Laughing a Lot About His Poetry

He grew up with no interest in reading or writing — and certainly not poetry, which thought was strictly for girls. Today, Darren Sardelli is enjoying a career built on writing children’s poetry.

To date, the Long Beach bard has penned nearly 1,000 poems, 35 of which are published in 12 books and six textbooks from the United States to Israel to Germany. Sardelli’s success has led him to visit some 60 regional elementary and middle schools each year to teach kids how to write poetry and offer some motivational words.

At 33, the athletic Sardelli, a life-long hockey player, sees himself as making poetry cool to kids, shattering images of poets as old men with long beards, and perhaps convincing some boys that poetry has its masculine side.

“If I told myself I was going to be a poet 15 years ago, I would have laughed,” said Sardelli, who attended high school at St. Anthony’s in South Huntington.

At his school events, most students raise their hands when he asks if they know someone who doesn’t like their job.

“I tell them they have an opportunity right now to start focusing on their passions, the things they like and enjoy,” he said about his main message to kids. “You want to be happy in life.”

Sardelli was a 20-year-old junior on his way to earning a business degree at Loyola College when he found himself thinking what he wanted to do with his life. One thought that popped into his head was children’s books. He’d always been good with kids and he had a creative imagination. Why not?

So, finally, he picked up some books, including “Falling Up,” Shel Silverstein’s humorous poetry, and some Dr. Seuss titles. He was inspired. “I was blown away by the way they wrote and rhymed, and by their characters,” Sardelli said.

The next day, he started to put pen to paper. When he graduated from Loyola, he continued to work at his father’s retail stores, with the plan that one day he may take over the business. But even though he respected his father’s work, he knew it wasn’t for him. This pushed him to work harder on his writing during his free time, most of it spent studying and writing stanzas at libraries, bookstores and coffee shops.

In 2003, he attended the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and, for the first time, read his poetry publicly. In the audience was Monte Schulz, a novelist and son of cartoonist Charles Schulz of Peanuts fame. Afterward, the two writers talked and Schulz told Sardelli his work was too choppy and needed work.  

“I felt his meter was not exact everywhere, and after everybody schmoozed him, and I don’t think they took his poetry seriously, I told him I really liked his poetry but he couldn’t have any meter errors at all,” Schulz said. “It’s got to be perfect.”

Sardelli took his advice back to New York, wrote like he told him to, and returned to the conference the following year. Schulz found his meter was perfect.

“Most people who you give advice to say, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I’m good, fine,’” Schulz said. “But he told me that I was the only one that was helpful because I was the only one who was honest.”  

That year, 2004, Sardelli had two poems published alongside those of Silverstein’s and others in a book titled “Rolling in the Aisles,” compiled by Bruce Lansky, a publisher and children’s author.

Sardelli’s verse is mostly humorous (hence the name of his company, Laugh-A-Lot Books), and he sets out to create poems that surprise the reader in the final lines, a feat he calls his greatest challenge as a poet.   

“That’s what keeps me writing,” he said. “I love it so much, thinking of different ideas and scenarios.”

His poem “People Like to Push Me” is indicative of his style:

People like to push me,
but I never say a word.
You may find this ridiculous
and even quite absurd.
People like to sit on me.
They do this all the time.
They even put their feet on me
and cover me with grime.
They’ve twisted me!
They’ve tangled me!
They’ve tied me in a knot!
They leave me in the pouring rain!
They grab me when it’s hot!
People like to push me,
but I never say a thing.
It’s nice to see them having fun—
it’s great to be a swing.

Looking ahead, Sardelli wants to take his teaching and motivational tours nationwide, and he aspires to have his poetry reach a prestige equal with Silverstein and Seuss.

Last year he started his own publishing company, Lots of Laughs Books, and published a book of his own poems titled “Galaxy Pizza and Meteor Pie” (with illustrations by Pam Catapano). One of his favorite poems in the book, “Recess! Oh, Recess,” is reflective of most of his work, based on memories of subjects from his boyhood, back when he thought poetry was “a feminine thing.”

“I took myself back to the playground,” he said. “I kind of recreate the feeling of how fun recess was.”

* Other poems by Darren Sardelli

Recess! Oh, Recess!

Recess! Oh, Recess!
We love you! You rule!
You keep us away
from the teachers in school.
Your swings are refreshing.
Your slides are the best.
You give us a break
from a really hard test.

Recess! Oh, Recess!
We want you to know,
you’re sweeter than syrup,
you’re special like snow.
You don’t assign homework.
You make the day fun.
You let us play kickball
and run in the sun.

Recess! Oh, Recess!
You’re first on our list.
We’d be in despair
if you didn’t exist.
We’re happy we have you.
You’re awesome and cool.
Recess! Oh, Recess!
We love you! You rule!

I Never

I never put my things away.
I never dust my room.
I never fix the things I break.
I never use a broom.

I never take the garbage out.
I never buy the food.
I never get embarrassed
when a person sees me nude.

I never clean the table tops.
I never scrub the floors.
I never turn the TV off.
I never lock the doors.

I never wash the dinner plates.
I never say a word.
I never knew that life would be
so easy for a bird!


My Dog Ate My Essay

My doggy ate my essay,
he picked up all my mail.
He cleaned my dirty closet
and dusted with his tail.
He straightened out my posters
and swept my wooden floor.
My parents almost fainted when
he fixed my bedroom door.
I did not try to stop him.
He made my windows shine.
My room looked like a palace.
My jackets smelled like pine.
He fluffed up every pillow.
He folded all my clothes.
He even cleaned my fish tank with
a toothbrush and a hose.
I thought it was amazing
to see him use a broom.
I’m glad he ate my essay
on “How to Clean My Room.”