The Owl in the Door - Magic Everywhere!

Third Floor Women's Restroom Door

Webster Central Schools District Office

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Here's a funny little story for you.  So, this past Tuesday I was leading a workshop for wonderful third grade teachers in Webster, NY.  The middle school and district office building is one and the same, and it has beautiful wooden doors.  Leaving the women's restroom on the third floor, I was struck by this marvelous owl you see above in wood grain.  You do see it, don't you?

Well, I decided I needed to take her picture.  But there was a little problem. Another woman was in the restroom.  What would she think?  Who takes pictures in restrooms?  

There was no choice.  I took out my phone/camera and snapped a few photos, mumbling excuses to the woman at the sink, "Um, I'm just taking a picture of this door.  I know it's a little weird."  I didn't explain about the owl; after all, she was busy washing her hands.  I just took the picture.

I heard her voice, "Oh, no. It's not weird."  I wondered if she was backing away slowly, wishing was not trapped in a restroom with a strange door photographer.  She was kind, but I hurried out, tucking my phone safely in my pocket until Wednesday evening when I looked at it again.  Still an owl!  So glad I took the photo.  So glad I took the risk.

Today's poem is written in quatrains, four line stanzas.  I often write in quatrains, did so last week.  But this week's poem was a bit more of a challenge, because instead of just rhyming the second and fourth lines of each stanza, I also rhymed the first and third lines.  I have been thinking about rhyming like this for some time, and this week was that time.  You might wish to look at the poem and find the rhyming words.  Sometimes people mark such rhymes with circles or colors, to see the pattern.  We call this pattern an ABAB pattern because just like in ABAB, the lines alternate in sound.

Sometimes a poem has more cross-outs in part of it than it has words.  Such was the case with the last stanza of this verse.  I simply could not decide how to end it. Finally, I did!  

Many congratulations to Joyce Sidman for her newest reason to celebrate her newest book, WHAT THE HEART KNOWS: CHANTS, CHARMS, AND BLESSINGS.  This book just won the prestigious Claudia Lewis Award, given by Bank Street College for "the best poetry book of the year."  You absolutely, cross my heart, want this book in your collection.  

Indie Bound

Renee is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at No Water River.  Swim over to her beautiful place and enjoy all of the poetic joy in the Kidlitosphere this week! 

Please share a comment below if you wish.

The Magic Day - Talking Buttons

In My Hand

Photo by Amy LV

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - I have been busy.  Happy busy.  It's almost time for my book to come out, and with that comes a lot of fun busy. (See the giveaway information at the top left corner here!)  But such busyness takes away from good, disciplined writing time.  And I am trying to get back to that.  Today's poem came after lots of staring and lots of writing about normal things I have done over the past two days.  I kept writing and writing until I got myself into a writing mood (it was not easy because I've been away) and finally I did.

For me, writing is a lot about trust.  If you sit there and work, a poem may want to keep you company.  It may decide it likes you.  Or it may feel sorry for you and want to wrap its wordy arms around you.  Or it may play hide-and-seek with you for years.  Or it just may hide.  But should a poem land on your shoulder for a bit, a writer must be a good host, taking care of it, keeping it neat and feeding it new and wonderful words.  It's a little like a pet, a poem is.  You've got to love it.  And if you are lucky, it will love you back.

Today's poem is not any special kind of form at all.  You will find a few rhymes here and there, but they have no rhyme or reason.  To make this poem sound good-to-me, I simply read it aloud again and again until I liked the way the words and lines played together, until I liked the way they felt in the air around me.

I am fascinated by buttons.  Here are two older button poems:
Button in My Hand
Found Button

Do you have certain images that return to you again and again in your writing?  If you're not sure, try writing more and then going back to reread your notebooks every few months. I bet that you will surprise yourself with the ideas that repeat over and over again.

In case you haven't gotten involved in the March Madness Poetry Competition over at Think Kid, Think!, Ed DeCaria brings us another season of poetry fun and celebration!  Head over here to see the match-ups, read the poems, and vote for the poems you like best.

I am tickled to welcome Angela Stockman to Sharing Our Notebooks, my blog about writers notebooks, this month.  Visit here to take a peek inside her notebooks and leave a comment to be entered into a drawing to win one of her favorite books.

Jone is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Check it Out.  Do check it out here and see what is happening poetry-wise in the Kidlitosphere today....  Happy Poetry Friday!

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!

New Old Friends - Free Verse

I Think We Know Each Other Already
by Amy LV

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - I have a new friend.  She is an artist, and we have been teaching together.  When I first met her, I felt like we'd known each other forever.  Did you ever have a friend like that?  Today's poem is a poem about an unusual feeling, a magical feeling.  We all have those buried in us, and sometimes...like little hibernating animals...they come out and greet us!  Sometimes we have to be really quiet to see or feel magic.  We have to pay attention to our hearts.  Try doing that sometime soon.  Just sit quietly and think.  Or write quietly and see what magical thought looks up at you from your paper.

Today's poem does not rhyme; it is a free verse poem.  When I write a poem such as this one, it is necessary for me to read it out loud, to hear if the lines sound good to my ear.  When I write a poem with a particular meter, I simply tap the syllables out on my table, counting to see if things are right.  But with a free verse poem, listening to the words in a different way, out loud, is very important. I break up lines that feel too quick, and I read and change again and again until everything settles in.

In the tremendous surprise department, our Children's Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, has selected my soon-to-be-published FOREST HAS A SONG as his February Book Pick.  You can read what he has to say over at the Poetry Foundation!

Tomorrow, Saturday, is Groundhog Day.  The next day is not Groundhog Day.  I don't have a Groundhog Day poem for you, but I do have a poem for February 3, that next day.  What a very strange day that must be for Mr. Phil.

Thank you to April and her adorable monkey who are hosting today's Poetry Friday tea.  Stroll on over to Teaching Authors to visit today's roundup!  Happy Poetry Friday!

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!

Peacock - A Couplet Poem

Magic!

by Amy LV

 

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - Today's poem started as an assignment as it started with couplet I wrote for Irene Latham's celebration of her new book, DON'T FEED THE BOY.  Irene is hosting Poetry Friday today and she invited many of us to write animal couplets to celebrate the book. You can read the collection of animal couplets at Live Your Poem.

Irene's idea is a fun one and one you might enjoy trying with your friends.  All you need to do is think of a topic that is easily broken up, a topic like school, or pets, or favorite foods.  (There are endless possibilities here!)  Then, each person write one couplet.  Once you gather them all up, decide on an order and title...and you've got it!  If anyone tries this, please let me know.  I'd love to host a collaborative couplet poem here.

If you would like to learn more about peacocks, visit National Geographic.  I am thinking that I might want to write a nonfiction peacock poem to go along with this one.

Speaking of animals and National Geographic, if you have not yet seen National Geographic's new BOOK OF ANIMAL POETRY, edited by Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis, and full of gorgeous poems and photography, do not miss it.  I just checked it out of the library, and I'm in love.  This book is on my order-right-away list!  As you read, you will recognize many wonderful classics, and you'll be happy to find lots of your current Poetry Friday friends too.

Available through the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Store

Nina Crittenden is my guest at Sharing Our Notebooks this week.  Stop by and see the types of notebooks she uses and how she continues to create.  (You will also have a chance to be entered into Nina's generous drawing of a book and pocket notebook.)

Happy Poetry Friday!  Head on over to Live Your Poem to celebrate Irene Latham's new book, DON'T FEED THE BOY, and to see all of today's Poetry Friday posts.

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!