Upwork English Spelling Test with 100% right answers

1. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Emma has always been fascinated by the way the mind works, so she’s decided to get a degree in __________.

Answers:

• pshycology
• psycology
• psyhcology
• psychology

2. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Helen was surprised by the __________ stature of her blind date.

Answers:

• diminutive
• diminuative
• deminutive
• dimminutive

3. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Peter always makes such a _____________ of himself!

Answers:

• nuisance
• nuisents
• newsanse
• nuisince

4. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Mrs. Baker took her ______________ class on a field trip to the zoo.

Answers:

• kindergarden
• kindegarten
• kindergarten
• kindegarden

5. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
The crowd ________________ me on my acceptance into Mensa.

Answers:

• congradulated
• congrachulated
• congratulated
• congratilated

6. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
The annual _____________ was ruined when a family of bears stole all the hotdogs.
Or (The annual _____________ was ruined when a family of bears stole all the sausages.)

Answers:

• barbecue
• barbequeue
• barbycue
• barbcue

7. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Sally’s nervous __________ left her standing at the altar.

Answers:

• fiancé (fiance)
• finance
• feancé
• fience

8. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Clara the cat simply chose to ignore the ______________ of our dog.

Answers:

• existence
• existance
• existense
• existanse

9. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
My father does not believe in ____________ , but my mother does.

Answers:

• reincanation
• reincarenation
• reincarnation
• reincantation

10. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
The savvy dancer acted as a __________ between the detective and the cabaret owner.

Answers:

• liasion
• liaison
• liasone
• leason

11. Which of the following options means, “the owner or manager of a restaurant”?
Or ( Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below. )

Answers:

• Restaureter
• Restaurater
• Restaurateur
• Restourateur

12. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Be sure to leave your travel __________with the secretary so he’ll know how to reach you while you’re away.

Answers:

• itenreray
• itinerary
• iteneray
• Itinirary

13. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
The clown’s performance was _______________, to say the least.

Answers:

• dissapointing
• dissappointing
• disapointing
• disappointing

14. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
_________animals feed almost exclusively on meat.

Answers:

• Carnivorus
• Carnivorous
• Carnivoures
• Carnivoreus

15. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
After my grandfather was diagnosed with chronic_________, he moved to Arizona.
Or (After my grandfather was diagnosed with chronic_________, he moved to Spain.)

Answers:

• Neumonia
• Penumonia
• Pneumonia
• Pnuemonia

16. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
He wrote __________on every topic from shoestrings to string theory.

Answers:

• prollifically
• prolificaly
• prollificaly
• prolifically

17. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Let me tie your mittens to your sleeves so you don’t ______________ them.

Answers:

• loose
• looze
• lose
• louse

18. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
The professor made it clear that ___________ would not be tolerated.

Answers:

• plagiarism
• plagiarizm
• plagerism
• plagirism

19. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below

Answers:

• Pronounciation
• Pronuciation
• Pronuncitation
• Pronunciation

20. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below

Answers:

• Carribean
• Caribbean
• Carribbean
• Caribeen

21. Identify the misspelled word in the list below

Answers:

• Parallel
• Prevalent
• Prejudice
• Perserverance

22. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Quixotic
• Quite
• Questionaire
• Quarantine

23. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below

Answers:

• Goverment
• Governmant
• Government
• Govermant

24. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Vengeance
• Vengance
• Vengents
• Vengence

25. Cheese the correct spelling of the word fie. the options below

Answers:

• Ligitimate
• Legitimate
• Legetimate
• Legitemate

26. Choose the coned spelling of the won] from the options below

Answers:

• Unanimus
• Unanemous
• Unanimess
• Unanimous

27. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below

Answers:

• Referense
• Refrence
• Reference
• Referance

28. Identity the misspelled word in the list below

Answers:

• Indivisible
• Irresistable
• Indispensable
• Irresponsible

29. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Managable
• Millennium
• Minuscule
• Miscellaneous

30. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Stationery
• Statutory
• Sincerely
• Sanctuery

31.Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below

Answers:

• Efficency
• Efficentsy
• Effciensy
• Efficiency

32.Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below

Answers:

• Neccesary
• Necessary
• Neccessary
• Necesary

33. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Synonymous
• Synonymus
• Synonimous
• Sinonymus

34. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Hienous
• Henous
• Heinus
• Heinous

35. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Many would-be travellers were _____________ by the price of petrol last summer.
Or ( Many would-be travelers were _____________ by the price of gas last summer. )

Answers:

• flabergasted
• flabberghasted
• flabbergasted
• flabbergashted

36. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Definitly
• Definately
• Defenitely
• Definitely

37. Identify the misspelt word in the list below.

Answers:

• Enhancement
• Elicit
• Enigma
• Ecstacy

38. Identify the misspelt word in the list below.

Answers:

• Fluorescent
• Fullfil
• Facsimile
• Fictitious

39. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Occasion
• Occurence
• Overrun
• Opponent

40. Identify the misspelt word in the list below

Answers:

• Mischeivous
• Misanthrope
• Mussel
• Malicious

41. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Manoeuvre
• Manouver
• Manuevre
• Manuver

42. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below

Answers:

• Leiutenant
• Luietenent
• Lieutanent
• Lieutenant

43. Identify the misspelt word in the list below.

Answers:

• Develop
• Desciple
• Dilemma
• Discipline

44. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Dexterity
• Dyeing
• Dessecrate

45. Identify the misspelled word in the list below

Answers:

• Pageant
• Poignant
• Plummage
• Priggish

46. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Persue
• Parsue
• Persou
• Pursue

47. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
The judge granted the reluctant witness complete ____________ from prosecution for his part in the crime.

Answers:

• amnesty
• amnasty
• anmesty
• emnesty

 48. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Vacuum
• Vaccuum
• Vacumm
• Vaccum

49. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Arthur spent hours admiring the gothic ____________of all those French cathedrals.

Answers:

• architecture
• arkhitecture
• arcitecture
• arckitecture

50. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Forfiet
• Forfeit
• Forefeit
• Fourfit

51. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.

The waitress brought me a plate of squid even though I ___ asked for clams.

Answers:

• specificaly
• specifically
• specifycally
• specificly

52. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Posess
• Poesess
• Possess
• Pozess

53. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Idiosyncracy
• Idiosincrasy
• Idiosyncrasy
• Ideosyncracy

54. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Manoeuvar
• Manouver
• Maneuver
• Manuver

55. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Councelor
• Condescend
• Camouflage
• Criticize

56. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Sam _________ a successful political campaign.

Answers:

• orchestraited
• orchestrated
• orchestreated
• orcestrated

57. Identify the misspelled word in the list below

Answers:

• Rhythmical
• Reminiscence
• Rheumatism
• Resevoir

58. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Reminiscience
• Reminiscence
• Reminescence
• Reminisense

59. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Yacht
• Youthful
• Yeilding
• Yesterday

60. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Wierd
• Wired
• Whined
• Willful

61. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Embarassment
• Embrassement
• Embarrasment
• Embarrassment

62. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
He __________ a summer house, an exercise bike, and a hamster in the divorce settlement.

Answers:

• accquired
• ecquired
• acquired
• akquired

63. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Cachet
• Connoisseur
• Charateristic
• Catastrophe

64. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Adress
• Addrress
• Addres
• Address

65. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Temperamental
• Tempermental
• Temperamentle
• Temparamental

66. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Accomodate
• Analyze
• Acknowledgment
• Asterisk

67. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
The protesters hurled ___________ insults at us as we walked by.

Answers:

• vicous
• vicious
• vicoius
• vicius

68. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Gauge
• Gaje
• Guage
• Gaige

69. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.

Their relationship was plagued by __________ problems.

