Find Words for a Feeling

Sage 12 Years Ago

Photo by Amy LV

Sage Last Month

(See the white fur heart on her head?)

Photo by Michael V.

Students - On Tuesday, we said goodbye to Sage, our soft, joyful, and funny half Border Collie/half Great Pyrenees friend of twelve years. We met her in the sheep barn of the Wyoming County Fair long ago, and she brightened our days with her love and her antics ever since.

The feeling in this poem is not one I alone feel. Often when we lose a loved one - human or animal - we find ourselves wishing for that person or animal, for company, for comfort, for solace. but we must find this company, comfort, and solace in other ways and places. Carrying grief can be like carrying a backpack full of heavy, cold stones, and sometimes writing and art can help.

Writing-wise, just two notes on this poem:

Line 4 could easily have been combined with line 3. I chose to separate them in order to create space, to give a reader time to process why the girl could not bury her face in her dog's soft ears today. The realization of not being able to so deserves a line of its own.

And the title. I could only have written this title after writing the whole poem. Know that you need not choose a title first. You may wish to, but be open to title revisions after your poem is complete. The title may sneak up on you.

Here is a 2014 poem I wrote about Sage all about how she had so much fur that when you brushed her, it felt like you could make a new dog!

Fly high, Softie Ears Sage. May you join all of the loved humans and pets that have gone before you. And may we meet again.

Mary Lee is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup today at A(nother Year of Reading) with a gorgeous poem about natural neighbors and an in-process embroidery piece. 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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Poems Can Grow from Special Dates

Thor and Me, 1971

Photo by Debby or George Ludwig

Baby Book Note 

by Debby Ludwig

(I will find a photo of Valentine to share!)

Students - Happy Valentine's Day! This morning I was thinking about my second childhood dog, Valentine, and the story about how she became part of our family. We really did get her on Valentine's Day, 1981, and Thor really did die the day before, which happened to be Friday the 13th. That date stuck with me for a long time.  To be honest, it's still with me. He was at the vet for an operation on his cancer...and he never made it home.

At first I was going to write simply the story of getting Valentine on Valentine's Day, but then Thor wanted to be in the poem. So did Eli. And Cali and Sage were here at my feet asking to be part of it too. So there you have it, a poem including my most special five dogs. And of course I also love my mom's dog Max who is the dog on which I based Betsy in last April's (to be published in a book by Eerdmans) JOHN AND BETSY collection.

I could have chosen to write this poem in quatrains and almost did...but then instead at stopping with four lines (lines 2 and 4 rhyming), I decided to tack on an extra unrhyming line at the end of each stanza. I rather like the feel and sound of this. Remember: read your poems aloud and play. There are no set rules, but working with rules and choosing when to live by and when to break them in poems is what makes for your own voice.

Do you have a story about when someone or something special entered your life? Is there a date that stays with you for some reason? A season that always brings back a certain feeling or memory? Such stories and dates and season-feelings can lead us to writing ideas of all kinds. In a way, this is also a timeline-poem, walking through the dogs of my life. Now I am thinking of other timelines from my life which might hold poem ideas.

Linda is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at TeacherDance with hearts everywhere and the sweetest, skinniest Valentine poem. 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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Poetry Friday

THE POETRY FRIDAY ROUNDUP IS HERE.

If you would like to learn more about other National Poetry Month projects happening throughout the Kidlitosphere, Jama has rounded up many NPM happenings over at Jama's Alphabet Soup.  Happy continued National Poetry Month 2019!

If you are here to link in for Poetry Friday...please do so below.  And if you've never joined us for Poetry Friday before, please know that you are always invited.  Each week, a different blogger hosts a roundup of posts...and all are invited to visit and link in if you wish.  Today is my turn, so if you click below, you will be transported to a list of many poetry places to visit around the Kidlitosphere today and beyond.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

See you tomorrow!

xo,

Amy

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Family Stories Into Free Verse

Amy and Thor, April 1971
Photo by Debby or George Ludwig

My Sister Heidi (Now a Doctor!) and Val, Circa 1987
Photo by Debby or George Ludwig

Students - Somehow, the other day, I got to thinking about how my family got our second dog Valentine.  It was a funny story, a bittersweet story with the loss of a dog and the gain of a dog in just one day.  The Thor and Valentine story is one that I like to tell over and over again.

