Happy National Day on Writing! #WhyIWrite

What's Inside?
Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today is the National Day on Writing!  On this day, we celebrate the power and beauty of writing, many sharing with the hashtag #WhyIWrite.  Today's poem is a tribute to writing and to all of the mystery it offers us.  You will note that this poem does not rhyme, but you may also note that there is a bit of repetition of structure.  This holds the poem...and the sense of mystery...together.

Teachers, please do not miss NCTE's rich website for the National Day on Writing.  There are so many ideas and resources and inspiring posts to learn from and share.  Below you can the little video I made for the Writer's Story Campaign.  If you and/or your students wish to share about your own writing on social media today, please include the #WhyIWrite hashtag so that all of us can find you!

Yesterday was the book birthday of my new POEMS ARE TEACHERS: HOW STUDYING POETRY STRENGTHENS WRITING IN ALL GENRES.  I am celebrating that good fun with a book and cookie giveaway...so if you're interested in learning more, please just head on over to yesterday's post where you find links to posts about the book (thank you, friends!) and enter a giveaway (through Thursday, October 26) too.

Please visit the latest post at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks to win a copy of Caroline Starr Rose's latest book!  She's sharing a poem AND a peek inside of her notebooks.

Happy Poetry Friday, friends!  Leigh Ann is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Day in the Life.  It's her first time hosting, and she's doing so with a beautiful book share...don't miss!

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.

A Bit of Personification on New Year's Eve

Old Year Lodge

by Amy LV

Students - Happy Almost New Year!  One of my 2015 resolutions is to spend more time writing in my notebook, finding new friends such as these old years in their number sweaters.  You'll see that today's poem turns years into people.  And while we all know that years are not people, as I wrote this poem...they became people. In poetry, this is called personification - giving something that is not human the qualities of a human.  Years do not wear sweaters.  Yet here they do.  Such is the magic of poetry.  You can make it so.

Today's poem is in free verse.  As I always say, writing in free verse causes me to read and reread over and over, listening for sound and rhythms that are not metrically regular, but still work for a reader's ear.

I am very grateful for this past year: for the healing of friends, for the healing of hearts in my life.  I am thankful for new friends young and old and for the many books and meals I have been lucky enough to take in over the past twelve months. I am grateful for family, for my health and for having been a living, breathing human in this year of 2014.  

I wish you and yours a year full of goodness, light, and warm enchantment.  May this woolen number of 2015 bring you joy.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Dear Brain, - Free Verse Letter Poems

 

 Whole Brain & Right Brain

Photo by Mark LV

Holding a Real Brain

Photo by Mark LV

Students - On Wednesday, my husband and I went to a great event called Love Yer Brain put on by Hallwalls, the Buffalo Museum of Science, and the UB College of Arts & Sciences.  It was an evening of talks about the brain, by scientists and artists.  It so fascinating that the two of us just cannot stop talking about it.

Dr. Christopher Cohan even brought two real brains, and as you see above, he allowed us to hold them.  It was humbling, and I stood in awe and gratitude, holding the brain of someone I would never know, would never talk to.  Someone who donated his or her body to science.  I thanked the brain in my hands.

The next day, I wanted to talk to my own brain.  I began to imagine a letter to my brain, and I have started the letter here, knowing that there might be more later.  As I wrote, I loved the idea that while I'm writing the poem about my brain, it's really my brain writing about itself!

This is a free verse poem, and when I write free verse, I often write a line or two and then read the poem so far, aloud, to myself...listening for the next line or two.  This process repeats itself line-by-line, through the whole poem.

Once again, I am reminded that it is stimulating to go new places, read about new topics, dive into new experiences.   There are many free and fascinating opportunities in the world, and we can fill ourselves easily with the offerings of others.  This, in turn, gives us more to think about, more to understand, more ideas to play with in our writing,more to offer to others.

I encourage you to try something completely different this week. Read a totally different type of book.  Eat a food you usually don't eat.  Sit in a quiet place outside and just stare.  Listen carefully to someone you often don't listen to.  Stretch your brain.  After all, we each only get one.

And if you'd like another writing exercise to try...try writing a free verse letter poem.  Choose something - anything that fascinates you - and write a letter to it.  You might surprise yourself.

