Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • National Poetry Month
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

Poet-a-Day: Meet Marjorie Maddox

By Tania Runyan 8 Comments

Pink Magnolia Poet-a-Day Mary Poppins poem

Poet-a-Day: Meet Majorie Maddox

Marjorie Maddox, whom I met at a discussion circle I led at the Calvin Festival many years ago, is one of the most prolific and engaging poets I know. I’m fairly certain she’s written in every form invented since the beginning of poetic time. When she heard about How to Write a Form Poem, she submitted many lovely examples, but the pantoum below happens to be my favorite.

Here are the first few stanzas from “Bouncing Between Beds with Song.” You can find the whole poem in How to Write a Form Poem.

How to Write a Form Poem-A Guided Tour of 10 Fabulous Forms-poetry writing book

Bouncing Between Beds with Song (excerpt)

See the magnolia bursting
with what could be and the blue-grey
two-story shy beside it? There,
go in now, up the stairs and back too many years

into what could be, into the blue-grey
and stair-stepping into the long hallway of age,
go in now, staring full-face all the many years
that separate adult’s bed from child’s dream.

Two-stepping down the long hallway of age,
here where you cannot stand still—
between adult’s bed and child’s dream—
this is where you learned to fly…

—Marjorie Maddox

Here’s what the poet has to say about her pantoum:

Tania Runyan (TR): Tell me a little about the origin story of “Bouncing Between Beds with Song”:

Marjorie Maddox (MM): Like many of my poems, “Bouncing Between Beds with Song” began with a memory of sound, movement, and image. I am the middle child of three children, and up until I entered the first grade, we lived in a blue-grey house with a beautiful magnolia tree in the front yard. The children’s rooms (I shared with my sister) were on the second floor at one end of a long hallway, my parent’s bedroom at the other.

At the time, Mary Poppins was a favorite movie, and I knew every song by heart. My two most vivid memories of that house are the blooming magnolia tree and running from one bedroom to another, bouncing on every bed, and singing at the top of my lungs “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.” These are memories I still associate with beauty, joy, and a sense of carefree abandonment.

TR: Why did you choose to write the poem as a pantoum? Or did the form “cause” the poem?

MM: The music, the motion, and the images of that one childhood experience rushed back—the way many recollections do—quickly and vividly, the poem transitioning naturally to a meditation on memory, choice, aging, and writing.

Why, though, a pantoum? Two reasons:

1) In 2012, I was taking part in a small writing retreat housed at an old convent. Most of the attendees were published children’s authors there to “stretch and grow” as poets. I was primarily a poet, who also writes children’s books, attending to learn more about children’s literature. Each year, the group hosted an award-winning visiting poet to lead workshops. So, both childhood and poetry were on my mind. This poem came out of a discussion of and workshop on writing the pantoum, led by Lesléa Newman.

2) Because of its use of repetition, the pantoum seems to me one of several forms (alongside the villanelle and the triolet) particularly suited for a meditation on memory. The movement of a pantoum is, indeed, one of remembrance—repetition and variation—and the ways we are encouraged or haunted by such memories.

TR: What do you hope poets can learn from a book like How to Write a Form Poem?

MM: That the fence of poetic form quite often opens the gates into a vast landscape of imaginative freedom, terrain you may not have anticipated or even known existed. Allow yourself the joy of exploration.

About Marjorie Maddox

Marjorie Maddox poet-a-day photo
Winner of America Magazine’s 2019 Foley Poetry Prize and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Lock Haven University, Marjorie Maddox has published eleven collections of poetry—including Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation (Yellowglen Prize and finalist for the Brittingham Poetry Prize); True, False, None of the Above (Poiema Poetry Series, Illumination Book Award Medalist); and Perpendicular As I (Sandstone Book Award). She is also the author of four children’s and YA books and 600+ stories, essays, and poems in journals and anthologies. Her book Begin with a Question is due out from Paraclete Press in Spring 2021. The chair of the jury of judges for the 2020 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Book Award, she gives readings and workshops around the country.

Hear Marjorie Read “Bouncing Between Beds With Song”

go to 52:12 to hear Marjorie read
 

Photo by Liz West, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Tania Runyan.

Browse more Poet-a-Day
Browse 50 States of Generosity
Check out The Yellow Wall-paper Graphic Novel

 
How to Write a Form Poem-A Guided Tour of 10 Fabulous Forms-poetry writing book

BUY ‘HOW TO WRITE A FORM POEM’ NOW!