My poem does not rhyme, but you may notice a bit of repetition.  We need not rhyme our poems; repeating words and sounds and patterns hold poems together very well.  

Take a moment to read Peyton's poem about how her family got their dog.  As I typed my poem, days after writing it, I realized that I may have been inspired by her words and structure.  I have read Peyton's poem aloud many many times, and so it has sunk into my writing soul.  Notice her use of repetition and also the way she stretches out her line breaks, especially in the second stanza.  I love that.  Thank you, Peyton, for your inspiration!

Peyton's Poem from My Book POEMS ARE TEACHERS

Available through Heinemann

And here they are!

Peyton & Sawyer Then

Photo by Pam Koutrakos

Peyton & Sawyer Now

Photo by Pam Koutrakos

Which family stories do you enjoy telling over and over again?  It just might make for a good poem.  You may wish to write a free verse poem with close attention to repetition and line breaks just as Peyton did, just as I did.  These are both story poems, otherwise known as narrative poems, and we can take our own stories written as prose or jotted as notes or sketches and turn them into poems anytime we wish.

Read poems aloud, over and over again.  They get in your blood that way.

Laura is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Writing the World for Kids. Do not miss her fabulous news about her newest wonderful book, SNOWMAN - COLD = PUDDLE, illustrated by Micha Archer and published by Charlesbridge! 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.

P.S. I am thrilled to be teaching at the Enka Primary School in Istanbul, Turkey all next week.  I look forward to meeting new people, to learning and listening and writing about this experience for years to come...  

xo, Amy

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Ideas from Friends & Best Lists

Sage and Cali

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I am always seeking new and interesting topics for writing, and last week, I read this writing suggestion from my friend, the wise Rebekah O'Dell, on Twitter.

This got me thinking about best lists.  And about how terrible I am at favorites. And then, on a snow-hike, about how our family does have two best dogs. And of course about how everyone's dog is a best dog.

So, yes, young writing friends.  Way does indeed lead onto way in writing.  Keep your eyes and ears and all of those holes in your head open for learning and observing.  You never know which one plus which other one in your life will add up to the two of a little poem.

And who knows, perhaps Rebekah's suggestion to think about "bests" will inspire you too.  Mine is a list poem, but I could have chosen my best book from the year and written a story poem about snuggling up on the couch with it. Or I might have chosen my best 2018 day and written a poem from that day's point of view.  Or I could have taken Rebekah's advice and written a poem detailing all of the reasons that one particular something is one of the best of its kind.  Actually....now I really want to do this and likely will. Likely tomorrow. Likely in my notebook (with this shiny new fountain pen).  Maybe a poem...maybe prose.

The best thing about writing? The possibilities are endless.  Every single year.

Donna is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Mainely Write with an introduction to a few of her yard angels and a poem about the reading angel. This community is here and sharing poems and poemlove every Poetry Friday, and everyone is invited to visit, comment, and post.  And if you have a blog, we welcome you to link right in!

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Time - Think about Two Perspectives

Sage in the 4-H Barn (2010?)

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I don't know where today's poem came from.  I was writing in my notebook, and I think that the holidays got me thinking about visiting relatives which made me think about how quickly children seem to grow up.  This made  me think that if children are getting older, I am getting older too...but I never really feel like this is true.

Then I got to thinking about when our own children first talked about babies they once know seeming so big or how our pets have gotten older without us even noticing where the time has gone.

In a way, this is a comparing and contrasting poem.  In the first stanza, we see what the grownups say and feel.  In the second, we get the narrator child's point of view.  It is interesting to explore an idea from a couple of different perspectives.  We learn about others and about ourselves too.  You might want to give this a try!