Cathy Mere and her wonderful brain are hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Merely Day by Day.  There you will find all kinds of poems, poetry fun, and all are welcome to leave links to share.  We're a friendly bunch in here, and if you're new to Poetry Friday, I hope you will come back!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Thrift Store Goodbye - Poem #30 for April 2014 Poetry Project

This is not a new post for Poetry Friday, but it is an invitation to visit any of the April 2014 poetry project THRIFT STORE poems you missed.  I will be taking them down soon, but for now...they are all in the sidebar.

For this week's Poetry Friday roundup, visit Katya at Write. Sketch. Repeat.

Happy Poetry Friday!  xo, a.

LIVE!

Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!

Thrift Store Checkout

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I was not sure how to end today's series.  I still have photographs that need poems, and I've had such fun visiting many thrift stores with poetry in mind.  I feel the way my mother describes finishing a book, "It's like losing a friend."  But April 2014, National Poetry Month, is drawing to a close today. And so the series ends.

Whenever I do not know how to end a piece of writing, I go back to the beginning.  So today's final poem brought me back to April 1, Thrift Store where I found the line, "I push the heavy thrift store door." I began today's writing with just that line, and I followed it to the verse you find above. You may also notice another snip of repetition from that April 1 poem.  Can you find it?

Thrift Store Goodbye - Draft Page Spread #1 

Photo by Amy LV

In the draft above, you can see how many attempts I made at that one line.  I may go back and work on it even more, but I did want to point out to you how often writers find ourselves writing many many lines just to find the right few words.

While I sigh for this goodbye, I am smiling too!  For I am tickled to truly end this poetry project with a poem by my new friend and mentor, Olga McLaren. Earlier this month, I was fortunate enough to work with students at St. John's School in Houston, Texas as a visiting poet sponsored by the Olga McLaren Poetry Endowment.  When Olga retired from teaching at St. John's school, she left the school with a special gift: a visit from a poet each year.  She and her husband Theron hosted a delicious dinner, and I got to see their magical gardens too.  It was a complete honor and pleasure to be this year's visiting poet, and to meet Olga, someone I truly admire.

Olga is a big thrift store shopper too, and you can read how both of us hear the objects speaking to us when we walk thrift store aisles and hold different objects.  I love the phrase "eye-shop" and the way Olga describes these items as "new friends."  I was sad to leave my new friend in Olga, and I'm a bit sad about ending this series too.  It has been a joy and a reminder of how much beauty and use we can find in the things that others leave behind.  Thank you, Olga, for bringing me to St. John's, and thank you for your poem.

Thrift Shops

by Olga McLaren

The winners of last Saturday's book giveaway are:

FOREST HAS A SONG - Carol

THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR SCIENCE - Cathy

Please send me your snail  mail addresses to my e-mail address at amy at amylv dot com, and those books will be on their way to you next week.

Thank you to everyone who has joined me for a bit of this month's thrift store journey.  I did not know what it would be when I began, and I certainly learned a lot along the way.  From videotaping my own writing to playing with LiveWriter to sharing daily drafts and process, this was a very instructive month for me, and I look forward to looking back and thinking about what I have learned and what to do next with these poems.

I will not be posting this Friday, May 2.  Please feel free to browse through and read the thrift store poems you may have missed.  I will leave them in the sidebar for a few days after the month ends!

Now, just spend a bit of time in the gardens of Olga and her husband Theron. Amazing!

Fence in the Gardens of Olga and Theron McLaren

Photo by Amy LV

Birdhouses in the Gardens of Olga and Theron McLaren

Photo by Amy LV

Birds in the Gardens of Olga and Theron McLaren

Photo by Amy LV

Little Free Library - Built for Olga by Theron

Photo by Amy LV

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Wooden Blocks - Poem #29 for April 2014 & Poetry Peek

LIVE!

Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!

Blocks

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today is a thrift store free verse day. I have been writing free verse poems on the days that are multiples of five this month: #5 - Clock, #10 - Dancing Shoes, #15 - Two Couches, and #20 - Record, and #25 - Duck and Doll.  Today, the 29th, is not a multiple of 5, but tomorrow is.  Because tomorrow's poem is the last day of the month and thus, the last day of this series, I want to rhyme it.  So I traded yesterday's free verse day with today.  See, when you invent a project...you can change the rules whenever you wish!

