The Place My WORDS Are Looking For
selections by Paul Janeczko

Bibliography: The Place My WORDS Are Looking For. 1990. Poems selected by Paul Janeczko. New York: Bradbury Press. 1990. ISBN 0027476715

The Place My WORDS Are Looking For is a collection of poems selected by Paul Janeczko. This book consists of the works of thirty-nine outstanding poets and discussions of their inspirations in writing poetry, thoughts, dreams, imaginations, memories, how it feels to write poetry and the type of poetry they enjoy writing. The poems offer a variety of topics for all ages including animals, nature, objects, shape poems, friends, family, nature, love. Throughout the book, black & white photographs of the poets are included within the pages of their works.

Works that I found interesting include this descriptive poem of birds on page 96 of the book:

How Birds Should Die
by Paul Zimmer

Not like hailstones
ricocheting off concrete
nor vaporized through
jets nor drubbed
against windshields
not in flocks
plunged down into
cold sea by
sudden weather no
please no but
like stricken cherubim
spreading on winds
their tiny engines
suddenly taken out
by small pains
they sigh and
float down on
sunlit updrafts
drifting through treetops
to tumble gently
onto the moss


Reading this poem, I could visualize and relate to this experience with my own experiences of a bird or two hitting my windshield. The words used in this poem are powerful such as “like hailstones ricocheting off concrete”.

The following poem is also very powerful. After reading the poem through three times, it finally hit me… the poem is descriptive and the words give a visual image of the true meaning of love.

New Love
by Eve Merriam

I am telling my hands
not to blossom into roses

I am telling my feet
not to turn into birds
and fly over rooftops

and I am putting a hat on my head
so the flaming meteors
in my hair
will hardly show.

Extension: Read these poems to teen or young adults asking for open discussion of the poems. Encourage group participation as they discuss these poems and experiences of their own that left them feeling sad, lonely, love, strong, powerful, happy etc.
Hand out a blank sheet of paper and have the students write the words of New Love on the paper in the center. Then have them illustrate this poem, it would be interesting to see how they would draw the hands.

Paul Janeczko had one poem in the collection on page 88-89. He also discussed writing the poem based on experiences. He discusses the concept of many poems being born of contradictions and how he had experiences, but they were combined with his thoughts to write the poem. He considers the poem to be a love poem of his parent’s love for him and taking care of him. His experiences in the poem are not his true experiences in life, with the exception that he worked at the church bingo, but his dad worked two jobs and never washed dishes or read the paper. His mom never played bingo because she was always taking care of the house and Paul. This poem is of love and Paul’s desire for his mother to do something for herself.

Bingo
by Paul Janeczko

Saturday night
Dad washed, I dried
the supper dishes
while Mom armed herself
for Early Bird bingo at seven
in the church basement:
her lucky piece
(a smooth quarter she’d won the first time out},
seat cushion,
and a White Owls box of pink plastic markers.

Dad read the paper
watched TV with me
until Mom returned,
announcing her triumph with a door slam
and a shout
“I was hot!”

Flinging her hat,
twirling out of her jacket,
she pulled dollar bills
from her pockets
before setting them free
to flutter like fat spring snow.

“Ninety-two dollars!” she squealed
as Dad hugged her off the floor.
“Ninety-two dollars!”

In bed I listened to
mumbled voices
planning to spend the money --
on groceries
school clothes
a leaky radiator --
and wished she’d buy
a shiny red dress
long white gloves
and clickety-click high heels.

Extension: Read the poem aloud and ask the children how the poem made them feel. Play bingo with $100 prize and ask the winner to share with the class what they would do with their winnings. Ask the children to find similar poems about love, family, and poems written by Paul Janeczko.

I thoroughly enjoyed the works that are tucked inside the pages of this collection. The poets included in the anthology include such names as Karla Kuskin, Naomi Shihab Nye, Jack Prelutsky, Paul Janeczko, X.J. Kennedy, Myra Cohn Livingston and more. Seeing the authors pictures while reading their works and their testimonies brought me closer to each poet, helped me to understand why the poems they wrote and the emotions tucked inside each poem. I really enjoyed this book and encourage everyone to read it.

Additional Poetry collections by Paul B. Janeczko include:
Strings: A Gathering of Family Poems
Pocket Poems
Poetspeak: In Their Work, About Their Work
Don’t Forget to Fly
Postcard Poems
This Delicious Day: 65 Poems
The Music of What Happens: Poems That Tell Stories
Going Over to Your Place: Poems for Each Other


Original Poetry:
Brickyard Summer