'Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems' by John Grandits (LS 5663)

Grandits, John. 2007. Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems. New York: Clarion Books.

ISBN: 978-0-618-56860-3

Cover image from
Scholastic.com

The poetry in Blue Lipstick doesn't wait to start on the pages of the book.  The first poem appears on the cover, the words winding their way around the four edges, creating the frame of a mirror.  Appropriately enough, the title of the book appears to have been scrawled on the mirror in the eponymous blue lipstick, along with a lip print, made with the same blue lipstick.  What John Grandits creates on the following pages amounts to a series of vignettes in the life of fourteen year old Jessie.  The poems either relate events in Jessie's life (like when she tries to dye her hair blue in "Bad Hair Day") or wry observations about how well adults talk versus how well they actually listen to her responses ("Grownups: Talking A+, Listening D-").  Over the course of a school year, we can see Jessie's attitudes about cheerleaders (certain ones, anyway), her younger brother, and even the world around her gradually change.

Detail of "Purr Verse"
Photo by: L. Propes

Concrete poetry, or shape poetry, uses the arrangement of words on the page to convey meaning, mood, or rhythm.  Grandits uses the words to create visual images that represent the theme, subject matter, or action of each poem.  In "Volleyball Practice", Grandits uses the trajectory of a volleyball as it's passed from one player to another.  The lines of poetry in "Purr Verse" represent the sound waves of purrs emanating from Boo-Boo Kitty's head (Jessie's cat).  As a cat owner, erm...  cat minion... who lives with an "insta-purr" kitty, it's a pretty accurate representation.  In "Grownups Talking..." the words create the outlines of the heads of the people speaking in the poem.  The words run one into another, just the way adults can sometimes talk with teenagers, speaking without pausing to hear the answer from the teenager.  Grandits writes/draws Jessie's responses to the three adults in the poems.  They're short, almost exasperated responses, as if Jessie knows the adults aren't paying attention.  What's even more fun about this particular poem, is the way Grandits chose to draw Jessie's portion of the poem.  The lines shoot from her head, like Jessie's hair is standing on end in irritation.  Frankly, who can't relate to that, regardless of your age?

A grown up in "Grownups Talking..."
Photo by: L. Propes

The most "traditional" of the poems is a series of haiku titled "Poems Inspired by the Free Perfume Samples at Carson's," written as an assignment for Jessie's English class.  The assignment description reads, "Totally Lame English Assignment #19: Create a series of four to six haiku centred on a single theme" (Grandits 2007, 28).  The haiku are written inside a series of perfume bottles, descriptions of the scent inside.  They feature the aroma of the school bus driver, the lunchroom, and the girls' bathroom, among others.  Sometimes, the poems are written in a more traditional linear format.  Sometimes Grandits places the poem inside a picture ("Zombie Jocks") or uses words to create a picture of the concept or theme of the poem ("Pep Rally").  One of the more striking poems,  two actually, sort of serve as bookends to the book ("The Wall" and "The Wall (Revisited)").  Both feature a brick wall, with the people and things Jessie likes, loves, or tolerates on one side, with the things she passionately dislikes on the other.  In the beginning of the book, the wall his quite high, with relatively few things on the "like" side of it.  By the end of the book, Jessie has started to tear down the wall a bit, and many more people and things appear on the "like" side.

A grown up in "Grownups Talking..."
Photo by: L. Propes

Grandits employs just the right amount of adjectives to capture the exasperation, awe, playfulness, bafflement, and the other emotions Jessie feels.  Which is to say, that Grandits doesn't overdo it.  It's just enough to evoke the image of what Grandits would like to convey.  When Jessie describes her little cousin, Natalie, all Grandits (2007) has to say is that she has "the latest toys and the fanciest clothes" and the reader can see the new, educationally appropriate toys while wearing something loaded with status labels, straight out of a Pottery Barn catalog (21).  He doesn't use a great deal of figurative language, which is appropriate for Jessie's voice.  This is a person, after all, who alliteratively describes the regurgitated remains of a poem she wrote for Boo-Boo Kitty as a "Friskies-and-poetry pile of cat puke" (Grandits 2007, 37).

