Ask a Photograph

Geo. R. Ludwig 

Detroit and Broadway, Buffalo, NY

Photo from Amy LV's Collection

Students - Today's poem grew from meandering. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the verb meander this way - "to follow a winding or intricate course." The course I followed began with just writing in my notebook, letting one idea lead to the next. At some point, I remembered the old photograph you see above and went to find it. When I did, I remembered that it was taken in January, did the quick math (2026-1896), and realized that it was taken 130 years ago! This is old. I took a photo of the photo and zoomed in on my great grandfather's face.

George Richard Ludwig, 1896

Photo from Amy LV's Collection

Ah! If only I could bring him back to life. If only I could ask him some questions, learn about his dry goods store, now long-gone, learn about my grandfather George C., learn about this time in my family, in Buffalo, in America. But I cannot. Still, though, I can study the faces in the photo. And I can imagine. I can imagine what he might say to me. From this photo, in which he stands proudly in front of his growing shop, I believe he says to build. And while I will not build with bricks, I commit to build with words. For him.

This week, if you are uncertain where to begin with your writing, consider meandering. Just write and see where your pencil leads you. Or begin with a photo. Ask someone in the photo a question...in your mind or on paper. Listen to what this person tells you. See, the advice you receive from a photograph-person may also be advice from your deepest self. 

Remember that your poem need not rhyme or follow a special pattern. Your poem wants to be you, a reflection of you, a photograph of what you feel and believe and think right now. 

AI cannot know what you feel and believe and think. Feelings and beliefs and thoughts are slow and come from within. Meander. Take the long way.

Thank you to dear Tabatha of The Opposite of Indifference who set up such a delicious December poem swap. I was matched with darling Robyn-who-I-wish-I-could-see-every-day. She generously gifted me with magical earrings and an ornament based on one of my ghost poems as well as a poem that, well, I would be honored to hear as a ghost at my own funeral. You can read the poem and see what I sent to Robyn at her blog, Life on the Deckle Edge. Thank you, friends!

Jan is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at bookseedstudio with a song and some thoughts about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

And while it's a bit late, Happy New Year! I have been thinking about you and wishing you all of the goodnessess that can come in time. Each of you is strong and full of light, and I wish you discovery and hope in the days and months that lay before you.

xo,

Amy

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Here

Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, NY

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Some of you know that my father passed away in 2020, and this poem is about my recent visit to plant daffodil bulbs at the cemetery. The poem is a sonnet (I explain a bit about sonnets HERE), a form I enjoy writing and thinking in sometimes.

My journey to write this poem at this time came because I opened a wonderful poetry titled KINDEST REGARDS: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Ted Kooser to a random page and found his poem "Daddy Longlegs." The first line reads:

Here, on fine long legs as springy as steel,

It struck me that beginning a poem with the word here was interesting, and so I made a list of a few lines which do just that:

Here, a moth clings to a screen.

Here, an apple waits in a bowl.

Here, a grave listens.

Here, if you walk through this graveyard in the fall.

And then I just kept writing. 

You might find a surprising or not-so-surprising writing topic by trying this yourself. Begin with here and see where you go from here. Or...read something else and begin with a different word or line that you discover in a book.

Buffy is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup with a sneak peek into Laura Purdie Salas's and Alexandria Neonakis's forthcoming book FINDING FAMILY. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

May you catch a loving voice on a breeze.

xo,

Amy

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Walking & Wondering

Big Rock at Mossy Point

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This week, my husband and I took a walk at Mossy Point, a new nature preserve only 10 minutes from our home. We saw so many trees and plants and an enormous variety of mushrooms that I am excited to look up and learn more about. At one point on the walk, I noticed the sunlight falling right on this one big rock. It looked like it was spotlit on the glorious forest stage, and right away I knew that I would write about it.

I often wish that animals and objects could talk, and so too with this mossy-faced boulder. The stories it could tell! Today's poem explores my questions.

Today's poem is a list poem with the first and last stanzas repeating themselves in ways and the middle stanza serving as the big list of questions. List poems are fun to write, and they do not need to rhyme. I played around with a lot of different words and possibilities to make this one rhyme.

Have you ever wished that something quiet could speak to you? If so, you might wish to explore all of your questions or even just one of them. You might write in your voice, in the voice of the non-talking animal or object, or in both voices (perhaps in two stanzas). 

