Poetry Friday: ALWAYS WINTER

This is a poem by twelve-year-old Eva Dehart, from my novel, Eva of the Farm. Eva's parents have to sell the apple orchard where she lives, called the Farm, due to the bad economy and the fire blight that destroyed the crop.

ALWAYS WINTER

Yellow school buses squirt
down the snowy road
like Twinkies on wheels.
I wait for mine to gobble me up--
wait beside the "For Sale" sign
swinging in the wind.

I want to stay home on the orchard
instead of sitting
packed like a sardine in school.
I want summer--
     crickets rampaging
     hammock swinging
     skylight shining
     fish biting.

My bus screeches to a stop
to pick me up.
I stomp up the steps
into a stink like the inside
of an old man's boot.

Through the steamy window
I see Dad pruning the apple trees.
See scraggly branches
littering the snow like giant antlers--
and know that it is still winter
and probably always will be--
because there will never be
another summer
at the Farm--
because I will no longer be
Eva of the Farm.

--Eva of the Farm
     

HAMMOCK QUEEN: Poetry Friday

Below is one of the poems that Eva writes in EVA OF THE FARM



HAMMOCK QUEEN

In the hammock
I am a queen
in a swinging throne of string
borne by two tall knights--
the maple trees.

I toss dried corn
to my grateful subjects--
gray squirrels who peer
and chatter at me,
paying homage.

On my right stands
the boundary of my kingdom--
the tall deer fence.
Beyond it the wild world
of the canyon threatens--
beckons--
riddled with dragons,
promises of shining treasure,
and perilous quests.

But here, 
on my side of the fence, is the Farm--
with rows of apple trees
lined up like soldiers.

Here, in a throne of string,
beside the wild world,
I sway,
stricken to the heart with earth and sky,
knowing,
I belong to this, my apple kingdom.

Eva of the Farm

DOUBLY DAZZLED!

I am doubly dazzled today. First, by acclaimed author Frances O'Roark Dowell's praise for After the River the Sun, my forthcoming companion novel to Eva of the Farm. O'Roark Dowell, the author of Chicken Boy and The Second Life of Abigail Walker, wrote:

In After the River the Sun, Dia Calhoun has written a quietly powerful story of a boy who steps out of a fantasy world of knights and monsters into a real-life quest for family and home. Calhoun deals with loss, healing and friendship in language that is both direct and lyrical, making every page of this marvelous book a pleasure to read.
       --Frances O’Roark Dowell

Second, I am dazzled by the cover for After the River the Sun, illustrated by Kate Slater, designed by Sonia Chaghatzbanian, and shepherded by the ever-patient, ever-watchful Ariel Colletti.

Thanks to everyone for making this book so beautiful. I can't wait until it finds its way into the world this July.