Compare, Compare, Compare!

My Teddy

Photo by Amy LV

Students - The teddy picture you see above is my real old teddy. He was given to me when I was a baby, and I still keep him on my dresser. His one leg is pinned, he is missing parts, and you can see so much love in his eyes.

Today's poem is a two stanza poem which compares one teddy to another teddy - a new teddy to an old teddy. I did not really get a new teddy recently, but looking at this old guy made me think about the difference between him and a brand new bear from the store. A song I learned in Girl Scouts keeps going through my head:

Make new friends

but keep the old.

One is silver

and the other gold.

We can compare two of anything: two kinds of macaroni and cheese, two pigeons on the sidewalk, two trees at the bus stop, two ways of feeling. An easy way to do this in a poem is to use two stanzas, the first one about one idea and the second about the other.

You likely noticed that my poem has a little rhyme -- and that I break it at the end. I did this on purpose. Adding "with me" at the end is a way of stressing how important this teddy is to the speaker, who wants readers to know, without question, that this favorite teddy is close by each night. 

Perhaps you could make some different lists in your notebook and then choose two of one type of thing to compare: two cats, two jackets, two books, two moods, two park playgrounds, two anythings.

Your lists might help you write a two-part, comparing poem. Or...maybe you will not write a two-part, comparing poem at all, and the lists will still help you. You know best what will help you as a writer, bu trying out lots of ideas is helpful to me.

Tabatha is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup at The Opposite of Indifference with an adorable poem by Margaret Widdemer...about pussy willows. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

Do remember that even if a writing idea does not make sense for you on one day, you might wish to tuck it away in your mind for the future. Maybe tomorrow you will observe or think of two fascinating things to compare.

See you next week!

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish. 

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

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

If I had to choose...

A Snip from My Notebook
by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem came from somewhere, but I am not sure where. It is true that I flipped through and read some of my current notebook before writing, and it is true that I came across this little moth sketch above, so I guess the idea may have grown from there. Too, I've been carrying around my kaleidoscope to school visits, so the word kaleidoscope is on my mind as well.

The other week I wrote a poem titled The Real Me, also about imagined lives. One gift of writing is all of the imagined lives you wish to have can live in your notebook or on your computer screen. Today's poem allowed me to imagine two same-but-different-lives and then to choose one over the other. Feel free to play with the title line, If I had to choose.  I welcome you to see if it leads you somewhere interesting. I think I will use it again as it reminds me of the CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BOOKS I once so loved.

This poem is a free verse poem - no rhyme - but I so enjoyed choosing each word, reading aloud again and again to discover which images felt and sounded just right. And who knows. As is often the case, one day I may revisit this poem and make some changes. Writing changes and grows as we do. Writing forgives and blooms when we least expect it. Writing can be plain as a moth or bright as a butterfly. We, the writers, choose.

Moths are quite mystical, methinks. Look at one up close sometime!

Cheriee is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup (for the first time!) with a celebration of Robert Heidbreder over at Library Matters. 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.

Gingerbread Doves: Funny Family Stories Make Good Poems

December 23, 2016

The Poem Farm is taking an internet-free holiday through the New Year!
Many joyous wishes to you and yours during this time of light.
Peace,
Amy

Two Girls Decorate Gingerbread Doves at Grandma's House

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem sprouted from something that happened last weekend.  I don't even need to tell you what happened because the poem and the photograph above tell the whole story.  We had such a good time at my mom's house, and you can see our two girls happily decorating.

When I began writing toward this poem, my first words were inspired by the red tin of cookies sitting on our coffee table.  

Tiny Gingerbread Cookies

Photo by Amy LV

I began writing about cookies whispering to me. Then I imagined that these cookies were the great-grandchildren of the famed Gingerbread Boy of storybook lore.  And then I remembered last weekend.  I remembered the giggles we all had over the two styles of cookie that our girls decorated together: one style by one sister, one by the other.

Gingerbread Cookies of All Kinds

(Can You Find the Shark?)

Photo by Amy LV

Pay attention to when you laugh.  In laughter, in family giggles, in guffaws and snorts...we discover the joyous poems of our lives.  I wish you so so many good laughs this winter season!