Truthfully, I probably would be rather annoyed if every rock and tree talked the whole time I walked through a wood. What I love is the silence. But still, I do have questions.

Zoomed Out Big Rock at Mossy Point

Photo by Amy LV

Kat is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup at Kathryn Apel with all kinds of poetic goodness. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

May you have a magnificent week of wondering, about all sorts of things!

xo,

Amy

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Surprises, Decisions, & Changes

 

Debby and Cooper, December 2, 2021

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Sometimes we are surprised by something wonderful! This happened for my mother yesterday. After losing her beloved Max in October, Max of the (JOHN AND BETSY poems), she was not sure she would ever want another dog.

Then...Cooper showed up. My sister and I are convinced that Max sent Cooper to her. And also convinced that Max is teaching Cooper to be a very excellent (and very housetrained) puppy, even from the great beyond.

Have you ever been surprised by something wonderful? Or have you ever changed your mind about something you felt sure about? Has your heart ever had to make a big decision? My mom had many mixed feelings about getting a new dog. She was a bit afraid that she might not love him as much as she loved Max, a little nervous about taking on such a big project, and still sad for her loss. But she is an overflowing-with-love person, and so of course Cooper, with Max's help, found her.

If you aren't sure what to write about this week, consider writing about a surprise or a big decision or a change of heart. This could be based on a true story from your life, from someone else's life, or it could be complete fiction. You might even include voices in your poem as I did, using the real words you imagine or remember someone would say or think.

Michelle is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Michelle Kogan with a celebration of "holidaze" through joyful, hopeful, poetry and art. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

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Stories About People We Meet

Three Keys
Photo by Amy LV

(I will record this poem as soon as my voice returns!)

Students - Today's poem idea came from a lucky meeting I had just this week, a meeting with a young boy at East View Elementary in Olean, NY who really does collect keys and brought his collection to school for show and tell earlier this year.  Since I also like keys, we had a little talk about them...and next time we meet, we'll each bring our keys to share.  (I will give him one of mine!)  With permission of his mom, here is a picture of Reagan with his key collection:

The Real Key Collector

Photo by Amy Martin

Each day, every one of us has the chance to chat with people, to learn about their interests and hobbies and loves.  Sometimes one of these chats will flip a switch inside of our writing selves, will cause us to say, "This is so interesting!  I want to write about it!"  But first, we must listen.  Try that this week: listen to people you normally may not have listened to.  Ask questions.  And later, jot what you remember.  Any one of your observations or fascinations may grow into a piece of writing.

Now, please know that this poem is not completely factual.  The only part I know is factual is that there lives a boy with a key collection.  I do not know what his key box is made of, or if his collection includes a diary key or two skate keys.  These parts I made up.  But the boy with the key collection...that's true.  I know him!  Writers can do this -- mix a bit of true and a bit of fiction to make a new story.

If you are ever  unsure of how to begin a poem or a story of your own, try starting with these words -- There once lived a...  As some of you know, I do this often.  You can always erase or cross out or delete this line later if you wish, but it is a good and clear doorway in.

Please visit my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, to find out the winner of the moon journal! 

Laura is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at her generous blog today, celebrating Jona Colson's new book SAID THROUGH GLASS.  Please know that every 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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Write About an Object Within Reach

A Gift from Emily

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Writers often work on more than one project at a time.  At the moment, my main writing focus is revisions for  WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! the forthcoming (2020) companion to READ! READ! READ!, my book with talented illustrator Ryan O'Rourke. (This companion will also be illustrated by Ryan - squee!) As a busy reviser, I am spending lots of time at my desk tinkering with words and lines and still writing new entries in my notebook too.

For today's poem, I simply reached out and grabbed something nearby...this DREAM rock from Emily, a beautiful writer who was once a student of Margaret Simon.  I decided to hold this rock, to look at it, to write about it.  And there you are.

'Not sure what to write about?  Stretch out your arm in all directions.  What objects are nearby?  Choose one of these objects, and write about it.  Start with your senses.  Move to the story.  Hold it up to your ear and listen to what it has to tell you. Draw the object. Consider what, if anything, it makes you feel and remember and wonder. Break all of this thinking up into lines, read it out loud to yourself a few times, maybe add a bit of repetition, and once you like it, you've got yourself a poem.

