The Journal of Outsider Poetry Talks About Our New Book

A new book of poetry is designed to help children deal with the stresses and anxieties particular to childhood.

Atrocious Poems A To Z is the second children's book from creative team Jenny Mathews of Rockford Illustrating, and Thomas L. Vaultonburg of Zombie Logic Press. According to Vaultonburg, the author, it is a book about "All the things that kids love to hate. Liver, sharing, immunizations, haircuts, and sibling rivalry are among the 26 "atrocities" children face on a daily basis dealt with in the book.

"We tend to take the stressors and anxieties of childhood lightly," says childhood developmental expert Henry Wolfsburg, Ph. D, of The Journal of Outsider Poetry, and professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, "and that's often a big mistake, because the issues children are dealing with, although they may seem trivial or inconsequential to us, make up the totality of their existence. As adults we tend to have amnesia concerning how stressful childhood is, and often lose our ability to relate to and show empathy for the trials and tribulations our children face on a daily basis."

The book will be included in an art exhibit titled Bittersweet Observations at The Rockford Art Museum debuting June 9th at 6:30 p.m. All twenty-six panels from the book, illustrated by Jenny Mathews, will be alongside the poems by Vaultonburg, written on the wall of the museum. 

Of course Z is for Zombies in the new children's book from Jenny Mathews and Thomas L. Vaultonburg at Zombie Logic Press

Z Is For Zombies

Military Intelligence says
The Living Dead are out tonight,
But me and my little sister
Are home alone together,
So they better be ready to fight.

They're clearly confused
Who they're dealing with, I say,
As one of them sneaks up 
Behind my sister,
But instead of eating her brain
It walked right up and kissed her.



An oxymoron is a combination of words that have opposite or very different meanings. Can you find the four oxymorons in this poem?

In addition to helping children deal with anxiety-provoking situations, many of the poems contain lessons in literary form, themes, or literary terms such as  oxymoron in the poem "Z Is For Zombies."
-From The Journal of Outsider Poetry

Atrocious Poems A To Z can be pre-ordered at Kickstarter. Copies will also be available in the Rockford Art Museum on and after June 9th. 

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Three New Letters From Atrocious Poems A To Z

Just mowed the back lawn with our old-fashioned push mower. Now I'm going to post a few new poems from my new book Atrocious Poems A To Z.

Gravity

Gravity is a force
That remains my enemy.
When it broke my grandma's
Antique vase I tried
To explain it was the true villain,
Not me.
However witnesses swore
It was my hand that bore
The vase to the floor,
And no one even saw Gravity.


In poetry, an apostrophe is a figure of speech in which the poet addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or a thing. Apostrophes are found throughout poetry, but they're less common since the early 20th century.

Haircut

Haircuts are always
A gamble.
You amble in
And a stranger begins
Chopping your hair
Without pre-amble.

If you manage
To survive this, 
And don't end up
Hairless, your
Friends will probably
Still laugh and dis.


Jinx

You jinxed me, Jack,
When you stomped that crack.
Now my luck's turned kablooey,
And I'm harumphy and achooey.
A zipper has snagged my hair,
And a chihuahua's chased
Me from the comfy chair.
It's quite clear, methinks,
My Jack, you're a jinx.


Onomatopoeia is the formation of a word, such as cuckoo, meow, honk, or boom, by imitation of a sound made by or associated with its referent.

The book is here. And it looks great. But we still have a few days left in our pre-order campaign and no one has seen it. It will be debuted at the Rockford Art Museum June 9th. 

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Unfinished Business: The Story of Atrocious Poems A To Z

In Gestalt Psychology there is a clinical term called "unfinished business." Unfinished business is defined as the unexpressed feelings that are associated with distinct memories and fantasies. These feelings may be resentment, rage, hatred, pain, anxiety, grief , guilt, and abandonment that are not fully experienced in awareness, linger in the background, and are carried into the present life and cause preoccupations, compulsive behaviors, wariness, and other self- defeating behaviors. Unfinished business will persist until the person faces and deals with these denied or alienated feelings.

For me one source of unfinished business was always the children's book we were tasked with writing and illustrating in my fifth grade class at Mary Morgan Grade School in Byron, Illinois. One would think someone who later went on to become a writer and publisher out of love for the written and printed word would have been excited about such a project, but I was not. I do not know what all-important things I did to distract myself the weeks before the book came due, but two days from the deadline I had almost nothing written. Having almost no ideas at the time that didn't revolve around playing baseball or watching monster movies, I decided to do what I thought was easiest and most rudimentary concept: an A To Z book. Just fill in the empty spaces with whatever nonsense came to mind, right?

