17 Apr Let’s Get Poetic with Amy Losak

I am happy to welcome Amy Losak to Writing Outside the Lines. I can’t remember exactly when I met Amy, but I’ve been lucky enough to know her for a while, and she’s pretty amazing. Her story and route to publication are not typical, but I’ll let her explain.

EL: Amy, I love your work, but before we get into that, will you tell us a little about yourself?

AL: I’ve been in public relations for decades (several!), specializing in healthcare media relations. I worked at top agencies in New York City for years and left a major midtown firm in 2017 as a Senior Vice President and Healthcare Media Director.  Since then, I’ve been a freelance consultant. I enjoy the freedom and flexibility – although, of course, the work (and income) ebbs and flows.

I’m a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker who now lives in New Jersey. I love both states!

EL: I’ve been away from New Jersey for many years, but I’ll always be a Jersey girl at heart!  You have a very different situation with your books than most. I admire how you are preserving your mother’s legacy as you also showcase your own work. Will you tell us about that?

AL: My mother, Sydell Rosenberg, was a New York writer and English and literacy teacher. She also taught English as a Second Language to adult students. She was a charter member of the Haiku Society of America in 1968 (I’m a member today: hsa-haiku.org.) She loved the challenging simplicity of haiku and related forms, such as senryu.

EL:  Looking at this picture of your beautiful mother, I can imagine her dreaming up some haiku as she looks toward the sky. 

AL: Haiku is the shortest form of poetry, but arguably the most expansive. Mom was always practicing and learning about this luminous and layered form. She even studied Japanese to try and read the masters in their language. She experimented with voice, style, and form. And she found a “home” in the haiku community. It made her happy. It was a creative outlet for her curiosity, sense of wonder, and zest for life.

Syd wanted to publish a picture book of haiku – ideally an A-B-C reader. While she was impressively published and anthologized over a quite extensive career, this became her biggest dream.

Sadly, on the morning of October 11, 1996, Mom died suddenly at home. It was an extraordinary shock to my brother Nathan and me – and to the entire family.

For many years, I was paralyzed with grief. I couldn’t move on from her death, and my dad, Sam, had dementia and needed attention and help. I was involved in my public relations career, and of course, the daily ups and downs of life intervened.

In the back of our minds, we remembered Mom’s dream. But I felt mired, weighed down, not only with the sheer pain and anguish of her unexpected death but all the materials she left behind. There was so much “stuff” to sift and sort through, I didn’t even know where or how to start.

As the years went by, I slowly came to realize that time was not on my side if I was going to do anything at all for her. Taking unsure baby steps, I collected and organized some of her work, especially her poetry. (She also wrote short stories and clever lexical and literary puzzles – and so much more.)

I am fortunate that I had the support of family, friends, and colleagues – and a wonderful therapist – as I haltingly moved to finally try to resurrect and honor some of Mom’s literary legacy. I am grateful to this day to everyone, including my big-hearted husband, Cliff.

EL: And here’s a picture of Amy with her big-hearted guy!

AL: I worked with an extraordinary nonprofit arts education organization in New York, Arts For All (arts-for-all.org), on painting, drawing, music, dance, and other school programs that incorporated her haiku into various grade-level lesson plans. These efforts were wonderful for the students, the Arts For All teaching artists – and me. I collaborated on several other rewarding kids’ projects that amplified her haiku, as well.

But the picture book was the most important project of all – the biggest step.

I thankfully located and slightly edited one of Syd’s haiku picture book manuscripts. I also re-titled it. At long last, in 2015, I began submitting H IS FOR HAIKU to smaller publishing houses that didn’t require agent representation.

Serendipitously, I connected with a kind haiku poet and editor, Aubrie Cox Warner, who told me about a traditional, independent children’s press, Penny Candy Books. Penny Candy (www.pennycandybooks.com) was new and bold — willing to take risks with content and voices. It was committed to publishing beautiful, unusual books. I subbed the text to them. It was a match! Penny Candy loved Mom’s piquant poetry, and we became partners in 2016. H IS FOR HAIKU was released during National Poetry Month in 2018. It was such a thrill. It still is!

EL:  I have to interrupt here to say that I used this in my classroom for several years, and my kids wrote their own Haiku books. Just a little FYI for teachers looking for something different to do in their poetry units. 🙂 

AL: I wrote the introduction to this collection. Sawsan Chalabi did the vivid lettering and illustrations (schalabi.com).

The Teachers & Writers Collaborative and I created this lesson plan: teachersandwritersmagazine.org/making-small-moments-big-teaching-haiku-with-sydell-rosenberg/

In 2019, H IS FOR HAIKU was honored by the National Council for Teachers of English as a “Notable Poetry Book.” It also was a Cybil’s finalist in the Poetry category in 2018.

I have been overjoyed at the kudos and appreciation H IS FOR HAIKU has received. I like to think mom is kvelling.

The lethargy, grief and, fear had been overwhelming. It took years, pauses, mistakes, and setbacks, but I’m glad I pushed through. I persevered, and the support buoyed me beyond what I thought I was capable of. You just don’t know until you try!

EL: What draws you to poetry? What type of poetry do you gravitate towards?

