PF & Poem #290 - Is Your Body in a Book?

This is poem #2 in my Friday series of poems about books and reading and words.  I have posted other reading poems, but they emerged before this new series. 

Students - the idea for this poem came from just thinking about reading and expressions around reading.  So often people say, "You have your nose in a book!"  I just took it one step further, imagining every part of a person disappearing inside a book.

After reading this poem, my husband said, "Oh, it's a bookmark talking...and it's a bookmark."  He's right!  If you'd like a pdf of this as a bookmark, please just send your e-mail address to amy at amylv dot com. 

This week, our daughter Georgia had a poem published over at Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter's creativity blog Spilling Ink, named after their fabulous book which is a Cybils nominee.  I recommended this writing book and shared Georgia's poem here last June, and if you scroll down to the bottom of this post at Spilling Ink, you can read "Why Write?" on Anne and Ellen's blog.  Congratulations, Georgia!

Teachers and Parents - be sure not to miss the Teacher's Kit section of the Spilling Ink blog.  Both tone and information are happy and healthy for all writers!  Too, please don't miss my right-hand sidebar with information about places where children can publish their work.  I highly recommend encouraging and helping children enter their writing into contests, magazines, and other sharing opportunities.  Many adult writers are able to trace their writing-love to a childhood memory of publication.

Laura is hosting today's Poetry Friday over at Writing the World for Kids.  Skip on over there for the complete roundup!

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Poem #254 Brings a Snow Day for Sledding

Snow Day

by Amy LV

This poem is dedicated to Mrs. Overman's second grade class in Indiana.  Last week (during nonfiction week), these young writers requested that I write a poem about a snow day.  We actually had a couple of snow days around here last week, and there could be more on the way.  This means that there may be more snow day poems on the way too.  Thank you to my Indiana friends, for offering me this great idea for a poem!

Students - while you might not always want to take topic ideas from others (I usually don't), sometimes one will strike you as perfect for that time in your life.  With all of the snow we've been having, this idea made perfect sense.  It was funny writing this poem because snips of it appeared in my mind on Monday night.  Right before creeping under my cozy covers, I thought, "Inside, ride, wide...those words will go in an upcoming poem!"

Another something strange happened with this poem too.  Last evening I sat in our puffy purple chair to write.  Our daughter Georgia (10), sat on the couch across the room.  We were both writing poems, but neither of us spoke one word to each other.  Georgia's school assignment was to write a rhyming nature poem which did not tell the name of the object in the poem, and here is what she wrote:

                                                     It blooms

                                                     unfolds

                                                     opens wide

                                                     all the world

                                                     sees what's inside

                                                     stamens, pistil

                                                     filled with pride

                                                     and then at night

                                                     it hides.

                                                     by Georgia LV

Did you notice that both of our poems use the rhyme ide?  We even chose two of the same words: inside & wide.  Considering we did not talk one bit about our poems, this amazed us both.  What a coincidence! One thing I love about Georgia's poem is that she has a very regular pattern of rhythm until the very last line, it hides.  This line is shorter than the others and helps her poem to break its pattern and feel beautifully finished.

When writing a rhyming poem, it is important to make sense.  Sometimes we want so badly to rhyme that we pick any old thing, any old two words and just mash them together.  Then we end up with weird lines like this:

                                 I love to read books under the table.

                                 It will not fall for it is stable.

Now do you ever worry about tables falling?  Probably not.  Therefore, this rhyme is a bit forced, and if I wrote it, I'd rewrite to say something more meaningful.  Maybe this:

                                 I'm under the table reading a book.

                                 No one will find me.  No one will look.

Rhyming poems are only one kind of poem.  Many of the most wonderful poems do not rhyme at all.  However, when I write a rhyming poem, I want it to be meaningful: funny, serious, playful, happy, sad... I don't want it to just sound like I slapped any old rhymes together.  That's what matters most to me - that my words make sense and connect with another human being.  Please let me know if you try writing a rhyming poem and what you learn as you write. 

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SPARK 10! Response - #214 - City Dahlias

Dahlia Soft Focus

Photo by Amy Souza

This dahlia photograph and poem were created through an online experience called SPARK.  On October 20, I received this beautiful inspiration photograph with the understanding that I would use it to spark a piece of writing and share my words today, October 29.  In return, I provided an inspiration piece too, my poem "Everynight Everywhere".  Tomorrow I will post Amy Souza's joyful response painting along with that poem. 

Students - this experience was very interesting, as a writer and as a responder.  I could not wait to see what my new-artist-friend would do with my poem or to see what words would meet this photograph.

Late last night, knowing SPARK's deadline loomed, our sweet Georgia (10) padded down the stairs.  "Mom, I have a poem for you," she said.  Then she spoke.  Then she hurriedly wrote.  Then she padded up the stairs.  How very lucky we are for the children in our lives.

