Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Poem #287 says, "Listen to Your Shoes!"


My "New" Goodwill Shoes
Photo by Amy LV


Once again, today's poem comes from Tricia's Monday Poetry Stretch over at The Miss Rumphius Effect.  It's fun to see what other writers post given the same nudge.  

Students - Oh, what fun it is to make inanimate objects talk!  To me it does seem as if every thing in the world has feelings and secrets, and my daughter Hope has this same sense.  Yesterday morning I found her hugging our Christmas tree to say goodbye, something I used to (and still) do.

To open yourself to this way of thinking, spend an afternoon asking yourself, "Hmmm...what would that clock say?  I wonder what my pencil is thinking..." and on and on.  You may discover a secret door into an interesting poem or story.

Somewhere during the past few weeks, I read a poem about how shoes have many body part names: eye, heel, sole, tongue.  Unfortunately, I cannot remember the poem, but surely it also provided inspiration for today's poem.  If you know which poem I'm talking about, please leave its title in the comments.

Today I am tickled to announce the illustrator of my forthcoming poetry book with Clarion Books.  It is talented watercolorist Robbin Gourley, full of whimsical joy and realism too.  I could not feel luckier.

Today is also my first interview ever.  Toby Speed, of The Writer's Armchair, graciously invited me to her blog for tea and a chat about The Poem Farm.  If you're interested in learning the history of this craziness, please visit.

If you did not see yesterday's ALA winners, here they are at The American Libraries magazine.  Congratulations to all!  Please note that Joyce Sidman's poetry book, THE DARK EMPEROR, won a Newbery Honor.

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Today's date is 1/1/11.  By day's end, Charles Ghigna and I hope to post the collaborative poem contributed to by so many - "1/11/11."  Happy one one one one one day!

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

5 comments:

  1. I can't wait til 11/11/11... though I'll join in the 1/11/11 joy, too. And I'll cheer for sole-soul any day!

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  2. Love the shoes I've always loved red shoes) and your poem made me smile! I'm reading a poetry book at the moment - Where Earwigs Dare by Matt Harvey. It's great to read aloud to myself and is full of juicy, chewy, pithy lines.
    http://www.mattharvey.co.uk/

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  3. Amy,
    I love the cute poem! I had a pair of red shoes once - my favorites - and they must have talked to each other. Congratulations on your illustrator announcement! I can't wait for the book!

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  4. Oh Amy, I had to run over here and tell you this. Today my kids and I (the middle four) ended our lesson time together with a visit to The Poem Farm. We read five or six of your wonderful poems. My 4 1/2 yr old (Rilla on the blog) was especially enchanted with today's shoe poem.

    Afterward she disappeared to another room, poking her head back in here briefly to ask me how to spell cup. And about 20 minutes later she came skipping in proudly waving a paper bearing the following poem, each line a different color of crayon:

    CUP

    CUP
    CAN
    DRINK
    OUT
    OF
    THERE
    SELF

    Her first foray into verse. We are all smiles here. :)

    (And I kind of love the zen-riddle quality of this. Cups can drink out of themselves!)

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  5. I think there must be something universal about favorite red shoes! If you don't have a pair...get one!
    Melissa - please tell Rilla that I, too, am delighted by her CUP poem. I would love to be able to drink out of myself! Actually, maybe that's what we all do when we write. Thank you, Rilla, for giving my brain something to think about! A.

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