Celebrate a Gift from a Loved One

Fairy Mouse

Stitched and Photographed by Silvia Saenz

Students - So many thank yous to embroidery artist and dear Instagram friend Silvia Saenz, a mender and sewist I admire. Silvia sews to repair garments and also to create joy...as you can see with this cuddly mouse. While the mouse was a gift for a different family member, Silvia often sews and mends for her granddaughter, so I chose to write today's poem in Silvia's granddaughter's voice. I am grateful to Silvia for allowing me to share this photo she took of her work.

When you hear a story or learn something about another person, you might choose to pretend that you are that person and write as if you ARE that person. In this way, the world of writing opens up beyond our own worlds. Of course, when doing this, it is important to consider when it might be necessary to research a particular life experience and when it might be wiser to respect that the experience is so wide and deep that it best be left in the voice of the true experiencer. Because people have given me homemade gifts, today I drew on my own, very similar, experience to write in this granddaughter's voice. If someone has ever made something for your or repaired something for you, perhaps you, too, might wish to explore this topic in your writing.

Did you notice that while this poem rhymes, the ending does not rhyme? This is one way of ending a poem...breaking a pattern. Today's pattern is broken by breaking the rhyme. In a way, this slows the poem down and brings a reader's attention to the warm meaning of those last few words.

Heidi is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at my juicy little universe with a celebration of looking closely at our world. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

xo,

Amy

ps - Claude has become quite cuddly in the mornings. He raises his paw into the air as if he is in school, and I must pick him up for a snuggle. This morning, he thought he'd keep my notebook warm as I typed.

Claude: Writing Partner

Photo by Amy LV

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Lift Words & Carry these Words into a New Poem

Welcome to My Porch

by Amy LV

Students - While many of my poems are not actually about my life, today's list poem is  indeed about our house.  It is a very old house, from the early 1800s, and it's messy and happy and full of funny things.  I wish you could come over and play with my nesting dolls and kaleidoscope and our jar full of rocks.

Today's poem grew from a freewrite I did in my notebook after reading a beautiful poem by Mary Oliver - "The Place I Want to Get Back To."  Oliver's poem ends like this:

If you want to talk about this

come to visit. I live in the house

near the corner, which I have named

Gratitude.

As you may have noticed, I admired Oliver's line, "I live in the house..." and so I decided to write from it. My poem is completely different, but my idea began with a few of Oliver's words.

This is a wonderful way to get your own writing started.  Read first.  Then write.  If you are not sure how to begin your day's writing, simply lift a word or a few words from another and begin there.  Don't copy whole stanzas or lines...lift for inspiration and not to copy!

I like to think of today's poem as an invitation poem.  It directs the reader to do something, how to approach the house, what to expect.  Feel free to try this.

Or consider writing a poem that describes a place, line-by-line.  This is, after all, really just a list poem.  A list of things you'll see as you approach our home.

And those last two lines.  I wanted them to be punchy - two syllables each.

There is so much to play with in a poem...

This month's guest at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, is Alexandra Zurbrick.  I invite you to drop by, peek into Ally's notebooks, and leave her a comment.  You may just win one of her favorite writing books...your chance to enter ends Sunday.

Heidi is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at my juicy little universe.  Her classroom opens for visitors today, and she welcomes us too.  Thank you, Heidi!

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.