A "Soon" Poem & a Guest

Albright Knox Gallery Map and Button

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Yesterday I had the good fortune to visit the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY, a gorgeous museum that has been closed since 2019 for additions and new art and which has been opened this week with free admission. My friend had tickets and invited me to join her and another friend. Once again, I fell in love with art and with artists long gone, with they way humans connect across space and time with materials and words and dreams.

Today's poem is a free verse poem imagining something in the future, something I truly wish and plan to do. I imagine a future day for myself in this poem, based on a day I already adored...yesterday.

You might wish to try this sometime - write a poem about a day or an experience you plan to have. If you're not sure where to begin, simply start with the word Soon or the word Someday or the words One day. When we write our dreams and plans, we are more likely to make them come true.

Today it is a complete delight to welcome Jordan, a thoughtful fifth grade poet from Cayuga Heights Elementary in Depew, NY to The Poem Farm today. Last month, when I visited her school, Jordan and her teacher, Mrs. Alison Lorenc, stayed after the assembly, and Jordan was kind enough to share a peek into her notebook. Now, you are all lucky enough to read some of her poems yourself. Warm welcome to Jordan, and so much gratitude to Teacher Alison Lorenc and Librarian Tonya Bulas for all of the inspiration students receive every day in your care.

Jordan Thomson

Photo by Wendy Thomson

About Me: I am Jordan Thomson, and I am 10 years old. I am a 5th grader at Cayuga Heights Elementary. An interesting fact about me is I was born a preemie baby. I spent 17 days in the NICU at the hospital after I was born. My hobbies are dancing, gymnastics, chorus, video games, riding my bike/scooter, swimming, writing, reading, drawing, and painting. My favorite subject in school is ELA, but I like all of the other subjects too!

I have two dogs, a golden retriever and a pug. My dad is a police officer, and my mom used to be a physical therapist assistant. I also have a younger brother too. I love animals, and my favorites are elephants, tarantulas, and dragons. I am also a vegetarian. I hope to be an author one day.

I enjoy writing poems, graphic novels, and news articles. I often write my poems about things that occur in nature. I sometimes get my ideas by looking outside. I find it easy to write when the subject interests me.

Jordan's Notebooks

Photos by Wendy Thomson

Dandelions by Jordan

Photo by Wendy Thomson

Dandelions

by Jordan

Tiny green springs

jumping through the ground

reaching for the sky.

Small as a blade of grass,

unopened petals ready to fly.

In some time petals fly open,

just like a bird

spreading its wings.

Some pick them

out of the garden.

Others make a wish.

Many think they're gone

when they get blown away.

But just like a bird

opens its wings,

a dandelion will sprout

again.

You Don't Understand by Jordan

Photo by Wendy Thomson

You Don't Understand

by Jordan

People never liked us.

But this

shouldn' be true.

We're just misunderstood.

We're beautiful creatures

in some people's eyes.

We don't deserve 

to die.

Some of our species

love to

eat wood.

But they too

are misunderstood.

We're just like you,

we like to play.

To be specific,

in your house all day.

We can't believe all

the sprays and pesticides, 

more than one every day dies.

You can't just kill us,

we think it's

inhumane.

We're a part of

the ecosystem.

Isn't that great.

Why do you hurt

us, it's not fun

to be squished.

We don't like being

called pests.

You're always

hurting our

feelings every day.

Can you please

hear us out,

can you stop

hurting us.

It hurts us

inside and out.

Do you understand cockroaches now?

Elephants by Jordan

Elephants

by Jordan

Elephants running in one herd,

all communicating

with no words.

The blazing sun

hitting their backs,

only their ears

to prevent the sun's 

attacks.

Again, many thank yous to you, Jordan. The world is a richer and kinder place when we read poems by young people, and I appreciate your willingness to join us as a guest at The Poem Farm today.

Michelle is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup today with a celebration of sandpipers and fathers in word and art over at Michelle Kogan. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

May your summer be full of plans and dreams, writing about them and making them come true. Remember, my friends, dreams and plans can be small and still magical.

xo,

Amy

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A Day Writing Poems from Art

Postcard Pile

Photo by Amy LV

This Wednesday, I was so happy to visit Seely Place School in the Edgemont School District in Scarsdale, NY. While I have been doing some virtual teaching from my camper, this was my first in-person school visit (not counting teaching fourth grade last year) since February 2020. 

And what writers! 

These second grade poets focused on ekphrastic (art) poems during our time together, and their poems were fascinating and thoughtful. They looked at many many postcards, each choosing one that inspired them most. And as they read their poems out loud, each of us was transported to a new place.

Fish in the Sky, 2014

by Ben Giles

Students - For bits of time with the Seely Place second grade poets this week, I wrote too. I chose the above postcard, and those flying fish grabbed my attention. I wrote about them flying, and then the bird made me think about birds swimming...and so it went.