Jessie in "Grownups Talking..."
Photo by: L. Propes

The poems are often hilariously funny, wryly unsentimental, and sharply observant.  I laughed out loud at least once nearly every poem.  Most of the poetry topics are issues faced by girls (and some boys) every single day of high school.  We've all tried to impress someone and been unsuccessful.  We've all had a disastrous hair event.  If we don't have pesky little siblings, we are the pesky little sibling.  The poems are imminently relatable and beyond engaging.

The format of the book falls between a picture book and a verse novella.  It's a bit too long to be a verse picture book, although the illustrations and concrete poems certainly give it a picture book vibe.  It's not quite long enough to be a verse novel, or even a novella.  Ultimately, it's a very nice, thoughtful collection of poems from the point-of-view of a young lady over the course of several months.  The colors of the illustrations are mostly grey, blue, black, and white.  This doesn't detract from the overall quality of the illustrations and poetry.  Limiting the color palette draws the focus to the actual poetry.

There is a table of contents of sorts on the back cover.  It helps, sort of, but not very much, because there are no page numbers.  Grandits does include one really fascinating feature.  The last page of the book informs the reader what kind of software he used to create the poems and has a list of all the different fonts, which to be frank, is quite poetic on its own.  It might make an interesting exercise to try to create poetry using font names! Jiggery Pokery.  Werkstatt Engraved.  Uncle Stinky (really!).  Sloppy Joe.  It's almost like a DIY Magnetic Poetry Kit.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone looking to add more poetry to their library or classroom collection.

Photo of "Volleyball Practice"
Photo by: L. Propes

Detail of "Volleyball Practice"
Photo by: L. Propes

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Spotlight on...

"The Bowling Party"

The volleyball team went bowling.

Photo of "The Bowling Party"
Photo by: L. Propes

I'd never bowled before, but how tough could it be?
Well... I had 15 gutter balls.
Hard to believe, yet true.

My most successful shot
turned out to be one
that started off going straight
but then faded left
and knocked over only the 7 pin.
I did that three times.

One frame I just pushed the ball down the alley
It was looking good,
but it was moving so-o-o-o slowly,
it knocked over only the 1 pin
and then rolled into the gutter.

Another time I stumbled,
the ball bounced over the gutter,
and I got a strike in the WRONG lane!
The automatic scoreboard gave the other team the points.

My total score was 4.
The next lowest was 40!
But then LaShondra said,
"You'll do better next game."
and the other team bought me a Coke.
and I just had to laugh.
Maybe if I work at it,
I can bring my average up to 7.

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Concrete poetry can be fun for students of any age.  It doesn't have to be "artistic" or "pretty", and Grandits creates what looks like doodles and stick figures with his poetry.  After reading the poem and displaying it to the students, they can do what Jessie does and describe an event, like a family party or sports event from school, in concrete poetry.  Students can use any art form they choose to create the poem, including collage and typed words that they print and literally cut and paste.

If students cannot think of an event, they may use a subject or topic from one of their classes -- describing how they dissected a frog in science for example in the shape of a frog.

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Works Cited

Grandits, John. 2007. Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems. New York: Clarion Books.

'Doodle Dandies: Poems That Take Shape" by J. Patrick Lewis, images by Lisa Desimini

Lewis, J. Patrick. (1998). Doodle Dandies: Poems That Take Shape.  Ill. by Lisa Desimini. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks.  ISBN: 9780689848896

Photo by: L. Propes

Don't let the cartoonish-collage cover of Doodle Dandies fool you.  True, it is a book of poetry for younger children, but children of all ages can find something to appreciate between its covers.  There are nineteen poems in Doodle Dandies.  Most of them are short, perhaps a line or two at the most, and they cover a wide range of topics from a lady walking her dachshund in a poem titled appropriately enough, "Dachshund" to a widow mourning under the branches of a willow tree in "Weeping Willow".  What really sets Doodle Dandies apart from other works of poetry is the shape of the poems.  Each poem is arranged in such a way that it becomes an illustration in its own right, apart from the collage-style illustrations provided by Desimini.

