by Amy LV
Students - I got the idea for today's poem from, um...well...resting. Here's the story. This morning, I was all set, ready to post a poem that I had written long before today. I had a poem, a picture, and thoughts. It was just about ready to publish here. Then I realized, "Hey...this poem would fit well in my forthcoming book, WITH MY HANDS: POEMS ABOUT MAKING THINGS. I should see if my editor likes it enough to include it." So I sent that poem to my editor at Clarion. And so my post idea for here was gone. See, a poem going in a book needs to be saved for the book. Back to square one.
This evening, sitting by the heater, I was not sure where to begin. My head rested on my arms, and I flipped through my notebook only to find this little sketch of a mouse looking at the sky. Then the poem just grew as I closed my eyes and eveningdreamed. It is similar to some other poems I have written, most notably one about a star and a starfish that I cannot completely recall. I seem to like the idea of small creatures looking up at the sky. How could I not?
I rather floated my way through this poem. For now, my favorite parts of it are "so full of woe" and those last three lines that break the rhyme pattern: I'm small. I'm small. I'm small.
Today's poem is a story poem that grew from a sketch. You might wish to make a sketch or drawing and then write from it. You might wish to go back to an old sketch or drawing and write from that. You see, ideas come from everywhere...even old doodles.
In happy writing news, I am thrilled to share that just today, I completed revisions for my forthcoming READ! READ! READ!, a book of poems about reading to be published by Wordsong. I can't wait to tell you who the illustrator will be. I can't wait to find out myself.
Anastasia is hosting today's Poetry Friday extravaganza over at Booktalking #kidlit. Head on over to check out the Kidlitosphere poem fun for this week!
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