Happy Birthday, Lee Bennett Hopkins!

Shh! Welcome, but come in quietly. It's a Poetry Friday surprise birthday party.The guest of honor? Lee Bennett Hopkins! (Whoops -- no exclamation points. We're trying to keep this party a secret.)Lee is not only a wonderful children's poet and Guinness World Record holding anthologist (really -- the citation is here), he has also been a mentor to many, many poets -- including me.I love sports poetry. That's why, even though my new middle grade novel is not written in verse, I kept Lee's anthology OPENING DAYS close to my desk while I was writing TAKEDOWN.The rhythm, quick pace, and word-bursts of poetry are a great way to communicate the action and emotion of sports.To help celebrate Lee's birthday, I'm sharing his poem from OPENING DAYS, "Final Score." Note: the book is illustrated by Scott Medlock.This poem was one I returned to over and over as I wrote the story of two sixth grade wrestlers, a boy and a girl, who are struggling to figure out who they are on the mat, and -- more importantly -- off the mat.What I find so compelling about this poem is that it's not about the competition. It's about the moment after. It's a pause in the motion.I tried -- in some scenes from TAKEDOWN -- to capture that same sense of quiet, of emptiness and release after the last buzzer sounds. This is what Lee masterfully portrays in "Final Score."FINAL SCOREBy Lee Bennett HopkinsFrom OPENING DAYS, Selected by Lee Bennett HopkinsEventuallythere'sa final scorewhengameshave endedwhenthey'reover--no more.No morebattingkickingtossing a ball--No morestumbling,fumbling,rising up from a fall.Gameshave been played.They're over.That's all.***Happy birthday and lots of love, Lee!