Photo by Amy LV
Students - Last evening, after dinner, I took our dogs Cali and Sage for a walk around the back pasture. Once again, I fell in love with the variety of autumn wildflowers we always see at this time of year in Western New York. Walking, as Mary Ann Hoberman says, is a way to find new ideas, and last night, the white asters somehow reminded me of stars which got me wondering about constellations and how they each got their names.
When I came back into the house, I looked up all kinds of sites about constellations and learned a lot about them. What I learned most, however, is that I long to and plan to learn more.
My first draft of this poem was all one stanza, but the more I revised and reread, the more I wanted to break up the parts: the wish, the story of way back when, and the return to now...when we cannot know the real origin stories of these wondrous pictures in our skies.
When you're not sure what to write, you might consider starting with a walk, a wish, or a wonder. Each day is full of so many, and the more we walk, wish and wonder, the more wishes and wonders we will find.
In other news:
I am so happy to be sharing a collaboration between my daughter Georgia and me at Penny Klosterman's blog today. Penny has a superfun series titled A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt, featuring art/writing collaborations between her and her great nephew Landon. A part of this series includes Guest Episodes featuring various writer/artist family pairs. Thank you, Penny, for having us at your place today!
At Jama's Alphabet Soup, Jama Rattigan has a beautiful post today celebrating libraries, librarians, and the new JUMPING OFF LIBRARY SHELVES by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Jane Manning. You can read three poems from the book in this post, including my "Book Pillows."
At Jama's Alphabet Soup, Jama Rattigan has a beautiful post today celebrating libraries, librarians, and the new JUMPING OFF LIBRARY SHELVES by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Jane Manning. You can read three poems from the book in this post, including my "Book Pillows."
This week, you can also find a great new post at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks. Cynthia Grady, author of I LAY MY STITCHES DOWN: POEMS OF AMERICAN SLAVERY shares some of her favorite notebooks, behind the scenes of this beautiful book, and she offers a giveaway too. Don't miss! Too, please remember that you and your notebook keeper friends are always welcome to post in that space. Just let me know if you are interested.
Next week - September 27 - October 3 - is Banned Books Week. If you plan to be talking or thinking about banned books, here are two poems from The Poem Farm archives:
It is, of course, Poetry Friday, and that means that there's a roundup. To visit this week's poetry goodness all around the Kidlitosphere, head straight to Poetry for Children, where Sylvia and Janet are hosting the festivities.
Please share a comment below if you wish.
