Friday, February 15, 2019

We Write What We Notice


Cat and Wall
Photo by Amy LV

Cat Drawing in Restaurant
Photo by Amy LV

Cat Behind a Grate
Photo by Amy LV

Two Cats in a Shoe Store
Photo by Amy LV

Cat in The Grand Bazaar
Photo by Amy LV

Gli, the Famous Cat of Hagia Sofia
Photo by Amy LV


Cat Houses
Photo by Amy LV

Cat in a Dress Shop
Photo by Amy LV


I will share a recording as soon as my computer allows...

Students - This week I have been teaching at the Enka Primary School in Istanbul, Turkey. It was a delightful visit including assemblies, writing workshops, reading and puppet times with preschool and kindergarten classrooms, a teacher workshop, and a parent workshop.  And as I have been traveling with my author friends Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger, we did a bit of sightseeing too.

We saw many cats!

The city of Istanbul is home to thousands of street cats.  People feed and give water to these cats, and there are many little cat houses tucked into nooks and corners as you see above. We saw cats of all colors, and I wrote this poem to share with the children at the school. As these students speak both Turkish and English, I typed the text in two colors so that the repeated words would be easy to distinguish.

This is a list poem with a twist ending, and there is a lot of repetition.  In some of the preschool and kindergarten classrooms I visited yesterday, we wrote list poems together too.

Our lives are full of things to see, things we pass every day. We can write about all of them. And so, too, can we write about the new surprises that travel brings our way.

Thank you to Sule and George and Weston and all of the wonderful people who welcomed me so warmly to Enka School.  It was a pleasure to write with you!

Jone is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Check it Out with a post about LONG WAY DOWN by Jason Reynolds, winner of the 2018 CYBILS Poetry Award. Please know that the Poetry Friday community shares poems and poemlove each week, and everyone is invited to visit, comment, and post.  And if you have a blog, we welcome you to link right in with us.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

9 comments:

  1. As a cat lover, I enjoyed learning about the cats of Istanbul. It sounds like you had a lovely adventure this week filled with cats, new friends, and poetry!xo

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  2. How thrilling to be in Istanbul, working and wandering and collecting cats! Is this trip centered around an invitation by the school, or do you have other business? (What could it be?) Now I'm wondering what's Turkish for "cat." Enjoy, say hi to Sara and Michael, and thanks for sharing!

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  3. What an amazing adventure it seems, Amy. And cats everywhere! I love all the pictures and your poem, just right for those young writers!

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  4. Didn't realize Istanbul was full of cats -- which seems perfect since you are a cat lover. :) Enjoyed your list poem and all the photos. Hope you continue to have an amazing time with Sara and Michael.

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  5. Another wonderful, accessible form of poetry to try with my kinders! They loved the riddle form, and now we’ll try this one. Looks like you’re having a wonderful trip!!

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  6. Istanbul?!? WOW! Can't wait to read more poem inspired by this exotic-to-me place!

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  7. Thanks for taking me to Istanbul vicariously. I love all your images, the cats, and your tribute to them in your poem!

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  8. It seems that Istanbul values cats as much as the people do in Italy. On my travels through Rome and Florence, I discovered that many of my photographs contained tiny, purring visitors. Your cat list poem with it's twist ending has me intrigued to try my hand at writing a list poem today.

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