Writing the Rainbow Poem #3 - Dandelion

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.)

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

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

(Comment on this 3/30 post for book drawing through 4/11)

April 1 - Misty - Inspired by Carnation Pink

April 2 - Each Morning - Inspired by Lavender

And now...today's crayon.  Dandelion!

Sturdy Flower

by Amy LV

Students - If you did not know that the Dandelion crayon was retired by Crayola just last week, now you do.  You can read more about this in the NEW YORK TIMES if you wish.  We don't know yet which new color will replace Dandelion, but as it's been around for 27 years, I was sad to see it go.

That's why I bought a box of 64 Dandelions as soon as I learned the news. (I also bought a box of 64 Silvers...just because.)

My new box of Dandelions is not here yet, but they're on the way. I never knew that a person could order a whole box of one color at Crayola's website.  But now I do. If you ever need a Dandelion (or a Silver), give me a call.

If you are wondering whether I picked Dandelion for today's poem with my eyes open, for nostalgia's sake, I can assure you that I did not.  I am very honest about these strange challenges.  If this were not the case, you never would have seen CARNATION PINK and LAVENDER, two such similar crayon colors, as #1 and #2 of this project.

If you've visited The Poem Farm over time, you know that I do like dandelions. You might recall Dandelion Dot-to-Dot or Names Matter or Dandelion Grandmas.  For today's poem, I kept in the same voice as the child from the April 1 and April 2 poems.  I have a feeling that this character will follow me...and the crayons...all month long.

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 us on our WRITING THE RAINBOW PADLET, please do!

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

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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.

Two Flowers - Compare & Contrast

Rose and Dandelion
by Amy LV

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - Today's poem grew from some scratchings in my notebook. A few months ago, I wrote many of the flower-spoken words you read above, but as I reread them and thought about Monday's post about Thistle and about the YA novel I am currently reading - UGLIES by Scott Westerveld - I realized that I am thinking a lot about freedom vs. captivity lately.  I'm not sure why that is, but when you are writing regularly, you can see patterns in your mind and heart.  That's why I keep a notebook - to know what I think!

When I scribbled the beginnings of this poem in my notebook, I only had the lines from the flowers, but as I continued to work on it, I decided it would be fun to "bookend" it with some thinking and a question, the stanzas in italics. One of my favorite poems is Alley Violinist by Robert Lax, and I especially like how it leaves the reader with a question.

In addition to having different voices, this poem uses a technique we call "personification" which means that the writer gives an object or animal human characteristics.  In this case, I let the flowers think and talk. (It's funny, though, because I think that they actually DO talk and it's not a poetic technique at all!) This poem is also a compare/contrast poem, juxtaposing the lives of two flowers.  

So...here are a few things to think about today:  keep your notebook and save those thought-treasures, consider writing something that compares two different things, listen to objects and animals talking (or pretend you can), and remember that you can end your writing with a question.

This week over at Sharing Our Notebooks, I welcome author Peter Salomon and congratulate him on his forthcoming book, HENRY FRANKS. Please stop by and read about his first notebooks, and enter yourself in the giveaway of his new book - coming out this week!

If you are interested in entering to win a copy of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY (in which I am happy to have 5 poems!), please stop by Friday's post and leave a comment there.  Thistle will draw a winning name on Thursday night, and I will announce the winner on Poetry Friday!

This week also marks a change in The Poem Farm schedule - I am now back and posting poems and poem greetings each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please come back and visit for lessons, poem ideas, book recommendations, and classroom Poetry Peeks.  If you are a classroom teacher or homeschooling parent, I invite you to share your students' poetry or your poem teaching ideas here.  If you are interested, please send me an e-mail to amy at amylv dot com, and I will get right back to you.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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

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