Death and Mystery and Love

Mini Monster and Me, Fall 2019

Cat and Mom Selfie

Students - The other week, I wrote in my notebook a bit about the ghosts of dead pets coming to visit their owners. I wondered on paper how these dead pets know how to find their loved humans if they have moved to new homes. I think about this because I have loved many animals in my life, including our current seven: Cali (dog), Sage (dog), Sarah (cat), Mini Monster (cat), Pickles (cat), Firepaw (cat), and Fiona (cat). I believe that we will always be connected somehow, just as I am forever linked to my childhood dogs Thor and Valentine, and Mark's and my first dog Eli.

In Cynthia Rylant's soulful books DOG HEAVEN and CAT HEAVEN, she describes these animal Heavens, and my mind and heart will always carry the scene in DOG HEAVEN when the dog visits the family who loved him on Earth.

This idea of pet-ghosts visiting us is a mystery that haunts me in a very good way.

Mini Monster, in the above picture, is a very special cat to me right now. Some of you may know this. If you are interested in reading a 2010 essay about him, you may do so HERE. This piece also appears in Katherine Bomer's THE JOURNEY IS EVERYTHING (Heinemann, 2016).

Today's poem is an almost - sonnet.  It has fourteen lines in iambic pentameter (daDA daDA daDA daDA daDA) with the even lines rhyming.  Then, at the end, the final couplet rhymes too.  You will note a turn after line 8, a change in focus. My poem does not rhyme every alternate line, though, so it's not a true English sonnet.  

If you are thinking about your own poetry, one suggestion I have is to read lots of poems aloud. Tap out the meters, feel the rhythms in your hands and your feet and your body. Poems are songs. Poetry is music. Listen and feel others' poems inside of you, and these poems will offer your own writing more possibility, as the rhythms that live in us cannot help but come out in our writing.

What mystery haunts you? There's a poem there...I promise. Hours after writing this post, I realized that this topic of visitors in sleep must be deeply on my mind. See, my poem Two Girls, from November 8, 2019's post is also about this topic and also speaks to the reader at the end. I am going to pay attention to this curious and current interest.

Carol is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at at Carol's Corner with Maya Angelou's gorgeous poem titled Continue. 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 every week in this beautiful new year before us.

All peace and bravery and laughter and light to you and your loved ones in this new year...this new decade!

xo,
Amy

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

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Write About a Quiet Kindness

Friend of Kitties

by Amy LV

Students - Our eldest daughter attends college in New York City, and this week she told me a story about a lady she met while walking back to school from a babysitting job. The lady was standing near some scaffolding, reaching down and into a cut-out in the wood.  When our daughter stopped to chat, she learned that this lady is a feeder-of-city-cats.  This lady and some of her friends regularly bring canned cat food and blankets to homeless city cats.  I think that this lady is a special spirit, and I am very grateful know that she exists.  I loved hearing the story and right away knew that I would write about it in my notebook.  I did not know at that moment that I would write a poem...but here it is.

Sometimes people write poems about folks they admire.  About people they believe make the world a strong and light-filled and happier place to live in.  We can write thank you letters and opinion pieces or give written awards to such people.  Or...we can also write poems about them.  We don't even need to know the people or see them in action.  We may just learn a story about such a person, as I learned one from our daughter.

Here's a little challenge for you.  Listen to people talk.  Watch people.  See if you can uncover a kindness, a gentleness, a surprise-and hidden-goodness that many people might not know about.  Write a poem about this person or kind act, not using the person's name, but just offering it up to the world.  I sure would love to read such poems - and maybe even share them here. Such poems and stories make me want to be better myself, so I like to read as many as I can.  If you write a poem celebrating a kind act (and if you really work on it), I welcome you to have your parent or teacher send it to me through my CONTACT ME button....and I will write back.

Did you notice that the sentences in this poem get very short at the end?  I did this on purpose.  The first stanza is one long and rollicking sentence, describing the many kinds of homeless cats one might find in the city.  The second stanza, on the other hand, focuses on the actions of one human: kind and good.  I wanted that part to be read slowly.  With pauses.  That's why the lines and sentences are so short.

Here are some photographs that our sweet daughter sent to me after reading this poem:

From a Distance

Photo by H. VanDerwater

Closer

Photo by H. VanDerwater

Even Closer

Photo by H. VanDerwater

Closest

Photo by H. VanDerwater

The Educator Collaborative is currently (now through February 14, 2018) running its Global Kind Project 2018 for classrooms.  Please check it out if you are interested.  You can connect with others from all over, sharing stories and finding ways to be kinder....together.

