HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 2

 Happy National Poetry Month!

(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)

Hello, Poetry Friends! This month I am sharing poems written in the voice of Little Red Riding Hood, and I invite you to join me in writing in the voice of someone else too. You might choose a fairy tale character or a book character or a person from history or anyone else real or imagined. These are your poems, so you make the decisions. Each April day, I will share my poem and a little bit about writing poetry. Mostly, we’ll just be writing in short lines with good words and not worrying about rhyming. Meaning first. Our focus this month will be adopting the perspective of another…for 30 days. I invite you to join me in this project! To do so, simply:

1. Choose a character from fiction or history or somewhere else in the world of space and time, and commit to writing a daily poem in this person's voice for the 30 days of April 2025. You might even choose an animal.

2. Write a new poem for each day of April. Feel free to print and find inspiration from this idea sheet that I will be writing from all month long.

Teachers, if you wish to share any HELLO MY NAME IS... subjects or poems, please email them to me at the contact button above. I would love to read what your students write and learn from how they approach their own projects.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD'S POEMS SO FAR

April 1 - First Poem

And now for today!

Students - Today as LRRH, I chose to play with repetition. And too, I decided to share Little Red's real name. As I am pretending to be Lou, I am thinking about how she might choose to start her own new poetry collection, and sharing her real name felt right. I did think hard about her name as I wanted it to mean something. I looked up words that mean all kinds of things and decided on Warrior Wolf Woods because these three words make me easily think of LRRH (Lou).

Do feel free to use the grid as I am doing...in the same order, or in a different order, or not at all! Each of us are the experts on our own writing, so I encourage you to play and have fun pretending, just as I am.

Thank you for joining me for Day 2 of HELLO MY NAME IS...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's Kidlitosphere poetry happenings. And if you are interested in learning about or writing from any of my previous 14 National Poetry Month projects, you can find them here. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

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Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 

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HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 1

 Happy National Poetry Month!

(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)

Hello, Poetry Friends! This month I am sharing poems written in the voice of Little Red Riding Hood, and I invite you to join me in writing in the voice of someone else too. You might choose a fairy tale character or a book character or a person from history or anyone else real or imagined. These are your poems, so you make the decisions. Each April day, I will share my poem and a little bit about writing poetry. Mostly, we’ll just be writing in short lines with good words and not worrying about rhyming. Meaning first. Our focus this month will be adopting the perspective of another…for 30 days. I invite you to join me in this project! To do so, simply:

1. Choose a character from fiction or history or somewhere else in the world of space and time, and commit to writing a daily poem in this person's voice for the 30 days of April 2025. You might even choose an animal.

2. Write a new poem for each day of April. Feel free to print and find inspiration from this idea sheet that I will be writing from all month long.

Teachers, if you wish to share any HELLO MY NAME IS... subjects or poems, please email them to me at the contact button above. I would love to read what your students write and learn from how they approach their own projects.

And now for my first poem as Little Red Riding Hood.

Students - For most days of this month, I will be using the idea grid referred to above. Today I chose to write about why Little Red Riding Hood might choose to write at all. It is interesting to consider why any of us write, and so we'll let LRRH start her own poetry notebook with thinking about herself as a writer. Many of us are inspired by friends, and she is too.

Today's poem is written in nonrhyming couplets (two lines), and you'll notice that the second line of each is a little aside, a bit of extra information (in parentheses). I could delete these lines and the poem would still make sense, but LRRH has a few extra things to say.

Thank you for joining me on this first day of HELLO MY NAME IS...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's Kidlitosphere poetry happenings. And if you are interested in learning about or writing from any of my previous 14 National Poetry Month projects, you can find them here. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

A Thank You To...

Bookshelf at Home

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This week has been Banned Books Week, and so I decided to write a poem for the greatest champions of books...librarians. When librarians stand up for books, they stand up for you and for me and for all of the ideas we share and for all of the ideas we do not share. Librarians stand up for thought and for freedom. All of my gratitude to them. Librarians are the lifeguards of thought.

To whom are you grateful? This may be one person or it may a whole group of people who do a particular job or who share a characteristic. Thank you notes can be personal and given to one person or general and written for all to read such as mine today. If you write a thank you poem, you may choose to write your poem in your own voice...or you may choose to write it in the voice of another as I did today. Your voice need not even be human! Feel free to title it as I did..."A Thank You to..."

I look forward to Saturday when I will have the good fortune to learn the educators of The Literacy Connection, a professional organization in Ohio. We will be reading and writing poems together, discovering the many ways that poems can teach us about writing and life as we dig into my book POEMS ARE TEACHERS and the poems of so many. 

