Try Try Try a Tricube

Winnie, February 1, 2026

Video by Amy LV

Students - We like to tell ourselves that our cat Winnie is very smart. She is an indoor/outdoor cat, and so these Days of Deep Snow when she's stuck inside make her stir crazy. A few days ago, I caught Winnie tossing knitted hearts to the ground (spreading love?) and felt it urgent to film the moment. And while you can see Winnie tossing the hearts above, you cannot see the several times I filled and refilled her heart bowl. This was a good game.

As I think about our cat's simple fun, I think about how sometimes my own writing life gets a little boring too. I let it get boring and then I avoid it. I need to throw some hearts around like Winnie did, need to try something new and see what happens. Toss some words on the page and watch them fall over and over. Well, this week I'm playing, sharing a poem in a form I've never tried before.

Last week, as I moseyed around other people's Poetry Friday posts, I learned about a new-to-me form - the tricube. This form was invented by Phillip Larrea, an American journalist, and he first shared it in 2016 at Writer's Digest. So Happy 10th Birthday, Tricube!

As you have likely noticed, this is a simple form, and you can learn more about it here at Writer's Digest. No special rhyme. No special meter. Just this:

1. Three syllables per line

2. Three lines per stanza

3. Three stanzas

I chose to give my title three syllables too!

You might enjoy playing around with this not-scary form. I enjoyed making little lists of possible phrases to include and then moving them around the page. Now I'm thinking that I could even write phrases on bits of paper and actually, physically move them around my desk. I could even be fun to invite a group people to choose a subject and each write a few three syllable phrases, each on a different slip of paper, on that subject. Then, we could take the slips and move them around to form group tricubes.

Suddenly I don't feel bored...

This week I am happy to be a part the Colorado Reading Association (CCIRA) conference in Denver, Colorado. I'll be speaking about keeping writer's notebooks and stregthening writing through poetry study. Time with teachers is time that makes me feel grateful.

Molly is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Nix the Comfort Zone with two poems after Wendell Berry's "Like Snow." Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Trying something new is a creative way to face moments of boredom. Go ahead and push some objects off of a desk...or maybe consider writing a new-to-you kind of poem!

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Watch for Small Surprises

Cozy Smokey

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This week, my husband and I took a little trip to Murray Brothers, a nearby garden center, to purchase a pink-flowering rhododendron and a couple of periwinkle delphinium for our yard. When we approached the counter to pay, there was Smokey again, snoozing away, making our day that much cozier and happier. I asked if I could take his picture (he did not wake) and knew that I must write about this soft boy. Even though Mark and I have shopped at Murray Brothers many times, each time we smile at this kitty who dozes so dreamily on the counter, seemingly unaware of his many admirers.

Our days are peppered with small joys, and teaching our eyes to watch for them is very important. It is possible to walk through the same day with eyes for good or eyes for bad, and by looking for good, we not only feel better, but we can better help to bring more good into our world.

My suggestion this week is to look for those small joyous surprises that make you smile inside. Consider writing about one of them. In this way, you will grow that joy inside of you. You may even find ways to radiate it out to others. 

Here is another picture of that sweet Smokey.

Curled up Smokey the Cat

Photo by Amy LV

And yes, of course we donated a little to the Smokey Care Fund.

Everyone Takes Care of Smokey the Cat

Photo by Amy LV

Tabatha is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at The Opposite of Indifference with a wise and lovely poem by Laura Purdie Salas. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Thank you to the folks at Murray Brothers for brightening so many gardeners' days...and thank you to you for all of the ways that you bring happiness and kindness into the lives of others.

xo,

Amy

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Notice Something Someone Enjoys

Fiona Settles into a Sunbeam

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Spring is coming to Western New York, and all of us here are turning our faces up to the sun and drinking it into our skin. Last week I watched Fiona settle into a golden sunbeam, and she looked so cute and happy that I had to take her photograph. 

As writers, our job is to pay attention to the small and big happenings that fill each day - just normal events such as hearing a teacher read aloud wonderfully, tasting perfect frosting, or cozying up into a sunbeam like Fiona. Our lives are richer when we notice these bits of our world, and so, too, is our writing.

If you are looking for a writing idea this week, pay attention to what makes another person or an animal happy. Perhaps keep a little list of times when others are happy and why they became happy. Then, write a poem or a story or some thoughts from your notes. Maybe you will even wish to write about what makes YOU happy. My poem begins as a list of the many places Kitty finds the sunbeam and then toward the end, the poem keeps the reader in one place to watch Kitty drift off into purry snores. You may have noticed the movement in lines 3-6, each drifting more toward the right. These lines move because...well...sunbeams move!