I set off to work, and a couple days later had finished my first book, The Monster Dictionary. Complete with illustrations that I put about as much effort into as the poems. And it showed. So much so that after being generous and giving me a B grade, my teacher penned this note, and this is where the Unfinished Business began...


"B. Not colored. Excellent ideas! if you would have put more effort into this project; the school could have sent this idea on to the Library of Congress."

I leave her misapplication of the semicolon in for historic authenticity.

Being lazy and unambitious is something I've always been good at, and it's never bothered me too much, but something about that note kept coming back to haunt me. It wasn't so much that I hadn't made an effort, it was more that I did eventually become a writer, and a publisher, and I felt like I owed it to myself to give this project the effort it deserved. 

The poems I felt like I could do on my own, but I needed an illustrator. By this time I was forty years old and the General Manager of a dive bar underneath a bridge in Rockford, Illinois called Castaways. A bar where three women had formed a roller derby league called the Rockford Rage in the bathroom one night. The paperwork to join the league was signed right there at the bar, and one of the earliest skaters to join is now my creative partner and real life mate Jenny Mathews, who is one of the finest illustrators in America.

I asked her if she'd be interested in collaborating on a children's book titled Atrocities From A To Z about things that kid hated. She said yes, and I sent her the first poem from the book, aptly titled "A."

A few weeks later she sent back this illustration.

It was perfect.

Then she moved to Texas.

Then we wrote a book titled The Toughskin Rhinoceros Wrangler Company long distance and Atrocities From A To Z was put on the backburner.

Then she came back from Texas and we became a couple. And a scant eight years later, almost forty years after I began it, Atrocious Poems A To Z went to the printer last week. 

Is the business finished now? Can I call up and tell Fritz Perls in the afterlife that we're good?

Maybe.

But there's one last order of business I feel like needs to be finished, and that is the business. I'd like to encourage you to order a copy of Atrocious Poems A To Z. In the poems I've tried to address issues that sometimes can seem trivial to adults, but cause great anxiety for children, like vegetables, inoculations, sharing, monsters under the bed, floors made of lava etc. I have tried to be light-hearted in the poems and provide a jumping off point to discuss some of these anxiety-producing situations. Also, it was important to me to try and incorporate some lessons on literary form, theme, and devices. 

Of course the best part of the book are the remarkable illustrations by Jenny Mathews. I think we've made a really fun and interesting book and I'd like to encourage you to order your copy now.

And, yes, I will be sending a copy to the Library of Congress

                                               
                                                                        

Update: Oh, here's the part I forgot to say: my book ended up on the walls of a major American museum. 

Photograph by the great Ryan Davis

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Atrocious Poems A To Z By Thomas L. Vaultonburg, Illustrated By Jenny Mathews

After a scant forty years of work, my seventh book is now at the printers. It is a book I am sure my 5th grade teacher never would have envisioned me finishing. Perhaps I should send her a copy. 

It's title Atrocious Poems From A To Z

Atrocious Poems A To Z is a book that takes the problems and challenges of childhood seriously. VERY seriously. Some might say too seriously. By taking a comic approach to everyday issues children face in lighthearted poems and whimsical drawings we hope to present a jumping off point where children and parents can discuss topics like bullying, sharing, dealing with siblings, anxiety etc. It was our goal to ease into these topics employing comedy, sensitivity, and an understanding that although children may see these "atrocities" as the end of the world, they are really things we have all gone through and just a natural part of growing up. 

Me and my life and creative partner Jenny Mathews raise two children: Ella (13) and Jack (6), and although many of the poems and illustrations in the book are about the struggle of their daily lives and the so-called atrocities they encounter, we hope it will be applicable to all parents doing their best to explain a sometimes unfair and scary world to children.

My favorite poem in the book is of course the haiku. It's also the poem I probably spent the most time on. The haiku is a deceptively simple form. This one took a great deal of work to say this little. 

But saying little is something I've always done exceedingly well. 

Not sure this was about

Anyway, I finished the book at the end of March, and we sent it to the printer last week. Now comes the least fun part of the process: selling it.

If you're interested in owning a copy you can order it now at Kickstarter 

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