It’s a strange feeling that school has started and I’m not there. Yes, I miss the shiny faces, sparkly backpacks, and new lunch boxes, and the hope and excitement of new beginnings. But I have my writing companion with me, and those little faces are with me too, as I work on my stories and poems. 💕

Today I watched the local fire department deliver an amazing Firefighter Storytime at the library, complete with a visit to the fire truck! My book about a busy firehouse, TRUCKS, BOOTS, AND BELLS, comes out in a year and I’m hoping to plan fun events like this for little ones! ❤️🚒📚 #firefighters

Here’s to us, lesbian moms! 💕 Pride Month🏳️‍🌈

Good morning and Happy Pride Month! 💕🏳️‍🌈

What a poetry moment today! A child showed me a page she likes from WHAT IS A FAMILY -a poetry anthology by @pomelobooks.bsky.social. She’s living in a foster home right now, and she read aloud the poem “Encouragement” by @rebeccaglevington.bsky.social. Your poem reached a child today, Rebecca. ❤️‍🩹

Remembering my dad this morning on his birthday as I drink my Irish tea out of my new mug, celebrating the upcoming publication of my book TRUCKS, BOOTS, AND BELLS. April 29 brought us Dan Cronin, and what a good life he lived. ❤️ Holiday House Books ~fall 2026. @steelworksliterary.bsky.social

With my broken foot I’m not up for roadside protesting, so we took a few spins around the Hyannis Rotary to cheer the protesters on! 💥 #capecod

“There is something about this manuscript that cries out for publication. It may take you a while to 'get there' but you must.” ~poet/anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins, re my poetry collection, TRUCKS, BOOTS, AND BELLS (Holiday House, 2026). On his birthday, I remember Lee with gratitude.

That's one thing I'm resting on. We are a global society. They will never be able to eradicate any aspect of knowledge the way they imagine they can. I went to NZ and met a scholar who had written her master's thesis of Whoopi Goldberg's comedy. There is a Langsron Hughes society in Japan.

Statement from detained student Rümeysa Öztürk dictated to her attorneys while jailed at the South Louisiana ICE facility: “Efforts to target me because of my op-ed in the Tufts Daily calling for the equal dignity and humanity of all people will not deter me” @theintercept.com

Poetry Month is getting off to a great start! Today I am taking the day off from my usual job so I can be the Visiting Poet at Barnstable-West Barnstable Elementary School. Can't wait to dive into poetry with the second graders! Thanks to @belongingbooks.bsky.social for arranging my visit.

Children make the world a better place. Elementary schools make our world a better place. Immigrants make our country a better place. Friendship is a precious life raft that keeps us afloat. And sparkles help, too. ✨

A few years ago, someone on twitter (it might have been you) said that the best thing that one can do for writers that they like is to preorder because it gives publishers confidence in the book, so I’ve done so ever since. Plus, it’s nice to get a gift I’ve forgotten about from past me.

I could spend the day mourning my mother, who left this earth 18 years ago; instead I’ll celebrate my daughter, who uses her power for good. She sent me a box of PRH books for our K-3 school. The generations roll on, the circle is unbroken. 💖 @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social @rosecrojack.bsky.social

Preparing to be Visiting Poet at a local school, signing books and soaking in the lively energy of Cape Cod’s newest bookstore, @belongingbooks.bsky.social! I love that my poem is included in the Pomelo Books anthology WHAT IS FAMILY?

I'm heading home today after a peaceful and productive few days at Highlights with the clients of @steelworksliterary.bsky.social, led by agent Lori Steel. And I got to celebrate my TRUCKS, BOOTS, AND BELLS book announcement with this wonderful group of writers! ❤️🚒✨

So proud to see this announcement of the book of my heart! TRUCKS, BOOTS, AND BELLS: FIREHOUSE POEMS was inspired by my father's long career in the FDNY, and cheered along by many writing partners, teachers, my family, and my agent Lori Steel. 🚒 @steelworksliterary.bsky.social 🚒 @fdny.bsky.social

If you were a baby dyke in the 90’s, you remember this very well.😎

Today I led a discussion in grade 3 about LGBTQ acceptance and allyship, got warned about possible ICE activity during morning bus duty, comforted a teacher worried sick about the physical safety of a little girl in a bad home situation, & conducted a 3-hr PD session. Hug a teacher this week. ❤️‍🩹

Using my teacher voice. “All students have a constitutionally protected right to obtain a public education regardless of legal status.” - National Education Association @neatoday.bsky.social

Watching young children become readers and writers is the best medicine! Here’s a first grader writing about her favorite character— Molly from my friend @vickijohnsonwrites.bsky.social book MOLLY’S TUXEDO. ✨💖✏️

Always makes me remember this @sn0vember.bsky.social poem.

