48 THE QUEENS COURIER • KIDS & EDUCATION • MARCH 29, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
kids & education
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Daughter honors her late Briarwood mom with children’s poetry book
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
Sydell Rosenberg, a teacher and
Briarwood resident, had a writing career
that spanned decades and in April, her
daughter will fulfi ll Rosenberg’s lifelong
dream of publishing a children’s book.
Rosenberg, who taught in a number of
New York City public schools, including
P.S. 99 in Kew Gardens, began writing
poetry as a child. She continued to write
throughout her decades-long teaching
career and was anthologized in a number
of journals and books.
Th e one thing she did not accomplish
before her death in 1996, was publishing
her manuscript full of children’s haiku
from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Her daughter
Amy Losak set out to share her mother’s
poetry with the world and on April
10 Rosenberg’s book, “H is for Haiku: A
Treasury of Haiku from A to Z,” will be
published by Penny Candy Books.
“When I was looking through her work,
I saw that so much of her work still had
value and appeal for today’s audience, for
today’s readers,” Losak said. “I responded
to the work and I felt that others would
respond to the work, as well.”
Losak said it took her time to “marshal
the emotional energy” needed to
look through her mother’s manuscripts
and pitch the work to publishers, but she
always knew it was a project she had to
complete.
Th roughout the process, Losak shared
her mother’s work at events with the
Queens Botanical Garden and partnered
with Arts For All, a nonprofi t that off ers
“artistic opportunities” to city public
school students. Her mother’s haiku have
been used at P.S. 76 in Long Island City
to teach art — painting, drawing and collage
and music.
Losak said her mother “woke up every
day excited about life” and this zest for
adventure can be seen in her poetry.
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“H Is For Haiku: A Treasury of Haiku From A to Z” is a collection of poems written by Briarwood
resident Sydell Rosenberg.
“I want people to know she had a
gift for life and a joy for seeing special
moments in everyday things and to
maybe try to impart some of that through
her book and her poetry,” she said.
Her poems “refl ect an urban sensibility”
and there are references to Queens in
the book:
Queuing for ice-cream
Sweat-sprinkled offi ce workers
on Queens Boulevard
“Writing a haiku is a wonderful way
to try and slow down and really pay attention
to what’s going on around you, to
use all your senses to engage with aspects
of the world and then put that down on
paper,” Losak said.
Th e book will be published during
National Poetry Month and the 50th
anniversary of the Haiku Society of
America, whose fi rst president was Leroy
Kanterman, a Forest Hills resident.
Rosenberg was a charter member of the
organization and Losak, who writes her
own haiku, is a member today.
She said she hopes her mother’s book
also inspires children and adults alike to
try writing their own poems or to begin
their own creative endeavors.
“I just want people to enjoy the poetry,
just have fun with it and if it sparks
a desire or a motivation to try their
own hand at any kind of creative activity
that’s great,” she said. “My mother
Photos courtesy of Amy Losak
loved Queens, she loved having adventures
every day — we’re not talking about
grand adventures, walking down the sidewalk
to Queens Boulevard could be an
adventure. Th at’s what she tried to capture
in her very simple poems for kids and
it’s not about the big grand adventure,
it’s about fi nding the richness in everyday
things.”
“H is for Haiku: A Treasury of Haiku
from A to Z” will be released through
Penny Candy Books on April 10 and
is currently available to pre-order on
Amazon for $13.21. It will also be available
at independent bookstores throughout
the city.
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