The First Young Readers Edition of Poetry Magazine

Poetry March 2021, Young People's Poetry.

By Margarita Engle

From 2017 to 2019, I served as the second Young People’s Poet Laureate (YPPL). Jacqueline Woodson preceded me, and Naomi Shihab Nye followed me. When I was notified that I had been chosen by the Poetry Foundation for this incredible honor, I read about the history of the Pegasus Award and YPPL title. Prior to Jacqueline, all the other recipients had been called Children’s Poet Laureates. When the title changed, so did the scope of the duties. Suddenly, young adult literature was included, so I realized that I would be visiting secondary schools along with primary grades.  This was going to be a complex challenge! I wrote to Jacqueline Woodson and asked for advice. She was incredibly encouraging, but she mentioned that the one thing she had wanted to do during her two years as YPPL was curate a young readers edition of Poetry magazine.  “Let’s do it together,” I suggested. By the time we were actually ready to work alongside Fred Sasaki and other editors of the prestigious journal, Naomi Shihab Nye was the YPPL, so the three of us brainstormed along with Fred and the rest of the permanent staff.

“Make a dream list of poets and illustrators you would love to include,” Fred suggested. So we did, and along with our favorite children’s and young adult poets. We included adult poets whose work might cross over to younger readers. All three of our lists were both long and diverse. Fred invited the incredible poets as well as amazing illustrators. Each issue of Poetry magazine includes art, but in the case of the young readers issue wonderful children’s book illustrators were included.

In March 2021, the first young readers edition of Poetry magazine was published, with established poets such as Marilyn Nelson, Nikki Grimes, Linda Sue Park, Padma Venkatraman, and Pat Mora alongside newer voices such as Dawn Quigley and Ari Tison. Illustrations were placed adjacent and between poems adding layers of meaning and response. Artists include Jillian Tamaki, Raúl Colón, and Weshoyot Alvitre.

Each editor contributed a piece. Jacqueline Woodson wrote a brief introduction called “Weight.” Naomi Shihab Nye wrote a poem titled Every day as a wide field, every page. I ended the issue with an essay called “The Care and Feeding of Poetry.”  It is a beautiful, hopeful, exhilarating magazine, and I hope it is only the first of many future Young People’s Poet Laureate projects for young readers.