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.

Weaving True with Dream - Writing from Stories

Love
Photo by Amy LV

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

Students - This poem is based on a true story that my teacher friend, Nicolette, told me just this fall.  One of Nicolette's students wrote a beautiful story about cutting a piece of her blanket to give to her little brother when he got hurt.  I have been thinking about this story ever since I first heard it, and even though I didn't really see it happen, writing lets me pretend.  See, I know that the first part is true, and I imagined the second part with the "I love yous".  Writing lets us weave true with dream.

I probably also wrote this poem because my friend Karen recently told me a kindness story about her sons.  You can't hear or read or write too many stories or poems about kindness. We can make the world a more gentle place by sharing the kindness stories we see and hear.

You may be wondering why this poem is so full of the word 'and'.  'And' is a word that I usually try to minimize - even eliminate - in my poems, but I wanted today's poem to have an almost breathless-storytelling feeling, to just roll away...and so I left all of those 'ands'  in there.

When I finished writing today's verse, I realized that it had a familiar sound.  Something about the rhythm made me think about a poem I already know.  I think I am being reminded of a David McCord poem I love very much, "I Have a Book" which ends like this, also with a rolling away feeling -

Now there isn’t any lady
and there isn’t any knight,
and there never was a horse,
so there never was a fight.
And the book all by itself
is sort of lonely on the shelf.

Do pay attention to the stories you hear and watch.  It is not necessary for us to only write about what happens directly to us.  Writers can be moved and changed and inspired by others and others' stories and lives.  Pay attention to kindness. Write about it.

Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, I welcome teacher Kimberly Kuntz with her prayer journals.  Come and read about another way to keep a notebook in your life.

Today's Poetry Friday roundup is over at The Opposite of Indifference with Tabatha Yeatts. Visit her inspiring online home to find more poetry and poetry friends.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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