Deer Sheds Found at The Poem Farm
Photo by Amy LV
Students - This story poem grew from a conversation I was fortunate enough to have last week with a few young hunters at Elba Elementary School in Elba, NY. We were talking about the deer sheds I'd brought along, and they were kind enough to share some hunting stories with me.
I am not a hunter, and I have no interest in learning to hunt. Yet hearing these young men speak with passion and reverence for nature and this skill filled me with curiosity and wonder. Though I will likely never hunt or shoot a deer myself, in this poem I imagine the moment of transition between life and death.
In today's poem, I have pretended to play a part in a story I will likely never live. And in so doing, I have been remade. I see hunting in a new way, through the eyes of my young teachers and through my own imagination. Since I write this from imagined and talked experience, though, I am not sure if there are details that are off or missing or untrue. So, young hunter friends in Elba....if you read this, would you please tell me if there is something clearly wrong here? Something that feels totally untrue? If so, please send me an e-mail through your librarian, Mrs. Perrault. And if you would like to share any of your own hunting poems or words around hunting, please let me know as I would love to include some of words here. Thank you for that talk we had...I have been thinking about it all week.
This week I was fortunate enough to visit two wonderful elementary schools in Paramus, NJ, and I would like to extend so much gratitude to everyone at Parkway Elementary and Stony Lane Elementary for such a joyous two days of celebrating poetry and notebooking. I loved writing with you and am now thinking about stories and ideas we shared together too.
At Sharing Our Notebooks, I am so happy to welcome third grade teacher Dina Bolan and her writers from Alexander Hamilton Elementary School in Glen Rock, New Jersey. Please read their nonfiction notebook entries, and leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a lovely new notebook. I will draw a name next week!
Donna is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Mainely Write with a bouquet of beautiful poetry postcards. Each week, we gather our posts together at one blog, so if you visit Donna this week...you will be introduced to many new poets and blogs and books. Please join us!
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