When we pay attention to happiness, we become happier. Our feelings so often follow our thoughts. And our thoughts grow from our attention. This is why I try to point my attention wisely. We cannot control everything, but we do have some say about what we grow in our own brain gardens.

Below you can see Winnie relaxing on our front porch near my knitting basket this week. Do you think she likes sunshine too?

Solar Powered Winnie

Photo by Amy LV

Thank you to Janice for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Salt City Verse with a celebration of Women's History Month. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

I wish you more happiness than you think you could possibly find.

xo,

Amy

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Stare With Your Heart

Claude and the Fire

Photo by Amy LV

Once again, I am thrilled to welcome my faraway friend Gart Westerhout, a musician and English professor who has composed a song for this poem. Enjoy!

Students - Today's poem focuses on one moment of gratitude for one repeated moment I love on winter days. We heat partially with wood here in snowy Western New York, and all of us cherish the warmth and beauty of a fire, big or small. Even our youngest cat, Claude. This morning I saw him just sitting there staring into the flames, and so I stared at him. And then...I wrote.

Consider trying this during the week sometime. Look around your life for a small moment that repeats itself, something so normal that you might not even notice it. Stare at the moment. Stare at it with your writing heart. Then...write.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to have meet virtually with the thoughtful fifth grade poets taught by Tricia Pricken and Gail Cordello in Wyckoff, NJ. They have been reading and writing poetry and asked me some thoughtful  am still thinking about. I asked their permision to share these questions and the way they arrived at them. Here are the questions:

1. What is your favorite poem you have written?

2.What inspires you to write your poems?

3. Where do you go to get your ideas for your nature poems?

4. Do you use a notebook to remember your writing? 

5. Do you have any tips to make writing poems easier?

6. Is it easier to write a poem with or without rhyming?

This class works in table groups, and earlier in the week, after each of the students had written down a writing question, the tables met to eliminate duplicate questions and to select their table's one favorite question. Their ability to work together in this way resulted in some interesting thinking, and their curiosity made me think about how I would like to ask these same questions of others. You might wish to ask some of these - or other questions - to your writing friends. We can all learn from each other, no matter how old or young we are.

As it turns out, these fifth grade poets are also big notebook keepers...we had a lot in common. Thank you, notebookers, and thank you Tricia and Gail, for your time and generosity. I would love to be a daily writer in this room! (Thank you, too, writers, for the push to write a non-rhyming poem today. Your questions are affecting me.)

Patricia is hosting this week's Poetry Friday with an enchanting Christmas list poem. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Here you can see Claude sitting beside the small Christmas tree I made from my ancestors' old costume jewelry. He looks quite serious, don't you think? 

Posing Claude

Photo by Amy LV

I wish you softness and moments of peace...

xo,

Amy

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A Two-Liner & a Comic

Winnie and Claude (Tail is Monet)

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I believe this to be the shortest verse I have ever shared here at The Poem Farm! I did indeed work to write it longer, but each time I added more lines, the poem simply rejected them. So here it is...a small giggle that grew from a photo I took earlier this week.

Did you notice that the title of today's two-liner makes it a metaphor? See, a bookshelf is not really an apartment...now, just for this poem, it has become one. Sometimes a title can add a lot, even to a teeny, two line verse.

This summer you might wish to make a point to take photographs as you are moved by the world. These pictures - whether you look at them again or not - can inspire your future (serious or silly) thinking and writing.

Speaking of inspiration, it is a joy to welcome an artistic guest today! 

On the first Poetry Friday of this month, I shared a poem titled "Possibility" along with some poems written by Fourth Grade Teacher Cheryl Donnelly's students from Tioughnioga Riverside Academy. Not long after, I received the most generous and specific thank you notes from this class. Poet and Comic Izzy included a comic that she drew from my words in "Possibility." 

Possibility Comic

Click to Enlarge

by Izzy

I asked Izzy if she would be willing to share how to make such a poem comic as hers made me smile completely and also made me curious about how to create such a thing. Here are her words:

I got this idea because ever since I was a kid I fell in love with drawing and making comics. Just about a year ago, last Christmas, my grandparents got me a comic making set which included a short comic for an example. As I was reading it, I fell in love with the simple designs and pictures (Not all comics are like that) so I tried making my own.  I enjoyed every minute of it. The simpleness of it, and how fun it was to draw. Almost a year later I decided to take that memory and make a comic inspired by a poem.

That was the first time that I ever made a comic inspired by a poem, but I will definitely have to do that with more of her (Amy’s) amazing poems.

Some tips I have are: 

Make sure you are interested in the poem you choose, if you don’t like it then you will find no interest in making a comic inspired by it.

Use your imagination. If you make something boring or not exciting then you and other people will not bother to read your comic.

