Tiny Artwork Everywhere! Just Look Around!

Tiny Artwork

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This morning, I went outside to write.  We have had many days of rain in a row, and so it was a treat to sit outside and feel sun on my shoulders. Writing was a little bit tricky because our cats all wanted cuddling, and Pickles kept on rubbing her head against me, begging for attention.  I petted her a bit...but then it was back to writing.

When I looked out across the lawn, I saw the spider web that you see above, just twinkling in the morning light.  It asked me to write about it, and so I did.  As I wrote, I loved the idea of Spider and Dew working together to make something so lovely, a tiny artwork that brightened my day from the very start.

Pay attention to what sits at your feet, flies in your sky, comes across your path. Sometimes it might feel to you as if an idea is saying, "Write about me!"  Always listen.

If you are curious about spiders, as I am, you can learn more about them at Wonderopolis:

Why Do Spiders Spin Webs?
Why Don't Spiders Get Caught in Their Webs?
How Strong is Silk?

Donna is hosting today's Poetry Friday party over at Mainely Write.  Visit her place to celebrate poems and poetry with friends old and new.

I wish you the eyes to find tiny artworks in your life all week, all life long!  Keep a list...who knows what it any one idea will become?

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Day 14 - National Poetry Month 2015 - Sing That Poem!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Welcome to Day 14 of this Year's Poem Farm Project!

Find the Complete April 2015 Poem and Song List Here

First, I would like to welcome all old and new friends to The Poem Farm this April. Spring is a busy time on all farms, and this one is no exception.  Each April, many poets and bloggers take on special poetry projects, and I'm doing so too.  You can learn all about Sing That Poem! and how to play on my April 1st post, where you will also find the list of the whole month's poems and tunes as I write and share them.  If you'd like to print out a matching game page for yourself, you can find one here, and during April 2015, you'll be able to see the song list right over there in the left hand sidebar.

Yesterday's poem was Painter.  Here is the tune that goes along with it, below. Did you figure it out?

This sound file has been removed as it hopes to appear

in my forthcoming book, WITH MY HANDS: POEMS ABOUT MAKING THINGS.  

I am sorry, and I will try to write a new one with the same meter for this spot.

xo, a.

Guess what?  Mrs. Holt's reading-loving students from Ladue Fifth Grade Center in St. Louis, MO figured it out, and they were kind enough to share their voices with us here today.  Right now, these students are studying poetry, writing their own poems, and enjoying many mentor texts to understand form and topic choice.  As to how they solved yesterday's tune-puzzle, Mrs. Holt writes, "We don't have any extraordinary tips for figuring out the song, but our strategy was to try out different rhythms from your list until we thought it made sense."  You can hear their voices below.

This sound file has been removed as it hopes to appear

in my forthcoming book, WITH MY HANDS: POEMS ABOUT MAKING THINGS.  

I am sorry, and I will try to write a new one with the same meter for this spot.

xo, a.

Thank you so much to these students for singing with me today.  I welcome any classes to do the same; simply send me your SoundCloud (easy free app) link in an e-mail, and I will include your voices here too.

And here, below, is today's poem.  Look at the song list in the sidebar or on your matching form to see if you can puzzle out which tune matches this one.

National Library Week Web Badge

from the American Library Association

Students - Happy National Library Week!  This is a special week to celebrate the wonder of free libraries, fabulous librarians, all of the good people who work in libraries and all of the resources we find there.  Today's poem is a poem to honoring libraries and librarians.  

There are times when it just feels right to write a poem for a special person or a special day.  You might think about those you love or about holidays that mean a lot to you or well, you might make up your own celebration, as the character does in I'M IN LOVE WITH CELEBRATIONS by Byrd Baylor.  It is a joy to celebrate others and things we care about through poetry.

Read More at IndieBound

You will notice that today's poem has a repeating stanza, or chorus.  This has been something new for me this month.  Usually in poetry, I do not include a repeating stanza.  But sometimes, in these poemsongs, I do.