At Sharing Our Notebooks, my other online home,  I am superhappy to host third grade teacher Dina Bolan and her third grade 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.  I will send the winning name a cool new notebook!

Please visit Kay's place today's Poetry Friday roundup at A Journey Through the Pages. Every week a group of us gather our posts together at one blog, so if you visit Kay this week...you will be introduced to many new poets and blogs and books.  We welcome you!

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

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To My Kitten - A Poem Can Be About Two Things

Hercules

Photo by Georgia VanDerwater

Students - Our family is fostering kittens right now, something we love to do and yet have not done in a couple of years.  This means that we are taking care of kittens and their mamas until we can find homes for the kittens. Once we find homes for all kittens, we will give their mamas back to their owners.

It fills us with a lot of joy to watch these little ones grow up.  But it's always a wee bit sad too, because we want to keep them all with us.  

Eliza's Kittens (Eliza is eating!)

Photo by Amy LV

Mamacita and Her Roaming Kittens

Photo by Amy LV (with kitten on right foot)

As I wrote today's poem about these sweet kittens growing up and finding new places to live, growing into big new lives, I realized that I might also be writing about our daughter who graduates from high school this month and will soon be off to New York City for college.  Do you think that a poem can be about two things at the same time? (I do.)

Pay attention to your brain as you write. Sometimes you may think you are writing about one subject, and your brain or heart is thinking about another subject at the exact same time.  Please let me know if this happens to you!

I am thrilled to share that Linda Rief has opened her gorgeous notebooks this week at Sharing Our Notebooks.  That blog is back up and going again, so please visit and leave a comment to be entered into a giveaway of one of Linda's books.  You can find all kinds of notebook inspiration over there!

Mary Lee is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Year of Reading with wonderful story poem.  All are always welcome at these weekly gatherings of poetry and friendship.

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

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

Writing the Rainbow Poem #22 - Yellow Green

Welcome to my National Poetry Month project for 2017!  Students - Each day of April 2017, I will close my eyes, and I will reach into my box of 64 Crayola crayons.

Aerial View of Crayola Box

Photo by Georgia LV

Each day I will choose a crayon (without looking), pulling this crayon out of the box. This daily selected crayon will in some way inspire the poem for the next day.  Each day of this month, I will choose a new crayon, thinking and writing about one color every day for a total of 30 poems inspired by colors.

As of April 2, it happened that my poems took a turn to all be from the point of view of a child living in an apartment building.  So, you'll notice this thread running through the month of colors. I'd not planned this...it was a writing surprise.

I welcome any classrooms of poets who wish to share class poems (class poems only please) related to each day's color (the one I choose or your own).  Please post your class poem or photograph of any class crayon poem goodness to our Writing the Rainbow Padlet HERE.  (If you have never posted on a Padlet, it is very easy.  Just double click on the red background, and a box will appear.  Write in this box, and upload any poemcrayon sharings you wish.)

Here is a list of this month's Writing the Rainbow Poems so far:

March 30 - Pick a Crayon, Write a Poem - Project Introduction 

April 1 - Misty - Inspired by Carnation Pink

April 2 - Each Morning - Inspired by Lavender

April 3 - Outside My Building - Inspired by Dandelion (!)

April 4 - Mr. B. - Inspired by Olive Green

April 5 - Once in a While - Inspired by Tumbleweed

April 6 - On Miss Johnson's Fire Escape - Inspired by Yellow Orange

April 7 - The Guy Downstairs - Inspired by Spring Green

April 8 - I Watch Her - Inspired by Forest Green

April 9 - Their Hands - Inspired by White

April 10 - Up and Down - Inspired by Orange

April 11 - Eavesdropping - Inspired by Sky Blue

April 12 - Mr. Mick - Inspired by Red Violet

April 13 - Sights - Inspired by Purple Mountains' Majesty

April 14 - On Saturdays - Inspired by Melon

April 15 - Bundle - Inspired by Robin's Egg Blue

April 16 - Our Rooftop - Inspired by Periwinkle

April 17 - Childhood Trees - Inspired by Mahogany

April 18 - In Our Laundry Room - Inspired by Blue

April 19 - Summer Treat - Inspired by Red

April 20 - Home - Inspired by Timberwolf

April 21 - After School - Inspired by Apricot

And now...today's crayon.  Yellow Green!

