can imagine some budding young poet growing up with it. I can imagine some smart, word-hungry kid treasuring this book for years and years and years. Recommended.