Happy Valentine’s Day 💖🏳️‍🌈

the National Park Service just removed the T from LGBTQ+ at the Stonewall National Monument. Beyond shameful. You can’t tell the story of Stonewall without transgender people. This is blatant erasure at its worst. www.nps.gov/ston/index.htm

The moment every author dreams about— seeing my words come to life in an illustrator’s hands. Yes, I have a children’s book in the works about firefighting!! 🔥More on that soon. In the meantime, enjoy this peek into the research process of brilliant illustrator Aaron Marin. Find him on IG!

I received an award today ☺️✨💖

Snow day! 💖✨❄️

New — @indivisible.org is holding a protest at the Treasury Building 5pm this Tuesday to take action against Elon Musk's hostile takeover

Starting off February on the right foot in our K-3 school. ❤️ Happy Black History Month!

Oooh, it’s 4:30 on a Friday! Only 30 minutes left before all mention of LGBTQ+ people are erased from our federal government websites. 🙄 Sorry, fearful Trumpkins. We’re not going anywhere.

"Spite cannot sustain you for the long haul", counterpoint: my ancestors are Irish

Can't promise to keep up with this morning's #YMA announcements at @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social but shall try! Tune in yourself for a front row seat 2025.alaliblearnx.org

Never in my wildest dreams, as a 30+ year educator who works in a K-3 school, did I ever imagine I’d be strategizing with colleagues about what to do if ICE comes to our school. How depraved.

My office art by Niamh McArdle— what we want for all our children. ❤️

In late 2017 my poem, "We Know How to Do This" was published in the poetry anthology IF YOU CAN HEAR THIS: POEMS IN PROTEST OF AN AMERICAN INAUGURATION. I thought the book, and that poem, would be a relic of history, but here we are, so I am sharing it today... because we know how to do this.

Book joy! ✨My grant application to Cape Cod 5, "A World of Languages: Picture Books for Multilingual Learners," was successful! So now we have new books in Haitian Creole, Spanish, and Portuguese, including Ana Crespo's beautiful book SAUDADE. Thank you, Cape Cod 5!

This ❤️

Ursula is right

We are laughing and playing and taking in the beauty of Puerto Rico ✨🎄❤️🇵🇷

Merry Christmas. For those who are struggling, may the day land gently. Photo: Christmas Eve 2017.

Love and loss go hand in hand, especially at the holidays. Wishing peace to all. ❤️ I’m grateful for family and good friends, and that I have my siblings to share memories with. To my friends and family who are grieving this Christmas, I wish you comfort ❤️‍🩹This pic— a long-ago Bronx Christmas 🎄

Each week at our school we celebrate Poetry Friday with a poem. It was a total joy today to read my poem “Wintertime Fair” to a grade 3 class and then listen as they identified rhyme scheme, alliteration, simile, and more! Then they each illustrated the poem. So fun! ✨❄️❤️ #PoetryFriday

True luxury is found in the simplest moments.

My poem, “Wintertime Fair” was inspired by a holiday trip to London when my daughter was studying there. It’s available on the poetry website Dirigible Balloon and in the anthology CHASING CLOUDS. I hope you find some holiday cheer that soothes your soul. ✨✨✨

Today is the anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting. My poem, "Red Blouse," was published in Rise Up Review, written in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, when the image of one parent stayed with me. May we never get jaded or complacent. www.riseupreview.org/mary-e-cronin

My sister in Ireland sent me these beautiful stamps! 💚

The world looks a little better with a book by Jacqueline Woodson in hand. ❤️ #kidlit