Welcome to my 2019 National Poetry Month Project
Each day of April, I will write and share a new (first person, free verse, fewer than 15 lines not including spacing) poem. Taken together, these will tell a story about John and Betsy, two characters I posted about on March 22. This will be new for me, and I invite anyone who wishes to join me in writing a collection of 30 poems that tell a story.
Here is a list of this month's poems so far:
And now...today's poem.
Water and Poems
by Amy LV
Students - This month's poems will tell a story about John and Betsy, and all of the poems will have three things in common: each will be written in John's voice, each will be 15 lines or shorter (not including spacing), and each will be written in free verse. I find it helpful to set writing boundaries for myself, so I chose three to work with over the next 30 days. But sometimes, friends, I am breaking these rules. Rules can help a project, and they can also hinder it. So I begin with these rules, and then I listen to each poem and what it desires to be. When given a writing choice between listening to a poem and listening to a rule, I usually listen to the poem.
To write today's poem, I first went back and reread all of this month's poems. I said to myself, "Oh, no. John and Betsy do not have many more days left this month." Then I asked myself, "What would I like to see John and Betsy do together next?" I read back on Day 8 "She loves to run" and on Day 19 "She said she needs help/playing with Betsy" and decided to show this good running fun. If you have ever seen a dog run, you know what the ears and tail and fur look like. And since Miss Betsy doesn't run much anymore, I knew for sure that she would have nice cold water and poems waiting for her two pals.
Today's poem repeats one line five times. Try repeating a line like this yourself sometime, over and over again throughout your poem; repetition is a neat way to thread a poem together.
If you would like to learn more about other National Poetry Month projects happening throughout the Kidlitosphere, Jama has rounded up many NPM happenings over at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Happy National Poetry Month 2019!
See you tomorrow!
xo,
Amy
xo,
Amy
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