If you, like I, enjoy discovering old and wonderful picture books, don't miss THE BEDSPREAD by Sylvia Fair.  Our youngest daughter's nursery school teacher recommended it to us as she had two daughters who were very different from each other...and we do too!  Writing today's poem brought me back to this old favorite.

Read More About this Book Here

Tabatha is hosting today's Poetry Friday party over at The Opposite of Indifference.  Join her, and all of us, in finding goodness in poetry and life all week long.  Everyone is always invited to Poetry Friday, and the tea is always on.

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.

Ways to Live on a Poetry Friday

Welcome to Day 12 of Drawing Into Poems, my daily drawing/seeing/writing study into poetry.  You can read more about this month-long project here on my April 1 post.  Feel free to read the books with me and pull out your own sketchbook and jewelry box full of metaphor too...

As a part of this project, you may remember that along with the daily drawings, I will be posting at-least-weekly poems inspired somehow by that week's drawings.  Here is my second one.

I will post audio to this poem later this evening or weekend.

Students - The first line of this poem sprouted from my April 10 drawing, the one of my Great Aunt Kay's wooden horse.  I began by thinking about the possibility in a block of wood, how a person can see it, or a person can miss it.  Then this made me think about all of the times in life that we can choose how to see something, how to react to it: in a negative way or a positive way.  So then I decided to keep following this idea all of the way through the poem, twisting the end in almost a challenge to the reader, a life question toponder.

Today's poem partly grew from the fact that I am trying to see more possibility in life as I find myself deep into this month's drawing project.  It was also likely inspired by a conversation I had with a fourth grader at Delevan Elementary on Monday.  We were talking about the American Revolution, looking at the Declaration of Independence, and one girl waited until class was over to ask, "But why ARE there no women's names here?" I explained that throughout our history, different groups of people have been oppressed and have struggled and worked and fought back for what they believe is right.  I explained that one day, maybe even soon, she too will be called on to do make a choice about justice.  We all are.

Structure wise, you will notice that this poem is a list, it uses a lot of repetition, and it is a series of questions and a series of comparisons/contrasts.

And here is the drawing of the day...something electronic.

Day 12 - Our CD Player

Click the drawing to enlarge it.

Students - I did not choose the most beautiful thing to draw today, but I did choose something interesting.  My explorations into seeing continue to focus on following the line of an object, trying to represent more than just one flat face.  I very much enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane of all of the different music players I've known in my life.  It is amazing how I can feel like a seven-year-old, but I have seen a lot of changes.  I must not really be seven after all!

Last week I sent a copy of FOREST HAS A SONG to my friend Ann Marie Corgill's second grade students at Cherokee Bend Elementary in Birmingham, Alabama.  This week I received a wonderful gift.  As a thank you note, they sent me this beautiful poem.

This is one of the best presents I've ever received.  Many hugs and thank yous to the Corgill Kids for your poem.  Everything about it makes me happy.

Today over at This Kid Reviews Books, Erik reviews FOREST HAS A SONG and has generously chosen it as his recommendation for Perfect Picture Book Friday over at Susanna Leonard Hill's blog.  I am especially grateful for his wise words about getting outside together as families.  Too, you won't want to miss Erik's spot-on haiku, one perfect image that matches exactly the rain we've been having in Western New York.  And teachers, if you teach your students to write book reviews, eleven-year-old Erik will be a fantastic mentor author for you to visit again and again.

Mia Wenjen has selected FOREST HAS A SONG as her Picture Book of the Day over at Pragmatic Mom, a wonderfully rich site for teachers and parents.  It is an honor to see our book there.

Ashleigh at Obsessive Mommy, also shares FOREST HAS A SONG today, asking me ten questions about the book.  These were fun questions to answer, and I am tickled to have an opportunity to be visiting her site today.

At Sally's Bookshelf, Sue Heavenrich shares her scientific perspective on FOREST HAS A SONG, and I join her for some neat dives into the book.  Teachers - you will want to bookmark or pin this site too, particularly for STEM resources and books.

If you are interested in a giveaway FOREST HAS A SONG, visit The Children's Book Review and/or Obsessive Mommy.  Both are great blogs where you can read more about FOREST and enter to win a copy!

Today is Poetry Friday, and Diane Mayr is hosting the festivities over at Random Noodling. Visit her place to find your way to this week's poetry goodies around the Kidlitosphere!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

What's Alike? What's Different?

