My Heart is a Poem

The best poetry, whatever the subject matter engages the feelings of its readers. This anthology places feelings themselves centre stage. Readers will find poems about joy, excitement and surprises as well as fear, embarrassment and sadness. Mandy Coe’s opening poem encourages us to imagine what laughter might actually look like. In The Land of Blue unhappiness is described as a place waiting for you, and loneliness is personified in The Rider by Naomi Shihab Nye. Imagery for feelings abounds and this is juxtaposed with Jay Hulme’s poem Lost for Words about the absurdity of idioms and the difficulty of navigating their meaning. Feelings associated with particular situations are highlighted for example in Coral Rumble’s Ache about the agony of not being picked when teams are selected and how the prospect of homework can make you feel in Jack Prelutsky’s Homework, Oh Homework.

Diverse perspectives are represented with a range of lesser-known writers included alongside well-established and celebrated poets including Valerie Bloom, John Agard and the current children’s laureate Joseph Coelho. Biographies of the poets featured are included at the back of the book.

Artwork from four illustrators provides variety and makes this a very attractive volume. Part of the joy of poetry is the opportunity to bring your own meaning and interpretation to a poet’s words and it is the skill of the illustrator to reflect this and keep possible interpretations as open as possible. It is a pity that the final illustration restricts meanings children might bring to Elaine Laron’s beautiful poem entitled No One Else. This poem has a broad message telling readers that only they know how they feel and no one else can tell them what to like or who to love. The illustration could be seen to suggest the poem’s message refers only to gender identity.

Overall this is a beautiful book which, in line with the publishers’ intentions, helps to provide ‘a guide to the labyrinths inside ourselves, to recognise our own emotions and gain an insight into the emotions of others.’