Now, that ending. It was a surprise to me. As you know, I am always working against spending too much time on screens, and so the ending probably came from there. The idea of something fantastic happening and people all missing it felt real, and those words just appeared on the page.

For me, the most fun in writing this poem is the repetition of knew and new which happen to rhyme with blue. It was not a plan, but it feels playful.

I wrote a different draft of a different poem about this postcard too, but I prefer this one. Remember that sometimes revision can mean starting all over again, starting fresh. 

If you're seeking inspiration this week, look to art. You can find art on walls and in books, in museums and on the internet. And each piece of art can take you on an endless number of writing vacations.

Thank you to everyone at Seely Place who spent time with me this week. I am still thinking about your poetry!

Congratulations to Linda Mitchell, winner of Emily Callahan and Debbie Miller's new book with Heinemann! Linda, I've tweeted a note asking for your snail mail address so that I can get your book to you. Thank you again, Emily and poets, for sharing your fabulous poems with all of in this space last week.

Rose is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Imagine the Possibilities with a very cool idea to write poems from book titles and a lovely-book-title-inspired-poem to go with it. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

I hope that you have the opportunity to look at art this week...even for a moment.

xo,

Amy

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or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Day 13 - National Poetry Month 2015 - Sing That Poem!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Welcome to Day 13 of this Year's Poem Farm Project!

Find the Complete April 2015 Poem and Song List Here

First, I would like to welcome all old and new friends to The Poem Farm this April. Spring is a busy time on all farms, and this one is no exception.  Each April, many poets and bloggers take on special poetry projects, and I'm doing so too.  You can learn all about Sing That Poem! and how to play on my April 1st post, where you will also find the list of the whole month's poems and tunes as I write and share them.  If you'd like to print out a matching game page for yourself, you can find one here, and during April 2015, you'll be able to see the song list right over there in the left hand sidebar.

Yesterday's poems were Ocean Writer and The Best Dog.  Here is the tune that goes along with them, below. Did you figure it out?

And here, below, is today's poem.  Look at the song list in the sidebar or on your matching form to see if you can puzzle out which tune matches this one.

Vase of Flowers - 2011

by Georgia LV

This poem has been removed as it hopes to appear

in my forthcoming book, WITH MY HANDS: POEMS ABOUT MAKING THINGS.  

I am sorry, and I will try to write a new one with the same meter for this spot.

xo, a.

Students - Painting and writing are very similar to each other. Both require facing a blank page and making something new. Both ask us to look outside and inside ourselves, to find what it is we have to say.  Both welcome us as explorers!

Today's song was a little bit of a challenge for me because it has a very different rhythm and pattern.  It was a fun puzzle, and what is interesting for me is that writing these as songs makes me think of them as songs.  I want to try to step back and see if I can see them as poems - do they still work as poems...or do they need the tunes to work?

This week begins NYS Common Core testing.  It is very important to be sure to play outside, draw, paint, do all kinds of things to express your gifts.  Humans are multifaced, and by exploring many ways of making, we discover who we are.  I wish you some good messy play!

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Wizard at the Fair - Writing Observations as Memories

Artist Jerry Ward at the Erie County Fair

August 7, 2014

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Yesterday, as I watched Jerry Ward carve this bust of Don Quixote, I was transported to a new place inside of myself.  A man appeared from inside of a tree trunk, and it was magical!  Sawdust smells tickled my nose, and I sat mesmerized by this chainsaw artist.  I knew that I would write a poem about my feeling because some moments in our lives just call out to us, "I am a poem!  I am a poem!" and this was one of them.

After Jerry finished carving the bust, he turned to the audience - sitting on big logs - and told us that he releases figures from wood.  When I began to write, this Don Quixote came to life in my poem, happy to be free after many so many years.

My first draft of today's free verse poem was in the present tense: "I sit/watching/the Wizard of Wood..." But as I wrote, I realized that poem would work better in the past tense.  Sometimes when people think about their memories, they think about years and long ago.  But memories are falling around us like twinkling raindrops...every single minute.  You can take something that happened to you today - and write about it in the past tense voice, as if it happened long before.  

What has happened to you today already?  What might happen in the next few hours?  If you live your life paying attention to everything, you will see how a now-happening might just be a poem in the making.  Open your eyes!  Open your ears!  What do you find?

Jerry Ward's Don Quixote at the Erie County Fair

August 7, 2014

Photo by Amy LV

To see more of Jerry Ward's artwork, visit his website here and read about how "Wood is mystical."

Mary Lee is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Year of Reading.  Do not miss the poem she shares with us today.  You, too, might "snort your morning tea!"

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