I've just had a letter from Bloomsbury Publishing to say that I've had one of my poems chosen to be in a new collection of puzzle poetry for children called Puzzles, Riddles and Paradiddles. I'd sent in four poems to the editor and was quite surprised by the one chosen, an arithmetical poem called Strange Times.
It's sometimes a surprise to find which poems are chosen for an anthology because quite often you won't think it's the best poem you sent in. However, because an anthology needs a good varied mix of poems and the editor might have some particular subjects and/or styles in mind then you can find the better poem passed by and the less favoured poem accepted. Difficult to read the minds of editors.
I suppose I shouldn't include here the poem that was chosen but instead here are a couple of those that were not. The first uses homonyms to provide a string of questions that are impossible to answer, the second plays with the idea of words within words. Teachers often write to me saying that they've had a lot of fun using my children's poems in their classrooms - I'd be very happy if they wanted to use these.
Here's the first. You'll see that I've said that you won't find the answers anywhere; for obvious reasons.
And here's the second, with answers.