Today's poem does not rhyme, but it does repeat.  Did you see how the first and last stanzas are the same?  This is a circular poem, with the ending going back to the beginning.  It's also a mask poem, with the blocks doing the talking! Which other poems from THRIFT STORE LIVE have been mask poems?

One way to learn about writing poems is to pay attention to techniques you find in the poems you read.  Just yesterday on Twitter, I saw Deb Frazier's first grade students reading like writers, noticing some of the techniques I used in "Snowman Slippers."

Today I was thinking about Margaret Wise Brown's THE IMPORTANT BOOK. This may be why I began the poem, "The truth about blocks is..."  If you remember, she begins each page of this book with the line, "The important thing about a spoon (or something else) is..."

Blocks - Draft Page Spread #1

Photo by Amy LV

Tomorrow will be the last day of THRIFT STORE LIVE, my April 2014 poetry project, and shortly thereafter I will be taking these poems down so that I can reread, revise, add, subtract, and try to pull them into a collection for hopeful submission.

And now, it's time for a...

The Write Stuff

Pflugerville Independent School District

by Kimberly 

Today I am so pleased to welcome Kimberly Roark, Elementary Language Arts and Social Studies Coordinator of the Pflugerville Independent School District in Pflugerville, Texas, as she generously shares about the district's annual WRITE STUFF anthology and writing event!

In Pflugerville ISD, student expression is celebrated through the annual WRITE STUFF event. Students at every grade (K-12) have the opportunity to submit pieces of writing, either poetry or prose, to be published in a district anthology.  Student artwork related to the year’s theme is also included on the anthology covers and as inserts.  All participating students are invited to attend a special Saturday event, where they receive a copy of the anthology.  

At the Write Stuff event, elementary students listen to local children’s authors and illustrators share their own experiences with writing.   These younger students also have an opportunity to read their pieces to each other. Secondary students participate in a longer workshop session with a local young adult author.  This year’s visiting authors/illustrators are Chris Barton, Mark Mitchell, and Jennifer Ziegler.

The Write Stuff has been a Pflugerville tradition for over ten years.  Originally, one anthology was sufficient to hold all of the entries for the entire district.  As more students participated, a second and then a third anthology were needed. This year we published a secondary anthology with 229 entries, an intermediate elementary edition with 177 entries, and a primary version with 118 entries.

This year, we included all submissions which follow the guidelines and are age-appropriate for the audience of the anthology.  In past years, if the book became too large, we would limit submissions to one per student.  Fortunately, this has not happened since splitting the K-5 book into two anthologies.

With the increased emphasis on poetry in the district curriculum over the last few years, the number of students submitting poems continues to rise.  The current anthologies contain a total of 216 poems by students of all ages.

An Early Edition with All Grade Levels

in the Same Anthology

2014 Anthologies Representing Primary,

Intermediate, and Secondary Writers

Students are expected to take their pieces through all stages of writing. Though they receive guidance from teachers, the submissions represent the students’ best efforts with drafting, revision, and editing.  Here are a few poems from this year's WRITE STUFF in Pflugerville.

Dear Guiding Sun

Dear Guiding Sun,

You watch

over me

and my sister.

You are the best

because

you guide me

through dark times.

Love,

Arizona

Arizona Galvin, Grade 1

Mrs. Turner, RLES

My Tree

I have a tree in my backyard.

It’s big and tall.

Its beautiful trunk, sways in the wind.

Its branches, with their big leaves, reach for the sky.

Its awesome green leaves, stretch out for the ground.

Its alive brown trunk is as thick as me!

Every critter lives in my tree.

I have a tree in my backyard.

Rudolf Bendixen, Grade 3

Mrs. Ancira, MES

Snow

The snow danced down slowly

The snow sat on the roof

It whistled a lovely tune

Mother Nature cried clear crystals that fell from the roof line

And ran away when the sun came out

Diamond Crayton, Grade 5

Mrs. Aleman, WES

The Farmer

There’s gone my last penny.

Sigh. I hope I will earn even more and

Might even earn forgiveness from my

Kids.  At least I have myself to enjoy

the days I live for.