I chose to give today's title a job.  Its job is to give new, not-in-the-body-of-the-poem-information about my rock: where I keep it.  You may choose to have your title do a bit of extra work too.  Sometimes a title can lift a bit of weight on its own.

A new year often means a new notebook!  If you are starting a new notebook or curious about some newness in my notebooks, please visit my latest post at Sharing Our Notebooks where you will also find a call for notebook keepers willing to share.

Carol is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Beyond Literacy Link. Each week we gather together, sharing poems, books, and poetry ideas all at one blog.  All are always welcome to visit, comment, and post....and I will host next week!

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Poems Can Make Statements

Disconnected

Photo by Louise M.

Students - We all have things in our lives that trouble us, that we see as worries or dangers.  For me, one of these things is the way that technology connects us...but sometimes seems to disconnect us even more.  Today's poem explains the way I feel sometimes.  Perhaps you have felt this way too.  Life is full of ups and downs and beauties and concerns.  

And we can write about any and all of them.

We can comment on the world through our poems.  And when we're lucky, the poems we write will meet others at the right time for them.  Most of the time, we will never even know when this happens.  But we still write.  I would love to read some statement poems by young writers, so if you're writing them, please feel free to share them with me through your teacher.

Writing can lift the world.

Speaking of goodness, over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, I am happy to welcome third grade teacher Dina Bolan and her third grade writers from Alexander Hamilton Elementary School in Glen Rock, New Jersey.  Take a peek at their nonfiction notebook entries, and leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a new notebook of your own!

Thank you to Librarian Jone McCullough for featuring my READ! READ! READ! with illustrator Ryan O'Rourke over at Check It Out today!  There's a giveaway for the book, thanks to Boyds Mills Press, so if you leave a comment by next Thursday...you may win a copy.

Catherine is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup by celebrating the wonderful new book CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR: POEMS OF RACE, MISTAKES, AND FRIENDSHIP by Irene Latham and Charles Waters over at Reading to the Core. Please visit! 

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Poetry Friday & Falling in Love with Meter

POETRY FRIDAY IS HERE! 

WELCOME!

Two Pen Cases

Photo by Amy LV

Students -  I fell in love with a meter last week.  Yep, I did.  I was home, just reading in this book...

Frost Collection

Photo by Amy LV

...and I came across this poem, Asking for Roses, by Robert Frost.  I read it quietly.  And then I read it out loud, just listening to the rolling rhythm. I loved the story, but I really loved the meter.

Asking for Roses - in the Public Domain

(Click to Enlarge)

Photo by Amy LV

And while I was at it, I fell in love with the rhyme scheme too.  I thought it was so NEAT that the word roses ended every single one of the six stanzas.  And that there were six rhymes for the word roses, each ending the second line of each stanza.  I took some notes about Frost's rhymes.

Frost's Rhymes

(Click to Enlarge)

Photo by Amy LV

Then I decided to try my hand at Frost's lovable meter, choosing first my six-times repeated word (writing!) and its associated rhymes.  I needed seven words that rhymed...seven words that could make sense together.  I visited RhymeZone to scout out rhymes, selecting the ones you see on my notebook page below. Honestly, at first, I did not think that the words below would work.  I worried that they would not sound forced.  But I pushed on.

Possible Rhymes

(Click to Enlarge)

Photo by Amy LV

I kept trying, kept writing, kept scribbling.  Below you can see that my writing process really does require significant crossing out, something I find much more comfortable with pen on paper.  Initial drafts for me need some serious black-pen-scribbling.

Poemscribbles

(Click to Enlarge)

Photo by Amy LV

As always, I read and listened, read and listened until I liked how the poem sounded.  Then I took it to my keyboard and continued revising a word here, a word there, over the course of a week.  And I am pretty happy.  My poem's meter learned from another poem's meter.  And I learned too.

It is true that you, too, can fall in love with a poem and a meter, just as I did with Frost's Asking for Roses.  I share a poem about this on the back cover of my new READ! READ! READ! (Wordsong), illustrated by Ryan O'Rourke, and released just this past Tuesday.

Back Cover Snip of READ! READ! READ!

Cookie by MamaSeuffertSweets

Read poems aloud often.  And talk about the different meters you admire with your writing friends. Experimenting with meter is a wondrous way to challenge ourselves.  Allow yourself to breathe in a meter you've never breathed in before, and you may just be surprised by the words that follow!