Answers:

• perpetual
• perpechual
• purpetual
• perptual

70. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Excesive
• Exccesive
• Excessive
• Exceesive

71. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Priveledge
• Privilage
• Privilege
• Privelege

72. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
The purpose of your report should be to ___________ the most relevant facts, not to obscure them.

Answers:

• illumenate
• iluminate
• illuminate
• elluminate

73. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
On the ____________ day of Christmas, Lucy was annoyed to find her yard full of noisy drummers drumming.
Or (On the ____________ day of Christmas, Lucy was annoyed to find her garden full of noisy drummers drumming.)

Answers:

• twelvth
• twelfth
• twelfeth
• twelth

74. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Exhilirate
• Exhilarate
• Exhilireat
• Exhilrate

75. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Bureaucrasy
• Buroucracy
• Bureaucracy
• Beuraucracy

76. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
Hazel Dormouse is a _________ creature.

Answers:

• nocternal
• nocturnal
• noctarnal
• nacturnal

77. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
The church members accused the cult of _______________ practices.

Answers:

• sacreligious
• sacrelegious
• sacrilegious
• sacrilgious

78. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Hemorrhage
• Harass
• Hankerchief
• Hypocrisy

79. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Sophomore
• Supersede
• Susceptable
• Spontaneous

80. Choose the correct spelling of the word from the options below.

Answers:

• Conscentiuos
• Consentious
• Conscientous
• Conscientious

81. Identify the misspelled word in the list below.

Answers:

• Enhancement
• Elicit
• Enegma
• Ecstasy

82. Complete the following sentence by choosing the correct spelling of the missing word.
No one knew what devious experiments the scientist conducted in his ______________ .

Answers:

• labretory
• laboratary
• laboratory
• labratory

Upwork readiness test with complete answer keys

Upwork Readiness Test Answer Keys

Use this and get 5/5 Marks. Good Luck

Need More Test Keys: http://literatureoftheday.wordpress.com

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Answer=4=All

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Answer=7=All

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Answer=1,2,3,4= not select last.

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Read More: http://literatureoftheday.wordpress.com

Cover Page Sample

Good Afternoon Rebecca

I’m Tahir from Pakistan having master’s degree in English language. Currently am checking you post about hiring a resume writer, where you are mentioning that you need a person having English language fluency with relevant experience of resume & creative writing.

 So am available to fulfill your requirement with some of my previous work of resume writing, you can check the samples in my LinkedIn profile and also from my personal blog

I am experiencing person having more than 3 years experience of creative writing, blog writing, content and resume writing.

I have been charged just 5$/h, hence your requirement seems interesting to me, the rate is negotiable.

At last, I’d like to offer a trial sample article; if you like you can pay it and use it as you desire.

Error, Suggestion will be entertained according to your choice.

So, Miss Rebecca what topic you suggest first to write about?? Thanks

Best Regards,

Tahir Malik

“Literature Promotes Tolerance”

Seminar on “Literature Promotes Tolerance” during Annual Dinner of M.A. English UAF
Writer: Tahir Bashir

Department of Humanities and Linguistics organized a seminar by the renowned British novelist of Pakistani origin, Qaisra Shahraz, on the eve of the annual dinner of M.A English students on April 30, 2016 at Iqbal Auditorium.

Qaisra Shehraz during Seminar in University of Agriculture Faisalabad Pakistan.

Qaisra Shahraz is the author of three critically acclaimed novels and several short-stories among which her novel The Holy Woman and short-story A Pair of Jeans are her masterpieces in respective genres. This event could be made possible and successful by the generous collaboration offered by the Senior Tutor Office from the platform of Character Building Society.

The party was inaugurated by recitation of the verses from the Holy Quran and Na’at by
students of M.A. English. Qaisra Shahraz delivered an effective seminar on how “Literature Promotes Tolerance”, simultaneously making the female students in her audience realize and take inspiration from the fact that even being women from a society like Pakistan they can achieve a lot .