Tomorrow, Irene will be hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Live Your Poem. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Read, my friends...

xo,

Amy

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Sing Someone Else's Song

Our Blazing Hill

Photo by Amy LV

Some of you may remember my talented friend, musician and English professor Gart Westerhout from his music here last spring. Every once in a while, Gart turns one of my poems into a song, and he did so with this poem. Thank you to Gart who always finds the perfect voice for each of my poems.

Students - Our hill is exquisite this week! I have been drinking in the colors and bottling it up in my mind for the white and windy winter days ahead. Today's poem grew from me imagining a fox wishing to match its fur to autumn leaves...and this wish becoming true. Tossing and turning in bed last night, I got myself up and scribbled this poem in all of its messy glory. 

Scribbly Draft

Photo by Amy LV

Today I offer you a new writing idea. Write a song. It does not need to have a tune; it can be a poem in another's voice that feels songlike. You might choose an animal or a person or an object. Pretend to be this other and write in this other's voice. I did not intend to write a fox song, but the repetition of "I am Fox. I'm fire." made me think that this felt more song than poem. Try some repetition in your own song if that sounds interesting to you.

And go for it. Cross out like crazy. Let your poem lead you!

If you are looking for poems in others' voices, check out master poet Joyce Sidman's SONG OF THE WATER BOATMAN or my first book, FOREST HAS A SONG.

Matt is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup today at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme with a celebration of his latest book. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Wishing you song...and a friend like my orange Claude, who looks exactly like this now at 7:41 on this Friday morning.

Claude, a Sleepy Muse

Photo by Amy LV

xo,

Amy

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Be the Flower: List Five Facts

Queen Anne's Lace in Our Pasture

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I have been writing a lot in my notebook this week, about everything and nothing. My notebook is a place to spend time with an old friend -- me. And sometimes when I write, I think that maybe, just maybe, I don't know myself as well as I thought.

Well, while I was up picking blackberries, I was taken by the Queen Anne's Lace. Big hand-sized doilies of flowers looking up at the sky. They were begging me to write about them. 

I got an idea, walking Cali and Sage around the pasture, eating blackberries, thinking about flowers. My idea was this: I will find five facts about Queen Anne's Lace before I write any poemlines. Googling around, I found these facts, though there was a conflict about which Queen Anne...England or Denmark? 

Five Facts

Notebook Photo by Amy LV

The only thing I knew going into the poem was that I wanted to write about how Queen Anne's Lace looks like fireworks to me. I liked that idea of silent fireworks.

Many scribbles, cross-outs, and drafts later, here is where I chose to stop for now. Today's version is written in the voice OF the Queen Anne's Lace, but earlier bits were written ABOUT the flower, simply describing it. This is one way you can always revise your writing: try a different point of view.

As for five facts, I think I will play with this idea all week long. I plan find topics that interest me and search for five facts about each. Then...I will see what comes of it. Of course I know that sometimes five facts will lead to fifty facts...the secret is that the five will get me started and invite me in. Sometimes a kind and simple door is all a writer needs.

Feel free to try anything I try here. It's all play. 

If you think you see some Queen Anne's Lace growing near you, be sure that it is not Poison Hemlock. These two plants do look alike, and Poison Hemlock is very poisonous. Never eat something you are not sure about. Check with an expert.

Kat is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup from Downunder at Kathryn Apel with some delightful pet poems and inspiration for poets of all ages to photograph and write about the animals in our lives along with the hashtag #petpicpoem. Remember: all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

I'm off now to watch Cali and Sage and Firepaw and Fiona and Winnie and Tuck and the chickens and some butterflies and ants.

xo,

Amy

ps - Update! I had read and then someone on Instagram shared with me that you can put Queen Anne's Lace in a jar of colored water and watch the flowers turn the color of the water. I tried this later today. If you look closely, you will see pinkish petals!

Pink Queen Anne's Lace

Photo by Amy LV

Queen Anne's Lace Five Days Later

Photo by Amy LV

And here, you see why Queen Anne's Lace is sometimes called Bird's Nest. When the flowers dry out, they look like birds' nests!

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Pretending and Remembering...

Ghost and Jack

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I often think about the days before and after holidays.  Today found me thinking about the sheet I still use on a bed sometimes, the sheet with eye holes cut into it.  See, four years ago, I was a ghost for Halloween, back when our black cat Fiona was small.  And I haven't had the heart to throw the sheet away.  You can see it in the picture (taken today) above, with Jack and in the picture below, with Fiona.

Amyghost & Fiona, 2014

Photo by Someone LV

I so like pretending to be other things, and today, as I sit beside a lit pumpkin after the holiday, I like thinking about how special days come and go and how our memories remain.  This is not the first time I have done this...perhaps I am a wistful and nostalgic gal.

