Shannon Bramer has published three books of poetry, two for adults and most recently, Climbing Shadows: Poems for Children.
You might say that she is obsessed with poetry. She worked at The Bookshelf for a couple of years at the end of the last century and in that time she started an annual poetry contest which we ran for 10 years. She was delightful to work with and we were sorry to see her move to Toronto.
For a time she worked as a lunch supervisor for a kindergarten class where she spread her love of rhyme, metre and the joy of the perfect word. She read the kids Emily Dickinson, Dennis Lee and Gwendolyn MacEwan, amidst the rush to get lunch boxes, trade sandwiches, perhaps spill drinks and then quickly go to the bathroom, put boots on, go outside.
They loved it so much that she promised each of them that she would write a valentine’s poem on anything they wanted. Each child picked a subject and she tailored a poem just for them and published it in Climbing Shadows.
I loved them all but one of my favourites is called A Question for Choying. It’s revealed on top of my favourite colours of blue and grey and green with trees and snow and a bird and a reindeer. The first line begins with a question.
Are you going to write it down?
And like the snow that is lightly falling in the illustration Shannon releases each line to float down in a stunning understanding of the creative process of writing. At the end again she asks.
Are you going to write it down?
You should because sometimes
the poem inside
disappears like a snowflake
This is so true. We should all carry pen and paper to capture something that may be vital.
In her author’s notes she says “My kindies learned that poetry could make them feel and see and remembers. A poem could tell a sad story or it could make them laugh; it could make them think.”
Shannon understands the tremulous nature of kid consciousness, especially just before they fall into sleep and it is fitting that she calls this collection Climbing Shadows. The beautiful dreamy illustrations by Cindy Derby illuminate the life of both daytime and nighttime.
When I asked Shannon why she loved poetry so much she said, “Poems are universes. They can be so tiny and they can hold so much inside them. In poetry words you use and words you don’t use are both significant. I love the silence in a poem as much as I love the music.”
Wouldn’t you love it if someone who understands and loves poetry read a poem a day to your kids at school? We need more of this in school and indeed in our own lives!
