Friday, September 14, 2018

A Poetry Friday Quiet Boat



Quiet Boat Eraser Stamp
Photo by Amy LV




Students - This week I have been very lucky to visit three schools in Williamsville, NY.  Next week, I will be lucky to visit three more.  And as I have been chatting with students about poetry, I am remembering again and again how vast and endless is the brain.

Inside of you - inside each and every one of us - live worlds and ideas and hopes and dreams and questions.  When you sit to write and draw, it may take a moment to call one up.  But trust yourself.  Wait.  You will think of something.  Often, I look at a blank page for some time. But always, an idea appears...like a boat.  It is not always a great idea, but it's mine. 

And remember this too: the more interesting things you do, the more you will have to write about.  I am not referring to fancy things, but rather a variety of things.  Today I may sit outside for a few moments and watch ants walk around. Or maybe I will draw the pictures up in the sky, wondering if anyone else sees the same penguin I see.  What I do affects what I write.  And so it is for you.

So do stuff.  And when you do, you'll have more boats and ants and clouds to write about later.

See that repetition?  It's neat to circle words around and around in a poem.  Such repeated words layer like cozy sweaters.

Big hug.

Teacher Friends - Some of you may know Pat Schneider's poem, How the Stars Came Down.  This poem includes this line, one I may well have shared before: "I had a new home in my remembering." I am over and over fascinated by this idea that what we put in our minds returns to us.  I remember it as a mom and as a teacher, asking myself, "What experiences of value am I offering that will feed this child again and again? What am I offering to myself that I can return to one day hence?"

I am hosting Poetry Friday today.  This is a weekly gathering of all kinds of poetry goodness, shared all around the Kidlitosphere.  All are welcome, and all are invited.  To visit this week's links, or to leave your own link, please just click the button below.

Please share a comment below if you wish.


24 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear, Amy...hope you feel better soon! Thanks for hosting, though, through all the haze and mucus!

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  2. Thanks for hosting, Amy! Hope you feel better soon!

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  3. Sorry to hear you're under the weather, Amy. I'm featuring Dreaming of You today :). Thanks for hosting and feel better soon. xo

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    1. Thanks for your lovely poem today. So calming. Love that line from Pat Schneider's poem too. xo

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  4. Thanks for hosting and feel better!

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  5. Sorry to hear about your cold and hoping it's going away soon! Thanks for hosting, Amy!

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    1. Love your stamps, but especially this time the feeling of that 'quiet boat'.

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  6. Hi Amy! I love your stamps (have I said that already? I really do.)! And I like your idea about "What experiences of value am I offering that will feed this child again and again? What am I offering to myself that I can return to one day hence?"

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  8. That sounds like a lovely quiet space. May we all have such sanctuaries, literal or metaphorical, a place or in mind.

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  9. Love the circularity in your poem and the refuge image of the boat, rain, and forest, and that all "floats in your mind," ready for you to go there whenever needed. Lovely imagery-gentle and soothing. This is such a beautiful line, "I had a new home in my remembering." Thanks for all here, and for hosting the Roundup too!

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  10. Hope you are feeling better, Amy. We all need a quiet boat, don't we? And yes, writers must live a life worth writing about! Thank you! xo

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  11. You took me to my canoe on a beautiful blue lake. Thank you for such an inspiring post.

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  12. Lots of visual goodness in that compact eraser stamp; and lots of vastness in that wee poem! Thanks for sharing and for hosting, and lifting a steaming cup of tea your direction, with honey and lemon, and instructions to REST after lots of recent gallivanting. XO

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  13. Thanks for hosting, Amy. As I was thinking about your poem and the analogy of how ideas come to us, it made me think of when I used to race little sailboats. Sometimes, it would be so calm and still (it is really frustrating to not have wind when you're trying to race!). But then all of a sudden the wind will pick up and away we'd go. I think ideas can be like that. For me, it can be incredibly frustrating staring at that blank screen, but once it starts to flow, it is so much fun and so rewarding!

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  14. I love this quiet poem after a loud week! Thanks for sharing!

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  15. Oh, that dang early school year cold. I'm just getting over it. I always forget that it's going to "get me" about the time of back-to-school night. Fortunately, this year I got some good and hot Pho in between school and the evening program.
    I do love the quiet boat you've reminded us all of. That nurturing of sharing is truly something that I hope I can give young people. Poetry is such a perfect vehicle for that. Today, in the library a student asked me where the books about writing poetry were....and I almost jumped up and down and clapped. Well, I did in my mind. But, I led her to them and then after I knew she was good gave her space to explore. I love that I get to see this young person blossoming the way she is. Thank you for graciously hosting this week, Amy. You remain a poetry friend and inspiration.

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  16. Oh my. Sending you healing hugs and mugs of tea. Feel better soon! Today I'm sharing a poem inspired by our first week of full day Kindergarten. I'm tired and think I needed a quiet boat to sail away on a few times. xx

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  17. Thanks for hosting Amy. Your advice to young poets to engage in interesting things in order to have interesting things to write about resonates strongly. it is pertinent to writers of all ages as you no doubt know. We need a rich outerlife to feed a rich inner life

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  18. Amy, after a long few days at a state education conference, I am happy to return to poetry reading and writing. Your poem, a quiet poem, is gently putting my mind at rest. I am sorry that I came late to the poetry poem but I will be here over the weekend making the rounds.

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  19. Thank you for hosting PF this week, Amy! Your lovely poem reminds me of "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," which I love because it reminds me of a lake where we spend many happy summers. "Any time I wish" I can return to that beach and watch two little boys splash in the water.

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  20. Amy, I listened to "It Might Have Been Different" and I cried. I listened again and I cried again, even though I knew what the lyrics would say. Powerful! I also enjoyed your quiet boat poem. Hurricane Florence has had us all on edge and this poem reminds me to find that quiet inner peace when life brings storms of all kinds. Thank you for all you share.

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  21. That's a lot of school visits for someone who hasn't been feeling well, Amy. It's now the end of the weekend and I'm just now getting to my PF rounds. Thank you for hosting on top of everything else, and I hope you're feeling much better now! I love your challenge to students to do stuff. Not fancy stuff, just all kinds of stuff. xo

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