Friday, June 12, 2015

writing about humble things


Bookmark
by Amy LV




Students - A couple of weeks ago, our family went once again on the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage, a beautiful weekend of learning at Allegany State Park in Salamanca, NY.  During this weekend, I took a class about drawing from nature, a class that built on the art strategies taught in Zentangles.  It was entrancing and wonderful to get lost in drawing the same few flowers over and over again, a reminder of how any object we study closely can become fascinating and even beautiful.

You may have noticed that I did not capitalize any letters in this poem, and you may be wondering why.  The reason is because this poem is about humble flowers, small unfancy flowers.  I wanted my alphabet to match that feel.

You can learn more about buttercups here at Eat the Weeds and more about veronica here at Turf Files.

Look around today for small, maybe unnoticed, humble beauties and surprises. See if you can find one to write about.  Elevate the little!

Today I couldn't be more tickled to be visiting Sylvia Vardell's blog, Poetry for Children, as part of her "Poet to Poet" series.  I had the opportunity to ask Lee Wardlaw about her fun new book, WON TON AND CHOPSTICK, and she was so generous in her teachings about process.  I learned a lot from Lee in this interview, and I look forward to sharing her words with young writers.  Thank you, Lee, and Sylvia, for the chance to take part in this great series.  Meow!

Sylvia Vardell of Poetry for Children 
Photo by Russell Vardell

Lee Vardell, Two of Lee's Books, & Amy LV
Lee's Photo from her Website

Please know that all are welcome to participate in the Summer Edition of Sharing Our Notebooks.  If you visit my other blog, you'll find 70 generous posts full of ideas for notebook-writing, and I welcome yours too! 

Jama is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at her delicious blog, Jama's Alphabet Soup.  Today she offers a beautiful book and poem, congratulations to two new wondrous Poet Laureates, and blueberries!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

13 comments:

  1. I liked your lack of capitalization and your simple words. I also love buttercups and veronica. Tiny petals of vivid color.

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  2. thanks for this post of humble beauty and wonder. love your bookmark and lovely poem :). off to read your interview with lee!

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  3. So pretty. So sweet. Would love to see your poem printed on the back of that lovely bookmark! Don't tell the roses, but wildflowers are my favorites. :)

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  4. There's always something interesting growing on the Poem Farm. I may have to take you up on the challenge to notice little things. 70 posts in Sharing our Notebooks. Wow!
    How was Alexandria? I am still annoyed that I didn't see you.

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  5. I enjoyed the interview, Amy, and love the feel of your poem today, "so pretty these". The juxtaposition of the words is magical. Thanks for always teaching us to look further!

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  6. sweet words for some sweet weeds

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  7. Three cheers for the ones the others call weeds! (our yard is full of them!)

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  8. I wrote about simplicity as well. Love your words.

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  9. Amy,
    When I was a child, I used to pick my mom weeds I thought were flowers. My mom would thank me and put them in a vase. I love all kinds of flowers to this day. Thanks for sharing this tribute to the simple, understated flowers.

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  10. Most weeds have such lovely blooms, don't they?

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  11. These days I much prefer a dainty weed over a grand flower. Lovely poem, Amy.

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  12. Nice attention to word choice. Like the egalitarian approach to caps, thoughtful, as usual. I'll have to Google your flowers as I've not heard of them in MS.

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