Nancy Willard
NANCY WILLARD was an award-winning children's author, poet, and essayist who received the Newbery Medal in 1982 for A Visit to William Blake's Inn. She wrote dozens of volumes of children's fiction and poetry, including The Flying Bed, Sweep Dreams, and Cinderella's Dress. She also authored two novels for adults, Things Invisible to See and Sister Water, and twelve books of poetry, including Swimming Lessons: New and Selected Poems. She lived with her husband, photographer Eric Lindbloom, and taught at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
“Our house is quiet, small and plain,and yet its rooms run far and wide. A hundred pencils, swift as rain, writing on sheets of beaten goldwould not be quick enough to holdthe strange adventuresshadows hide...”
Nancy Willard
“Answers are closed rooms; and questions are open doors that invite us in.”
Nancy Willard
“It is time to turn on the moon.It is time to live by a different light.”
Nancy Willard
“Sometimes questions are more important than answers.”
Nancy Willard
“Keep your whiskers crisp and clean.Do not let the mice grow lean.Do not let yourself grow fatLike a common kitchen cat.Have you set the kittens free?Do they sometimes ask for me?Is our catnip growing tall?Did you patch the garden wall?Clouds are gentle walls that hideGardens on the other side.Tell the tabby cats I takeAll my meals with William Blake,Lunch at noon tea at four,Served in splendor on the shoreAt the tinkling of a bell.Tell them I am sleeping well.Tell them I have come so far,Brought by Blake's celestial cat,Buffeted by wind and rain,I may not get home again.Take this message to my friends.Say the King of Catnip sendsTo the cat who winds his clocksA thousand sunsets in a box,To the cat who brings the iceThe shadows of a dozen mice(serve them with assorted dipsand eat them like potato chips),And to the cat who guards his doorA net for catching stars, and more(if patience he abide):Catnip from the other side.”
Nancy Willard