The day I die some might

Say I didn’t have a nice life.

All I did was, but, at least, I was respected.

I hope, someday, a time of work will pay off for me

And I’ll live like a king . . . .

But that’ll be the day

I wish life was more than this for me.

Andrew Hoang

Mr. Carr, WES

Here are a few tips for putting together such an anthology:

• Start advertising the anthology early.
• Have clear formatting expectations for submissions.
• Work with your copy center or wherever you will get the books bound to develop a reasonable timeline.

Here are a few tips for hosting such a poetry event:

• Ask local companies to donate copies of one of more books by the visiting authors to school libraries to help promote the event.
• We have one label for each anthology to help keep track of which students have picked up books.  
• Have plenty of volunteers.
• Debrief immediately after the event to determine what went well and what changes need to be made next year.

Much gratitude to Kimberly and these young poets for sharing this wonderful book, event, and lushly image-rich poems with us today.

Remember, you can still leave comments on Saturday's "Violin" to be entered into the last book giveaway of April 2014.  I will draw names this evening for those books, to be announced in tomorrow's post, the last post of this year's National Poetry Month series!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Scrapbooks, Stories, & Buttons!

Florence Ethel Conolly Dreyer

from John Conolly's Album

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

Students - Happy New Year!  I am excited to begin this new year by looking back in time as well as forward.  Recently my mother gave me a scrapbook made by her grandfather, and the pictures feel like magic to me.  Simply by turning the pages, I am in a new place, meeting new people who are very much part of me.

To begin this new year, I am working on my family tree, asking lots of questions about the people who came before, trying to let these questions lead to answers about me and our family and children.  Why are we like we are? Who do we come from?

My grandmother Florence (I never knew she was called Dorrie) loved the color purple and loved writing poetry.  In this poem, I imagine what she might say to me.  Of course I never knew her at this young age, so it is very mysterious and wonderful to have silent conversations wtih her in this way today.

Do you have any old photographs or objects from long ago in your home or in a relative's home?  If you do, you might find these are full of stories and questions and writing food.

And now, for a new project...

Button Joy

Photo by Amy LV

Here in 2014, I am beginning a button string, much like the charm strings of Victorian times. I will collect stories (when possible) along with humble buttons. I do not plan to buy buttons for this string, but rather hope to trade and/or receive buttons from friends and family. If you would like to share a button (and a story if you have one), I would be most grateful. If you wish, you can mail a button (and maybe story) to me at 7571 Raiber Road Holland, NY 14080.  I am not exactly sure what else will come of this button string, but from the stories I have already heard, I cannot wait to find out!

In happy news to start the year, I am grateful to announce that FOREST HAS A SONG has been selected as a 2013 CYBILS finalist.  I am among wonderful company and tickled to see my book sitting among ones I so admire.

Betsy is hosting today's Poetry Friday New Year party at I Think in Poems.  Give yourself a little trip to Michigan by visiting her place, and while you're there, find out what's happening on this first Poetry Friday of 2014.

It is great to be back.  Happy New Year to all!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Falling Pears & September Chalking

Today is Chalk-a-bration, a celebration of poetry in chalk rounded up each last-day-of-the-month by Chalk-a-bration founder, teacher and blogger Betsy Hubbard. Stop by Betsy's blog, Teaching Young Writers, to visit other chalk poems and hey - why not chalk your own and share with us!

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

Students -Today's poem is about exactly what our family is doing at exactly this moment in time.  Picking pears.  And apples.  This fall's harvest at The Poem Farm is glorious, and we are gathering all we can from branches and ground.  Yesterday we filled four bags of pears, and today I will chop some up and dry them in our dehydrator for snacks through winter.

You will see that today's poem is short, does not rhyme, and simply stops a moment in a season.  It is a haiku, I suppose, though it does not beat out the 5/7/5 syllables we may first consider when thinking about haiku.  Yesterday, as I watched our children climb this tree and shake the branches, I thought, "It is raining pears!"  I will try to post a video of today's shaking as it is quite amazing to watch so many pears fall at once.  One must get out of the way!

