Saturday, November 27, 2010

Come Wait for Snow in Buffalo - Poem #242


Our Weekend Weather


I love a storm.  Love anticipating a storm.  Love buying an extra box of butter for a storm.  Love watching the flakes fall.  In fact, I love that whole shopping-for-a-storm part so much that some time ago I wrote a listener commentary about it for our local NPR station.

This holiday weekend finds us south-of-Buffalo,NY-types waiting for our first storm of the year.  Such waiting made me imagine snowflakes waiting to fall, snowflakes wondering about their fates.  I imagined I could hear them, something I've done before.  The unheard sounds of snowflakes is a topic I love.

Students - do you have topics that you circle back to the way our dog Cali circles back to her buried bone out back?  It's interesting to read through your notebook, just looking for patterns, for words and ideas and themes that seem to find you over and over again.  Such reading helps writers understand what matters to us most.

If you seek a beautiful list book about different names for snow in all of its forms, I recommend this one.  My use of the word "lace" in today's snowy poem most likely came from reading this book to our children many many times.


(Please click on COMMENTS below to share a thought.)

8 comments:

  1. I love this poem! It is so beautiful - and enthralls me with snow magic. Thank you, Amy! Hugs, Lola

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the use of the verbs in your poem. I, too, love snow and the anticipation of a great storm brewing. However, our area sometimes gets the hype and then nothing happens.

    Am excited to start posting your poems around our classroom so students can read poetry throughout the day!

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Sparkling voices
    crystal-loud
    echo from inside
    a cloud - "

    That's just brilliant, Amy!

    I am excited to share this poem with my class because it is partly a mask poem and that's what we've been doing - but yours is a little more sophisticated.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lola, Thank you! I love that we are both experiencing snow on our own sides of the ocean... A.
    ----------
    Cathy, I hear you about the hype. I am pretty easily hyped up, and this time we actually did get a bit. It is so beautiful! It will be an honor to hang around your classroom - I will be happy to answer any questions your students have, and I welcome you to join in a classroom Poetry Peek sometime if you ever wish (see sidebar) A.
    -------------
    Susan, I would love to read some of your students' mask poems when we next meet! Somehow I find them such fun. Check out Elaine's Wild Rose Reader blog this week - she has some poems she has changed into mask poems. It's neat to see how they change, and I think your students would like that. A.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just found your blog! I love it! I will be sharing this with my 1st grade kiddos!

    -Rachelle
    www.whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rachelle, I am excited to visit your first graders! Please feel free to share any of your poetry projects with me - I love featuring poetry in classrooms on occasional Fridays! (See the sidebar for Poetry Peeks.) Welcome to my site, and thank you for your kind words...A.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh I can't wait for our first snow! Thanks for a lovely poem to put into words that magical scene!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Amy,

    I'm just getting around to doing some blog reading. I got sick the day after Thanksgiving. Fortunately, I made it through the holiday. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

    Love your mask poem. What a great beginning!

    It's been warmer than usual where I live--considering the time of year. No sign of snow around these parts yet.

    ReplyDelete