Don’t be hard on yourself. It’s good to push yourself a little, but not a lot. If it’s not perfect, then don’t stress, it’s ok if it’s not, nothing is perfect.

And most important…HAVE FUN!!!! 

Thank you,

Izzy 

Tons of gratitude to Izzy for her willingness to share not only her comic, but also her process. I am going to take her advice this summer and will be sharing here. Learning from others makes life magical.

Linda is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup today with such a fun idea - a "clunker exchange" - over at A Word Edgewise. This would be such a neat thing to try in a classroom, and I recommend checking it out. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

xo,

Amy

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A Magical Power...Meow!

Claude in His Tunnel

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Our newest cat Claude is a chatty and loving little soul. Every once in a while he will just walk around the house calling for his pal Winnie. For today's poem, I just imagined that I had the magical power I've always wished for: the ability to understand animals. (But just for one day...)

Today's poem is a story poem which quickly jumps into the realm of fiction yet was inspired by my meow-y young fuzzface. 

If you're looking for a writing idea, you might allow yourself to muse about a magical power you would love to have. You might write it as a story of living with this power, as I have. Or you might write a list of all of the things you would do with this power. I think I might be able to write a lot of these poems.

If you don't feel like having a magical power, perhaps you would like to simply write about a wish that you have had, you have now, or that someone else has or once had. Real...or imagined. You, my friend, are the writer.

And remember. If you ever aren't sure of how to title a poem, you can always name it after the spot where it takes place.

Right now I am happily in Denver, Colorado, teaching two sessions about poetry at the CCIRA 2023 conference. I feel so fortunate to be here, back amongst thoughtful educators and old friends.

Carol is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Beyond Literacy Link with a postcard swap share. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship

Meow! I love you!

xo,

Amy

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The Best Part Of...

Pick Me!

Photo by Hope VanDerwater

Students - Two weeks ago, I shared a poem about our wondrous and lost cat, Tuck. In that post, I mentioned that we would be visiting the SPCA to find a new cat for our cat Winnie. Well, we found Claude. Here he is with his country-tail, Monet.

Claude and Monet

Photo by Amy LV

Claude is a super snuggly and chatty cat with Copper eyes and a sense of gratitude floating around him. Winnie and Fiona (our beautiful black kitty who didn't need a cat as she is very independent) are starting to like him. The whole dance of cat friendship is a funny one indeed, and it will surely offer more poems.

Copper-Eyed Claude

Photo by Hope VanDerwater

While there are many many parts of Claude I could (and will) write about, today I focused on one - his magnificent tail. Some of you may have read and written from this book by Wendy Ewald, THE BEST PART OF ME, a book of writings by children about their favorite parts of their bodies accompanied by beautiful photographs.

We can write about the "best part" of anything - the best part of a pet, of a book, of a room, of a park. And of course, there doesn't need to be just ONE best part. Claude (and each of us) has many best parts!

Consider making a list of "best parts" in your notebook and seeing if one seems like an interesting topic to write more about.

We welcome Claude to our home and I welcome him to The Poem Farm. If you could see him in person, he would curl up on your shoulder and purr!

Karen is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Karen Edmisten with wonderful poem titled "Be Kind" by Michael Blumenthal. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

Meow!

xo,

Amy

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Then and Now Can Be Sad

Our Tuck

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I have written about "Fluffy" (Winnie) and "Gray" (Tuck) here before, and some of you may remember the poem I wrote about Tuck being many different colors of gray. 

Life is filled with all kinds of moments, and while loving Tuck was filled with joy...losing him has been filled with sadness. He was the most loving and wise boy, and the last day we saw him was October 8. Winnie got sick for a bit after he was gone, and while she is healthy now, she really misses him too. We have another good kitty named Fiona, but she is not interested in cat friends, so Winnie feels the loss of Tuck.

Today my daughter and I will visit the SPCA and perhaps we will come home with a friend for Winnie. This will of course create all kinds of craziness and need for friendship classes, but we may do it anyway. And while we will love a new cat as we always do, we will always remember sweet Tuck. We will always hope that he is out there living a good life with good people. Not knowing can be the hardest part.

Today's poem tells a story of the way something once was...and how it has changed. You can write a poem like this too if you wish. The change does not need to be a sad change as mine is - it might be a happy change or a surprising change or a strange change or any kind of change you would like to write about. And the story doesn't even need to be true at all.

You may have noticed that this is a circle poem, that is the beginning and the ending are the same. Well...almost the same. There is a change because there was a change. The saddest part of this poem for me is the verbs in the last two lines - is and was. The two cats are different from each other in this way now...

It was difficult for me to read today's poem out loud, and I have not written a lot about Tuck as I miss him so much. But I do believe that all of life is worth writing about, and so I will write about him again, honoring his soft, gray spirit.