Wild Worlds in Eyes

by Amy LV

Students - I was missing Misty back from April 1 and April 4...so she's back today - just her eyes.  Have you ever looked into the eyes of an animal and seen something wild and mysterious?  Ever wished that the animal could tell you secrets of the past and of other places?  I have.

If you are Writing the Rainbow with me, perhaps your color for today will make you think about mysteries....in animals or elsewhere. Part of what makes living interesting is mystery...don't you think?

Take note of the repetition in today's poem.  Did you see that the first line of each of the three stanzas is exactly the same?  What do you notice about the rhyming words?  Feel free to try out either this way of repeating a line or this way of patterning rhyme.  It's interesting to experiment with different structures.

Colors can take us anywhere.  And if you'd like to join in with your own poem at our Writing the Rainbow Padlet, please do! It is one colorful and beautiful place to visit..

And please don't miss the links to all kinds of Poetry Month goodness up there in my upper left sidebar.  Happy twenty-second day of National Poetry Month!

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.

Writing the Rainbow Poem #1 - Carnation Pink

Welcome to my National Poetry Month project for 2017!  Students - Each day of April 2017, I will close my eyes, and I will reach into my box of 64 Crayola crayons.

Aerial View of Crayola Box

Photo by Georgia LV

Each day I will choose a crayon (without looking), pulling this crayon out of the box. This daily selected crayon will in some way inspire the poem for the next day.  Each day of this month, I will choose a new crayon, thinking and writing about one color every day for a total of 30 poems inspired by colors.

I welcome any classrooms of poets who wish to share class poems (class poems only please) related to each day's color (the one I choose or your own).  Please post your class poem or photograph of any class crayon poem goodness to our Writing the Rainbow Padlet HERE.  (If you have never posted on a Padlet, it is very easy.  Just double click on the red background, and a box will appear.  Write in this box, and upload any poemcrayon sharings you wish.)

And now...today's crayon.  Carnation Pink!

Meow

by Amy LV

Students - Misty is a real cat I know, and she wanders around her apartment building making friends with everyone.  Her real owner is very generous, allowing everyone to pet her and be her good buddy.  And Misty must feel like she has many many family members, all behind different doors.

When I chose Pink Carnation as today's color, one of the first things I thought of is a pink cat nose.  What could be cuter?  When I wrote today's poem, I read each word and line out loud over and over again as I was working toward a run-on, conversational feeling.  I wanted this poem to feel breathless, the way that I speak when I feel excited.

If you are Writing the Rainbow with me, you might choose to connect the color you choose today to a creature...or not.  Colors can take us anywhere.  And if you'd like to join in with Carnation Pink, please do!

Don't miss the links to all kinds of Poetry Month goodness up there in my upper left sidebar.  Happy first day of National Poetry Month.  Meow!

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.

Finding Poems in Moments of Surprise - And a Giveaway!

Mini Monster and Sarah

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Sometimes as I go through my day, I notice something curious. Yesterday, I looked at the couch and saw Mini and Sarah...sharing!  These two are not exactly pals, so it was a small ah-ha! moment for me, a bright moment of the afternoon.

Writing ideas are all around, and one place you can find one is in the small bits of life that surprise you. Yesterday I also saw a flock of robins swooping up from a sumac tree.  There's a poem in there just waiting...

And now...a Poetry Peek and a giveaway too...

Today I am very happy to share the latest from Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong...HERE WE GO!  This book, like YOU JUST WAIT is a POETRY FRIDAY POWER BOOK, meaning that it is an interactive book full of mentor poems, places for young writers to play with words, and pages for poetry writing.

Available through Pomelo Books

This collection is very timely, addressing concerns that face many of our friends and neighbors right now.  It is a warmly and whimsically illustrated volume focusing on social action and stepping up to make your own corner of the world a more loving place.  And it's just full of poems, one each by Naomi Shihab Nye, Carole Boston Weatherford, Joseph Bruchac, David Bowles, Ibtisam Barakat, Eileen Spinelli, David L. Harrison, Kate Coombs, Robyn Hood Black, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Renée M. LaTulippe, Margaret Simon, and 24 poems by Janet Wong, threading the 36 poems into a story in different voices.

Here is a poem that is staying with me, one that helps me remember who I hope to be in hard times, by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes.

