Poetry Friday: Stay Close...in Word & Art

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I have always been intrigued by stories of how art and words find each other.  Below you will find how one such pairing recently nestled itself into my life.  I feel very grateful to be tied to Carol Sloan with invisible threads of life, love, and family.

The Sloan Tree
Artwork by Carol Sloan

Many many months ago, I sent a poem into a "call" for writing.  Patti Digh, author of many books including life is a verb, asked readers of her blog (the inspiring 37 Days) to send advice to her graduating daughter, Emma.  At that time, a few of my dearest people were going through difficult times, and I wrote and shared this poem, thinking about how much we need each other.

Patti shared many of the submitted essays and bits of advice on her blog, and I enjoyed reading words of comfort, strength, and kindness.  Time passed.  My poem didn't show up on the web, but I did receive an invitation to be a part of Patti Digh's newest book, what i wish for you: simple wisdom for a happy life.

When this book came out two months ago, I was moved to find the soulful artwork you see above matched with my poem, below.  Carol's three trees stand lovingly close to each other.  Two birds stay close too.  Reading the story behind Carol's art at The Sketchbook Challenge, I was amazed and touched by how we, two people who had never met, had created and connected from miles apart.  Both of us were surprised.

Students - I believe in staying close, even when it's not easy.  When someone we love is sad, it's tempting to go and hide or to stay away like a turtle burrowing more deeply into its shell.  After all, what can one say when everything feels scary or bad?  But sad times call us to lean on each other, young or old, bit or small.  Sometimes we need each other's sun, and sometimes we need each other's shade.

Writing this poem for Emma, I found that I was writing it for me and for my friends and family too.  For while it can be difficult to be present for someone sad, it can be even more difficult to accept help or encouragement.  This poem serves as a reminder to me: let people in, let people in.

This poem grew from something I believe in: staying close.  What do you believe?  If you know what you believe, if there are words you feel deep in your core, then you have found  a breathing poem, a breathing poem just waiting to find its way to paper.

Here's Patti Digh, talking about her new book, what i wish for you: simple wisdom for a happy life.  I am honored to be a part of it and to share a page with Carol Sloan. 

Carol Wilcox is hosting today's Poetry Friday at Carol's Corner with beautiful words from Mary Oliver.  Don't miss it!

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Ballerina and a First Grade Poetry Peek!

Peony

Photo by Georgia LV

Students - today's poem and photos come from my piles and files of favorite things.  The peony picture is new; part of our daughter Georgia's summer plan to take many beautiful photographs.  Looking through my poems, I found one that felt perfect with her picture and decided to play with the line breaks, revising until it felt just right.  Doesn't the flower look  like a ballerina dress?  

Sometimes photographs and pictures do fit together.  And it's lots of fun to go back and forth between them, asking, "Does this photo give me a writing idea?" or "Does this poem go with a photo I have taken?"  This summer, I hope to do more of this, match words with pictures - in my notebook, with my camera, and in my mind.  

You might want to think about this too.  Bring a camera and a notebook with you as you walk through the woods or visit Grandma or go camping or fishing.  Take a picture of the pool water, with your camera and with your heart.

Here is little ballerina Georgia, many years ago.  Now she's eight years older than she was in this picture, but she still cracks us up and touches our souls.

Ballerina Georgia

Photo by Amy LV

Today I excited to introduce first grade teacher Kate Sacco and her poet-students from Franklin Elementary in the Kenmore -Town of Tonawanda School District as they share how they read, wrote, and published poems together.

 Teacher Kate Sacco & First Grade Poets

My first graders embarked on our poetry journey this spring.  Very quickly, this journey became an adventure for myself and my students!  We began by consuming.  We read many, many poems by many, many authors.  My students loved the silly poems the best and often asked to have favorites read over and over. 

Next, I handed out small spiral notebooks (about 5" x 8" - see THE PRIMARY UNITS OF STUDY Poetry Unit by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues) with lanyards attached.   This way the notebooks could travel with us throughout our day.  I told the children that the first thing they should do is "harvest words."   Their primary job was to collect words and phrases that they liked or that evoked some kind of emotion.

Along with this we faithfully read The Poem Farm.  I have an Interwrite Mobi with a ceiling mounted projector in my classroom this year.  This allowed us to view the website on the screen in the classroom and interact with the poems.  We were able to use the device to circle words we liked and to highlight parts of the poems together.

