Valerie Worth

Valerie Worth Poems

1.

Grass on the lawn
says nothing:
Clipped, empty,
...

2.

Under a maple tree
the dog lies down,
Lolls his limp
...

First
A far thud
Then the rocket
...

Valerie Worth Biography

Valerie Worth Bahlke (October 29, 1933 - July 31, 1994) was a poet and author of children's books who wrote under her maiden name, Valerie Worth. Valerie Worth was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where her father taught biology at Swarthmore College. In 1947 the family moved to Tampa, Florida for four years, and then spent a year in Bangalore, India. Worth returned to Swarthmore for college, where in 1955 she received an English Degree with High Honors. Shortly after graduation she married George Bahlke. After a few peripatetic years the couple eventually settled in Clinton, New York, where her husband taught at Kirkland College. At an informal writers group Worth met Natalie Babbit, whose husband, Samuel Fisher Babbitt, was the president of the university. Babbit had published a few books at the time and recommended Worth's poems to her editor, Michael di Capua at Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Small Poems, Worth's first published collection, came out in 1972 accompanied by pen and ink illustrations by Babbit; Babbit also illustrated her subsequent volumes of "Small Poems", More Small Poems, Still More Small Poems, All the Small Poems, and All the Small Poems and Fourteen More. At Christmastime, a collection published in 1992, was illustrated by Antonio Frasconi and published by Michael Di Capua Books. In addition to poetry Worth also published two young adult novels, Gypsy Gold and Fox Hill, as well as Curlicues: The Fortunes of Two Pug Dogs, a picture book also illustrated by Babbit. Two posthumous poetry collections, Peacock and Other Poems and Animal Poems, were illustrated by Steve Jenkins, and Pug and Other Animal Poems, also illustrated by Jenkins, is scheduled to be published in 2013. In 1991 Worth was awarded the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children by the National Council of Teachers of English.)

The Best Poem Of Valerie Worth

Grass

Grass on the lawn
says nothing:
Clipped, empty,
Quiet.
Grass in the fields
whistles, slides,
casts up a foam
of seeds,
Tangles itself
With leaves: hides
Whole rustling schools
Of mice.

Valerie Worth Comments

anonymous 23 October 2018

she is dead! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

65 77 Reply
no 20 October 2021

im a live

12 35
ghjkl 21 September 2022

so

10 10
valerie 27 September 2018

i am studying her in class

73 24 Reply
worth 05 October 2021

same

21 10
Valerie Worth Valerie Worth 21 November 2023

IM getting old

0 1 Reply
Valerie Worth Valerie Worth 21 November 2023

I'm just getting old

0 1 Reply
Valerie Worth Valerie Worth 21 November 2023

I'm Not dead guys. I'm in Florida

0 1 Reply
Edie micksch 17 October 2023

I am Alive

3 3 Reply
craycarygirl 26 September 2022

hello jello

9 12 Reply

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