Metal Rooster...You're the One!

Welcome to Day 23 of Drawing Into Poems, my daily drawing/seeing/writing study into poetry.  You can read more about this month-long project here on my April 1 post.  Feel free to read the books with me and pull out your own sketchbook and jewelry box full of metaphor too...

Day 23 - Garden Chicken

Click to enlarge the picture.

Students - Do you think that this garden chicken is friends with the real chickens?  I do! This chicken sits in my yard, right outside the front door.  He's our watch rooster, like a watch dog.  I think he's so funny that I may just have to draw him again soon.  There's a poem in this metal rooster.  Can you find it?  Actually, there may be twenty poems in this recycled rooster.  Or one hundred.

Recycled Rooster

Photo by Amy LV

Thank you very much to Joy Acey for holding a raffle to celebrate her blog - Poetry for Kids Joy - birthday!  I was the lucky winner of this POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL t-shirt featuring all 110 poets' names on the back.  I have two poems in this anthology, one about the feeling of being new on a team and one in which a young person sticks to vegetarian values.  When I got home from IRA late last night, I thought I'd try it on my new owl puppet.

Favorite New Owl Puppet in My Favorite New Shirt

Photo by Amy LV

Common Core or TEKS Edition

Available through Pomelo Books

Here are several of us at IRA, outside of the restuarant called FEAST, holding copies of different editions of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY.

Outside FEAST in San Antonio, TX

Back Row - Sandy Harrision, David Harrision, Mary Lee Hahn

Front Row - Janet Wong, Me, Sylvia Vardell, Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Photo by Mark LV

It was an honor and such fun to be a part of this panel - POETRY AND COMMON CORE CONNECTIONS - with the poets and educators you see below.  We had a good sized group of warm and energetic folks in our session, and the hour flew by. 

Our IRA Panel (L-R)  - Janet Wong, Me, Sylvia Vardell, & Joyce Sidman

Poetry Friday Blogger Friends - Ruth Bowen Hersey and Mary Lee Hahn

Photo by Mark LV

After the session, Joyce and I signed books in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Clarion booth.  I felt so lucky to have the chance to chat with her one on one.

Signing with Joyce Sidman at the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Clarion Booth

Photo by Mark LV

Tonight, I will be a guest of Wonderopolis for this month's #WonderChat celebrating poetry and wonder.  This is the chat rescheduled from Monday evening, and I hope that you will be able to join us!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Sketching Light Wherever I Find It

Welcome to Day 21 of Drawing Into Poems, my daily drawing/seeing/writing study into poetry.  You can read more about this month-long project here on my April 1 post.  Feel free to read the books with me and pull out your own sketchbook and jewelry box full of metaphor too...

Day 21 - Hotel Lamp

Click to enlarge the picture.

Students - Today's drawing reminds me a bit of my streetlamp drawing from Day 6 of this project. I am finding that I am drawn to sketching old objects, things in nature, sources of light.  I still want to draw more buildings.  The things that call my pen are the ones that have stories that most intrigue me.  And in the same way that daily writing shows me who I am, sketching is holding up a new mirror to my brain and soul.

Working on this lamp and reading some notes from teachers, I am wondering about the young readers of this blog and if any of you are experimenting with drawing to write.  If you are, please comment to let me know.  It would be an honor to feature some of your work here, to learn about the ways in which drawing is informing your writing or thinking.

If you did not stop by on Friday, do not miss the fourth grade history poems by Theresa Annello's students at Paul Road Elementary in the Gates Chili Central School District in Western New York.

Right now I am happy to be in San Antonio, Texas at the IRA convention.  I will be signing FOREST on today and tomorrow, and am very excited to be presenting on a panel with Sylvia Vardell, Janet Wong, and Joyce Sidman on Monday as well.  Then, the following weekend...I'm back to Texas for the TLA conference.  Happy Poetry Month indeed!

On this coming Tuesday, I will be a guest of Wonderopolis for this month's #WonderChat celebrating poetry and wonder.  This is the chat rescheduled from Monday evening, and I hope that you will be able to join us!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!