Many of the poems and lessons inspired us to go beyond the typical poetry formats.  The children tried their hands at list poems, list with a twist poems, rhyming poems, repeating word and phrase poems, circle poems, mask poems, and many more.  As they worked, I published their poems into a word document, and together we edited for spelling, font, use of white space, and format.

At the end of most writing workshops, I projected the children's poems back on the screen and together (using the Mobi), we added, changed, and enjoyed each other's work.  Once a week, I printed all the newer poems and added them to our poet-tree out in the hall for others to enjoy.

First Grade Poet-Tree (Poems are Leaves!)

Photo by Kate Sacco

Just this week, I handed out the final published anthology of the students' work.  The kids were surprisingly humble.  I asked them to tell me what they learned and what they liked best about learning to write poetry.  Here are some of their responses:

"You can write any kind of poem you want, and it makes you happy." - Kayla H.

"We can play with words." - Kylie F.

"There are no rules in poetry.  You can play with the words." - Olivia E.

"We can write mask poems.  They let you be something else.  Not a plain old person."  - Dante V., Emilie T., Olivia E.

"It was kind of hard at first.  You write a poem and then you're stuck for a minute and you have to sit and think."  - Seth F.

The best thing about writing poetry is:

"You can have fun writing it." - Seth F.

"You get to mess around with your words." - Eric B.

"You can do anything you want." - Olivia E.

"You can say what you like." - Jailynn G.

"It's great to write them!" - Kylie F.

"You can write about anything." - Caelin T.

This was truly an inspiring adventure for all of us.  I learned along with my students and even wrote some poems myself.  Many days, I was left speechless and in absolute awe of the poetry the children created and the creativity, determination and persistence they showed with their writing. 

The Butterfly

A caterpillar goes

into his chrysalis

and out comes

a butterfly.

It likes flowers

and so do you.

It likes you too.

by Evan K. 

Ice Cream

Ice cream is so yummy.

Ice cream is so gummy.

Ice cream is so fummy.

Ice cream is so zummy.

Ice cream is so pummy.

Ice cream is so rummy.

Ice cream is so bummy.

Ice cream is so summy.

Ice cream is so hummy.

Ice cream is so wummy.

Ice cream in my tummy!

by Sierra H.

Smile

I am a smile face.

I am never mad.

I am never sad.

I am always happy.

I make lots of friends

When I am happy.

I am a smile face.

by Nick I.

The Sun Comes Out

Rainbows come out

when the sun comes out.

My friends come out

when the sun comes out.

My sister Lily comes out

when the sun comes out.

Bees come out

when the sun comes out.

Flowers come out

when the sun comes out.

Butterflies come out

when the sun comes out.

I come out

when the sun comes out.

by Rosie L.

Ant Haiku

I have ants in my

Pants.  It feels tickley and

Makes me feel bouncy.

by Anthony F.

 School

School, school

I love school.

School, school

School is safe.

School, school

Almost over.

School, school

Leave me never!

by Emily E.

Thank you so much, young poets, for joining us here for Poetry Friday!  What a beautiful way to kick off the summer...with your words!  And thank you to Kate - how lucky your students are to have a teacher who loves learning right along with them.

For more Poetry Friday posts, visit Check It Out and enjoy meandering through more word-fields and forests.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following The Poem Farm by clicking "follow" in the right hand sidebar.  I regularly share poems and feature classroom work and greatly appreciate your show of interest.

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Fireflies are On! Fireflies are Off!

Look!

by Amy LV

Students - sometimes a writer is enchanted again and again by the same thing.  And this is how it is with me and fireflies.  Those battery-powered ballerinas send a glow through my heart.  Last evening, looking out of our living room window, I saw the first firefly of summer.  At least it was the first one to me.

Sometimes writers sit and write in honor of an occasion.  This occasion may be something that everyone recognizes, or it may be something just for you.  I'm celebrating a first firefly, a bit of brightness on a black blanket of sky. 

Byrd Baylor writes about personal celebrations in her beautiful book, I'M IN CHARGE OF CELEBRATIONS,  You might know this book if your teacher reads it at your class's writing celebrations.  Nature, words, admiration...what could be better?

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What are you celebrating today?  You may say, "Nothing."  Well, look around, and find something.  Open your eyes.  Listen with the deepest parts of your very soul.  After all, it is much easier to find celebration-moments when we are looking for them.  I promise that you will find something.  And when you do...maybe your own bit of earth will inspire you to write.

Last year this time also brought thoughts of fireflies.  In June 2010, I wrote Fireflies and Hope.  Will I write about fireflies again next year?  What about next week?

