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Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!
Hat
Photo by Amy LV
Students - I want to hug the hat atop this post. It is one of my favorite photos of the whole month so far, likely because it makes me think about my husband's grandfather, a man I adored. Grandpa VanDerwater wore a small blue summer hat (which Mark now sometimes wears), and so I have a soft spot for small blue mens' hats.
I considered the idea of this poem for a while. For a time (in my head only and earlier yesterday), this poem was going to be about the wise hat of the thrift store, to whom other objects go for advice. But upon further consideration, I didn't want the wise object to be a man's hat - why wouldn't it be a woman's hat? - so I got back to the drawing board.
That's when Joe appeared.
Why? Well, I think he came from one of my old favorite David McCord (I adore David McCord) poems, "Joe" - a poem about a squirrel that frequently visits a bird feeder. And of course I know a couple of special Joes with whom we spent Easter. And Joe is just such a friendly and solid name. The hat FELT like a Joe hat.
Today's poem is written in quatrains, or four line, rhymed stanzas. Usually, I rhyme only the second and fourth lines of quatrains (sometimes the first and third too, but often not), so this was especially fun and challenging.
You can see below where I listed rhyming words to help me find four decent ones per each of the four stanzas. If I was not able to find four rhymes that made sense (tip, because...), then I simply chose another word and rewrote.
Hat - Draft Page Spread #1
Photo by Amy LV
Once again, my final revisions last night came after recording. It seemed all good to me, but when I recorded, the second stanza was simply off. Time to rewrite again.
Writers like rewriting. Rewriting is fun and fascinating. Oh, and infuriating. And wonderful.
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