Wild Dreamers and A STEAM poem
When Margarita Engle, who is part of our advisory circle, suggested she might contribute an essay on her love of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) for our blog, I was delighted. And I was not surprised to discover that the essay morphed into a poem, which provides an insight into the work created by this NSK and Young People’s poet laureate emeritus. Delighted to share it below, followed by a very short synopsis of Engle’s WILD DREAMERS (of which I was thrilled to receive an Advanced Reader Copy).
- Padma Venkatraman
WHY I WRITE DIVERSE STEAM VERSE
by Margarita Engle
Nature has always been my muse
even when I was a child drumming poems
with the rhythm of my footsteps, hoofbeats,
and experimental
voice
as I walked to school in California
rode a horse in Cuba
imagined the growth
of roots
flowers
fruit.
I grew up and studied agriculture and botany
along with creative writing, my first love.
Now my middle grade verse novels
are ecoadventures---Mountain Dog,
Forest World, Singing With Elephants.
My young adult verse novels have turned into ecoromance
a genre I seem to have invented by blending green themes
with young love.
Even though my muse is nature
my human mind also believes
that no matter how desperate
people feel during plagues of hunger,
destruction, and wildlife extinction,
we always
dive
into el amor
like the teens in
Your Heart My Sky
Wings in the Wild
Wild Dreamers...
So why do I write STEM books as STEAM verse,
filled up with the music of poetry
to balance harsh
scientific
facts?
Because I long to leave a written legacy
that honors peacemakers, and climate action
is a form of peacemaking so urgent
that failure would mean conflicts
over food, farmland, water
and shade, simple shade,
just the necessary
coolness
beneath
precious
trees.
Whenever I send a verse story
out into the wilderness of bookstores and libraries
I imagine young readers who help me feel that it’s possible
to communicate
with the warm
STEAMy
future
of
hope.
About Wild Dreamers
Ana and her mother have been living in their car after the FBI added Ana’s militant father to their most wanted list. Leandro has struggled with anxiety ever since his family was forced to flee Cuba on a raft. When the Leandro and Ana meet, one magical night, in a wilderness park in California, they fall in love. And when they discover a puma stalking through the woods, they begin to work on a project to build a wildlife crossing for wild animals whose habitats have been threatened by humans. Their shared dedication to nature and science deepens their bond and helps them heal.
To pre-order this magical and scientific romance, visit Simon and Schuster’s website: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Wild-Dreamers/Margarita-Engle/9781665939751
Margarita Engle (photocredit: Shevaun Williams)
Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of books such as Enchanted Air, Drum Dream Girl, Dancing Hands, and The Surrender Tree, which received a Newbery Honor. She served as the national 2017-2019 Young People’s Poet Laureate. Other awards include Pura Belpré Medals, the Golden Kite Award, Walter Honors, Américas Awards, Jane Addams Award, PEN U.S.A., and NSK Neustadt Prize. Recent young adult verse novels include Your Heart, My Sky, Rima’s Rebellion, Wings in the Wild and Wild Dreamers. Recent picture books include Destiny Finds Her Way, Water Day and The Sculptors of Light.
Margarita was born in Los Angeles, but developed a deep attachment to her mother’s homeland during childhood summers with relatives on the island. She studied agronomy and botany along with creative writing, and now lives in central California with her husband and a soccer-playing Border Collie.
Visit her website and follow her:
Facebook: Margarita Engle
Twitter: @margaritapoet
Instagram: @engle.margarita
