24 Wednesday Sep 2025
Posted in Poet's Perspective
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by Paige Vinten Taylor
Continue reading17 Wednesday Jul 2024
Posted in Community Corner, Poet's Perspective
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California Poets in the Schools, education, interview, Jessica Wilson, K-12, poetry, poets, schools, students, teaching
by Paige Vinten Taylor
California Poets in the Schools Poet-Teacher Jessica Wilson brings poetry to students at elementary, middle, and high school levels. As CalPoet’s area coordinator for Los Angeles County, she onboards new Poet-Teachers and manages new opportunities for the program. Jessica is also active in the broader Los Angeles poetry community, including as founder and director of the Los Angeles Poet Society, whose offerings include year-round open mic events, a Creative Aging Senior Advocacy program, and Bilingual Poetry Workshops for all ages.
Continue reading10 Wednesday Jul 2024
Posted in Community Corner, Poet's Perspective
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California Poets in the Schools, education, interview, K-12, Meg Hamill, poem, poems, poet, poetry, poets, schools, students, teaching, writing
by Paige Vinten Taylor
California Poets in Schools (CalPoets) is a thriving program that encourages students to write. Established in 1964, the nonprofit has been successful not only in improving its students’ writing skills, but also in enhancing their personal development. Part of what makes it so special is that the medium used is poetry. I was fortunate to interview Executive Director Meg Hamill for Kite Tales.
Continue reading31 Wednesday Jan 2024
Posted in Author's Perspective, Poet's Perspective, Tips and Tools
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April Halprin Wayland, interview, Janet Wong, Myra Cohn LIvingston, Orange Marmalade, Paige Vinten Taylor, poetry, poets, Pomelo Books, publishing, Sylvia Vardell, TeachingAuthors.com, UCLA, writing, writing tips
by Paige Vinten Taylor
In her own words, April Halprin Wayland is “a writer, a mother, a wife, a speaker, a fiddle player, an organizer, a teacher, a poet, a doodler (see blog posts), a daughter, a sister, a performer, a storyteller, a peace activist, a traveler, a walker, a hiker, a meditator, an aqua farmer, a sun farmer, an animal lover, a cloud collector, a procrastinator, an infrequent twitterer, facebooker (sometimes) and instagramer. All!”
Paige Vinten Taylor: Welcome to Kite Tales, April. We’re so glad you’re here with us to talk everything poetry. Can we begin at the beginning? When did you first decide that you loved poetry?
Continue reading02 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted in Poet's Perspective
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One of the greatest things about writing poetry myself and teaching it to both children and adults is that you are never too young or too old to express your truth. Whether you are experiencing the wild highs and lows of high school dating or marriage, whether you are a child or parent coping with divorce, or whether you are a child or a grandparent eating sticky popsicles in the summertime, through poetry you can capture what it means to love, feel fully alive, and be human.
23 Wednesday Sep 2015
Posted in Poet's Perspective
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April is a month of transition, either by finishing up your taxes or enjoying more daylight hours. It is a month which brightens up the disappearing dimness and provides us all with a nourishing chance to renew (or try again)… April is Poetry month, which snuck up on me this year again.
Aspirations and resolutions are given a moment to be checked into or revised. What time would be better matched with poetry than the vibrant month of April? Amidst refreshing showers this rebirth (or renewal) thrives. I sampled a foretaste of this renewal when Redondo Beach Public Library invited poets to read their work on a podcast in preparation for Poetry month. Waiting outside with other poets, listening to them rehearse, I revisited my own work, as well.
17 Wednesday Jun 2015
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It’s Friday night, and I’m watching The King and I. “Et-cet-er-a, et-cet-er-a,cet-cet-er-a,” repeats the king slowly, with great satisfaction—you know the line. After a while, I begin to visualize etceteras stringing out into space:
Somewhere in space, although you can’t sight ‘em,
Meet et al., etcetera, and ad infinitum.
Just hearing Yul Brynner say his words over and over sparked my quirky little poem.
25 Wednesday Mar 2015
Posted in Poet's Perspective
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If you want to know me, there’s one simple rule: Talk to the hand. I do not say that as an expression of contempt or disinterest. Rather, I say it an invitation. A call to engage my heart and learn the truth of the man who lies beneath. For while my mouth is stopped with shyness and doubt, my fingers speak to the soul of who I really am.
Kite Tales 