Day 25 - National Poetry Month 2015 - Sing That Poem!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Welcome to Day 25 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 Rattlesnake, Rattlesnake.  Here is the tune that goes along with it, below. Did you figure it out?

Ms. Simon's students from Jefferson Island Road Elementary in New Iberia, Lousiana have figured it out! You can hear them singing this silly tune below. Well done!

Welcome to Mrs. Doele's third grade class from Wealthy Elementary in East Grand Rapids, MI.  They are singing about our dear rattlesnake in full voice here.  Such fun!  Thank you to all of the classes who have taken on these challenges; I have truly loved sharing this songpath with you.

           

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.

Great Grandma Elsa's Handprint

Handprint Taken by Edythe Toebe

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This poem is dedicated to my friends who have lost loved ones. When something sad happens, writing a poem can help you understand your own feelings.

Today's poemsong grew from a couple of places.  One is the heartplace in that several of my friends have lost loved ones recently.  When I was a young girl, and now too, I would think about how strange it is that in the very same moment on the very same day, one family somewhere will rejoice in a new baby when somewhere else, at that exact time, another family will mourn the loss of someone dear.

This poem also grew from admiration I have for Marie Howe's poem, My Dead Friends, which is about asking the dead for advice.  This part is especially meaningful to me.

From Marie Howe's Poem, My Dead Friends

If you read many many poems, then bits and scraps of these poems will come out of you in lines of your own poetry.  So, read great things.  Ponder these great things, and let them become part of who you are.

If you were wondering about the photograph accompanying today's poemsong, it is an inking of my Great Grandmother Elsa's hand with a flower from our front garden. My Great Aunt, Edythe Toebe (Aunt Tom), read palms for a while, and she kept a book of inked handprints along with her readings.  Most of the people were friends of hers, people I do not know, and someday I may look them up.

Would you like a hint about the remaining six tunes for Sing That Poem?  Here, in this last week of Sing That Poem...is the biggest hint I've given this month.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Day 20 - National Poetry Month 2015 - Sing That Poem!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Welcome to Day 20 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 Spice Song.  Here is the tune that goes along with it, below. Did you figure it out?

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.

Love Lasts

by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem is for all of us who have lost people.  Some of us have lost loved ones to death, some to moving, some for a time to prison, some to an argument...there are many ways to lose a loved one and that feeling of wanting to be near again is one that people of all ages can understand.

The other week at a school assembly, a young boy said to me, "My mother told me that if someone you love dies or goes away, you can keep the person inside of you with your love."  He is right.  

Poems grow from feelings.  And poems can heal feelings too.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Day 12 - National Poetry Month 2015 - Sing That Poem!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Welcome to Day 12 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 In the Harbor.  Here is the tune that goes along with it, below. Did you figure it out?

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.

One Pen at a Time

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Yesterday I began trying to write to the tune/beat of a different song, but you know what?  I just wasn't in the mood for that tune, so I switched to this one instead.  It is funny to me that one tune would not somehow appeal on a certain day, but this is exactly what happened.  Now that other meter is all counted out and waiting for the just-right day.

I do adore the idea of octopi and writing and ink.  In fact, I wrote another octopus-writer poem back in 2010, and you can read it here if you wish.  It is interesting to hold onto your writing, students, because if you keep at it, you will notice themes in your own work.  Who knows? Maybe in 50 years, I'll have a complete collection of octopus-writer poems.

Did you know that the preferred plural of 'octopus' is actually 'octopuses' and not 'octopi'?  Here is why.

from Grammarist.com

Well, I certainly AM a "fan of quirky words" - so much so that this seven letter delight landed in my thirty-five word poem not once, but twice!

Which quirky words do you like?  Consider making a list of these and then just choose one to write from. Simply place one of those quirky words atop a fresh page...and go! Writing from one word often yields surprising poemjourneys.

There is a second poem to go with today's song, and it is actually the first one I wrote.  You can read/sing it below.  I am curious as to what you think of the differences between these two and if you prefer one to the other.

Hope and Eli at Camp - Summer 2000

Photo by Amy LV

Please share a comment below if you wish.

One - A Sad and Happy Cat Day

Little Wilbur

Photo by Amy LV

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

Students - Friday was a sad day and a happy day.  The sad part was that kittenWilbur died. He was the runt of Freya's litter, and he lived for six weeks. We'd named him after Wilbur from CHARLOTTE'S WEB, in the hopes that he too would survive.  But it was not to be. We tucked Wilbur's body into a tiny box, and in the rain, Mark buried him in our little graveyard underneath the pear tree.