Photo by: L. Propes

Most of the poems in Doodle Dandies rhyme, but without a consistent rhyme scheme.  In some poems the combination of rhyme and rhythm could easily become a playground or classroom chant.  This is especially true of "Dachshund" and "First Bud of Spring".  Lewis sprinkles alliteration to great effect throughout the poems, most notably in "Weeping Willow".  The alliteration adds to the rhythm of the poem with shorter words paired with a longer one.  As a quilter, I appreciated the imagery in "Synchonized Swim Team".  Lewis' describes a pool as "wrinkled waves... like a quilt of blue" with the swimmers' legs compared to a set of needles, "poking through".  In "Oyster Family", Lewis uses a sly play on words as he works his way through an oyster father, son, and daughter before arriving at "mother-of-pearl".  (As far as I know, any pearl oyster can produce a pearl.)  In other poems, the title becomes a seamless part of the poem (see "The Butterfly Is...").  For the most part, Lewis succeeds in making poetry accessible to children and adults.  Most of the subjects are related to animals and nature, which makes this book a perfect addition to any elementary school classroom, and even middle and high school classrooms.

There are times where the poems don't work, for one reason or another.  In "Winter", a lovely poem to look at, is nonetheless a bit difficult to actually read.   It seems as if the effort to make each word look like falling snow took precedence over making it where a reader could focus on the actual word. It might be discouraging for some readers.  "Halley's Comet" is the one poem where the rhythm feels rocky and awkward.  It doesn't flow out of a reader's mouth like the others, nor does it have the same funky sense of pace.  "Lashondra Scores" is another poem that has a fantastic message for the girl athletes in a class (Lashondra wins the game), the illustration might make some teachers and parents hesitate, especially if they recall the furor that arose when a teacher in New York introduced Carolivia Herron's Nappy Hair to her class.  It's a small thing, I know, but social media has a way of turning small, innocent illustrations into a larger tempest.

Photo by: L. Propes

The illustrations are presented in collage form, with some of the images enlarged to show the texture.  The letters that make up the book's title on the cover are taken from the illustrations in the book, with one of the poems' character making a cameo appearance.  The combination of illustrations with the poems works very well, providing a background for the language.

Desimini's illustrations complement the images Lewis creates with his poetry, rarely overshadowing the poems, often adding a layer of additional information for the reader. Again, returning to "Weeping Willow"...  The poem is such a perfect mixture of illustration, poetry, and emotional impact.  It makes a reader ask questions.  Why is the widow hiding under the tree?  Is she the only mourner at her spouse's funeral?  Has she stopped under the tree to collect herself, perhaps because there might be small children with her?  Like I said, there is something in this book to appeal to all ages.

Photo by: L. Propes

Considering most of the poems have a nature theme, it isn't too far of a stretch to imagine a science teacher using the poems to introduce a lesson.  The poems aren't limited to biology.  "Skyscraper" would make an excellent physics warm-up.  "Halley's Comet" would also make a good introduction to astronomy or a transition from one part of the solar system to comets in general.  Some poems could be used in parallel with others, like "Casey At the Bat" or "The Tyger". In the current educational climate, differentiated education is the rage.  Image poems, like Lewis', could be a way to encourage a child of a more artistic bent to think about language.  Asking them to create an image poem would turn words into art, but at the same time, make them think about the specific word choice so that it not only paints a picture with images, but with sound.

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"The history of poems shaped on the page goes back at least to the seventeenth-century poet George Herbert, and certainly Lewis Carroll used it well in Alice.  Desimini and Lewis take that tradition to rowdy new heights... The very mixed-media art is full of textures and dark, rich colours that repay close examination.  A dandy way indeed to begin a journey to poetry." -- Booklist, July 1998

Photo by: L. Propes

"Lewis... has created an inventive collection of concrete poems.  In each selection, the essence of the subject is captured in the typeface used for the words, the shape in which the lines are arranged, and through Desimini's brilliant mixed-media collages...  Doodle Dandies captures the joy that wordplay can bring." -- School Library Journal, August 1998 

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Works Cited:

DeCandido, GraceAnne A. 1998. Books for youth: Books for middle readers. Booklist 94 (21/22) (July): 1876.

Whalin, Kathleen. 1998. Preschool to grade 4: Nonfiction. School Library Journal 44 (8) (August): 153.