by Amy LV
Students - Yesterday, while I was driving home from teaching, I saw a beautiful red barn with a neat woodpile and also a yet-to-be stacked pile of wood. I stopped to take a picture. See it below?
Scene from My Car Window
Photo by Amy LV
Well, I love red barns. And I love woodpiles. So this was a dreamy scene for me. Later I got to thinking about the wood: how it used to be trees and how it will one day be just smoke and ash. Just like all of us - once not here, now here, one day gone. This line floated into my head: "When I see a pile of firewood..." I just followed that line and it led to a whole lot of other lines which ended up as this poem.
Pay attention when you go for drives. Don't just hold a screen up to your face. Really look out of the window and see what is there, the real objects and animals and buildings and humans and plants and skies and weather all around you. What do you love and wonder and think about? Each one of these thoughts could be a wondrous starting-off point for a poem or a story or another piece of writing.
And listen. Sometimes, if you're paying attention, a whole line will just pop into your head whole. Snag and follow that line...see where it winds and leads. Often, your words will surprise even yourself.
Pay attention when you go for drives. Don't just hold a screen up to your face. Really look out of the window and see what is there, the real objects and animals and buildings and humans and plants and skies and weather all around you. What do you love and wonder and think about? Each one of these thoughts could be a wondrous starting-off point for a poem or a story or another piece of writing.
And listen. Sometimes, if you're paying attention, a whole line will just pop into your head whole. Snag and follow that line...see where it winds and leads. Often, your words will surprise even yourself.
Last week here at The Poem Farm, we were lucky enough to hear from Kate Coombs, author of BREATHE AND BE. The publisher of this book, Sounds True, was generous enough to offer a giveaway to a commenter, and the winner is...Frank! Congratulations! Please send me a message with your snail mail address, and I will send it along to Kate so that the book can wing its way to you.
In other giveaway news, through next week, Heinemann is still holding a giveaway for 5 copies of my new POEMS ARE TEACHERS at Goodreads.
It's a delight to welcome a new poster over at Sharing Our Notebooks. Adjunct professor and writer-in-residence for the Indiana Partnership for Young Writers, Julie Patterson shares an inspiring peek into her pages, something to try, and a book giveaway too. Please visit that post, enjoy, and comment!
Happy Poetry Friday, friends! Visit Linda for this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at her welcoming home, TeacherDance. Join us in feeling gratitude for the beauties of November.
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