Below, enjoy a little kindness video of our cat Mini Monster giving grown-up Sage a little face bath last weekend.

Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, you can find a very cool peek into Julie Patterson's notebooks. Leave a comment...and you just may win a book!

Diane is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Random Noodling.  Please stop by if you'd like to visit many different blogs, all celebrating poetry.  We meet weekly, and everyone is invited!

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Looking for Joy...Everywhere!

Students - It is good and wise to look for happiness.  To find small and big joys...to seek out stories of kindness and love and friendship and people and animals being their best selves.  Sometimes you find these by looking, and sometimes they come across your path.  This true storypoem you find here today came across my path in the form of news.  Good news does not always plop into your lap; sometimes you do have to look for it.  I got lucky here...the story of sweet Max and darling Quackers did plop right into lap!  And now, I plop it into yours!

When you read today's poem, you'll notice specifics, specifics such as the death of Quackers' friends, and even the name of the road that Max and Quackers walk along - Route 28.  These specifics all came straight from an article I read online; I did not invent them.  I could invent facts to make up my own story...but I did not do so in this case.  This is a straight storypoem retelling of a surprising friendship.

Writing it made me happy.

Find stories that make you happy. Find joy and goodness.  Look up from your screen.  That's where you'll find the best stuff.  Pass your good stories on.  Make up good stories.  We humans of all ages need and want to read them.

Teachers, through tonight, Heinemann is still holding a giveaway for 5 copies of my new POEMS ARE TEACHERS at Goodreads. If you're interested in the book, please try to win it.

It's a delight to welcome writer and professor Julie Patterson over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks. I feel so lucky to get to peek into others' notebooks, and doing so has helped my own writer self find ideas and inspiration.  Please, teachers and students both, visit. You may also leave a comment to be entered into a book giveaway.

Jama is hosting week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Jama's Alphabet Soup with a delicious celebration of doughnuts. Yum indeed...all are welcome.

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New Year's Resolutions - Imaginary Conversations

Sage

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Happy New Year! Yesterday afternoon, as I walked our dogs Cali and Sage, I asked them what their New Year's Resolutions were.  They didn't answer, but later, as I wrote in my notebook (I am doing lots of that lately), they did answer.  And their answer became today's small poem.

Many poems grow from words we hear others say or from conversations we have, but we can also imagine conversations and play with ideas about what might be or could be said.  Try playing around with "what might have been said" or "what could be said" sometime in your own notebook.  You can words from people and animals you know or from historical figures or inanimate objects...anyone or anything at all.  What might have been said?  What could be said?

Today's poem is not full of full rhymes, but there are some similar sounds that hold the lines together.  Can you find them?

You can read two other New Year poems in The Poem Farm archives.  Find New Year's Eve from 2014 and January 1 from 2011.  It's amazing how the years keep on rolling by, isn't it?

Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, I am pleased to share that we have two winners for Tanny McGregor's generous giveaway. In 2016, I hope to feature more student notebooks in addition to these wonderful adult notebooks, so please, teachers and students, drop me a line if you're interested in sharing!  I will make it easy for you to do so.

In other celebratory news, my first nonfiction book, EVERY DAY BIRDS, illustrated by Dylan Metrano and published by Scholastic, joins library and bookstore shelves next month!  I could not feel more grateful.  If you are a blogger who is interested in reviewing this book, please send me an e-mail, and I will have one sent to you.

Mary Lee is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Year of Reading. Visit her place for a beautiful, wise poem, and enjoy the poetry bounty!  How lucky we are to have this community.

Many New Year blessings and joys to all of you!  Happy 2016!  I thank you for visiting.

xo, Amy

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Day 12 - National Poetry Month 2015 - Sing That Poem!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Welcome to Day 12 of this Year's Poem Farm Project!

