Look Out of a Window

Morning Flight

Drawing by Amy LV

Students - There are times when I am not in the mood to write, but still I sit down and do it. Every time this happens (and it is often as it is difficult to begin writing), I am so glad that I did. I love surprising myself with new words that come from mysterious places. So my first piece of advice today is to do the thing that future you wishes you had done....even if you are not in the mood!

When I sat at my desk this morning, I looked out the window wondering, "What should I write?" Between several trees in the distance, I saw a few birds swooping around and imagined being one of them. Then, my pen began to move.

If you are nosy like me, perhaps you'll enjoy seeing my draft. Yes, I do write by hand as I love the fluidity of my hand moving across the page, making messy letters and scribbles and sometimes racing faster than I expect. I am a fast typist, but writing with ink on paper is my true poetry home.

Draft of "You Ask Why I'm Singing"

(Click to Enlarge)

by Amy LV

Not sure what to write? Look out your window. Any window will do. I wish you flight!

Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at The Apples in My Orchard. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

I look forward to meeting the students of Coleman School in Glen Rock, New Jersey next week!

xo,

Amy

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If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 

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A Snugsafe Summer Memory

Hummingbird Coming In

Photo by Amy LV

Hummingbird Landing

Photo by Amy LV

Hummingbird Perching

Photo by Amy LV

Students - We have a hummingbird feeder on our front porch, and anytime we head outside, we can hear one -- ZZZZZZZZZ!  We always hear the hummingbirds before we see them, and today I decided to try to get a picture of one. Well, hummingbirds are very fast and flitty, so I had to sit still, camera poised for quite a while before one chose to drink the new nectar I'd just poured into the feeder.

Here is a video, taken just this morning. It is of the same hummingbird you see in the pictures above. I think it is funny how it is hiding behind that feeder post! Be sure to listen as it hums away into the day at video's end.

Mary Oliver, a poet I love, once wrote a poem titled The Place I Want to Get Back To, about a lovely nature memory of deer. We all have memories we can keep and revisit during dark or lonely or sad times. Part of making a life is watching and waiting carefully to beauty and then keeping it close. I will always have this hummingbird, and now, should you wish, so will you.

Consider slowing down today. Go somewhere nature lives. Sit and watch. Be open to skies and weather, bugs and birds. Listen to wind. Tuck your own memory of wild beauty somewhere where you can find it later. Writing a poem is a joyful way to keep a magnificent sight forever.

And if you ever want to make a new word by smushing two words together, go ahead. I rather like snugsafe and somewinter.

The winners of last week's generous giveaway of SCHOOL PEOPLE by Lee Bennett Hopkins are: Cheriee, Jena, Buffy, Molly, and Linda M. (I will be in touch with you for your address.) Much gratitude to Boyds Mills & Kane for this generous giveaway of one of Lee's last anthologies.

Kat is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Kathryn Apel with two new Australian verse novels and some good news.  Please know that we gather each Friday, sharing poems and poemlove, and all are always welcome.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

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

He Said So - Keep Snatches of Talk

Here and Gone

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Last month, I was visiting a school, and as a group of students left the library, a boy walked by me, looked into my eyes, and said, "Cardinals are angels."  Later, I copied his words into my notebook.

Notebook Snip

Photo by Amy LV

When choosing a topic for today's poem, I flipped through my pages searching for a subject that felt worthy.  The words of this young boy who spoke me to briefly and in passing beckoned from my notebook.  I just knew.  And I was thankful that I had copied his words down.  Had I not, even though this was but a month ago...I would have forgotten this brief interaction.

Two thoughts for you about writing today.  One - write in your notebook even when you do not feel like it.  You will end up with some strange odds and ends and useless things, sure.  But you'll also end up with surprising bits and snatches that may bewitch you on another day.  Two - Take note of rhymes you like.  Those of you who know me may be giggling at the birds/words rhyme here.  I just love that word pair and have ushered it into many small poems.

And for those of you who love cardinals, this was just in yesterday's Alabama news.  A yellow cardinal!  I added this clip to today's post later...what a coincidence!

Video from AL.com

In the sidebar, you will notice that I have added my Instagram feed.  Please know that this is another safe space where I share photos of my writing process, book news, and pictures of life around The Poem Farm.

Liz is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Elizabeth Steinglass with a thoughtful "Why I'm Here" poem, and an accompanying invitation that writers young and old might wish to try.  I am going to do so this week! Each week, we gather our posts together at one blog, so if you visit Liz this week...you will be introduced to many new poets and blogs and books.  

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

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

My Someone Does Something....

Look Outside!

by Amy LV

Students - This poem about my husband Mark.  He is a hawk-spyer.  When we drive in the car, he always sees hawks and counts hawks.  I have written about this before because I think that hawk-spying is a neat habit...and because of Mark, I am now a bit of a hawk-spyer myself.

