Repetition in a Poem of Home

I am not really here.

But.

I am dipping back today to welcome the writers from Jennifer Serravallo's Reading and Writing Book Strategies Summer Camp Community to Poetry Friday! Today visited writing summer camp for the last day of Poetry Week, and I feel so lucky to do have done so.  If you do not know about this camp, please feel free to visit here to see all of Jen's poetry lesson videos for this week.

All new visitors, please know that I post poems and poemthinking for students each Friday during the school year, and you may also search for poems here by both topic and technique.

Our Front Garden Full of Milkweed

Photo by Amy LV

A Monarch Visitor!

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem idea is about a place I see every single day - our front garden.  I have been thinking a lot about gardens lately because I am not very good at keeping them, but gardening is something I wish to do better.  My front garden, however, is no longer mine.

I have turned it over to monarch butterflies.

See, monarchs need milkweed, and monarch numbers have been down due to pesticides and habitat loss.  So when milkweed began growing in our garden voluntarily, I chose to let it stay.  And as you can see in the picture above, monarchs are visiting!

Today in my notebook, I wrote about this place, and my commitment to monarch butterflies.

Notebook Drafting 

Click to Enlarge

You will notice some repetition in today's poem. Often when I read or write a poem, I think about which words or lines might be wise to repeat.  I play around with these words and lines, allowing them to weave in and out and curl around each other.

In Welcome, you will find a few repeated words or phrases. Notice which lines and words repeat.  Notice where they repeat too, as there are many ways to use repetition. And remember, the more we notice as writers, the more techniques we have to try on our own as writers.

Tricia is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at The Miss Rumphius Effect. Each week many of us gather together, sharing poems, books, and poetry ideas all at one blog.  All are always welcome to visit, comment, and post, and you can always find the host of the week in the left sidebar here or at any participating blog.

Now...back to summer, back to watching the monarchs!

xo,

Amy

One Milkweed Leaf

Photo by Amy LV

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.

Corn Plants - Watching Things Grow

Morning Cornfield

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This morning, driving home from bringing our daughter to where she volunteers at Messinger Woods, I stopped on our road to take this photograph.  Living out in the country, I am continually amazed by the changes in the landscape.  In early summer, I especially love these lines of corn.  They remind me of lines on notebook paper.  It's a gift to live in one place for a long time, to see the same scenes and colors, to love them more each year.

The expression "knee high by the 4th of July" to describe good corn growing always comes to mind when we drive by cornfields.  And while this yardstick is no longer the standard for corn growth, the line does live on in many of us.  It's fun to say!

Sometimes I smile to hear our children (12, 14, 15) talk about noticing much younger children growing up so quickly.  How can it be that I am old enough to have children who are old enough to notice children growing?  Time fools us sometimes, and today's poem is a simple rhyming comparison of the growth of corn to the growth of a child.

If you'd like to read about how corn grows, visit The National Gardening Association.

Jone is hosting today's Poetry Friday party over at Check it Out.  As I always say, check it out!

May you notice a few beautiful growing things today, wherever you live and whatever your season.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

A Poem from Your Summer Garden - #70

This week's Monday Poetry Stretch over at The Miss Rumphius Effect is to write about something hot.  I thought of peppers, perhaps because my hubby likes them hot and I, for one, do not.  For a long time, our freezer was home to this little Ziploc sandwich baggie of peppers, just to use for a pinch of heat.  As I don't like too much heat, they eventually got freezer burned and thrown away.

It makes me laugh to see children and adults testing themselves with "how hot can I go?"

Students - poem ideas can come to us from things we do by mistake.  I have certainly made the mistake of biting a hot pepper, and I've seen other people make this mistake too.  What mistakes have you made?  What mistakes have you seen others make?  Just go from there, funny or serious!

Now, on different note.  We found another kitten, and she needs a home.  You may remember the 'Country Cats' post some time back about our one-eyed cat, Mini.  I'd linked to a WBFO essay about how cats often end up here.  Well, it happened again.  Today as Hope and Gigi biked down the road, they heard very loud meowing.  It was a kitten.  In a tree.  20 feet up.  Dangling from a sapling.

Mark talked her down, and she slowly slid down that skinny trunk like a firefighter sliding down a fire pole.  Our neighbor had heard her yesterday from that same location but could not find her, so all of us think Ashley (she was dangling from an ash tree) was up there for over 24 hours.

Would you like a very friendly black and white kitten (about three months old) with a scar on her nose and a very loud purr?  I will post photos by the weekend if she does not find a home sooner.

(Please click on COMMENTS to share or to adopt Ashley.)