Afterwards, students and teachers asked questions from the worthy guest that she brilliantly answered . The guest acknowledged and expressed her best wishes that M.A. students were on the right track for their proper grooming. This was the third in a series of seminars, the other two earlier on had been arranged by ORIC for M.A. English students exclusively with an overseas Pakistani scholar Dr. Mahrukh Khan and with Dr. Angela from Ghana.

Here on, started the second phase of this event that became hugely entertaining. The students of Second semester staged their dramatic presentation to highlight issues regarding the education of special children in Pakistan, whereas students of fourth semester rocked the Iqbal Auditorium stage maneuvering a skit out of the traditional Heer-Ranjha folk-tale. Besides that members of the Virsa Music Society, and its
in-charge Dr. Asim Aqeel who was also one of the organizers of Qaisra Shahraz’s seminar, entertained the audience with melodious song performances.

This was the only function we could attend throughout our two years stay at UAF but the memories we collected that evening from here are enough for a life-time. This was the first time we felt being boosted and given confidence that being students of a budding department we are still very much part and parcel of this university. Above all, the role of the university administration, especially the most revered Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan emerged very crucial. The Vice Chancellor graciously allowed the week-end program students to hold their annual function in the main hall of the university.

Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan (V.C of Agriculture University Faisalabad)

It is a very rare thing that any university would offer so much to its students and we shall always remain indebted to him. In fact, we owe a lot to Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad Khan because he is constantly investing in English department by getting the faculty educated from foreign world ranking universities as well as by hiring new staff. He is deservedly recognized as one of the foremost Vice Chancellors Pakistani universities have ever had.

We wish him and UAF all the best. We are happy and lucky we have been able to share in the legacy that the department has to generate in due course, and we encourage our juniors to take the lead now.

Group Photo during seminar of MA English UAF 

Digging the Renaissance: Nikki Grimes and the Golden Shovel Poems for �Children�

One Last Word cover; Nikki Grimes, photo by Aaron Lemen (from nikkigrimes.com)

               

The Harlem Renaissance was a deep-water era from which countless artists have since drawn inspiration.  So too, Nikki Grimes whose latest collection, One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance, includes poems not only from luminaries of that illustrious period, but also original poems by Grimes herself, who, via the Golden Shovel method, updates social issue of 1920s and �30s Harlem for a 21^st century readership.  Borrowing lines from Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and a score of other Harlem Renaissance poets, and pairing her poems with vivid, evocative artwork, Grimes� collection is a fitting tribute to her cultural and literary forebears, while cementing her reputation as an adept children and young adults� (and adults�) poet.

Each of Grimes� original poems borrows words or lines, utilizing a form called Golden Shovel, to incorporate into her own work.  �The idea of the Golden Shovel poem,� writes Grimes, �is to take a short poem in its entirety, or a line from that poem (called a striking line), and create a new poem, using the words from the original.  Say you decide to use a single line: you would arrange that line, word by word, in the right margin.�  The next step is writing �a new poem, each line ending in one of these words� (6).  The first stanza of Arna Bontemps� poem �Southern Mansion,� for example, reads:

Poplars are standing there still as death

And ghosts of dead men

Meet their ladies walking

Two by two beneath the shade

And standing on the marble steps.

An original poem based upon the final lines of each poem might be:

I drink deep to their life and to their death�

those who came before me, those raggedy men

who spent their burdenful time on earth trudging,

seeking their hour in the undemanding shade.

Ever searching, forever counting their steps.

Utilizing the last word of each line in a stanza, however, is but one way the Golden Shovel can work.  Each word in a single line can also serve the same purpose, as in the case of Georgia Douglas Johnson�s �Calling Dreams,� and Grimes answer, �The Sculptor."  Johnson writes:

The right to make my dreams come true
I ask, nay, I demand of life,
Nor shall fate�s deadly contraband
Impede my steps, nor countermand.

Too long my heart against the ground

has beat the dusty years around,

And now, at length, I rise, I wake!