At times, it helps me to have a starter line when beginning a poem. Today's starter line was simply a statement about a person - My father spies hawks.

This gave me the idea that I could write many poems starting in a similar way - My someone does something.  I might think about quirky things that my loved ones do, or my favorite actions of friends.  I might think about things I've seen strangers do....or I might imagine the habits of people or animals I invent.

Here are some possibilities of similar poem starters I might try:

My mother reads books.

My friend tells good jokes.

My grandma plays poker.

My brother hugs cats.

My grandpa writes letters.

My goldfish looks lonely.

For each of these, I simply filled in the blanks as below:

My _______________  _______________   _______________.

You might wish to try this too.  Think of the people and animals in your own life.  Think about strangers you have seen.  Make someone up! Try writing some starter sentences as I did.  You may find that one of them makes you want to keep writing.  (I am feeling like writing about a cat-hugging brother and a lonely goldfish right now!)

A large part of a writer's job is to find ways to get started. If you try out this way-to-get-started, and if it works for you....please let me know!

And if you would like to know more about red-tailed hawks so that YOU can become a hawk-spyer....visit the The Cornell Lab of Ornithology where you can learn so much about all kinds of birds.

At Sharing Our Notebooks this month, I happily welcome third grade teacher Dina Bolan and her writers from Alexander Hamilton Elementary School in Glen Rock, New Jersey.  Please read their nonfiction notebook entries, and leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a lovely new notebook.  Comment by month's end, please.

It has been such a joyful week of visiting schools!  This week I visited Pavilion Elementary, Byron-Bergen Elementary, Elba Elementary, and Pembroke Elementary, all in Western New York. Thank you very much to the wonderful people in these schools for your warmth and hospitality. If you are a teacher or librarian, please know that I am now scheduling school visits and poetry residencies for 2018 - 2019, and you can learn more here.

Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Beyond Literacy Link. Each week, we gather our posts together at one blog, so if you visit Carol this week...you will be introduced to many new poets and blogs and books.  Please join us!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

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

May First - Poemsongs and a Poetry Peek

Thank you so much for joining me in my project

for National Poetry Month 2015

I am so grateful for all of the fun and fellowship all around the Kidlitosphere throughout this year's National Poetry Month.  Thank you for all that you shared on blogs, with me in person, with the world.

Sing that Poem! 2015 has officially ended with the recording for yesterday's poem, the final poem, Joanna (for the real Joanna).

And now...a Poetry Peek!

Today I am very happy to welcome Librarian Gayle Kerman from Country Parkway Elementary in the Williamsville Central School District in Williamsville, NY. Below she shares her students' experience with Sing That Poem!.

Recently, I got caught up in Amy’s April challenge of matching her poems to the meter/tune of familiar children’s songs.  I decided to try it with my fourth grade students. What a lucky find.  Most of the work was already done for me.

I am an elementary school librarian and since I only see the students once a week, I was looking for something that would fit into a 30-minute period.  I selected eight of Amy’s poems and pasted them into a Word document. I also made up an answer sheet that listed the 8 songs that matched the poems.  I only had to do a quick introduction to get the class started.  I used a few examples from Alan Katz’s book I’m Still Here in the Bathtub just to give students a better idea of what they should expect once they got started.

Many of the students were already familiar with the Katz book and were big fans to boot, so they were excited about this new challenge ahead of them.  Before turning them loose, we quickly sang the original version of the 8 songs on their answer sheet to be sure that the tunes were familiar to them.

They worked in groups of two or four.  It was a fun activity and many students chuckled over the idea of having “music class in the library!!”

I circled the room for any questions, but the activity really just hummed.  The students LOVED it…both girls AND boys.  I noticed two boys who were intently focusing and enjoying the activity so much I had to pull out my iPhone to take this video of them.

Joseph and Emilio from Mrs. Moser's Fourth Grade Class

Play Sing That Poem! in the Library at Country Parkway Elementary

Video by Librarian Gayle Kerman

During the last 5 minutes of class the solutions were revealed and we sang each poem to the matched tune.  I plan to select 8-10 more poems from the last half of Amy’s April posts and use them at the end of the school year when I will really need some fun stuff!

I am so grateful to Gayle, Joseph, and Emilio for sharing this story and video here today.  I love that we spent some of our National Poetry Month together.

Today, I would like to welcome you to the new page I made with all of my Sing That Poem! poemsongs from April 2015. You can find this page here, and it is filed under the FIND A POEM tab that you see atop this site.

You can find today's Poetry Friday roundup with Ellen at Space City Scribes.

Letterpress Print by Chris

Moon Rabbit Press

(Thank you, Chris, for allowing me to share.)

Please share a comment below if you wish.