I asked Janet Wong to share a thought about this HERE WE GO with us today.  She says:

This book shows how you go from having a spark of an idea to getting your community behind you, including the important step of thanking your supporters. The kids who read this book might want to start, as the kids in HERE WE GO do, with something simple like a food drive or walk-a-thon to raise money for the local food bank. Fighting hunger is something that anyone in any town can agree on, right? And any school district, too: because if your students don’t have healthy food, they can’t concentrate. Fighting hunger = better learning! 

You can read more about HERE WE GO at any of these cozy homes online:

Irene Latham's Live Your Poem

Laurie L. Birchall's Poetry for Teaching

Mary Lee Hahn's A Reading Year 

Sylvia Vardell’s Poetry for Children 

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes's Today's Little Ditty

Linda Kulp Trout's Write Time

Katie's The Logonauts

Janet and Sylvia have generously offered to send 5 copies of HERE WE GO to one winner, someone who comments on this blog post by next Thursday evening, February 23. If you win, please give the books to a group: book club group, or home school group, or other group of students who will enjoy reading and writing on its pages.

Jone is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Check it Out.  Head over there for poems, ideas, and community.  We are a welcoming community....and we welcome you!

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

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

Sometimes A Poem Needs a Friend: Write a Poem for a Poem

On Tuesday, this book, edited by Kenn Nesbitt, illustrated by Christoph Niemann,
and published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers will be born.
It is chock full of all kinds of poems and spare, whimsical pictures.

Available at Your Local Book Shop

I am so happy to have a poem in this collection. You can read it here.

(Click to Enlarge)



A friend read an early copy and asked,
"How much of 'Our Kittens' was taken from real life?"

I love questions like this one.

Q:  How much of "Our Kittens" was taken from real life?
A:  All of it!

"Our Kittens" is a true story from our family, and it happened about two years ago.
Considering my friend's question, I realized that my poem needed a friend poem.
It needed the other point of view.
And so I wrote a poem in the voice of Fiona, that last kitten from "Our Kittens."

Fiona
Photo by Hope VanDerwater

Students - Sometimes a poem needs a friend poem.  This week when I got my own copy of ONE MINUTE TILL BEDTIME, and when I thought about my friend's question, I realized that there was more to this story. And so I wrote "My Boy," the poem I imagine our sweet Fiona really would write for Henry if only she could hold a pencil.

At twelve years old, Henry really did read books to a frightened tiny Fiona, and he helped her trust him and helped her trust the world again.  Now she seeks him out, snuggles him, touches his face with her paw. Fiona loves Henry.  And he loves her.

Sometimes an image stays in your mind for a long time.  The image of my boy reading to a lost creature is one of my favorites, and honestly...I think it's been rattling around in my heart, just waiting to find a home in a poem.

Sometimes a poem needs a friend poem.  Sometimes an image you've carried for years finds you when you are writing.

Creating is funny like that.  We never know...so we must just keep at it.

On this thread of creating, I am thrilled to welcome artist and art teacher Tim Needles to Sharing Our Notebooks this month.  I've admired his work on Twitter for a while, and it's a delight to peek into his fabulous notebooks and to learn about his faith in process.  Don't miss - and please leave a comment to be entered into a book giveaway.

Halloween is Monday, and Election Day is on the horizon.  If you have not noticed, I have placed poems to go with each in the left sidebar here. Enjoy!

This week, Linda is hosting the Poetry Friday extravaganza over at TeacherDance.  So waltz, fox trot, or tango on over and enjoy the good fun and good people.  All are always welcome to read, comment, and link on in.  Happy Poetry Friday!

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.

Notebooks are for Flotsam and Jetsam

My Friend Yvonne's Cat...Casey

Photo by Yvonne Sciolino

Students - Last week I had the good fortune to visit five schools in Northern New Jersey.  During a talk at Central School in Glen Rock, NJ, I mentioned how my cat likes to sit on notebooks and computer keyboards, always wanting to be close to writing.  Many students raised their hands sharing that their cats also do this, and so I pulled out my notebook and wrote:

Notebook Jot - Central School, September 28, 2016

Photo by Amy LV

Those four words simmered there for a little while in my notebook, and then this week my friend Yvonne shared a photograph of her cat Casey working away at a laptop.  See?  It's a cat thing.  Cats DO like to write.  Ah HA!