Watching seasons carefully for signs and beauties and surprises is a wonderful way to sneak up on a poem idea. Try it. Look outside.  Walk in a natural place.  What is changing?  What strikes you?  Try writing a few short lines of your observation.  Let it be short.  Include only what matters.

If you would like to read more about haiku and Issa, a well-loved haiku writer, this book with story and translations by Matthew Bollub and illustrations by Kazuko G. Stone, is a great place to go.

Read More at Indie Bound

Our Pear Tree

Photo by Amy LV

My Sweater Pocket

Photo by Amy LV

Happy Chalk-a-bration!  Thank you, Betsy!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes.

Visit Sharing Our Notebooks to peek in all kinds of notebooks.

Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest!

Early This Morning - City Free Verse

Sidewalk Garden - Upper East Side of NYC

Photo by Amy LV

(I will add audio to this poem when I return home!)

Students - I am still in New York City, and there are so many beautiful and exciting things to see and think about.  I am once again reminded of the time I lived here, one part of the kaleidoscope of people living so many different and interesting lives.  

The picture of roses for sale on the streets of New York City is one of my favorite images, and each time I visit New York and pass these sidewalk gardens, my gaze lingers longer. We all have favorite images, and one of the grand things about writing is that it allows us to revisit those scenes and places and pictures again and again...in different ways.  Here is a roses-in-NYC-poem I wrote back in 2010.

This is a free verse poem, and the last part was the most difficult part for me to write.  I fell asleep trying to think of that line, took a shower trying to think of that line, stared out of the window trying to think of that line.  I am still not sure it will stay, but for now...it will do.

One of Several Pages of Draft

Photo by Amy LV

Cathy Mere is allowing us to peek inside of her (paper and digital!) notebooks at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks. If you are an upper grade teacher or notebook keeper, you will be interested in her journey, and I welcome you to stop by, read, enjoy, and enter Cathy's giveaway of some neat notebooking apps.

Tara, along with William Blake and wisdom, is hosting today's Poetry Friday joy over at A Teaching Life.  Please visit there to join all of us who love Poetry Friday, learning about new poetry places to visit, and perhaps sharing your own.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes.

Visit Sharing Our Notebooks to peek in all kinds of notebooks.

Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest!

Saying No to Pressure

No Thank You

by Amy LV

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

Students -This poem grew from something I have noticed.  Peer pressure affects all of us, and while young people often pressure each other in uncomfortable ways, sometimes grownups can be pushy in unkind ways too. (Here I am not speaking of the many healthy ways that parents require responsibility of their children or the necessity of teachers expecting students to do fine work; I am speaking of unkindness.)  I wanted the speaker in my poem to hold fast to a belief (vegetarianism), even in the face of a grownup who is teasing in a not-so-nice way.  I am not a vegetarian, but I admire all who stand up for their beliefs, and "Saying No" is a way for me to honor these people.

Today's poem is a free verse poem; it does not have a driving meter or rhyme.  Rather, I wrote it in a conversational tone, as if the speaker is talking to a friend or to him/herself.

"Saying No" can be found in a new book, THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL, released last Friday, March 1, 2013.  For those of you who know about THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY...and for those of you who do not...the middle school edition is here!  Launched last Friday, March 1, this book is full of poems and Take 5! suggestions of ways to explore each poem. 

Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have done it again, and it is an honor to have two poems in this book - one about a first sports practice and the one I share here today.  You can learn more about the book and enter for a chance to win a copy at the POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL website.

Available through Pomelo Books

In FOREST HAS A SONG (my book to be released in 22 days) news, illustrator Robbin Gourley, has generously shared development sketches for our girl character.  I find her behind-the-scenes drawings and photos and sketches to be fascinating, and I hope you do too.  You can see them here.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

New Old Friends - Free Verse

I Think We Know Each Other Already
by Amy LV

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

Students - I have a new friend.  She is an artist, and we have been teaching together.  When I first met her, I felt like we'd known each other forever.  Did you ever have a friend like that?  Today's poem is a poem about an unusual feeling, a magical feeling.  We all have those buried in us, and sometimes...like little hibernating animals...they come out and greet us!  Sometimes we have to be really quiet to see or feel magic.  We have to pay attention to our hearts.  Try doing that sometime soon.  Just sit quietly and think.  Or write quietly and see what magical thought looks up at you from your paper.

