Photo by Amy LV
Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.
Students - This poem is based on a true story that my teacher friend, Nicolette, told me just this fall. One of Nicolette's students wrote a beautiful story about cutting a piece of her blanket to give to her little brother when he got hurt. I have been thinking about this story ever since I first heard it, and even though I didn't really see it happen, writing lets me pretend. See, I know that the first part is true, and I imagined the second part with the "I love yous". Writing lets us weave true with dream.
I probably also wrote this poem because my friend Karen recently told me a kindness story about her sons. You can't hear or read or write too many stories or poems about kindness. We can make the world a more gentle place by sharing the kindness stories we see and hear.
You may be wondering why this poem is so full of the word 'and'. 'And' is a word that I usually try to minimize - even eliminate - in my poems, but I wanted today's poem to have an almost breathless-storytelling feeling, to just roll away...and so I left all of those 'ands' in there.
When I finished writing today's verse, I realized that it had a familiar sound. Something about the rhythm made me think about a poem I already know. I think I am being reminded of a David McCord poem I love very much, "I Have a Book" which ends like this, also with a rolling away feeling -
Now there isn’t any lady
and there isn’t any knight,
and there never was a horse,
so there never was a fight.
And the book all by itself
is sort of lonely on the shelf.
Do pay attention to the stories you hear and watch. It is not necessary for us to only write about what happens directly to us. Writers can be moved and changed and inspired by others and others' stories and lives. Pay attention to kindness. Write about it.
Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, I welcome teacher Kimberly Kuntz with her prayer journals. Come and read about another way to keep a notebook in your life.
Today's Poetry Friday roundup is over at The Opposite of Indifference with Tabatha Yeatts. Visit her inspiring online home to find more poetry and poetry friends.
I probably also wrote this poem because my friend Karen recently told me a kindness story about her sons. You can't hear or read or write too many stories or poems about kindness. We can make the world a more gentle place by sharing the kindness stories we see and hear.
You may be wondering why this poem is so full of the word 'and'. 'And' is a word that I usually try to minimize - even eliminate - in my poems, but I wanted today's poem to have an almost breathless-storytelling feeling, to just roll away...and so I left all of those 'ands' in there.
When I finished writing today's verse, I realized that it had a familiar sound. Something about the rhythm made me think about a poem I already know. I think I am being reminded of a David McCord poem I love very much, "I Have a Book" which ends like this, also with a rolling away feeling -
Now there isn’t any lady
and there isn’t any knight,
and there never was a horse,
so there never was a fight.
And the book all by itself
is sort of lonely on the shelf.
Do pay attention to the stories you hear and watch. It is not necessary for us to only write about what happens directly to us. Writers can be moved and changed and inspired by others and others' stories and lives. Pay attention to kindness. Write about it.
Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, I welcome teacher Kimberly Kuntz with her prayer journals. Come and read about another way to keep a notebook in your life.
Today's Poetry Friday roundup is over at The Opposite of Indifference with Tabatha Yeatts. Visit her inspiring online home to find more poetry and poetry friends.
Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes.
Visit Sharing Our Notebooks to peek in all kinds of notebooks.
