Equal
But not the same

Not in our loves
Our fears or our hopes
Not in our dreams
Or well-timed-out jokes
Not in our jobs
Or our choices of food
And certainly not in our kids
Or ours moods

And yet meet together
With hearts bruised and battered
And come to find out that
Where it really matters

We
Are
Equal

Created yet dead
And fallibly trying
Rescued and saved
Big truths now applying
Being saved sinners
Points to salvation
Meeting together
Builds up the foundation
Week after week
And year after year
Our branches grow out
But the vine keeps us near
Until all at once
We look back and see
That we’ve grown all together
Into God’s
One
Big
Diverse
Family

And now we can say
Without grimace or frown
The truth that brings heaven
Down here to this ground

That we are

Not the same
But equal

You didn’t know there was a #4 in the works now, did you? Full of surprises here… I’m working on compiling many of my poems–some published on this blog and some brand new–into a small book of poetry for adults! And that’s the reason for the many older poetry books in these photos. Doing lots of reading research, yay. There are days when I sit down to work on my next alphabet book, and all that will come are heartfelt words about a current circumstance. When I allow my hand to release those words, then and only then will the cutesy little alphabet rhymes come. It’s good practice to have a few things going at once, things that spark different parts of your brain, and that practice has been helpful to me.

Side note: I have become smitten with Wendell Berry’s writing. (The one pictured above is from Given; that book made me cry more than once. **affiliate link**) His poetry is so specific to himself, and yet somehow it speaks to me on such a personal level. I so desire to connect with people through my words in this way.)

My poems percolate for a while, swirling around like a snowball, accumulating extra snow with every roll. Hence, they can take weeks before they’ve collected enough snow to make their poetry snowmen (and therein lies my final winter analogy, because it’s SPRING, people!). Here are some current poems in the works:

“Here Today, Gone Tomorrow”
These petals turned a dead brown the next day.

“Your Promises Are No Good Here”
But we promise we’ll put the cushions back!

I’m not sure if this has a poem coming yet,
but this photo just makes me all kinds of aww and ack!

“A Tale of Two Me’s”
This one’s stewing about some changes I’ve undergone…
and what’s stayed the same through the process.

And lastly,

“Paranoid” OR “It’s For You”
This poem is being inspired by a hilarious poem (I don’t know who it’s by, but if anyone knows, you MUST let me know!) making light of anxiety. Anne Lamott talks in her book Bird by Bird (an excellent read if you need to be inspired in your own writing) about the importance of not taking our issues too seriously, and I’m ready to try it! But first, you simply must enjoy this poem with me. Don’t let me be the only one to read it over and over and laugh all the while…

We who are
your closest friends
feel the time
has come to tell you
that every Thursday
we have been meeting,
as a group,
to devise ways
to keep you
in perpetual uncertainty
frustration
discontent and
torture
by neither loving you
as much as you want
nor cutting you adrift.
Your analyst is
in on it,
plus your boyfriend
and your ex-husband;
and we have pledged
to disappoint you
as long as you need us.
In announcing our
association
we realize we have
placed in your hands
a possible antidote
against uncertainty
indeed against ourselves.
But since our Thursday nights
have brought us
to a community
of purpose
rare it itself
with you as
the natural center,
we feel hopeful you
will continue to make unreasonable
demands for affection
if not as a consequence
of your disastrous personality
then for the good of the collective.

Question: Do you read poetry? Check it out from your library? Buy it? Ebook or printed copy? Who are some poets you love? Aaand because I have to ask, do you have any favorites from my poems here on this blog that must be included in my book? Leave a comment or reply to the email.

**I may earn a small commission for my link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work in writing the best books I can.**

We printed the individual pages of both books large (11×11″) and have them displayed in the Warsaw Performing Arts Center now through August. I’ll be getting a couple groups together to go visit them during the morning hours (it’s inside the high school, so it sounds like you can’t just drop in); stay tuned on my Facebook page if you want to be included in a visit.

These are the illustrator’s original art sketches.

I’m also still open to school visits (I do charge). I love reading my books to younger grades, giving a behind-the-scenes look to upper grades, and even holding a Writer’s Workshop based on my books for middle and high schools. If you know a school in Northern Indiana who might be interested in having a local author come, send them my way! (The same goes for libraries. We have two great library programs themed around my books, and my summer is booking up fast!)

Update on Book #3

Most of my current reading has been poetry. I’ve been reading through classics, obscure poets, modern era, and up-and-coming poets–for both children and adults (more on that in the next post). My educational philosophy contains a lot of memorization, repetition, and copying the great works. So I figure, if I really want to write great rhymes for kids, rhymes that are fun and uplifting, inspiring and long-lasting, then I want to read and read and read great poems with great rhythm and great rhyme. My local librarians have been very helpful in referring me to many works I may not have previously considered (and even collecting them for me when my four children are all waiting to go play in the children’s section; may God bless all librarians everywhere!).

Christina Rossetti is one of my and my children’s favorite poets to read and memorize (White Sheep, Hurt No Living Thing, and Who Has Seen the Wind? to name a few). Isaac Watts, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and oh, I’m forgetting many! are other favorites of ours. Shel Silverstein is next for our list. Here’s a great website and another, if you need a starting point on which poems are worth committing to memory.

My oldest son has tucked several Robert Frost poems inside his heart, so when we found this treasure in our library, we simply had to check it out. AND WHAT A GEM IT IS! The author weaves bits of his poems throughout the narrative, showing the origins of some of Frost’s most well-known poems. It may be one I want to own; it’s that good. You really should check it out… (**affiliate link**)

If you would like to see my books in your local library, would you call/email them? I’m happy to call them myself, but librarians love to hear recommendations from patrons (not authors;)).