In a city

on a street

there I grew a bud

round and sweet

the city's black

the city's cold

the city's dark

petals unfold

the light is weak

the city's gray

the flower blooms

here comes the day.

by Georgia VanDerwater

Your lovely photograph, Amy S., received two responses from the same home!

For me, the process of writing a poem is all about finding a way in.  It's as if the poems are already out there, and we just have to find the right key.  For this poem, the key was a few lines from someone else's poem, "Otho: The Miller's Son" by Laura Amy Schiltz in GOOD MASTERS!  SWEET LADIES!  I read this book for the first time last week, on the airplane on my way to Minneapolis.  This poem has not left, particularly the rhythms of these lines:

"Oh God makes the water, and the water makes the river,
And the river turns the mill wheel
and the wheel runs on forever."

If you look back to "City Dahlias", you will see which lines sound much the same.  I love the lulling sounds of repetition within these lines, and so began the poem with the words, "For the gate..." even though I knew they would not be the first lines.

If you have not read GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES!, I cannot recommend it highly enough.  It is gorgeous poetry, woven word upon word like a tapestry of history.  Schiltz won the Newbery Award for this book in 2007, and it is easy to see why.  A librarian, she wrote these monologue poems for her students to perform.  The combination of perfect language, history tidbits, and meticulous illustration make this one to read again and again.  It is even available in audio, something I'd love to hear.

Available through Amazon

This SPARK experience makes me think about two possible things students might wish to try.  The first one, of course, is to write from a photograph.  It's great fun to use a photograph as inspiration.  Many times I pull over to the side of the road to shoot a picture of a barn, a tombstone (wait for Monday), a sunset, a building.  Writing from my own photos helps me appreciate the small beauties in my life and it gives me a chance to reflect upon them later with words.  You might wish to try this.

Writing from someone else's art is whole new thing for me, and it's something I think could be a wonderful experiment with a pair of friends or classmates or even two classes working together.  Even classes living far away from each other...vive la Internet!  My friend Karen and I were talking about this, imagining what teachers could try with such an idea.  If you take this on, anyone, please let me know.  It would be a real treat to see how children like SPARKing off of each other.  If you do, I would love to share your work and/or stories with my inspiration-partner and founder of SPARK, Amy Souza. 

I do have another SPARK inspiration-partner out there too...a mystery one.  S/he is artistically responding to one of my poems but did not provide an inspiration piece.  Over the next week, I hope to share three pairings with you, this being the first!

Thank you to poet and friend, Heidi Mordhorst, for sharing her anticipation of SPARK two weeks ago.  You can see Heidi's poem and Delores Ekberg's painting at Heidi's blog, my juicy little universe.  And thank you to Amy Souza for the great fun she provided with her photo, painting, and coordination of all of SPARK.

If you are interested in participating in SPARK 11 in February 2011, keep an eye on the SPARK website for an announcement.

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Last Day of School - MyPoWriYe #84

Here in New York State, many schools end their 2009-2010 year today.  This poem is for you - students, teachers, and parents too.

For me, a new school year always meant fresh new school supplies.  By June, those supplies were tattered and pretty-near used up.  But my mind was one year shinier and smarter, even though the paper was gone and my metal lunchbox was dented.

Students - this is a list poem.  It's almost a check-off list of what's happened to what during the year.  This is an interesting way to organize a poem, by a list.  Just choose a topic and think of lists you might make around that topic.  Then...play!

Summer is here, but The Poem Farm will continue to grow.  Please know, students, that I welcome you to stop by during the summer.  And here's a fun reading project for you (and your teachers).  My daughter Georgia and I would like to recommend Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook, by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter.  Georgia's ten, and this is her favorite book about writing.  For two great reviews, read what Stacey has to say at Two Writing Teachers and Kate's words at Book Aunt.

Shop Indie Bookstores

You can visit the authors' blogs (chock full of ideas and tips) at Anne's Journal and Ellen's Journal.  These two authors even have a website for the book.  Check it out here.

Partway through reading Spilling Ink, Georgia stopped to write this poem.  She didn't revise a word, and I just typed it when she came to me with her spiral.  A poetry book review was born...

Who Would Write?

Who would write

Instead of read?

The writers have written for you.
They've got all the ideas.

They've got all the plots.
They have all the stuff

that I haven't got.

But why would I read?

Why couldn't I write

my own?

They don't have to write for me.

I've got ideas too.

I also have plots.

So why write?

Why not?

Georgia VanDerwater

Happy summer to you all!  If you're down under, a happy winter to you!  I hope that wherever you are, you keep visiting throughout the next few months.  I do so like having you here.

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