by Jane Yolen
She’s an arrow
From a bow.
We watch in wonder
From below.
Origami
Neck is folded.
All that we can do?
Behold it.
Angel wings
Of purest white.
Perfect flyer.
Perfect flight.
Copyright © 2010 Jane Yolen. From the book An Egret’s Day. Boyds Mills Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.
I come from a family of birdwatchers and many of my poems are about birds. My late husband, David Stemple,(“Pa” in Owl Moon) taught us all how to bird though our three children are much better birders than I am. Though they haven’t written as many bird poems!
Jane Yolen, often called “the Hans Christian Andersen of America”(Newsweek) and the “Aesop of the Twentieth Century” (N.Y. Times) is the author of well over 335 books, including Owl Moon, The Devil’s Arithmetic, and How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight. Her work ranges from rhymed picture books and baby board books, through middle grade fiction, poetry collections, nonfiction, and up to novels and poetry and story collections for young adults and adults, too. She has also written lyrics for folk rock singers and folk rock groups, several animated shorts, and done voice over work as well as talk radio.
Her books and stories have won an assortment of awards–two Nebulas, a World Fantasy Award, a Caldecott, the Golden Kite Award, three Mythopoeic awards, two Christopher Medals, a nomination for the National Book Award, and the Jewish Book Award, among many others. Her poetry has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize. She is also the winner (for body of work) of the World Fantasy Assn. Lifetime Achievement Award, Science Fiction Poetry Association Grand Master Award, the Catholic Library’s Regina Medal, the Kerlan Medal from the University of Minnesota, the 2012 du Grummond Medal, the Smith College Alumnae Medal. She taught for seven years at Smith College, her alma mater, and lectured at colleges, libraries, and schools around the world. Six colleges and universities have given her honorary doctorates.
Also worthy of note, she lost her fencing foil in Grand Central Station on a date, fell overboard while white water rafting in the Colorado, and her Skylark Award–given by NESFA, the New England Science Fiction Association–set her good coat on fire.
If you need to know more about her, visit her website at: www.janeyolen.com