Sleeping Sarah

Photo by Georgia LV

Sleeping Monster

Photo by Georgia LV

Many cats pass through our little farmstead here in Holland, NY.  In the two photos above, you can see two of them.  Sarah is still with us, and Monster is just in our memories now.  When I look at these two photographs, I can see the ways that these two cats were the same (very furry, soft, happy sleepers, chubby paws) as well as the ways they are different (girl/boy, nervous/comfortable, no tail/tail, inside/outside).  Sometimes when I write poems, I highlight the ways that things are the same as well as the ways they are different.

Compare and Contrast Poems

Students - as we go through life and notice things, we cannot help but make comparisons.  In our minds, we often think about how things are like each other and how they are not.  In the following few poems, you will see that I have compared and contrasted different things, letting them bump against each other, watching how they are alike and different.  

The first poem compares two types of birds, the second poem compares one flower at two different times, and the third poem compares two types of written communication.  

from November 2010

from October 2010

from October 2010

Here are two more poems that highlight a comparison or contrast.  What do they compare?  What are some other ways a person might compare clocks or reading? 

Reading Time
Two Clocks

Writing is a way to look at the world, to see connections and to put things together in different ways.  Today try looking around your own world for connections.  What two things are alike?  What two things are different from each other?  If you are interested by your thoughts and observations...start writing and follow your own mind to see what connections you make.  Putting two things together give you an interesting piece of writing.

For all of this month, I have been rounding up poems from last year, categorizing them into various piles of poetry ideas and strategies.  Please feel free to revisit some of the other posts and share any poems you write or thoughts you have in the comments.

This Month's Poetry Revisits and Lessons So Far

April 1 -   Poems about Poems

April 2 -   Imagery

April 3 -   Poems about Animals We Know

April 4 -   Line Breaks and White Space

April 5 -   Poems from Everyday Life

April 6 -   Free Verse

April 7 -   Poems from Wonders & Questions

April 8 -   Classroom Poetry Peek & Circular Poems 

April 9 -   Poems about Science

April 10 - Rhyming Couplets  

April 11 -  Riddle Poems 

April 12 -  List Poems 

April 13 -  Poems for Occasions

April 14 -  Concrete Poems

April 15 -  Poems about Food

April 16 -  Quatrains

April 17 -  Poems about the Seasons

April 18 -  Alliteration

April 19 -  Poems about Sports

April 20 -  Today - Compare/Contrast Poems

(Please click on POST A COMMENT below to share a thought.)

It's Reading Time for All of Us in Poem #279

Deep in Books

by Amy LV

Today's poem is dedicated to Mary Lee Hahn and Franki Sibberson over at A Year of Reading who celebrated their five year blog birthday yesterday!  A Year of Reading serves as daily inspiration for me as a writer, teacher, and parent.  Too, Mary Lee is a Poetry Friday mentor extraordinaire!  Happy birthday!

This holiday allowed for some all-family reading time at home.  And it always amazes me how a room can be completely quiet, full of people doing the same thing - reading - but how each reader has a completely different experience.  As I sit and read about knitting, Mark reads a mystery, Henry reads a Narnia book, Hope reads funny short stories, and Georgia reads a novel by Mildred D. Taylor.  On the outside, we look the same.  On the inside, we are living different lives.  How true this is for classrooms with time for independent reading.

Students - this poem is a contrast poem.  Something looks one way but is actually quite different.  Can you think of something that looks one way but actually is something else?  If so, this double-sidedness might make for a good poem.

The worlds/words lines at the end of this poem are certainly inspired by Geof Hewitt's brief and fabulous poem, "Typographical Errors", from the book I FEEL A LITTLE JUMPY AROUND YOU:  PAIRED POEMS BY MEN AND WOMEN edited by Naomi Shihab Nye and  Paul B. Janeczko.  I adore this book for upper grades and adults too.

Shop Indie Bookstores

Teachers - Last Poetry Friday, fourth grade teacher Theresa Annello and her students visited to share their poetry calendars.  Don't miss this beautiful project and its included poetry links!

Also, yesterday I posted a collaborative New Year's poem started by Charles Ghigna and me.  We welcome you to stop by and add a few lines!

(Please click on COMMENTS below to share a thought.)