**I may earn a small commission for my link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work in writing the best books I can.**

I laugh with my friends
All morning
(And sometimes roll my eyes
But they can’t see)
They think I’m clever
(I think they’re
Funny
And too skinny)
We love each other
And like each other
And spend all day
Together
And then we glance up
Each in our own living rooms
To see children
And hear whining
We shiver
And LOL our OMGs
And go back to our friendships
Of over expressive emojis
And under expressed realities

You get to sit with a friend (most often while your hubby babysits your children).

You’re almost always the only book for sale there, making you in competition with no one.

You get invited into people’s homes.

You get to experience all kinds of weather (okay, this one may be a con, but remember, you get to choose what you say yes to!).

You get to hang out at local events, you know, with the locals.

You may chance upon a brand-new and highly marketed show, where you’ll break your selling record! (45 books, baby!)

You may be invited to sell your books next to Santa (!) and he may grant your request of publishing your next book next year.

You get all the stars and lights of craft show glory.

You have the opportunity to add readers to your email list (with their permission, people!).

And my #1 reason (okay, in this case #10) for selling your self-published books at craft shows is that you get to Meet People. Your readers, their parents, other vendors. Getting to introduce people face-to-face to your work, your labor of love, is my absolute favorite thing. Getting to hear their stories (of other writers they know), their dreams (of publishing their illustrations or stories themselves), and their reactions to my books all make craft shows totally worthwhile.

So what are you waiting for? Go sign up for one already!

I was at our local library (we’re what they call “regulars”–really, friends!), and I was talking with a children’s librarian (shout out to Miss Stephanie!) about another alphabet book and what would be inspiring and not necessarily typical. We threw around the idea of Disney princesses to give girls a little more buy-in to our books (although, many girls do love the shoes of The Shoephabet and the silliness of The Monsterbet). But licensing those trademarked names sounded like a nightmare to me, so we kept brainstorming.

I dug into my life, my values even. What books do I love to read to my own children? What makes it timeless or classic? If you’re in the homeschooling world for more than a minute (which we have been), classic literature is king. And the most basic classic literature is nursery rhymes. Now we were getting somewhere. But nursery rhymes are so short already; could I really write a short poem…about a short poem? Then it dawned on us–FAIRY TALES.

And so I’ve spent this whole school year so far including fairy tales in our Morning Time, fairy tales in my personal reading, fairy tales in our movies. I’ll show more sneak peeks as the time comes; you are going to LOVE it. About half and half for boy and girl fairy tales. Well-known and lesser-known tales. I’m all a flutter in anticipation! I’d be happy with a Fall publication, but with four littles and homeschooling and, you know, staying alive (and prayers for my illustrator to adopt a child…or two!), it’s hard to guarantee anything.

For other writing, I’ll still share personal poetry (when it’s your heartbeat, it stops for nothing!) and do craft shows and write other kid- and writing-related posts. But I anticipate it’ll be slower than once a week. You’ll be fine; your news feeds and inboxes have plenty of other things to keep them company in the meantime.

Blessings!
Sarah

Your family may support you

And little helpers cheer

And that’s not all that happened
In my 2016 year

Many schools made welcome

To hear me share my book

Son Corban clicked through PowerPoint

And we found other nooks

In libraries

And local stores

And even in the paper

(We made it thrice in color;
now that was quite the caper!)

Then work began on writing more

and drinking all things hot

Designer James played his main game
In making Book 2 ROCK

The second book was published

Business cards came out in pink

I bought a shirt to match them
(and wore it every week!)

I found a voice on Instagram

Sold books at ten craft shows

And then began the biggest plan

A book launch party to throw

The Paper helped us spread the word

And then I burnt my hand
(So badly that I nearly feared
I’d never write again!)

#slightexaggerationfordramaticeffect

The party planning was my life

As well as of my friends’

We cut and traced and glued and then

The party time began!

More cutting, gluing, smiling

And talking ’til we dropped
(And I was still two months away
From when my baby popped!)

I finally slowed down to a crawl
To welcome Baby 4

And then one fun October day,
we jumped back in for more

The Shoephabet turned one this year

We made a birthday cake

And took new, better pictures

It was time, for goodness’ sake

I tried to make a col’ring book
But couldn’t make it cheap

And so instead I listed it
On Etsy nearly free!

I closed the year by reaching out
To a nearby sewing friend

Who made two fabric alphabets
To match the books I’d penned

We shipped so many books out
We nearly have none left!
Right now, we’re still deciding
To buy more or just rest?

2016 gave me time
to write and plan and learn
And for this next year, I have hopes
But those will wait their turn

Winter

by Sarah Steele
January 2008

Winter is blue
like the water now frozen
in a sea of glass
like my hometown mug of hot cocoa
that warms me through the dark, cold nights
like the way I feel being stuck inside
without anywhere to run

Winter is white
like the freshly fallen snow,
inviting me to venture into the frost-bitten world
like the lights that wink at me and
beg me to stay out for just a minute longer
like our supima flannel sheets that wrap tightly
around a frigid body and make me long for more of night

Winter is silver
like the frost that coats the car,
forcing me to scrape its beauty to a heap on the ground
like the tinsel that twinkles in the Christmas lights,
inciting me to stay awake and just be
like Gramma’s stunning hair and Papa’s charming beard,
blending in with the surrounding scene

Winter is beautiful.

photo compliments of Jessica Manduka

How do you feel about winter?

Want to see more? Click here.

Thankfulness: An Unusual List
by Sarah Steele

Pain
Tears
Anxiety
Fears
Heart racing
Mind pacing
All unknowns
This year

Grief
Ache
How much can
Hearts take
Old mourning
New forming
All done for
My sake

All
This
Is my thankful
List
Christ molding
Ne’er scolding
‘Tis His faithful
Kiss