And stride into the morning-break! (31)

Taking Johnson�s concept a step further, Grimes offers a more specific version of a similar theme.   Grimes writes:

No accident of birth or race or even place determines the

scope of hope or dreams I have a right
to.  I inventory my head and heart to

weigh and measure what talents I might use to make

my own tomorrow.  It all depends on the grit at my

disposal.  My father says hard work is the clay dreams

are molded from.  Yes.  Molded.  Dreams do not come.

They are carved, muscled into something solid, something true. (32)

But adaptability of form�which words, lines or even stanzas to borrow�is only half the story.  A poet indulging in Golden Shovel is also at liberty, as in the case of the collection�s first pairing, Jean Toomer�s �Storm Ending,� with Grimes� original poem �Truth,� to make their own thematically unique work.  Toomer writes:

Thunder blossoms gorgeously above our heads,
Great, hollow, bell-like flowers,

Rumbling in the wind,

Stretching clappers to strike our ears�

Full-lipped flowers

Bitten by the sun

Bleeding rain

Dripping rain like golden honey�

And the sweet earth flying from the thunder. (15)

The human presence in Toomer�s poem intrudes upon the imagery very little.  One could possibly read metaphor into the poems subject matter, especially given the themes found in many of Toomer�s other works, but the poem demands no such leap.  �Storm Ending� can be taken at face value.   In Grimes� Toomer-inspired poem, however, the human presence is nearly everything.  Toomer�s meteorology becomes Grimes� metaphor for outlining the human condition.  Grimes writes:

The truth is, every day we rise is like thunder�

A clap of surprise.  Could be echoes of trouble, or blossoms

of blessings.  You need know what garish or gorgeously

disguised memories-to-be might rain down from above.

So, look up!  Claim that cloud with the silver lining.  Our

job, if you ask me, is to follow it.  See where it heads. (16) 

The adaptability of both form and theme is part of what makes the golden shovel so attractive.  Thematic differentiation serves throughout the book as a reminder that Grimes does not work for but with the inspirational poems she has selected.  Which is often the whole point.  The golden shovel is not only a way of honoring, but simultaneously a springing forth from other�s works.  This duality, of course, is what One Last Word is all about.  Grimes never fails to honor, but she refuses to be confined.

Grimes is a self-professed poet for children and young adults.  Her youthful audience is catered too tastefully throughout the book.  From the simplistic descriptions that preface the collection�an overview of the Harlem Renaissance, definition of golden shovel, and poets� biography�to the vivid imagery of young people appearing throughout the book. 

Artwork by E.B. Lewis

Artwork by Frank Morrison

Artwork by Shadrack Strickland

The poems, too, often feature young people; in Grimes� �Crucible of Champions,� for example, each stanza begins the name of the stanza�s young speaker:

Jamar

The evening news never spares us.  Tune in and we
hear: if you�re a boy and you�re black, you live

with a target on your back.  We each take it in and
shiver, one sharp-bladed question hanging overhead: how

long do I get to walk this earth?  The smell of death is too intense,

and so we bury the thought, because the future is

ours, right?  We get to choose?  Well, we choose life.

Dina

Stupid is the word that stalks me.  I�m anything but, so

I seethe inside.  Even on a good day, I�m full
of an anger that burns my breath.  Who?  It�s all because of
my diagnosed dyslexia.  Ask me to read aloud, I stress. 

Whenever the teacher calls on me in class, I stutter.  So

most folks surmise that my head is hollow.  Actually, it�s quite full. 

My words and letters simply switch places.  They�ve got a mind of

their own.  I call that reason enough for stress, for strife. (lines 1-17)

Given the personas represented in the six stanzas, it�s perhaps fitting �Crucible of Champions� would be considered a poem for juveniles.  This assessment, of course, doesn't tell the whole tale.  Educators, parents, and in fact any adult who wants to better understand the life of a young person, especially a young person of color, has a great deal to learn from the six people represented therein.  That said, when Grimes herself claims that, though she began her career focusing on the adult market before shifting her �emphasis to literature for children and young adults� (page 1), the claim certainly has credence, but no reader should underestimate her work because it bears the label.  The distance between juvenile and adult poetry is not so great as we might think.