Find the Complete April 2015 Poem and Song List Here

First, I would like to welcome all old and new friends to The Poem Farm this April. Spring is a busy time on all farms, and this one is no exception.  Each April, many poets and bloggers take on special poetry projects, and I'm doing so too.  You can learn all about Sing That Poem! and how to play on my April 1st post, where you will also find the list of the whole month's poems and tunes as I write and share them.  If you'd like to print out a matching game page for yourself, you can find one here, and during April 2015, you'll be able to see the song list right over there in the left hand sidebar.

Yesterday's poem was In the Harbor.  Here is the tune that goes along with it, below. Did you figure it out?

And here, below, is today's poem.  Look at the song list in the sidebar or on your matching form to see if you can puzzle out which tune matches this one.

One Pen at a Time

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Yesterday I began trying to write to the tune/beat of a different song, but you know what?  I just wasn't in the mood for that tune, so I switched to this one instead.  It is funny to me that one tune would not somehow appeal on a certain day, but this is exactly what happened.  Now that other meter is all counted out and waiting for the just-right day.

I do adore the idea of octopi and writing and ink.  In fact, I wrote another octopus-writer poem back in 2010, and you can read it here if you wish.  It is interesting to hold onto your writing, students, because if you keep at it, you will notice themes in your own work.  Who knows? Maybe in 50 years, I'll have a complete collection of octopus-writer poems.

Did you know that the preferred plural of 'octopus' is actually 'octopuses' and not 'octopi'?  Here is why.

from Grammarist.com

Well, I certainly AM a "fan of quirky words" - so much so that this seven letter delight landed in my thirty-five word poem not once, but twice!

Which quirky words do you like?  Consider making a list of these and then just choose one to write from. Simply place one of those quirky words atop a fresh page...and go! Writing from one word often yields surprising poemjourneys.

There is a second poem to go with today's song, and it is actually the first one I wrote.  You can read/sing it below.  I am curious as to what you think of the differences between these two and if you prefer one to the other.

Hope and Eli at Camp - Summer 2000

Photo by Amy LV

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Teaching Poems - What Do I Know?

New Friends
by Amy LV

Students - I am a dog lover!  Our family has two dogs, Cali and Sage, and we love them and they love each other. Sometimes when I walk down the street and see a new dog, I just want to get to know it.  But it's not so safe to pet strange dogs, so I always ask the owner and follow the steps in this poem when meeting a new dog.  When our chidren were small, I taught them to ask the owner for permission before petting any dogs as well.

This is a poem that teaches HOW to do something.  And writing a procedural poem is almost like writing a how-to book, only in a poem, the writer writes from line to line and the reader reads from line to line instead of from page to page.  You may notice that today's poem rhymes, but it rhymes in a conversational way.

What do you know how to do?  Funny things? Serious things? Crafts? Cooking? Games? Friendship tips? Building? Anything in the world...what could you teach? Might you write a poem about it?

Here is a dog I met last month in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Just looking at his picture makes me smile.

Happy week ahead!  I wish you dogs!

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Dawn - The Shapes & Colors of Our Days

Sage in the Morning

Photo by Amy LV

Students - A camera can be a very good friend to a writer.  Why?  Because our eyes see so many different pictures in a day that it can be difficult to slow them down and replay them one-by-one.  Yesterday morning, as I watched our Sage lie in the snow, I found her so peaceful, so blue there in the morning light.  I wanted to keep that picture in my head forever.  And too, I wanted to give it some words.

As a writer-artist, stay on the lookout for pictures that strike you, real 3-D pictures in your world that give you pause and make you appreciate the shapes and colors of your days.  You, too, might choose to take a photograph.  Or you might draw a picture.  Or you might just look closely and then close your eyes to see the image in your mind and keep it forever.

Today's poem is two quatrains, two stanzas of four lines each.  It is a quiet poem, echoing the quiet feeling I have been carrying inside of me lately.

Tara is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at her place, A Teaching Life. Swing on by there, check out all of the warm, whimsical, and wonderful poetry offerings...and know that you are always welcome in the Poetry Friday fold.