5 star

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Tania Runyan
Tania Runyan
Tania Runyan lives in Lindenhurst, Illinois, a sort-of suburb, sort-of small town, where the deer and the minivans play. She's a 2011 NEA fellow and mama to four poetry books—A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, Delicious Air, and What Will Soon Take Place—and three (much cuter and noisier) human children. Tania is also the author of five non-fiction books—Making Peace with Paradise, How To Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, How to Write a Form Poem, and How to Write a College Application Essay. Visit her at TaniaRunyan.com
Tania Runyan
Latest posts by Tania Runyan (see all)
  • Flowers of California: California Poppy - December 8, 2022
  • Flowers of California: Lily of the Nile - October 13, 2022
  • Flowers of California: Crape Myrtle - October 5, 2022

Filed Under: Blog, Childhood Poems, English Teaching Resources, How to Write a Form Poem, Interviews, Pantoum Poems, Poet-a-Day, poetry, poetry teaching resources, Poets, writer's group resources

Get Every Day Poems...

About Tania Runyan

Tania Runyan lives in Lindenhurst, Illinois, a sort-of suburb, sort-of small town, where the deer and the minivans play. She's a 2011 NEA fellow and mama to four poetry books—A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, Delicious Air, and What Will Soon Take Place—and three (much cuter and noisier) human children. Tania is also the author of five non-fiction books—Making Peace with Paradise, How To Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, How to Write a Form Poem, and How to Write a College Application Essay. Visit her at TaniaRunyan.com

Comments

  1. Marjorie says

    April 2, 2021 at 7:29 am

    Tania, thanks so much for these interviews and—of course—for this wonderful book. I and many others are looking forward to the new poems that you will help usher in with your good work. Gratitude!

    Reply
    • Tania Runyan says

      April 2, 2021 at 9:47 am

      Thank YOU! And I love what you have to say about form. I truly hope a form renaissance results from this book and all of these wise words!

      Reply
      • Marjorie says

        April 2, 2021 at 10:37 am

        Oh, and I confess (with shame) that I don’t think I’ve ever written a haiku (except maybe in elementary school)! Unbelievable. I’m sure that your book will change that. 🙂 Are there forms that you tried for the first time when writing this book?

        Reply
        • Tania Runyan says

          April 2, 2021 at 10:42 am

          And I bet the way you were taught haiku in elementary school is different from what you’ll discover in the book! (Hint: no 5-7-5, at least in the way we were all taught). I had indeed tried every form in the book before writing it with the exception of the some of the variations/extensions Sara Barkat added in the “Go the Extra Mile” sections. I’ll be trying them out soon!

          Reply
  2. Sandra Heska King says

    April 2, 2021 at 8:41 pm

    “. . . the fence of poetic form quite often opens the gates into a vast landscape of imaginative freedom, terrain you may not have anticipated or even known existed.” I love that.

    I also love imagining you bouncing on every bed and singing that great song.

    Reply
    • Marjorie says

      April 3, 2021 at 7:24 am

      Sandra,

      Isn’t it amazing how some memories vividly stay with us throughout our lives? This childhood memory is, for me, one of those, full of joy and possibility–just like the song.

      Reply
  3. Laurie Klein says

    April 6, 2021 at 5:03 pm

    Marjorie, I love the playful way you enter and seamlessly bring us along with you, reliving a small island calmly afloat in the slippage of time. You are one of the most versatile, winsome, articulate, adventurous, and prolific poets I like to think that I know . . . a wee bit.

    Reply
    • Marjorie says

      April 6, 2021 at 5:58 pm

      Aw, thank you. And more than a wee bit! Poetry buds become friends quickly…

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Cute Comic

😊

The Sadbook Collections

A stick-figure human sure to capture your heart.

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our March Menu.

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

Now a Graphic Novel!

"Stunning, heartbreaking, and relevant illustrations"

Callie Feyen, teacher

read a summary of The Yellow Wallpaper

meet The Yellow Wallpaper characters

Your Comments

  • Laurie Klein on Poems to Listen By: Black Bird Soirée 04—A Plausible Story
  • Bethany on Poems to Listen By: Black Bird Soirée 04—A Plausible Story
  • L.L. Barkat on 50 States of Generosity- New Jersey
  • 50 States of Generosity- New Jersey - Tweetspeak Poetry on Poetry at Work: The Doctor—William Carlos Williams

How to Write Poetry

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Coloring Page Poem Printables!

Get all free coloring page poems now

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Annual Theme 2022: Perspective
  • • Annual Theme 2021: Generous
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • How to Write Form Poems-Infographics
  • • Poetry Club Tea Date
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2023 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy

We serve poetry with our cookies. Because that's the way it should be.
We serve poetry with your cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you... accept the cookies with a smile.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
update cookie prefs

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT