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| All That Sunlight |
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This book,
published by Harper & Row (now HarperCollins) in 1967, was Charlotte's
first book of poetry for children. Though published almost forty years
ago, the collection is as timeless as the new eyes of young children,
viewing with wonder the astonishing and rich world around and within
themselves. From weeds to seagulls, shades of blue, to school, whistling
teakettles, crickets, other people and how we feel about them, Charlotte
reaches out with simplicity and grace. |
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The Poem |
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All That Sunlight
contains Charlotte's single most requested poem,
People. Here it is: |
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People |
Some people talk and talk
and never say a thing.
Some people look at you
and birds begin to sing.
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Some people laugh and laugh
and yet you want to cry.
Some people touch your hand
and music fills the sky. |
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If you would like to reproduce this poem for use
in your classroom, please be our guest. If you are interested in
publishing it as part of anthology or performing it on stage, please
contact Charlotte's poetry agent, Scott Treimel, who handles reprint
rights. You may email him:
st.ny@verizon.net. Also, if you would like to read another poem,
please go to CZ's Latest Project
where you may see some recent haiku.
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Errata |
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All That
Sunlight is dedicated to Tad
Mosel, an Ohio-born playwright who was a good friend of Charlotte's
and, she remembers, "A funny, funny man." Mosel's most
famous work is "All the Way Home", an adaptation of James Agee's
Pulitzer-winning novel, A Death in the Family. But though
the book is dedicated to Tad, Charlotte says that many of the poems
about friendship in the book were inspired by her relationship with
Dorothy Fields, a feisty friend who, with her husband, Daily
News columnist Sidney Fields, moved across the street from
Charlotte and Maurice in 1961.
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The book takes its title from the first poem in
the book: |
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Crocus |
Little crocus
like a cup,
holding all that sunlight up! |
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One spring Crescent, Charlotte's daughter, quoted
this to her friend Chou-Chou Yearsley. Chou-Chou, at the time, had just
bought a small cabin for herself and was trying to find a name for her
new home. After hearing this poem, she promptly named it "Crocus
Cottage." |
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Charlotte went on to write four other volumes of
poems for children, and to edit hundreds more, including those by
Paul Fleishman.
Fleishman's Joyful Noise: Poems for Two
Voices won a Newberry-Caldecott Award. |
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