Below, you will see a new book of poems about celebrations.  It was just born this National Poetry Month!  Happy birthday, book!  Congratulations again to Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, who brought together many many poets and put together this beautiful volume in both English and Spanish for all of us.

Read More at Pomelo Books

Photo by Amy LV

Now, go find a librarian to hug.  Say, "Happy Library Week!"  This is important.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

My Little Sketch - Writing About Art

Little Sketch

by Amy LV

Students - I do not draw often, but when I do...I am always happy that I did. Drawing, like writing, stills time, saves a moment.  When you go back to something you have drawn or written, you once again live that time, once again see that kitten, once again feel the boom of thunder inside of your heart. Many people say that writing allows a person to "live twice" and the same is true of making art.

Today's verse is simply a small poem about a thought that came into my mind when I looked at the sketch I drew last month on the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage.  Try sketching a leaf or a flower as you study it, really observing it from this angle and that.  Then, a week or more later, look at your drawing and write about what you see.  This way, you will live three times: once in the seeing, once in the drawing, once in the writing!

Making things helps us know who we are.  I wish you a summer of making many things: forts, paintings, jam, jokes, and new good friends.

Catherine is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup (she and Carol switched) over at Catherine Johnson.  Visit her cozy nook to catch up with this week's Poetry Friday offerings 'round the Kidlitosphere.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Quilt Map & Spark 18!

Untitled

acrylic, some pencil, and collage on board. 8" x 8"

by Amy Souza

 

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

Students - Once again, I have had the fun of participating in SPARK, brainchild of Amy Souza.  In this round, Spark 18, I happened to be paired up (again, yay!) with artist Amy Souza herself.  Ten days ago, she sent me a digital file with the above painting, and it was my job to write a poem (it could have been anything) inspired by her piece.  Now, on day 10, I am allowed to share it!   Many other Spark participants (82 this round) are also sharing their collaborations and will be posting the to the Spark website throughout the week.

Spark is a refreshing and invigorating community event here on the Internet, because it presses a writer or an artist to go in a new direction than he or she might have otherwise.  When I first looked at this painting, I fell in love with the colors...then I found a chameleon.  Later, I saw a quilt.  Then, one morning the rhyme patches/matches took hold in my head and Amy's image combined with my wordplay brought "Quilt Map" to life.

Here are the words I chose very carefully for this poem:  stitches, swatches, matching, patches, snuggle, batches, stacks, watch, sew, grow, map, flannel, patterns, lap, wore, tore, seas, snatches, quilted, land.  Do you notice anything special about any of them?  

Oh, how I adore shopping at the word store...where everything is free!

This poem is written in quatrains, except for the last stanza which I wanted to stretch out a little bit.  If you listen to me reading it, you will hear how the last two lines have a bit more of a pause in there...because those lines are the most important part.

This time of year always makes me think of making things: cookies, decorations, dinners for many, gifts! What do you like to make?  Have you ever written about something you made?  Have you ever made a poem as a gift?  Trust me - people like it.

You can see that her very vibrant work made me think of a quilt!

You can see all of my past SPARK collaborations here, and on Monday in this space, look for Amy Souza's artwork inspired by my poem, "Wherever You Are -."

If you have not yet visited Sharing Our Notebooks to read about Mary Lee Hahn's notebooks, she's still there with a a wonderful post and a giveaway too.

Robyn is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Read, Write, Howl!  Stop on by her place to learn the poetry news in the Kidlitosphere today.  You can also visit Robyn at her very cool etsy shop, artsyletters.

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!

D is for DRAW - Dictionary Hike

DRAW

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Once again, I was very happy to point to today's word!  (One might think that I was CHOOSING these words - they are so good - but I am not.) When I sat to write this, I first began writing about my own experience of drawing, then I wrote about drawing with a grandmother, and finally I arrived at a cavechild artist.  Prehistoric paintings enchant me, and stories swirl all around them.  And so, I started wondering, "Did cavepeople ever feel nervous about what to write and draw on their walls?"  Sometimes I'm unsure of what to write and draw.  Perhaps they were too.