Today's poem does not rhyme; it is a free verse poem.  When I write a poem such as this one, it is necessary for me to read it out loud, to hear if the lines sound good to my ear.  When I write a poem with a particular meter, I simply tap the syllables out on my table, counting to see if things are right.  But with a free verse poem, listening to the words in a different way, out loud, is very important. I break up lines that feel too quick, and I read and change again and again until everything settles in.

In the tremendous surprise department, our Children's Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, has selected my soon-to-be-published FOREST HAS A SONG as his February Book Pick.  You can read what he has to say over at the Poetry Foundation!

Tomorrow, Saturday, is Groundhog Day.  The next day is not Groundhog Day.  I don't have a Groundhog Day poem for you, but I do have a poem for February 3, that next day.  What a very strange day that must be for Mr. Phil.

Thank you to April and her adorable monkey who are hosting today's Poetry Friday tea.  Stroll on over to Teaching Authors to visit today's roundup!  Happy Poetry Friday!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

our dove - a poem about healing

Dove Ornament, 1976

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Today's poem is a metaphor poem.  This means that while it is about one thing, it is also about another thing.  In one way, this poem is about an injured dove and some wise children who care for it.  But if you read the poem again, holding it to the light differently, you may see that it is also about all pain and healing, especially the sadness we feel in the loss of so many children and grown-ups in Newtown, CT.

I write poems to help me understand things, and while I will never understand what happened in Newton, I believe that the power of kindness is very strong. We do heal each other with love, and when we see someone suffering...we can make the world more gentle through our own kindness.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.
Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

What do the Fish Think?

Fish Tank

by Georgia LV

 

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

Students - Waiting in the doctor's waiting room the other day, I kept looking at the aquarium.  It was late at night, but their tank light made it seem bright as day underwater.  I could not help wondering what the fish were thinking, wondering if they were looking at me.  I am actually still wondering about this.

You will notice that this poem does not rhyme.  It's just a little collection of thoughts in three stanzas, from the point of view of fishes. Poets call this kind of poem a mask poem, or persona poem, because when I wrote it, it was as if I was wearing the mask of fish and speaking as I imagine they might speak.  You can find many more mask poems like this one (several rhyme) under the tab above, POEMS BY TECHNIQUE.  Just look under "mask poems."

When you walk around and do the normal things of your life, try wondering what different animals and objects may be thinking.  Do we know the real thoughts of hawks and spoons?  Of course not! But we can imagine all we wish....

I plan to return to a more regular schedule here soon, hopefully next week!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Indian Summer - Celebrating Weather

summerintofallintowinter

October 25, 2012

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Yesterday was the most magnificent day here in Western New York. It was an Indian Summer day, a wondrous day reminding us of summer's joys before we turn to the beauty of winter.  Sitting outside in  one of our family's fold-up chairs, my hand and pen turned to weather, and I knew that this poem would try to save a snip of sun and warmth for chilly days.

This is a free verse poem, a poem with no regular rhyme or meter.  Still, though, when I write free verse poems, I take care with each word.  See if you can find any words with the same beginning sounds near each other.  Then see if you can find any repeated words.  Any rhymes?  My favorite part of this poem is the idea of pretending that Fall is a dancing girl...with two competing partners.  That idea makes me smile, and I like watching the play of it in my mind.

The most important to do when writing poems like this one is to read them over and over.  Aloud.  Hearing how each word tumbles gently or bashes into the next helps me know when to make changes.

Many poems celebrate weather.  Weather is a special kind of mirror for each day, determining what we do and sometimes even how we feel.  Pay attention to weather where you live, maybe even writing notebook entries or drawing sketches of weather observations.  Then, mind and heart full of sun and wind and blowing rain and snow...shine some words onto your page.

For the past two weeks, Nina Crittenden has been Sharing Our Notebooks, and today I am happy to announce that Tara at A Teaching Life has won Nina's generous book and notebook giveaway.  Tara, please send me an e-mail with your snail mail address, and I will pass it along to Nina.  Thank you again, Nina!

Linda over at TeacherDance is hosting today's Poetry Friday extravaganza. Visit Linda's extremely warm and generous blog to read all about what's happening on this Poetry Friday.

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