Sunday, April 9, 2017

Writing the Rainbow # 9 - White


Welcome to my National Poetry Month project for 2017!  Students - Each day of April 2017, I will close my eyes, and I will reach into my box of 64 Crayola crayons.

Aerial View of Crayola Box
Photo by Georgia LV

Each day I will choose a crayon (without looking), pulling this crayon out of the box. This daily selected crayon will in some way inspire the poem for the next day.  Each day of this month, I will choose a new crayon, thinking and writing about one color every day for a total of 30 poems inspired by colors.

As of April 2, it happened that my poems took a turn to all be from the point of view of a child living in an apartment building.  So, you'll notice this thread running through the month of colors. I'd not planned this...it was a writing surprise.

I welcome any classrooms of poets who wish to share class poems (class poems only please) related to each day's color (the one I choose or your own).  Please post your class poem or photograph of any class crayon poem goodness to our Writing the Rainbow Padlet HERE.  (If you have never posted on a Padlet, it is very easy.  Just double click on the red background, and a box will appear.  Write in this box, and upload any poemcrayon sharings you wish.)

Here is a list of this month's Writing the Rainbow Poems so far:


And now...today's crayon.  White!

Hidden
by Amy LV




Students - I wasn't sure where to go with today's color.  White.  What is white?  Well, as I'm writing about living in an apartment building each day this month, I realized that every apartment I have ever lived in had white walls.  As soon as I realized this, I knew that my poem would be about walls.

But what about walls?  Well, white walls alone was not enough for me.  I did consider writing about staring up at a white ceiling, daydreaming.  But then I remembered.

I remembered that when we moved from one home to another thirteen years ago this month, we traced our children's hands deep inside a closet.  I learned later that the new owners left these hands when they painted. And now they have also moved...I wonder if the new-new owners wonder about us.

In between the last two lines of this poem you find a question hanging in the air.  I didn't write the question, but can you figure out what it is?  I imagined that a reader would say, "Do YOU make up stories about the people who lived here before you?  About the people who traced their hands?"

What life questions do you have? If you are Writing the Rainbow with me, you might choose to connect the color you choose (or the color I chose) to a question. Colors can take us anywhere.  And if you'd like to join in with your own poem at our Writing the Rainbow Padlet, please do! It is quite a beautifully hopping place.

Don't miss the links to all kinds of Poetry Month goodness up there in my upper left sidebar.  Happy ninth day of National Poetry Month!

Thank you to everyone who joined last evening's "Art and Joy of Poery" #nctechat on Twitter.  It was a delight to host, and the chat will be archived by NCTE tomorrow.  I'll share the link in the sidebar.  xo

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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