You may notice two things.  One is that this is a story poem, a fiction story poem much like my poem for letter B.  This one, however, has a little moral at the end: Someday/we will all be gone./But art we make lives on and on. Consider trying this.  After writing your poem, ask, "Does this verse have a moral?  Would it make sense to state the moral directly or to let the readers figure it out for themselves?"   Each of Aesop's fables tells the moral right at the end.

Another thing you may notice is my use of italics.  Many times, I use italics to indicate that someone is talking.  I think that italics look neater in a poem than quotation marks.  So, if you were wondering, "Why those italics?" now you know.

You can see pictures and read more about cave paintings at Wikipedia, in this Google archive of photographs, or at the Bradshaw Foundation.

This week, if you visit Sharing Our Notebooks, you will be able to hear Janet talk all about how she (doesn't) keep notebooks, the way she revisits old ideas, and you (like me) will learn some great revision strategies for your own poems.  You can also leave a comment on that post through Thursday to be entered in a drawing for four of Janet's books, generously donated by Janet!

You can win these books over at Sharing Our Notebooks!

Each day of this project, Lisa V. will write and post a haiku for that day's word at her blog.  You can read all of these over at Lisa's Poem of the Week.  Please join us and share in the comments if you wish!

If you would like to read my poems for letters A, B, and C, just take a look at the upper left hand sidebar!  Tomorrow we hike to the Land of Letter E.

And if you look at the (new!) top tabs, you will see that The Poem Farm is becoming searchable by topic and poetic technique.  Slowly, I am linking to all that is here as I hope this will make this resource more valuable for teachers and young writers. If you have a suggestion for me, please share as I welcome ideas!

Please share a comment below if you wish!

You can like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poemlove...

The Artist Speaks in Poem #326

Pencil

Photo by Amy LV

Students - as I sat down to write yesterday, I felt discouraged.  The past couple of weeks have brought some manuscript rejections, and I was wondering about my own ability and if I could find another poem to write.  But a promise is a promise!  And I believe that the only way to get better at something is to keep doing it.

So, when I settled down on the hardwood floor (by the heater) with a pencil and stack of unlined paper, I just listened.  And this artist spoke to me.  In a way, you could say that today's poem is a pep talk to myself and to all of us who wish to make things, all of us who worry that we don't measure up.  But daily work, perspiration, and dedication make us who we are.  Even when we are frightened, we must show up to our work.  This is how it grows.

When you are feeling down, listen to the advice that echoes from deep within you.  Listen with your pencil, and maybe one of those voices-from-beyond will pour out onto the page.  Maybe it will give you strength, as I got from this artist voice.

Cynthia Rylant's picture book, ALL I SEE is one of my favorite books about the power and mystery of art.

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I claim to be a man of less than average ability....I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make  the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.  - Mahatma Gandhi

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What Patterns Do You See? Poem #228

Quilt from Prairie Piecegoods in Florence, Nebraska

Photo by Amy LV

Last week I taught a workshop in Omaha, Nebraska, quite far from home.  I've been there before, but on the way from the airport to the hotel, the car got lost.  (It was was trying to think of poem ideas.)  Anyway, I decided not to stop for directions until a most interesting shop presented itself...and in the small town of Florence, Nebraska, Prairie Piecegoods appeared.  This enchanting store is a cross between the Olesons' shop from the LITTLE HOUSE books and a museum, and I could not get enough.

New Favorite Shop

Photo by Amy LV

 Inside Prairie Piecegoods, Florence, NE

Photo by Amy LV

Owner Connie Rose (who could not have a prettier name) allowed me to take all kinds of photographs from spool jars to buttons to fabric bolts.  What did I buy?  Some underwear buttons, a blue mason jar, and some popping corn...still on the ear.  Connie wrapped these wares into a brand new potato bag, and I was off toward Omaha.  I will post more of these photos someday.