The saddest picture we've had here at our farm in a long time is the picture of mother Freya licking her little Wilbur, trying bring him back to life.  Writing today's poem helped me to do something with the teary feelings   I held in my heart that night.

The happy news was that Phoebe (Freya's sister), who had two dark gray kittens as of Friday morning, gave birth to two more (sandy and orange) on Friday!  This was a complete surprise as we did not know cats could do that.  The four new babies are doing well, and the three (six week) old kittens are now ready for homes.

Update on May 14, 2013 - Third grade teacher Jennifer Wright and her students read this poem and allowed it to inspire their own heartfelt and honest poems of loss.  Jennifer explains her lesson and shares some very beautiful poems at her wise blog, Teaching Simplicity. 

Phoebe and Her Four Kittens

Photo by Amy LV

Today I bring you two poems by student friends.  The first is by fifth grader Grace McCormick, who some of you remember from Sharing Our Notebooks.  Her class decorated their door to match FOREST HAS A SONG cover, and Grace's poem was written on one of the leaves.  This joyful verse celebrates red boots, something the girl in my book wears on many many pages.

Red Boots

by Grace McCormick

Dakota's poem comes to us from Silver Star School in Vancouver, Washington.  School librarian Ms. Mac from Check It Out always invites anyone who wishes to request a poem postcard in April with a poem written by a student in her school.  I was lucky enough to receive this powerful one.

by Dakota M.

Thank you, young poets, for sharing your poems with all of us!  We are very grateful.

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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Blue Moon - A Goodbye/Hello Poem

Blue Moon

by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Astronaut Neil Armstrong died this week.  Because I was born in 1970, I do not remember watching Neil walking on the moon (he was the first person to ever do this!) but I have thought about him a lot, especially this week as I listened to npr and looked up at the sky.  A private man, Neil Armstrong did something that only 12 people have ever done.

Last night was a blue moon, the second full moon in August.  And in Western New York, it was a stunner, perfectly bright and clear. So beautiful that our children told me stories they've learned in school of "the rabbit in the moon" and "the grandmother in the moon."  Thinking about Neil's death and this month's blue moon, I began wondering if the moon chose to honor Neil's memory, to welcome Neil with a second full appearance this August.

Today's poem grew from a blending of current events and natural events and my questions.  It is also a poem of goodbye.  People often write poems to honor another's memory; this is one way to heal.

Thank you to my daughter Georgia, for it is she who said, "I love it when the moon looks like a dime!"

To read all about Apollo 11, check out NASA's wonderful student features.  To learn more, check out this NASA page.  If you would like to learn more about blue moons, check out Info. Please.  And I love to listen to Nanci Griffith singing Once in a Very Blue Moon.

Many congratulations to Theresa (Looking for the Write Words)....winner of last week's giveaway of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY (see sidebar)! Today is my last giveaway of this new book.  To win, please just leave a comment on today's post, and one commenter - to be announced next Friday - will receive a copy of this new anthology.

In other Poetry Friday news, you can now apply to become a Poetry Friday Ambassador.  This sounds like a lot of fun to me, and there is more information here!

Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, I welcome author Peter Salomon and congratulate him on his forthcoming book, HENRY FRANKS. Stop by and read about his first notebooks and enter yourself in the giveaway of his new book, coming out next week!

Sylvia is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Poetry for Children. May your weekend and school year be full of poetry.  Beginning on Monday, I will be back and posting here 3x/week.

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!

Goodbye, Irwin.

 

Irwin 2001 - 2012

Photo by a VanDerwater Child

Irwin's Milkhouse

Painting by Alix Martin

Irwin's House for Christmas
Photo by Amy LV

Irwin 2001 - 2012

Photo by a VanDerwater Child

Students - Our family lost a friend today. Irwin was our oldest pet, and a very gentle guy. Whenever children would visit our home, they would rush to Irwin's milkhouse and hop in with him. Then Irwin would get all kinds of cuddles and kisses. He loved celery, dandelions, and we like to think...us. Just this spring, he became friends with our cat Pickles who liked to visit him in the milkhouse too. Pickles is scared of most every animal, so her trust of Irwin is another testament to his sweet ways.

Today's poem is just me talking to Irwin. Poems are good like that - they kind of hold you when you need it. We held Irwin for a while last night, and today when we found him still in his hay, we were not surprised. Rest well, little furball.

Mary Lee is hosting today's Poetry Friday round up over at A Year of Reading. Stop on by her place to find out about today's poetry goodies.

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!