Begin with IF

This is a Chickadee

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Happy March to you...the month that is said to "come in like a lion and out like a lamb." This March roared in with a new Candlewick Press book filled with poems selected by Irene Latham and Charles Waters and illustrated by Olivia Sua, and I feel lucky to have today's poem included in the collection. The book is titled IF I COULD CHOOSE A BEST DAY: POEMS OF POSSIBILITY, and on Monday many of us read our poems in a happy Zoom room with The Writing Barn. It was a treat to see Ms. Corgill's students and Mrs. Harvey's students there too!

I chose to write "Finch, Robin, Jay" about one small thing I believe a person can do to make their life better - learn the name of just one bird. Many of the poems are like this, about things a person can actually do...but some are more fanciful, using the IF to imagine more unusual or even impossible-in-real-life happenings such as Sylvia Liu's "If You Catch a Magic Fish." Beginning a poem with the word IF can take a writer anywhere.

The most famous IF poem I know is titled "If," and it is by Rudyard Kipling. It is also a list poem, and you can read it here at The Poetry Foundation.

I write about finding poems ideas by wondering WHAT IF in my book POEMS ARE TEACHERS: HOW STUDYING POETRY STRENGTHENS WRITING IN ALL GENRES, a book filled with  poems by adults, young people, filled with lessons and ideas. We all spend time in our minds wondering What would happen if....? and today or this week, perhaps you will choose to follow your own IFs in your writing. (It's also a great way to plan your dreams and future.)

Thank you to Margaret for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Reflections on the Teche with an original and clever poem in the form of a weather forecast. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

May your week be filled with possibility, my friends!

xo,

Amy

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