I am so happy to welcome author Caroline Starr Rose to my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks this month. Please stop by to read her notebook poem, to peek into her notebooks, and to enter her book giveaway! And know...I seek student notebook sharers over there...please consider sharing!

It's my pleasure to host the Poetry Friday roundup here today.  If you wish to share the link to your poetry post, please do so below at the Inlinkz Link-Up, and I will be around to comment today and throughout the weekend.  

All visitors - we welcome everyone to this poemgathering every single week.  Anyone may read.  Anyone may comment.  Anyone may link in!  Happy Poetry Week ahead!

xo,

Amy

An InLinkz Link-up

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Celebrate Summer with FOUR Poetry Peeks Today!

We Did It!

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Life is chock full of moments to feel happy about.  One accomplishment to feel happy about is a writing piece finished and shared with friends or with readers we do not even know.  Today I am grateful to share all kinds of writing by poets and songwriters of different ages.  Today's poem is for the writers of the pieces you are about to read...and for all of you who celebrate writing with me all year long.  Thank you!

Please sit back and take great pleasure in these works...

First, I welcome First Grade Teacher Mark Kehl of Arcade Elementary in Arcade, NY and his young poet, Colton.

From Mark:

Colton had overheard his parents talk about their previous home.  He is only 8 but is writing about a house that they had for 11 years.  He is an old soul.

Welcome, now, to First Grade Teacher Amanda Urbanski and her poets from Cattaraugus - Little Valley Elementary School in Cattaraugus, NY.

A musical welcome to Music Teacher Heather Holden and Songwriter Zoe Lesika of Lindbergh Elementary in Buffalo, NY.  Zoe approached Heather with the beautiful melody she wrote which turns my "Song" from FOREST HAS A SONG into a real song.  It is beautiful, and I am so grateful to Zoe for writing it and for Heather for reaching out and sharing it.

From FOREST HAS A SONG

Illustration by Robin Gourley

(Click to enlarge)

Beautiful melody by Zoe Lesika

And a hearty welcome to Sixth Grade Teacher Helene Albrecht and her two classes of poets from  Oradell Public Schools in Oradell, NJ.  

From Helene:

During Poetry Month we began over a month long unit on poetry where students were immersed in reading and writing different kinds of poetry.  The children listened to music while writing poetry inspired by paint chip colors. They also wrote color poems by Writing the Rainbow, The Poem Farm's challenge to pick a random crayon from a box of crayons to create poems. 

I introduced my students to blackout poetry using different text. The amazing pictures that were created can be found on our Instagram @la.in.6a.  Many of the ideas for poems, such as list poems and just because poems, came from 30 Days of Poetry, a name many of us ELA teachers use to describe our poetry units.  Among others, I used the following websites as resources: Mrs. McKeown's Thirty Days of Poetry, 30 Days of Poetry, 30 Days of Poetry (II).

At the end of our Poetry Unit, we invited the parents in so that we could share our creations. The children chose one of their favorite poems from their Poetry Notebook and created a slide for our class slide shows which you can view below.

Lucky, lucky us.  Thank you to everybody who was part of these beautiful celebrations.  I celebrate and thank all of you today!   Please, kind reader...leave these writers a kind comment.

If you have not yet visited, Linda Rief has opened her gorgeous notebooks this month over at  my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks. Please visit and leave a comment by next Thursday, July 29 to be entered into a giveaway of one of Linda's books.  You can find all kinds of notebook inspiration over there!y

Heidi is hosting today's Poetry Friday by celebrating her students and their over at my juicy little universe.  Visit her warm space for this week's roundup of poetry and friendship.

Happy happy summer to all!  I am on a blogging holiday for July...and maybe longer. During this time, I will complete a writing project for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, draft a proposal with an illustrator, organize the poems already here, and make some jam!  You can still find me at The Poem Farm Facebook Page, Twitter, and Instagram, sharing old poems from the archives and other things I find along the path of summer.  Much joy!

xo,
Amy

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Notebooks are for Flotsam and Jetsam

My Friend Yvonne's Cat...Casey

Photo by Yvonne Sciolino

Students - Last week I had the good fortune to visit five schools in Northern New Jersey.  During a talk at Central School in Glen Rock, NJ, I mentioned how my cat likes to sit on notebooks and computer keyboards, always wanting to be close to writing.  Many students raised their hands sharing that their cats also do this, and so I pulled out my notebook and wrote:

Notebook Jot - Central School, September 28, 2016

Photo by Amy LV

Those four words simmered there for a little while in my notebook, and then this week my friend Yvonne shared a photograph of her cat Casey working away at a laptop.  See?  It's a cat thing.  Cats DO like to write.  Ah HA!