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Two Dogs - Combining Reality and Fantasy

Dog Brushing

by Amy LV

Students - Today's verse grew from an interruption.  I was writing in my notebook yesterday morning when our daughter walked into the room to tell me how when pulling some burdocks from Sage, she pulled out a huge clump of fur.  This reminded me of times we've brushed huge piles of fur out of Sage, times we've said, "We could make a new dog out of this pile!"

Once again, I learned that paying attention to the world - even when writing - can yield an idea.  It may be a weird idea, but an idea nonetheless.

Sound-wise, today's poem is a little bit breathless.  I could have broken it up into stanzas (where would you do this?) but instead, I kept the lines in one big blob.  I did this because I like the way the lines run all into each other, the way this makes a reader read more quickly.  It feels like a story-I-want-to-tell-now!

Often, I will take a bit from my real life and then play with the reality, adding just a wee bit of fantasy.  The dog is real.  We really brush her.  We really get a pile of fur. The fur pile really feels large enough to make a new dog. But the magic words?  Nope.  And the new dog growing?  Nope.  That's where I play.  Try this yourself  sometime. Start real.  End unreal. 

Our Dog Sage

Photo by ? LV

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Frosty Heart & Happy News

Thor & Me, 1971
Photo by George or Debby Ludwig

Students - Today's poem is a love poem, a remembering love poem.  I wrote it because of an event and a conversation from this week: some dear friends are missing their dog who was hit by a car, and I had a talk with a young man about the dog he loved and still misses.  Even after loss, love lives on inside of us, and sometimes writing a poem or reading a poem can help us hold onto and remember a loving time.  Let poems be there for you, all the time, in the reading and in the writing.

When I think of old pets, like Thor in the picture above, I think of Miller Williams' poem, Animals.  Each new and loved animal begins a new chapter in my life.

And now, a little bit of happy news!  Each year, the Cybils (Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards) are announced on Valentine's Day, with one winner in each category chosen from several nominees.  I am honored to share that my book with Robbin Gourley, FOREST HAS A SONG, was chosen as the 2013 Cybils poetry winner.  

Much gratitude to Laura Purdie Salas for the nomination, and to the judges for your kind words and for believing in our book.  My husband woke me up this morning, laptop in hand, to tell me tell me that FOREST had won!

Round One Judges:

Ed deCaria, Think, Kid, Think!

Kelly Fineman, Writing and Ruminating

Jone MacCulloch, Check It Out

Anastasia Suen, Poet! Poet!

Sylvia Vardell, Poetry for Children

April Halprin Wayland, Teaching Authors

Bridget Wilson, What is Bridget Reading?

Round Two Judges:

Linda Baie, TeacherDance

Matt Esenwine, Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme

Renee La Tulippe, No Water River

Julie Larios, The Drift Record

Irene Latham, Live Your Poem

Linda is hosting today's special Valentine's Day Poetry Friday over at TeacherDance.  Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Poetry Friday both...may your whole weekend be full of love.  xo

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Black and White - Surprises and Love

My Lint Roller & Pants

Photo by Amy LV

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

Students - I am away in Boston, Massachusetts at a conference (NCTE), and so I am writing to you from a hotel room.  The lint brush you see above is the one I used to remove white dog hairs from all of my dress up clothes for the weekend.  I am a busy girl this weekend, and I was not sure to write about.  But when I got a few minutes to myself in the hotel room, I knew that I had to remove all of the (Sage and Cali) dog hair from my black clothes.  I even bought a new lint roller!

And therein lies the poem.  Dogs.  Dog hair.  White dog hair.  Black pants.  Lint roller. Memory of a wonderful book (THE LITTLE BIT SCARY PEOPLE by Emily Jenkins). Poem.

The joy of writing for me is once again this.  The surprise.

Order from Your Local Bookstore!

Two of Four Draft Pages for "Black and White"

Photo by Amy LV

Katya is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Write.Sketch. Repeat.  Visit her place to take a tour of all of the poetry joy in the Kidlitosphere today!

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