AL:  I tend to enjoy quiet, mindful, joyful adult poetry. I gravitate to smaller forms … sometimes, less is more. I like children’s poems that are funny, clever, and sweet. That’s the kind I try to write. I get a kick out of playing with words and rhymes.

EL: Do you have a writing routine? If so, will you share it?

AL: I don’t have a set or organized writing routine. Ideas and language kind of pop into my head at unexpected, weird moments. It really could happen anywhere, when I’m doing the most mundane things. For some reason, however, night seems to be a “fertile” time, when I’m tired and just want to rid myself of distractions and get to sleep! I’m trying to wind down, but then I have to rally to jot down my thoughts, because I likely won’t remember them the next day. Sometimes my mind buzzes with ideas, which is awful for restful sleep!

EL: Please talk about your road to publication .

AL: To my surprise, I have come to realize the power of my mom’s influence on me over the years. Indeed, something happened along that bumpy, non-linear journey I had avoided for so long: As I overcame my torpor, her dream became my dream too.  I discovered that I also enjoyed writing haiku and senryu. More than that, I enjoyed writing poems for children. So, along the way, I have both combined and separated our dreams.

I created a chapbook of Mom’s poetry – mostly haiku and senryu, but also a few of her longer poems. POISED ACROSS THE SKY was released by Kattywompus Press, a small indie poetry press, in 2020: kattywompuspress.com/shop/books-and-chapbooks/poised-across-the-sky-by-sydell-rosenberg/

The KidLit community has been remarkably supportive. Former U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis invited me to submit Mom’s work to his young adult anthology, filled with classic and contemporary poems and beautiful photographs. THE POETRY OF US was released by National Geographic Kids in 2018. (available everywhere).

Then I became even more ambitious: I decided to create an adult haiku collaborative collection. WING STROKES HAIKU by both of us was released by Kelsay Books in 2020 (available everywhere). Here’s a positive review: quailbellmagazine.com/the-real-20/book-review-wing-strokes-haiku

Here’s another complimentary write-up! merliterary.com/2022/12/26/wing-strokes-haiku-by-sydell-rosenberg-and-amy-losak/

Children’s poet Danna Smith has included my and Mom’s work, and that of several gifted kids’ poets, in this lovely new guide: HOW DO YOU HAIKU? (Plumbago Press, 2023; available everywhere)

Thanks to haiku scholar and editor, Charles Trumbull, we developed a bio for this “Wikipedia” for haijin (haiku poets) called Haikupedia: haikupedia.org/article-haikupedia/sydell-rosenberg/

The Maine Review published Mom’s short story last year, I RETROSPECT NATURE: mainereview.com/i-retrospect-nature/. I continue to submit her short stories to literary magazines.

And last year, two kid’s magazines, EMBER: A Journal of Luminous Things and The School Magazine (Australia) published my longer poems: I WISH and I HAVE A CAT, respectively.

EL: Amy the way you honor your mom is lovely. And your solo work is beautiful too. What inspires you?

AL:   Small moments when the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Things we might overlook in the busyness of our day. Wonder is all around us, but we have to stop … or at least, slow down to sense it. These moments rarely last, and they may not happen again. In essence, that’s what haiku poetry is all about.

EL: Do you have anything else in the pipeline you can talk about?

AL: I continue to actively submit two more collaborative haiku collections I’ve created: another one for adults and one for kids. Here’s hoping!

In 2025, mom’s senryu will be included in a new Candlewick anthology, edited by poets Charles Waters and Irene Latham.

I also continue to write and submit kids’ poetry manuscripts. I hope to secure an agent or work again with a traditional publisher that doesn’t require being agented. We will see!

EL: Good luck! I can’t wait to see more. What do you do when the words won’t come?

AL: I get annoyed and frustrated. I curse! Well, not always. Sometimes, I put the idea away for a while and return to it later. I give the idea some space … and I give myself some grace.And yes, sometimes I abandon the idea. There are times you can’t “wrestle” an idea into workable forms and words you like. You have to move on – re-direct your creative energy. Take a break. It’s all part of the process.

EL: In your opinion, what’s the best part about writing kidlit?

AL: Book Meshuggenahs    https://thebookmeshuggenahs.com/

EL: Well, yes, I do believe the camaraderie and support from this great group of writers is wonderful. I am honored to be in it with you and many other fabulous writers. Is there anything else you’d like people to know?

AL: If you can, find a supportive community. It can be one person – it can be a throng. A community will fuel you, boost you, constructively criticize you … and keep you “honest.”I truly have been blessed with a “village” of support during every step, turn, detour, and brick wall of my literary journey. This includes you, Ellen, and our Jewish kidlit group, The Book Meshuggenahs – both past and current members.

But I also say this: for those writers who find support scant or non-existent, please press on. Believe in yourself and keep going. As I said, you don’t know until – and unless – you try.

I will end with this resonant Sydell Rosenberg haiku from her Kattywompus Press chapbook.

Poised across the sky

like a bass violin’s bow —

cranes cranked for Monday.

EL: That is so beautiful. Thank you so much for letting us into your heart and your journey. I’m sure we’ll see more of your work on bookshop shelves. 

Until next time,

Ellen

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