Keeping a notebook, just jotting down the flotsam and jetsam of life is a magical way to capture wayward writing ideas.  Snips of chat, wisps of wonder...slap them all down on the page.  We never know when such bits will come in handy.  The mind is a strange place, with thoughts-like-leaves blowing around here and there.  A notebook helps us corral them, tame them, give them form.

Today's poem is written in rhyming couplets, but stanza four is s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out onto four lines instead of two.  I could have kept it two lines, but I wanted more of a listy feeling in that section of the poem, so dividing each line into two felt right.

In Sharing Our Notebooks (my other blog) news, congratulations to Brenda Harsham, winner of Kiesha Shepard's generous giveaway of a copy of Mary Oliver's book EVIDENCE.  Please don't miss Kiesha's wonderful notebook post, and Brenda...please drop me an e-mail to amy@amylv.com with your snail mail address, and I will share it with Kiesha.

Violet is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at her online home, Violet Nesdoly / poems.  Don't miss the poems, the friends, the book recommendations, the surprises.  All are welcome.  Always!

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

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

Listening & Writing from Our Repeated Thoughts and Words

Cat Chat

by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem idea grew from a question that I often ask my cats, "Where did you come from?  Where did you live before you lived with me?  Where was your home before this was your home?"  We have four cats that appeared mysteriously at our home (and one that was given to us with our blessing), and I frequently think about their unknown pasts.  I especially think about Mini Monster, the cat I wonder most about.  What is his history?  I will never know, and so I invent it with sweet tuna-gifting grandma who sang...

Pay attention to stories you often tell or questions you often ask.  We each have recurring lines in our lives, repeated wonders and wishes and hopes and stories that we tell over and over again.  These refrains are rich writing territory, and I encourage you to listen to your own voice, to ask, "What do I hear myself say or feel myself think again and again?"

I may have written a poem about this same topic before.  Or not...I honestly do not remember.  But if I have, I am happy to explore the same material more than one time.  By doing so, I can follow my changing thinking.  And so can you.  Allow yourself to write about the same ideas in new ways - you will surprise yourself.

And if you always try to rhyme, play with free verse.  I'm working on that too.

If you missed my last week' post (on a Wednesday, not a Friday, and I did not link in on Friday), please do visit, enjoy, and leave a comment for the young writers.  It's a wonderful collection of blackout poems all made from the same poem by fourth grade students from Easthampton, Massachusetts and taught by Carol Weis and Jodi Alatalo.  I loved seeing how differently all of their poems turned out!

Over at Sharing Our Notebooks, I am so happy to host teacher Katie Liseo and her adventurous student notebookers with a very inspiring post and giveaway of Aimee Buckner's NOTEBOOK KNOW-HOW. And HERE you can find out who won the signed copy of Laura Shovan's fabulous verse novel, THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY.  Too, please remember that there is a whole treasure chest of summer notebooking ideas at Sharing Our Notebooks.  Find those at the tab atop the blog or just click HERE.

Today's Poetry Friday roundup is over at Check it Out, in the wise and generous hands of Jone.  Come on by, meet some poetry friends, and feel free to link right in if you wish.  Poetry Friday is for everyone!

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.

Writing About Love...What I Want to Squeeze

Mini

Photo by Hope VanDerwater

Students - This Sunday is Valentine's Day, and this has me thinking about people and pets and things that I love.  One pet I love a lot is Mini Monster, and I have written about him many times including HERE.  Sometimes my family laughs at me when I hug Mini really hard and he tries to wiggle of my arms, but he often stays in my arms and lets me kiss him on his ears and tell him how handsome he is.

Today, or anytime this week, you might think about writing about someone or something you love.  What do you want to squeeze and hug and what do you adore?  Valentine's Day is a grand time to think about love, big love and small love...like my love of drinking tea and of teeny pine cones.

You will notice that today's poem is written in free verse, in quatrains.  Nothing rhymes, but I still needed to read this aloud to myself many times to hear if it sounded just right to my ears.  On another day, I may reread this poem aloud again and make some more changes, but today it sounds as I wish it to sound.

Kimberley is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Written Reflections with a delightful story and a celebration of one of my favorite poetry collections. Enjoy all of the offerings and the good people who join together each week to share poems and thoughts about poetry.

