Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Pass the Money in Poem #321


Round and Round
by Amy LV 


Students - this poem idea came from three places: the $2 bills my children sometimes receive in holiday cards, the woven valentines I made yesterday from old Chinese paper money, and my constant wondering where every dollar and penny have traveled.  For the most part, this is a wonder poem.  Where has all of the money traveled?  Will I ever touch the same dollar again?

This, like "Thank You to Sun" and "One Yawn," is a cycle poem.  Think about a cycle you understand.  Where does it start?  Where does it end?  Would that idea make a good poem?  One of my favorite cycle poems of all is David McCord's "Cocoon," such spare and perfect lines.

I will again participate in SPARK, an online project where artists, musicians, and writers send work to each other to inspire new pieces.  SPARK 11 goes from February 16 - February 25, and I just sent and received my inspiration piece today.  In SPARK 10, I wrote from a lovely photograph of dahlias and sent my artist, Amy Souza, a poem about the Moon.  I also had the opportunity to send a poem to Amanda Brainerd who made a very neat photo collage to go with it.  90 people are participating in this round!  My partner, Nancy, is here at A Rural Journal.

Teachers - this would be a marvelous project to do with a class.  Simply have all students create a piece of art or music or words and then pass it on to a partner as inspiration.  Visual and musical artists create writing from their inspiration pieces, and writers create visual art or music from their inspiration pieces.  Set deadlines and guidelines, just as Amy Souza does, and see what emerges.  What a gallery display this could make in a school!  Please do let me know if you try this as I would love to feature your project and some of the work.

Homeschoolers - the way that SPARK is organized online would make it a perfect project for homeschooling families.  If you are interested in me helping you to set up a similar project, please just say so.

Woven Money Heart
by Amy LV

(Please click on POST A COMMENT to share a thought.)

1 comment:

  1. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this Amy! What a great thought! I love the meter of this one too. I often wonder when I see the stamp on the money that allows you to track the dollar (if anyone has done it) where that dollar has been. Next time I get one, I am going to hold it and look it up on the internet. Maybe it was President Obama's dollar!

    ReplyDelete