HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 13

 Happy National Poetry Month!

(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)

Hello, Poetry Friends! This month I am sharing poems written in the voice of Little Red Riding Hood, and I invite you to join me in writing in the voice of someone else too. You might choose a fairy tale character or a book character or a person from history or anyone else real or imagined. These are your poems, so you make the decisions. Each April day, I will share my poem and a little bit about writing poetry. Mostly, we’ll just be writing in short lines with good words and not worrying about rhyming. Meaning first. Our focus this month will be adopting the perspective of another…for 30 days. I invite you to join me in this project! To do so, simply:

1. Choose a character from fiction or history or somewhere else in the world of space and time, and commit to writing a daily poem in this person's voice for the 30 days of April 2025. You might even choose an animal.

2. Write a new poem for each day of April. Feel free to print and find inspiration from this idea sheet that I will be writing from all month long.

Teachers, if you wish to share any HELLO MY NAME IS... subjects or poems, please email them to me at the contact button above. I would love to read what your students write and learn from how they approach their own projects.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD'S POEMS SO FAR

April 1 - First Poem

April 2 - My Name

April 3 - Red

April 4 - Frank

April 5 - The Big Bad Wolf Had Been a Stray

April 6 - 8am on a Sunday

April 7 - Her Real Name is Orla Lola Bruin

April 8 - My Neighborhood

April 9 - Mushroom Hunters

April 10 - From Coat to Cloak

April 11 - Speaking of Coats

April 12 - Forgiveness is a Gift

And now for today!

Students - Today I was not sure what to write about, so I looked at my grid (above) and just chose something! Once I chose a topic, the first line appeared...and I just followed it down the page to see where it would lead. It was curious and surprising to find that Baby Bear (Ben means son) has joined the little writing club...and that Frank likes to write too. Since we are in fairy tale land, of course the animals can write and of course everyone can balance on a tree branch and write at the same time.

If you're ever not sure what to write, just choose something - anything! - and trust that once you get started, some words will appear. You need not love them. But each time we write, we strengthen our writing muscle, inviting more surprises to jump from the tip of our pens and pencils.

Thank you for joining me on this thirteenth day of HELLO MY NAME IS...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's Kidlitosphere poetry happenings. And if you are interested in learning about or writing from any of my previous 14 National Poetry Month projects, you can find them here. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 11

Happy National Poetry Month!

(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)

Hello, Poetry Friends! This month I am sharing poems written in the voice of Little Red Riding Hood, and I invite you to join me in writing in the voice of someone else too. You might choose a fairy tale character or a book character or a person from history or anyone else real or imagined. These are your poems, so you make the decisions. Each April day, I will share my poem and a little bit about writing poetry. Mostly, we’ll just be writing in short lines with good words and not worrying about rhyming. Meaning first. Our focus this month will be adopting the perspective of another…for 30 days. I invite you to join me in this project! To do so, simply:

1. Choose a character from fiction or history or somewhere else in the world of space and time, and commit to writing a daily poem in this person's voice for the 30 days of April 2025. You might even choose an animal.

2. Write a new poem for each day of April. Feel free to print and find inspiration from this idea sheet that I will be writing from all month long.

Teachers, if you wish to share any HELLO MY NAME IS... subjects or poems, please email them to me at the contact button above. I would love to read what your students write and learn from how they approach their own projects.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD'S POEMS SO FAR

April 1 - First Poem

April 2 - My Name

April 3 - Red

April 4 - Frank

April 5 - The Big Bad Wolf Had Been a Stray

April 6 - 8am on a Sunday

April 7 - Her Real Name is Orla Lola Bruin

April 8 - My Neighborhood

April 9 - Mushroom Hunters

April 10 - From Coat to Cloak

And now for today!

Students - Today's poem is a short list poem packed with wordplay-rhyme. A brief description of something glorious - wolf fur!

If you have ever buried your face in the fur of a well-loved pet, then you know how Lou is feeling here about her wolfdog's fur. She is so excited that she even revises her poem and keeps the revision visible. I've never done this before - crossed out a line just to keep it - but today, for me, it works. I had to think about how to read it aloud, and when it's necessary to think about something, learning happens. So, even if I change this around someday, it was still interesting and right to try something new today. I read somewhere recently that no one making art ever says, I wish I'd been less weird when I made that art, and I agree.

Writing tip for the day: try something you have never done before in your writing. Even a little something. Even if you don't keep the writing, your writing self will grow.

Today over at Robyn Hold Black's blog Artsyletters, please find a couple of poems - including mine - from Matt Forrest Esenwine's new book A UNIVERSE OF RAINBOWS: MULTICOLORED POEMS FOR A MULTICOLORED WORLD. Thank you, Robyn! 

Thank you for joining me on this eleventh day of HELLO MY NAME IS...

And many thank yous to Irene for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Live Your Poem. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's Kidlitosphere poetry happenings. And if you are interested in learning about or writing from any of my previous 14 National Poetry Month projects, you can find them here. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

Poems Can Describe Places

I dedicate this post to Teacher Kim Oldenburgh, 
who asked me to send her class a photo of my workspace.  
I was too embarrassed by the mess and never did.
Finally, here it is. Honesty is good. xo, Amy

Desk Corner

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Last week I had a Skype meeting...and as my study is always near-distaster-state, I needed to straighten up a little bit.  As I did so, I realized that one corner of my desk made me smile.  The rest was a mess.  The mess made me smile too, but it may not have made my meeting-colleagues smile, so I cleaned it all up and took a picture of that corner you see above.

It did not take long for my desk to become messy again...see below.  But a desk, like a mind, is a very busy place, so I like to tell myself that it can't alllllways be neat.

Anyway, today's poem is clearly about a place.  It is a simple description poem of the things that are currently on this desk I call home. At this moment, my desk looks just like the photograph below. In two days it will look different. It always does.

Not sure what to write about? Walk five steps and write about that place. Or write about a place you've been many times or a place you've only visited once.  Heck, write about a place that you've never been or does not even exist. Let the idea of place be your guide. 

And if you wish to include lists, as I did, please do.

Desk from Above...Right Now

Photo by Amy LV

Buffy is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Buffy Silverman with a review of a lovely book and a sweetheart of a poem. 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.