Keeping a notebook, just jotting down the flotsam and jetsam of life is a magical way to capture wayward writing ideas.  Snips of chat, wisps of wonder...slap them all down on the page.  We never know when such bits will come in handy.  The mind is a strange place, with thoughts-like-leaves blowing around here and there.  A notebook helps us corral them, tame them, give them form.

Today's poem is written in rhyming couplets, but stanza four is s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out onto four lines instead of two.  I could have kept it two lines, but I wanted more of a listy feeling in that section of the poem, so dividing each line into two felt right.

In Sharing Our Notebooks (my other blog) news, congratulations to Brenda Harsham, winner of Kiesha Shepard's generous giveaway of a copy of Mary Oliver's book EVIDENCE.  Please don't miss Kiesha's wonderful notebook post, and Brenda...please drop me an e-mail to amy@amylv.com with your snail mail address, and I will share it with Kiesha.

Violet is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at her online home, Violet Nesdoly / poems.  Don't miss the poems, the friends, the book recommendations, the surprises.  All are welcome.  Always!

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Griffins Mills Cemetery: Go Somewhere, Watch People

Griffins Mills Cemetery - West Falls, NY

Photo by Amy LV

Students - About a month ago, I stopped in a local cemetery to walk around, to think.  I often do this; something about the quiet dead reminds me to live while I can, something about the stones and stories speaks to me.  

Well, on this day, I paused in my car for a bit as a woman visited graves and placed flowers -- some on the headstones and some stuck into the dirt, as if she were planting them.  I was moved by her thoughtfulness. When the woman left, I followed her path, reading the names of the people she had visited.  I imagined they were her friends.

I wrote about this in my notebook, drafted an early poem, and revisited it, playing with form and sound and line breaks for today's poem.

Places.  People.  Go somewhere and just watch.  Think about the stories going on all around you, the ones you might miss if you're thinking about what you need to do later or if you're looking down at a phone or a game.

Just go somewhere with your notebook.  Watch people.  The world is full of stories waiting for each one of us.

Many congratulations to Kathleen Sokolowski, winner of Georgia Heard's AWAKENING THE HEART and HEART MAPS!  Thank you again to Georgia for such an inspiring post last week, and thank you to Heinemann for the generous giveaway.  Kathleen - please send me an e-mail to amy@amylv.com with your snail mail address, and I will forward it on to Heinemann.

In my other online home, I am so happy to welcome fellow Poetry Friday blogger, writer, and teacher Kiesha Shepard to Sharing Our Notebooks.  Stop on over there, peek into her notebooks, leave a comment...and maybe, just maybe, thank you to Kiesha, you might win a Mary Oliver poetry book.

If you are a teacher in an urban school, and if you are interested in trying a poetry lesson or two, please send me an e-mail to amy@amylv.com.  I am writing a book which will include student poems, and so this is a possible (unpaid, but cool) publishing opportunity for students in grades 2 - 8.  

Catherine is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Reading to the Core.  All are always welcome to visit the roundup, to meet new poems and friends.

Pink Carnation Gift

Photo by Amy LV

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For My Faraway Friend - Poems about Real Feelings

Cat in La Alberca, Spain

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I just returned from a week in La Alberca, Spain, as part of a program that included both Spanish and English speaking adults.  It was a beautiful time, and in one short week, all of us became good friends.  Now, we are all back or heading back to our own homes, knowing how far away we all live from each other, wondering if we will ever meet again.  It reminded me of my childhood days at summer camp, when a week can begin with complete strangers and end with dear friends.

So, today's poem is about the real feelings I have in my heart right now.  Though I took many actual photographs of the time with my new Spanish and Anglo friends, I also took pictures with my heart.  And those will always be with me.

What feelings are in your heart right now?  There are probably many, feelings right in the living room of your heart, and feelings in the attic too.  Poke around.  You might just find a poem idea in there.

Mary Lee is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Year of Reading.  Visit her place to find out what all of the moo-ing is all about!

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