Anastasia is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Picture Book of the Day.  Celebrate with her and the rest of the KidLitosphere as we blink on and off for poems!

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Poetry Friday, Peek, & Notebook Keeping

Sleep Pile

Photo by Amy LV

Students - this poem came from my files.  It's a little one that I began writing long ago and came back to this week.  Something wonderful about keeping a writer's notebook is that you can visit and revisit it over and over again looking for good things to revise and play with some more.  Keeping a notebook reminds me that the small snips of my life matter greatly if I hold onto and spin silken words around them.

I love writing lists, remembering crystals of my childhood, gluing letters, and making plans in my notebook.  Right now I am working on a picture book because the idea has popped up in my notebooks again and again over the past few years.  Keeping a notebook helps us know what we circle back to and helps us recognize which topics keep calling out to us.

If you do not keep a notebook now, you  might want to make this a summer project.  Just get a book you like, and decorate the cover if you wish.  Don't be afraid of how pretty it is or think that you need perfect ideas.  Just dive in and follow the words.

A Few of My Notebooks

Photo by Amy LV

A few weeks ago, I was tickled to open up my e-mail to find this letter from Terry Semlitsch, a mom and special education teacher at Wales Primary in the Iroquois Central School District here in Western New  York.  Terry's son, Braden, is a first grader in Peggy Long's classroom in this same school.

Hi Amy!  I just wanted to share what my son is doing with poetry.  Braden is in Mrs. Long's first grade class at Wales.  He has been very inspired to write poems on his own!  When he gets home from school, he almost always goes to his room to write some poems.  I have attached some pics of his display of poems in his room.  So cute!  And I love that he loves writing poems!

When I asked Terry to tell more about her thoughts as teacher and mother, she wrote,

From a parent perspective, we were absolutely thrilled with Braden's interest in writing poetry.  For a week straight (when he was being immersed in poetry in the classroom and just starting to write his own at school), he grabbed a notepad and started writing as soon as he got home from school.  He never got discouraged with spelling, he wrote freely, and always had ideas for topics.

When we went anywhere in the car, Braden would grab a notepad for the drive.  Sometimes he would write poems, and other times he would brainstorm ideas for poems.  Although he doesn't always write every day at home, he often looks at everyday events and thinks aloud about how that could be a poem.  For example, with all of this crazy rain, we get literally hundreds of worms in our driveway.  Braden commented that it was like a "worm party" and went on to say what he would say in a poem.  He also made an Easter card for his grandma with a little poem for her.

He is so much more comfortable with writing now.  This poetry unit gave him the spark of confidence he needed to know that his thoughts are not wrong and he can say things in whatever way he chooses.

Braden's Home Poetry Display

Photo by Terry Semlitsch

Braden's Poem Close-Ups

Photo by Terry Semlitsch

Two of Braden's Poems

Photo by Terry Semlitsch

Braden's love of poetry grew in his classroom, and his teacher, Peggy Long, shares her own experience of teaching poetry this year below.

As the start of my poetry unit approached, I began to feel the anxiety associated with  never having taught poetry before.  Certainly we had read a lot of poetry, but to have first graders write it themselves seemed a bit intimidating.

I stayed focused on my initial objective of immersion.  We began reading lots of poetry all the time.  I read to them, they read to me, we read chorally, and they would take their poetry binders home each night and read to their parents.  We began to chart all of the things we noticed and appreciated about poetry.  I wasn't sure of the effect of all this sharing, but I knew they were enjoying it as much as I was.

After about a week and a half, the seeds began to sprout.  The children began to reveal poems they had been writing at home.  The subjects of their writing were as wonderful and unique as the children themselves!  At this point, I knew, they're ready.  And even more, so was I ready.

Here is a class poem written by Mrs. Long's class and a concrete bee poem by Nicole K.

Lunch Room Noises

Loud chewing,

Quiet talking,

Banging trays,

Slurping milk,

Laughing friends,

Clapping hands,

Yelling people,

And that's all I

HEAR!

by Mrs. Long's Class

"Bees" by Nicole

Photo by Peggy Long

Notes like the one I received from Terry, the opportunity to work with teachers like Peggy and Terry, and a chance to read these beautiful works by young people...these are some of the great joys of my life.  Thank you to these teachers and children for brightening our Poetry Friday.

For today's Poetry Friday roundup,visit the delightful and tea-loving Toby over at A Writer's Armchair, a very cozy and nourishing nest where you can snuggle with words.