Not sure what to write? Think about the days before or after a big holiday or event.  Write from your point of view or from the point of view of someone or something else.  Switching perspective helps a writer understand something in a whole new way.

And I have a question for you to think about.  Just when did you realize that the speaker in this poem was a bed sheet, anyway?  I considered using the word sheet in the title...but then, instead, I chose to preserve a bit of mystery until a few lines in.  Remember this: as author, to a certain degree, you control when readers make various realizations.  These decisions are in your hands, my friend, so have some fun with them.

I very much look forward to the Rochester Children's Book Festival tomorrow! It is always a treat and an honor to attend this wonderful event in Rochester, NY.

Jama is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup with a wise and beautiful call to vote and a poem by Judith Harris. Please know that each Poetry Friday, we gather together to share books, and poetry ideas all at one blog.  Everyone is always welcome to visit, comment, and post.  We invite you!

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If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

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Turn Yourself Into a Place

A New Book Edited by J. Patrick Lewis!

From THE POETRY OF US edited by J. Patrick Lewis

(Click to Enlarge)

Students - It is always a thrill to be part of an anthology, and I could not be happier to share this new poem from this new book edited by J. Patrick Lewis and published by National Geographic Children's Books.  THE POETRY OF US: MORE THAN 200 POEMS THAT CELEBRATE THE PEOPLE, PLACES, AND PASSIONS OF THE UNITED STATES is a stunning volume full of poems old and new laid over spectacular photographs.  If you are familiar with J. Patrick Lewis's NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOK OF ANIMAL POETRY or NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BOOK OF NATURE POETRY, this is the same gorgeousness.

My poem takes the voice of a place, and I enjoyed imagining I was the Appalachian Trail itself.  What secrets and wonders this trail witnesses, holding people on journeys both external and internal.  

If you do not know what to write about today, try making a list of places.  Then choose one. Become it.  Write.  Did you know that writing in the voice of something else is called a persona poem...or a mask poem?

Some of you a St. John's School in Houston, Texas might be wondering why I am not writing about the mouse.  Well, sweet mouse will appear next week instead. As THE POETRY OF US celebrates its entry into the world this week, I decided to invite this poem to hike its way onto the blog today.

Jone is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Deo Writer, where she shares Janet Wong's title poem from her new collection with Sylvia Vardell, GREAT MORNING: POEMS FOR SCHOOL LEADERS TO READ ALOUD. Each week we gather together, sharing poems, books, and poetry ideas all at one blog.  All are always welcome to visit, comment, and post.

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or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Let Mint Speak....And a Peek

Front Garden...Hi, Mint!

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Last week, I visited Harold O. Brumsted Elementary School in Holland, NY as a volunteer for the grand annual Arts and Hobby Day.  I brought my red suitcase full of nature treasures and so enjoyed drawing and writing with both third and fifth graders. We drew and wrote about shells, pine cones, feathers, and chewed and drew mint leaves from my garden.  You can see some mint in the photograph above.  It is to the left of the picture, peeking up from in between the rocks.

Notebook Snip

Photo by Amy LV

Drawing a bit of mint, I was overtaken by the beauty of each leaf.  When held to the light, a person can see each tiny vein, each little hair on a mint leaf's stem.  This plant I pull so ruthlessly from my garden (it DOES take over) became new and precious to me.

After drawing for a time, I knew that I needed to write in the voice of the mighty, much maligned mint plant. Treated as a weed, I thought that mint deserved a chance to speak.  

To which other person, animal, plant, or inanimate object would you like to give voice?  Writing persona - or mask - poems is a ton of fun and also offers us insights we might not have when always writing in our own voices.

Today I am tickled to welcome Dana Kofitsas and her third grade poets from Stony Lane Elementary School in Paramus, New Jersey.  When you read these poems, you will see right away how these students have learned so many important things from their study of poetry. Read to notice their varied and thoughtful topics, figurative language, line breaks, endings, and use of repetition.  How lucky we are to have them here this week!

Click the Box to Enlarge

Thank you so much to all of these poets and to their teacher Dana Kofitsas for joining us today.  Poetry brings us together, teaches us about writing, and makes us whole.

On June 1, the second grade poets of Crossroads Acadamy Quality Hill visited the Poem Farm.  If you did not yet have a chance to read their wonderful anthologies, please go back to June 1 and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Kiesha is hosting this past week's Poetry Friday roundup at Whispers from the Ridge with a song for summer.  Each week we gather together, sharing poems, books, and poetry ideas all at one blog.  All are always welcome to visit, comment, and post.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

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