A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt, Guests-Matt Forrest Esenwine and His Daughter, Katherine

Posted on by Penny Parker Klostermann

Bridget at wee words for wee ones is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today. If you’d like to know more about Poetry Friday, click HERE for an explanation by Renee LaTulippe.

Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)
Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)

Hello, Great Readers of our series! Just In case you haven’t visited before, let me tell you a little about A Great Nephew and A Great Aunt. My great nephew, Landon (a seventh-grader) and I (his great aunt) collaborate. I write a poem which he illustrates. We started this collaboration in the fall of 2014 and have had so much fun with it that we decided to invite others along. Landon and I will continue to have a new episode on one Friday of each month. The other Fridays are filling up quickly with guests. I have created a page on my website to view all the episodes of A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt. Click HERE to visit the page and enjoy past episodes.

Today it’s my pleasure to share a creative collaboration from . . .

Matt Forrest Esenwine and His Daughter, Katherine

From Matt: I looked at Katherine’s art and immediately thought of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot – which is a never-ending storm – but then thought it was too beautiful to be a storm. From there, as they say, the poem wrote itself!

 Katherine’s Artstorm-katie-copy

Matt’s Poemslide1

Matt and Katherinekatie-dad-1-copy

Many thanks to Matt and Katherine for sharing their talents with us today.

Matt Headshot 2015 crop copy
Meet Matt: Matt Forrest Esenwine has had several adult poems published in independent collections around the country, including the Tall Grass Writers Guild’s Seasons of Change, Trigger Warning: Poetry Saved My Life, and The 5-2: Crime Poetry Weekly, and others. In 2012 his poem, “Apple-Stealing,” was nominated by the Young Adult Review Network (YARN) for a Pushcart Prize.
Matt’s children’s poetry can be found in numerous anthologies, including Kenn Nesbitt’s One Minute till Bedtime (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2016), Lee Bennett Hopkins’ Lullaby and Kisses Sweet (Abrams Appleseed, 2015), and J. Patrick Lewis’ The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry (National Geographic Children’s Books, 2015), among others, as well as “Highlights for Kids” magazine. Matt’s two debut picture books, Flashlight Night (Boyd’s Mills Press), and Don’t Ask a Dinosaur (Pow! Kids Books), are scheduled for Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 releases, respectively.

Matt Forrest Esenwine
(603) 660-6989
matt@mattforrest.com

49 thoughts on “A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt, Guests-Matt Forrest Esenwine and His Daughter, Katherine”

  4. It’s interesting that Matt’s first connection with Katherine’s art was the red spot of Jupiter—my first thought was that it looked like a spiral galaxy with all the stars sprinkled therein. I guess that’s what comes of being married to an astronomer! I admire how Matt expertly condenses that larger than life storm into a small nugget of intense beauty. Thanks Penny, Matt and Katherine.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Thanks, Michelle, for your kind words. I have to admit, my second thought was, indeed, a spiral galaxy! But as I thought about each image, the Great Red Spot kept coming back to me…possibly because I have always been intrigued by the fact that it is a giant, earth-size storm that never ends, but just moves across the face of the planet. (I considered becoming an astronomer during my high school days!)

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Had I closed the tab
    had I gone for another coffee
    had I turned off the screen
    I would have missed the beauty
    of this poem.

    Thanks, Matt and Katherine

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Catherine is very talented! Such a beautiful depiction of a storm. Max was wise to sit with the painting a while before writing his lovely poem. When I first looked at the photo I immediately thought of a great “dot” entry for International Dot Day Sept. 15.

    Liked by 1 person

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