LEVITATE

by Rin de la Pena

In the first part of this series, lead poetry editor Liam Benham and I talk feelings, children’s poetry, and what makes a poem a poem.

Copyright Todd Parr 2000

RDP: So, Liam, tell me, what’s a book you remember reading either now or as a child that you think really shaped who you are as an artist or a person?

LB: A book I think that really shaped me as a child was definitely The Feelings Book by Todd Parr. It taught me that all feelings and emotions are okay and that really feeling the ups and downs in your life are very important and that you can’t define yourself based on one singular emotion. You’re a bunch of emotions and you have to accept who you are.

RDP: I think people often look down on children’s media because it’s, you know, very simple and dumbed down, but I think it’s very important in shaping the youth.

LB: Especially with his visual art style. It’s very simplistic, very, like–it’s not stick figures, but it’s also not the Mona Lisa. They’re very simple drawings, but I think that the emotions that are talked about are way more complex than what you see on the page.

RDP: Wait, was it just a picture book or, like, a poetry book with illustrations accompanying them? 

LB: Honestly, it sounds more like poetry if you read the book. It has a beat, a rhythm, repetition. And I think that Todd Parr, to my knowledge, is a poet who does children’s books, so…

RDP: Yeah. On the topic of poetry, a lot of people view it as boring or frustrating, or hard to understand. What’s your take on those stances?

LB: I think that poetry can be very direct and sometimes it can be very indirect, and I think the way we comprehend which is which and how I realize, like, what is this word telling me? What is this phrase telling me? That can really affect the way you hear poetry, how when you learn to analyze it because it’s very difficult to understand.

RDP: I know you’re doing another class project about Roald Dahl and his legacy and style. How do you think he, and poets like him, blur the lines between comedy and horror?

LB: I think that his way of doing it is very interesting, because a lot of his works are shown in media today, such as movies and musicals. And I think that they don’t really shine light on the horror aspect of it. For example, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: I feel like the book is way more vivid for a children’s book, and I think that the movie doesn’t express that. Or stuff like Matilda–it’s just played out for the screen and not a representation of what the book can be.

RDP: Given how notoriously hard it is to pin down the definition of a poem, I’m gonna ask what you look for when reviewing poetry submissions.

LB: When me and my team look through poetry submissions, I definitely want to look for passion. I wanna see analogy. I wanna see sound, I wanna see music, I wanna see story. I want to see all of the little things that make a poem so important. And if I notice that a poem is missing something or something along those lines, it’s not an instant decline. It’s “Hey, let’s think about this. What is this person trying to do with their work?”

RDP: Do you worry about some of the more, you know, vague-ish poems? Are you afraid that maybe it’ll alienate people who are just getting into poetry?

LB: I feel like definitely reading simpler poetry could help you. Like, let’s say you’re a beginner, and you’ve never read much poetry. I think starting with those simple poems can definitely help you gain an understanding of bigger themes and what poems can be like. And in Levitate, we kind of want to include a bit of everything. We want everyone to be able to read, everyone to be able to submit, no matter what age you are, no matter where you’re from, no matter where you are in the world. And I just think that having a very diverse poetry collection for our 10th edition is very crucial and needed right now.

RDP: I think that’s about time, but thank you for talking. This conversation has been great.

LB: You’re welcome!