May this week fill you up with love, for things you know and for unexpected surprises too.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

First Catch - A Poem for Two Voices

Sarah the Manx

Photo by ?? LV

(Click to Enlarge)

Students - This is a poem for two voices.  You can see it is written in two columns, and one side is for one reader (the human) and one is for another reader (the kitten).  To read the poem, readers take turns reading their lines in order of how they fall down the page.  When two lines sit side-by-side, both readers read at the same time.  You can hear my son Henry and I read it together above.

We have five cats here at The Poem Farm now, and lately Sarah has been bringing back little dead voles to the back door.  When she catches one, she meows loudly so that we will come to the glass door to praise her.  Early last week, she brought a vole back, and I took it away from her.  The next time she came with one, she ran away with it as soon as I opened the door.  It is confusing to be a cat parent sometimes.

I had the good fortune to visit two schools last week as a visiting author: H.B. Milnes school in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, and Vernfield Elementary in Telford, Pennsylvania.  They were wonderful visits for me, and at Vernfield, I wrote a bit with the third graders.  One thing we talked about was two possible ways to write a poem:

to something (poem of address)
or
as something (mask poem).

I wrote on a chart in front of them, pretending to be my kitty, proud to have caught a bird.  Then, in my notebook, I wrote from my own perspective, how I feel when Sarah catches a small animal.  I want to be proud...but...I am sad for the wee bird or vole or mouse too.

Below, you can see the chart paper on which I started the mask side of the poem.

Here is my notebook-play of speaking to the kitten.

And then above you can see the mash up.  It was interesting to write a two voice poem in this way.

After visiting H.B. Milnes school, and later, Vernfield Elementary in Telford, PA, I had the good fortune to attend part of the 2015 KSRA Conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  As part of the Thursday Poetry Evening, poet Sara Holbrook invited me to co-read a poem for two voices from her book  WHAM! IT'S A POETRY JAM.  This, I believe, is what made me choose to write today's poem as a poem for two voices, what helped me decide to mix together the two short demonstration drafts from Vernfield - the good feeling of reading with a friend.

WHAM! IT'S A POETRY JAM is a wonderful book, and if you like performing poetry - or if you've never tried to perform poetry - you will want to check it out. Sara is a fantastic writer, and I loved reading from this great book right with the author herself!

Published by Boyds Mills Press 

Learn More Here

In notebook-news, if you have not yet commented on author Jeff Anderson's post at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, please do.  You may win a copy of his first middle grade novel, ZACK DELACRUZ: ME AND MY BIG MOUTH.  Jeff is author of many of my favorite professional books for teaching writing, and I highly recommend you check out his project journal post.

Last week' Poetry Friday roundup, in case you missed it (as I did) was is at Jama's Alphabet Soup.  There you will find Penny Klostermann's beautiful poetic buttons wrapped up in teddy bears, in chocolates, and in all manner of happiness.

Please leave a comment below if you wish.

Firepaw and Charlie - a Friendship Poem

Charlie

Photo by Elizabeth Pellette

Firepaw
Photo by Amy LV

Students - This is a true poem.  Firepaw is really our cat.  And Charlie was really our neighbor cat.  They loved each other.  When Charlie died earlier this year, I wished that Firepaw could understand English, even if just for a moment.  I wanted so dearly to explain that Charlie was gone, would not be coming back.  When I see Firepaw waiting down by the mailbox these days, I wish I could help him understand.

We all have feelings that come up again and again, good feelings, sad feelings, confused feelings, lonely feelings, surprising feelings.  We might talk about our feelings and wishes with other people, or we might want to keep them to ourselves. Writing is a way to help make sense of these things, to see them on the page, and both celebrate inside and heal our hearts too.

Firepaw still does have his sister, Pickles.  She is another one of our cats.  They love each other too...so Firepaw is not alone.  But we still miss Charlie.

In news this week, I have been very busy at my other blog.  A bit less than two weeks ago, Kimberley Moran from iWrite in Maine suggested that I host a Summer Edition of ideas at Sharing Our Notebooks. Well, 43 entries of crowdsourcing later, the collection of ideas is beautiful and rich, and I welcome your voice too! You can read about the project here and check out the list of ideas here. Teachers, be sure to check out the bookmarks in the Sharing Our Notebooks sidebar too.  So many wonderful ideas for summer!  I am truly grateful to host this collection and cannot wait to see where it goes.

Margaret is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Reflections on the Teche.  Visit her online home to learn about all of the delicious poetry goodies around the Kidlitosphere today.

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