 

Grimes speaks at the

2017 Newbery-Caldecott-Wilder Banquet

________________________________________________

AN [EMAIL] INTERVIEW WITH NIKKI GRIMES

Anthony Fife: In the preface, you say that the poets of the Harlem Renaissance were among your earliest influences.  Geographically, at least, that makes a lot of sense; you are, after all, from Harlem.  But what about the work itself, regardless of geography, was so appealing to you as a child?

Nikki Grimes: I came to this work in my teens, during the early 60s, at the flashpoint of the Civil Rights Movement, the rise of the Panther Party, and the new slogan of Black Power.  The poets of the Harlem Renaissance were addressing the very issues of racial and social injustice that we were wrestling with, at that time.   Paul Laurence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" spoke to me.  Countee Cullen's "Incident" was my own story.  Waring Cuney's "No Images" and Langston's "Harlem Sweeties" ("Carmel, brown sugar/A chocolate treat") let me know I was comely even before the phrase "Black is Beautiful" was coined.  Cullen's "Yet Do I Marvel" was the "Yes!" to my personal drive to write poetry in spite of the emotional wreck and dysfunction of my family life. 

"Inscrutable His ways are, and immune...

What awful brain compels His awful hand;

Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:

To make a poet black, and bid him sing!"

I was that poet!          

I still read Langston, of course, and I love to return to Georgia Douglas Johnson and Gwendolyn Bennett.  And the language of Jean Toomer still plucks the strings of my heart.

AF: How long after learning the Golden Shovel form did it take you to conceive of this project? 

NG: I had two ideas for projects immediately after writing my first Golden Shovel poem.  I knew I wanted to do something with poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, specifically bringing it to an audience of young readers who might not otherwise appreciate its relevance.  And I wanted to introduce readers to some of the female poets of the period they probably weren't familiar with.  The other idea I had was to apply the form to an exploration of the Psalms.  The Harlem Renaissance project ended up being idea I attacked first.

AF: Is the golden shovel a form that, aside from One Last Word, you often use?

NG: This form is relatively new, so I haven't had many opportunities to use it, yet, but I have written a picture book using this form.  It's called The Watcher, and it grew from the lines of Psalm 121, one of my favorites.

AF: What other forms are common or important in your work?

NG: I love free verse, haiku, and tanka. These are forms I return to often. But I'm addicted to challenge, and so I'm looking to explore other forms, as well.  Each form of poetry takes me places I wouldn't go, otherwise.

AF: What are some of the challenges of golden shovel poems that differentiate it from challenges of other forms?

NG: While other forms lock the poet in where meter is concerned, Golden Shovel forces you to use words that may or may not fit comfortably in your mouth, or in your psyche.  If, for instance, you select your striking line from a poem written during another period in time, you may end up having to wrestle with language that is antiquated, or be stuck having to use a word that you would never encounter in current speech.  In one of the Renaissance poems I chose, a striking line included the word "Chromatique."  That was quite the head scratcher!  What on earth, I kept asking myself, am I supposed to do with that word????  I ended up using it as the name of a hair salon.

The other aspect of the Golden Shovel that's challenging is determining what your poem is going to be about, and then working out a strategy for using the words you've chosen to help tell that story.  For me, it feels a bit like sculpture in that I don't know what I'm going to end up with until I get there.  I just take my raw material�words�and keep chipping away until something coherent begins to emerge.

AF: I notice that many of your original poems in this collection are persona poems.  How does adopting the perspective of another, be they real or fictional, help shape the trajectory of your poems?

NG: I'm a character-driven writer, and delving into character is most often my way into story, whether that takes the form of a prose work, a novel-in-verse, or a narrative poem.  So character was also my default, here.  When I asked myself, with each striking line I chose, "Now what is this poem going to be about? What story will I tell?" I turned to characters to suss it out.  Once I climb into a character's skin and look at the world, or a given situation, through his or her eyes, my direction becomes very clear.

