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. Sky Blue!
Listening
by Amy LV
Students - I was so happy to select Sky Blue for today's poem. Truth be told, I've been hoping for it all month long. But when it landed in my hand, I was not sure where to begin. I considered writing about someone with Sky Blue eyes (but it felt too ordinary) or a Sky Blue view out of a window (but Poem #2 was about a Lavender sky).
Then I remembered listening outside an apartment door to a musician. I was transported, and though I never met the violinist (a pianist in today's poem), I was forever changed. This memory has stayed with me for over 20 years, and I have written about it before.
If you are Writing the Rainbow with me, feel free to make an unusual connection between your color and the world. I know that musical notes are not really Sky Blue...but in poem, anything can be true!
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.
I'm so grateful to share that my EVERY DAY BIRDS was selected for the NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF ENGLISH NOTABLE POETRY LIST, including 19 books published in 2016. It's an honor to be included. Many congratulations to all!
Don't miss the links to all kinds of Poetry Month goodness up there in my upper left sidebar. Happy eleventh day of National Poetry Month!
Please share a comment below if you wish.
"Sky blue notes
ReplyDeletefloat through a keyhole
sweetening hallway air."
Such delicious words for a favorite color!
And I hadn't realized that all your poems were from the point of view of a child in an apartment building.
There is someone I hear playing the trumpet in our neighborhood, beautiful notes when I walk. Your poem reminds me that sometimes people give gifts without knowing they're giving. Love that ending!
ReplyDeleteI love that word PIANO sitting there all alone. And that the notes are sky blue...so true!
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