Look Outside, Note the Date

 

Apple Morning

Photo by Amy LV

Students - It is September 3, and here in Western New York, fall is upon us. For me, fall is all about bonfires and sweaters, cool mornings and apples baked and squished into cider. This morning I went out to have a look around, and I smiled at our bowing apple tree. (I am not picking those apples because my nephews are visiting, and I want to let them do it.)

Any day that you are unsure of what to write, try going outside, looking around, and making yourself notice something new. This apple tree was easy to notice, but yesterday I sat in the driveway with our cat Fiona, and within minutes, a hummingbird was zipping all around the Rose of Sharon next to me. We can notice ants, weeds, the way the sun shines on our faces. You might even include the date in your poem. Or, you can write about a date you remember.

The first part of today's poem is true. The second part of this poem is not true. I do this a lot. Start with truth...and then off into make-believe!

And, when in need of more inspiration, I always read. Today I read some pages from this book, and it got my brain chugging along. 

Read Before Writing

Photo by Amy LV

Heidi is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at my juicy little universe with a ghazal (and information about ghazals) and a climate action poem (and important information about climate). Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish. 

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

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

17 - Poems Can Include Sound Words (Onomatopoeia)

Last week's winner of  my book POEMS ARE TEACHERS is...Holly Thompson!

(Please send me an e-mail to amy at amylv dot com with your snail mail address.)

Thank you, Heinemann!

Welcome to my 2020 National Poetry Month Project
See My Last 10 Poetry Projects HERE

Each day of April 2020, I will share three things:

• A dice roll of three word dice
• A video explaining one poetic technique titled POEMS CAN... You can also find these at Sharing Our Notebooks as part of my ongoing Keeping a Notebook project
• A poem inspired by one or more of the dice words and the technique

Here are All of This Month's Poems:

10 Years of National Poetry Month History at The Poem Farm

April 1 - Poems Can Go Down the Page

April 2 - Poems Can Play With Space
April 3 - Poems Can Tell a Story
April 4 - Poems Can Compare Two Things

April 5 - Poems Can Borrow a Pattern from the World
April 6 - Poems Can Define a Word
April 7 - Poems Can Rhyme
April 8 - Poems Can Not Rhyme
April 9 - Poems Can be Written in Stanzas
April 10 - Poems Can Ask Questions
April 11 - Poems Can Be Circles
April 12 - Poems Can Be Songs
April 13 - Poems Can List
April 14 - Poems Can Repeat Words and Lines
April 15 - Poems Can Spell a Word with the First Letters of Lines
April 16 - Poems Can Give Nonhuman Qualities to Humans

And now, for today's words! 

Day 17 Words

Photo by Amy LV

Thank you to Heinemann for giving away a copy of my book POEMS ARE TEACHERS: HOW STUDYING POETRY STRENGTHENS WRITING IN ALL GENRES each week of April. I will draw names from the previous week each Thursday evening at 11:59pm, and I will announce a winner each Friday. Please leave a way to contact you in your comment as if I cannot contact you easily, I will choose a different name. This week's winner is named atop the post.

If you would like to learn more about other National Poetry Month projects happening throughout the Kidlitosphere, Jama has rounded up many NPM happenings over at Jama's Alphabet Soup.  Happy National Poetry Month 2020.

Molly is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Nix the Comfort Zone with a gorgeous celebration of homemade bread and homemade jam...in poetry. As for Poetry Friday, we invite everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness each week of the year.

xo,
Amy

Antoinette

Photo by Amy LV

Please share a comment below if you wish.day 

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

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

First Flight - From My New Book!

Barred Owl, 2011

by Hope LV

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

Students - Today's poem is from my new book, FOREST HAS A SONG, illustrated by Robbin Gourley and to be published by Clarion next month.  You probably already noticed that this poem goes back-and-forth in a conversation between a mother and baby owl.  My own parents are very encouraging, and they always told me that I could do anything.  Maybe this is why I wrote about an encouraging Mommy owl.

Structure-wise, this poem is written in rhyming couplets (two lines at a time), each with one child line and one mom line.  One line only is not written in conversation, and that's stanza 4.  Why not?  Well, it's all sound effects!  Or as we say in poetry-land, it's onomatopoeia.

This owl verse also uses a technique called personification which is when a writer gives a non-human characteristics that are human.  You can see how this little owl has feelings just like a nervous-child might feel, just like I have felt before.

If you're about to sit down to write, you might wish to try thinking about a real feeling that you have had in your life.  Maybe a surprised or excited feeling.  Of course you can write about your feeling as it is...or maybe you will want to imagine what kind of animal might feel that same feeling and when.  Either way gives you a secret passage into a poem of your own.

I wrote FOREST HAS A SONG, including this poem several years ago, and it is very exciting (and hard to believe) that my book will be out next month.  To keep track of news on the book, I have created a little home just for it here.

When you write often, you come to realize which subjects you tend to write about over and over again.  Right now I am realizing that I do like writing about owls.  Here are two more owl poems: Owl and Cat, Why? (Could this poem be about the same owl as the one in "First Flight"?)

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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

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