AF: Indeed, several of your poems adopt a different persona from stanza to stanza.  These are among my favorites in the book.  Could you speak to the interplay of the one character to another to another aspect of these poems?

NG: There is something about the dance between two or more characters that add energy and a certain dynamic to the narrative that I love.  When I was developing as a young artist, I spent time in the theater, and I brought that sensibility into my writing.  I'm forever picking up snatches of dialogue between strangers, and imaging interplay between characters long before they make it to the page.  I can't help it.  I love placing a number of characters in a space and then seeing how they interact how they impact or influence one another.  I suppose that's why I keep writing multi-voiced novels like Bronx Masquerade, a novel in prose and poetry written in 18 voices.  It's a kind of sickness, I suppose, but it's all mine!

AF: In part because of the multiple personae in some of your poems, your work, on average, tends to be much longer than that of your literary ancestors.  Whereas many of the Harlem Renaissance poems you exemplify in this collection are relatively brief (usually fitting comfortably on one page) yours is much more expansive.  Could you please talk about that?

NG: Well, by virtue of the form I've chosen, every word of every line I select from the original poem becomes a new line.  On that basis alone, the minute I select more than a single line, the resulting poem is bound to be longer than the original, even more so in those cases where I've chosen to use the lines of an entire stanza.  Then, of course, in the few cases where I used the words of an entire longer poem, well the growth is exponential.  That's one answer.

Beyond the above, I was seeking to expand the subject matter both to express the intent of the original poem more clearly for young readers, and to bridge the gap between their own point in time, and the period of the Harlem Renaissance poets.  I want to make sure readers fully appreciate the relevance of the Renaissance poetry today.  Sometimes, that requires a bit of expansion.

AF: Did you have a relationship with any of the artist beforehand or were they and their work kind of brought to you by the publisher or something like that?

NG: More and more books for middle grade readers are being illustrated, these days, and so I knew there would be some art, though precisely what form it would take was an unknown.  When the text was complete, my publisher suggested that, rather than having a single artist illustrate the book, we might, instead, invite a variety of artists to do one illustration per poem.   I thought that was a brilliant idea, and immediately agreed.  I compiled a list of artists for the publisher to contact, and we went from there.  Most of the artists have illustrated one or more of my picture books, over the years, or else illustrated my poems in various anthologies, so I was familiar with their work, and their artistic sensibilities.  And, of course, I relished the opportunity to do one of the illustrations, myself�a first for me!

AF: As the final question I always mention the title of the blog: Poetry Matters.  Of course, it can be read as "stuff about poetry," but it can also be read as the bold declaration "poetry DOES matter!"  Taking the latter as our guide, please explain to me why poetry DOES, in fact, matter.

NG: There are so many experiences in life for which language, in general, is ill-suited: the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, the upheaval caused my natural, or unnatural, disasters.  Things that cannot be articulated otherwise can always find expression in poetry.   We humans have so much pent-up stress and anxiety�particularly in this present age�that we desperately need a healthy mental and emotional outlet. Poetry offers that.  Poetry is a celebration of language, of beauty, of truth�all that we need for the health of our souls.  The world would be
demonstrably poorer without poetry.  Who would choose to live in such a world?  Not I.
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New York Times bestselling author Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the 2017 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, the 2016 Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, and the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her distinguished works include the much-honored books Garvey's Choice, ALA Notable book What is Goodbye?, Coretta Scott King Award winner Bronx Masquerade, and Coretta Scott King Author Honor books Jazmin's Notebook, Talkin' About Bessie, Dark Sons, Words with Wings, and The Road to Paris. Creator of the popular Meet Danitra Brown, Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California.

Visit the official Nikki Grimes website:  http://www.nikkigrimes.com/

To purchase your own copy of Nikki Grimes� One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance, visit Bloomsbury publishers at:
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/one-last-word-9781619635548/