Catherine is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Reading to the Core with a neat poem which answers an unasked question - she left the question for readers to figure out...and I happily did. She and her poetry group The Inklings all tried this out, inspired by my poem Answer. I am honored and am looking forward to reading them all. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

Will Winnie Find a New Friend?

Photo by Amy LV

I wish for you a then-and-now full of joy this week. And too, a place to save and honor your own sadnesses.

xo,

Amy

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Linger on a Lived Moment

 

Winnie in Her New Fort

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Winnie is one funny cat! Yesterday I watched her leap into this big heater box, pleased as punch. She loves boxes, as do many cats, and today I thought I would just tell the story of her an her newest favorite box.

You will notice that there is little punctuation in this poem - no end punctuation until the end. This gives the poem a bit of a breathless feeling, and I am not exactly sure why, but I wanted the poem to feel just rambly with the repeated word and and such little punctuation.

Today's poem simply tells something that truly happened in my life. I just lingered on it, seeing it from Winnie's (huge sunflower) eyes and letting the words fall all over themselves.

What is one small experience you might linger on? Something small you might tell in a poem? Will you tell it from your eyes or from the eyes of another? Will you repeat lines as you linger, repeat lines as I did?

We have many grand decisions to make as writers. Let's enjoy them all, be thankful for the moments and the ability to write and photograph and draw them. Here at November's end, I am, as always, thankful for you and for this community. And at this very moment, I am also thankful for Winnie's best friend Tuck who is lying and purring here on my desk!

My Writing Pal Tuck

Photo by Amy LV

Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Beyond Literacy Link with a gorgeous gallery full of autumn poetry and images . Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

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Many Colors in One

 

Gray Boy Tuck

Photo by Amy LV

Students - One thing that's true about color is that there is not just ONE red or ONE yellow or ONE gray...there are many. And this is true of our cat Tuck. He is every gray of the gray rainbow, and in today's poem, I try to list a few of those grays. 

A color can be an emotion or a sound or a feeling or a sight, and I know that I can think of many more grays for Tuck. When I do, I might come back and revise this poem. I do plan to keep listing more grays in my notebook. I think I will take myself on a gray treasure hunt through my life this week.

Endings are interesting for writers. At first this poem just ended with "rainstorm in May," but I wanted to add a touch of surprise, a touch of humor...and truth. Tuck has some gorgeous green eyes nestled in all of his gray fur.

I encourage you to try this exploration of color in writing. Choose one color and list as many KINDS of that color as you can stretch yourself to think of. You may come up with some expected ones (green as grass) but try to come up with some that maybe no one has thought of before. Then, see if you are interested in using your list...or even one kind of color from your list and grow a writing idea or piece of art from it.

Here is my favorite book about particular colors. It is out of print now, but if you can find it at the library, do!

And here are a few more photographs of this very snuggly boy. I wish that you could reach through your computer screen to pet him. (And so does he!)

Tuck at Work

Photo by Amy LV

Sleeping Stripes

Photo by Amy LV

Baby Tuck

Photo by Hope or Amy LV?

Linda is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at TeacherDance with the delights of Halloween and a poem about a carved pumpkin I would like to meet...Jill O'Lantern! Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

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Poems About Endings

Clara and Her Kittens on May 1
Photo by Amy LV

Henry and Clary Sage on July 21

Photo by Amy LV

amylvpoemfarm · Fostering Kittens - a poem by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Students - On Sunday, the last two kittens our family is fostering will be off to their new homes. Throughout this spring and summer of Covid-19, we have had the pleasure of caring for a mother cat named Clara (her new family named her Molly) and Clara's five kittens: Nutmeg (now Opal), Pepper, Clary Sage, Rosemary, and Ginger (soon to be Gertrude Stein). Caring for these kittens and watching them grow has given our family so much joy. Now it is natural and right for them to have bigger lives in homes of their own, but still...it is sad to split them up and to say goodbye.

Poems stand by us in times of emotion: happiness, fear, grief. Wherever you are right now, there is a poem to match. Have you ever written a poem about letting something go? If you wish to try this, you might start by making a list of losses you have experienced and then choosing one to write from. Oftentimes our joys and sorrows hold hands and together, these feelings and experiences make us who we are. In your poem, see if you can hold two emotions at once.

Did you notice that I repeated the words they were ours? This poem is very short, but those words are important, important enough for me to write twice. Repetition is a way to slowly sew meaning into a reader's heart. When you write, reread your work to see if there are words or lines important enough to repeat.

Margaret is hosting this week's Poetry Friday party over at Reflections on the Teche with a generous share and the question: What is Poetry? We invite everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness each week of the year.

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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.

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