Day 27 - National Poetry Month 2015 - Sing That Poem!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Welcome to Day 27 of this Year's Poem Farm Project!

Find the Complete April 2015 Poem and Song List Here

First, I would like to welcome all old and new friends to The Poem Farm this April. Spring is a busy time on all farms, and this one is no exception.  Each April, many poets and bloggers take on special poetry projects, and I'm doing so too.  You can learn all about Sing That Poem! and how to play on my April 1st post, where you will also find the list of the whole month's poems and tunes as I write and share them.  If you'd like to print out a matching game page for yourself, you can find one here, and during April 2015, you'll be able to see the song list right over there in the left hand sidebar.

Yesterday's poem was In a Book.  Here is the tune that goes along with it, below. Did you figure it out?  If you listen, you'll hear the song that I meant to write toward, and too, you'll hear the song that Kelly Fineman and student Ada Bastedo heard me sing it to.  Yes, yesterday's poemsong can be sung to two tunes!  Such fun!  Does this remind anyone of the "You are My Sunshine" and "This Land is Your Land" days?

And here, below, is today's poem.  Look at the song list in the sidebar or on your matching form to see if you can puzzle out which tune matches this one.

Busy Stone Wall in Clarence, NY

Video by Amy LV

Students - The video you see above is from last Thursday evening, when I was lucky enough to be part of a poetry event at Monkey See, Monkey Do Children's Bookstore in Clarence, NY.  I drove past the shop by accident, and when I pulled into a driveway to turn around, I paused to look at this stone wall.

That little vole (I turned it into a mouse in the poem) just kept on popping in and out!  I thought - and still think - that it is so cute there, just going backandforth, backandforth, backandforth.  It must be bringing seeds into the wall, don't you think?  And don't you wish that you could shrink down and see the inside of the wall?  I wish I could.

So, of course I took a video, there in the driveway.  And of course I wrote about it. It is amazing to me that these things are happening all around us all of the time. Just think - if I had not driven by the book shop by accident, I never would have seen this vole.  

A mistake ended up a blessing.  This happens often, and when we pay attention and look and see...we will find many blessings in mistakes.  See if you can find one today.  And if you wish, go ahead and write about it.  I would love to read it.

By the way...there really was a crow.  After I took the vole video, I looked at another bit of stone wall where a great black crow stared down into my car window and into my eyes.  Before I could take his picture with my camera, he flew away.  Instead, I take his picture today with my poemcamera.

Always keep your poemcamera ready.

The original version of this poem read differently.  What do you notice is the difference?  Why do you think I changed it?

Alone Outside

I like to watch this old stone wall.

Creatures lives here.

They scamper out to gather food.

Then they pop back in.

Sir Crow sits on the wall and stares

with his big eyes.

I stare back and he flies away

to a branch up high.

If you wait and look

you will always see

creatures are living in this old stone wall

underneath the sycamore tree.

© Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Today's poemsong shares almost the same ending with Poemsong #3, Look.  I realized this just this morning, after posting last night.  It is always fun to notice themes that emerge in series such as this.  I am seeing a thread of "observation" this month.

Margaret Simon's students, Matthew, Tyler, Noah, Jacob, and Vanissa, from Jefferson Island Road Elementary in New Iberia, Louisiana, have also written a poemsong that matches today's tune.  So now you have two to play with today! Thank you to these students for sharing their words with us today.  I will post their singing tomorrow.

The Tree Song

Apples fall from apple trees

Watch out! Watch out!

Syrup comes from maple trees,

Sweet, a sticky mess!

Acorns fall from old oak trees.

Squirrels eat them.

Squirrels and humans both alike

all depend on trees.

All depend on trees,

All depend on trees.

Squirrels and humans both alike

All depend on trees! 

by Matthew, Tyler, Noah, Jacob, and Vanissa

Tomorrow I will host the 2015 Progressive Poem here at The Poem Farm. Brainchild of Irene Latham, many folks get together each year - different folks each year - to write a poem, line-by-line, blog-to-blog, throughout the month of April.  Tomorrow I will add line 28...we are in the homestretch indeed.

Please share a comment below if you wish.