Names Matter - MyPoWriYe #116

Back in earlier summer, we cooked some dandelions, and I wrote a bit about eating weeds.  Well here they are again, popping up like....oh, never mind!  Seriously, though, I think the idea for this poem came from a conversation with a friend about weeds taking over her garden.  This year our yard has many weeds, more than non-weeds.  This year, I only weed The Poem Farm!  Sometimes I feel sorry for weeds...they need friends too.

Students - Structure-wise, you may have noticed that this poem goes back and forth as a conversation between the person and the flower-weed.  It's a lot of fun to write like this, imagining what two animals or objects or people would say to each other and building a poem right from this imagined talk.

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Last Day of School - MyPoWriYe #84

Here in New York State, many schools end their 2009-2010 year today.  This poem is for you - students, teachers, and parents too.

For me, a new school year always meant fresh new school supplies.  By June, those supplies were tattered and pretty-near used up.  But my mind was one year shinier and smarter, even though the paper was gone and my metal lunchbox was dented.

Students - this is a list poem.  It's almost a check-off list of what's happened to what during the year.  This is an interesting way to organize a poem, by a list.  Just choose a topic and think of lists you might make around that topic.  Then...play!

Summer is here, but The Poem Farm will continue to grow.  Please know, students, that I welcome you to stop by during the summer.  And here's a fun reading project for you (and your teachers).  My daughter Georgia and I would like to recommend Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook, by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter.  Georgia's ten, and this is her favorite book about writing.  For two great reviews, read what Stacey has to say at Two Writing Teachers and Kate's words at Book Aunt.

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You can visit the authors' blogs (chock full of ideas and tips) at Anne's Journal and Ellen's Journal.  These two authors even have a website for the book.  Check it out here.

Partway through reading Spilling Ink, Georgia stopped to write this poem.  She didn't revise a word, and I just typed it when she came to me with her spiral.  A poetry book review was born...

Who Would Write?

Who would write

Instead of read?

The writers have written for you.
They've got all the ideas.

They've got all the plots.
They have all the stuff

that I haven't got.

But why would I read?

Why couldn't I write

my own?

They don't have to write for me.

I've got ideas too.

I also have plots.

So why write?

Why not?

Georgia VanDerwater

Happy summer to you all!  If you're down under, a happy winter to you!  I hope that wherever you are, you keep visiting throughout the next few months.  I do so like having you here.

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