Students - I remember patterns from the old linoleum floor in my childhood kitchen, our blue floral couch, my pink rose wallpaper.  I remember the pattern on a sweater Aunt Kay knitted for me, my first button-to-the-side plaid blouse, our old purple chair.  My husband and I have talked about tracing patterns with our eyes over and over until they became ingrained in us.  Do you do this?  What do you see?  Today's poem, "Everywhere Patterns", came from simply this - what I see.  Oftentimes we are so used to our daily lives that we might not realize what we see.  Yet these objects, these patterns and bowls and blankets, these windowsills and lilac bushes and skyscrapers full of windows are worthy, indeed, of writing.

Here is a gorgeous book by Cynthia Rylant about seeing.

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As a student at Geneseo, I remember my friend and roomie, Stacey Buck, sharing that her favorite poem was "Patterns" by Amy Lowell.   I have thought of this so many times since those college years.

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Triple Feature! - Moon & Moon & Moon

"Everynight Everywhere" was Poem #203 in my year-long series to write and post a poem each day.  It was an inspiration piece for SPARK 10, and artist Amy Souza had nine days to respond to it with a work of art.  Well, she did, and I could not be happier!  Here is her whimsical response:

SPARK 10 Painting 

by Amy Souza

Yesterday, wondering what to write for Halloween, I suddenly thought..."Hmmm...maybe I could do another SPARK from Amy's painting!"  After all, it had been flashing across my mind continuously since I'd first seen it...why not?  So with Amy's joyful colors, a moon, Sallye's students' mask poems, and Halloween on my mind, Poem #215 jumped forth.

There's still one more SPARK to share from my second pairing...look for it sometime this week.

Students - I can't say enough what a good time this was.  The anticipation of working with a partner, feeling so curious about what she would create, hoping dearly that she would like my poems...it felt very exciting.  Even if you don't do this as a school project, you might want to try it with a friend.  Wouldn't this be a fabulous pen pal project?  Let's think about that.

Teachers - if you are a WNY teacher who attended the NFRC conference and are visiting The Poem Farm for the first time, welcome!  Many teachers share these poems via their SMART Boards, hung as classroom posters, or in centers.  I do my best to include a little writing tip or story each day, and on frequent Poetry Fridays, teachers share their best poetry ideas.

Happy Halloween to all!  Don't forget to say "Hello" to the moon!

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Drawing - MyPoWriYe #119

Oak Leaf

by Amy LV

The more I write and teach writing, the more I come to believe in the power of all arts to help us see and become.  Yesterday, working with kindergarten teachers in the Iroquois Central School District, teachers shared ways they have taught children about drawing and expressing themselves through pictures.  If you teach primary grades, these two books will help you with this tremendously.

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 Katie Wood Ray's newest book, IN PICTURES AND IN WORDS, teaches us and our students how to explore illustrations to better understand writing craft.  Through a study of picture books, we learn how artists and writers use different points of view, pull in closely, create scenes, and much more.  Katie walks us through several possible picture-lessons and includes much student work and many literature recommendations.

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This book, TALKING, DRAWING, WRITING, by Martha Horn and Mary Ellen Giacobbe teaches us how we can work with our students to create a community around storytelling, drawing, and writing.  Based on a study of kindergarteners and how they learn to write through talking, drawing, and then writing, Martha and Mary Ellen share stories, lessons, and specific suggestions for working with young writers.

Students - Drawing is so much like writing.  When you sit with a pad and pencil and study your cat...just trying to get that fur on the page, as fluffy as it is in real life, you are observing like a writer.  When you cock your head to get a good angle on the plant you are sketching, you are watching like a writer.  When you write a poem about your cat, you are an artist.  Artists are writers of images, and writers are artists in words.

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Teachers and other grown ups - Hannah Hinchman's LIFE IN HAND: CREATING THE ILLUMINATED JOURNAL, is one for you adults who wish to see more, slow down, and perhaps begin drawing in your own notebook.  When I read this book many years ago, I drew the Oak leaf above in its accompanying journal.  It's true what they say, sometimes to really see something...
we need to draw it.

Today I posted a quote on The Poem Farm's facebook page:

"You are kind to painters...
and I tell you the more I think,
the more I feel that there is nothing
more truly artistic than to love people."

- Vincent VanGogh to his brother

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