I Hear the First Robin - Listening for Poems

Happy Spring!

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Spring is reaching Western New York!  And I am filled with joy.  And sometimes...when one is filled with joy, one must write a a poem about it.  Just the other day, we counted four robins sitting on a patch of grass (a patch of grass, not snow) in our yard.  It was fun to just count them, to think of all of the flowers and birds and goodnesses that will be bursting back to life in the next few weeks.

When I sat down to write yesterday, I began by imagining that I was hearing the flapping of robin wings from a far far distance, that I could hear spring coming, flap-by-flap, all the way to New York State.  That idea may find its way into another poem, but somehow, this robin in the verse above just wanted to sing its own poem today.

Listen for the poem that wants to be written.  For what wants to be written might surprise you.  You might not even know that you have a robin - or a lightning bolt - or a seashell - or a baseball - or a bowl of ice cream - living inside of you, waiting to speak.

We call these poems, poems that are in the voice of other beings or objects, persona poems or mask poems.  When you write such a poem, you have the opportunity to try on a new voice, to imagine what it would be like to speak and think and feel as another.  That's just neat, don't you think?

To learn more about the American Robin and to listen to its voice, visit All About Birds, the website of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Happy first day of spring...from me and from the robin too!

In book sharing news, I have a giveaway going through the rest of today for two copies of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR CELEBRATIONS from pomelo books - one student edition and one teacher/librarian edition.  

Available through QEP Books

This is a big book full of fun and thoughtful poems for all year long, in both English and Spanish.  The poems were selected by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong creators of Poetry Friday Anthology series, and I am excited to have written the October 31 poem for Halloween.  If you would like to be entered to win a copy of this book, please leave a comment on the giveaway post at The Poem Farm Facebook page, a place where I share all kinds of poems and poetry news.  I'll announce the winner there tomorrow.

Catherine is hosting today's Poetry Friday party over at Reading to the Core.  All are welcome to stop by her place and join us as we pass the poetry cookie plate.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Poetry Friday Bursts With New Life!

Henry, Georgia, & Salamander Eggs

Photo by Amy LV

Students - sometimes a writer just can't help but to write about what's under her or his nose!  And this season in Western New York is all about new life and rain.  Last week we saw a newborn fawn drinking milk from its mother by the side of the road, watched salamanders hatch from jelly eggs, and were stunned by the hills covered in blossoms.  I could not help but think to myself, "the apple trees are gussied up in prom dresses!"  Are you wondering what to write about?  Here is a two word piece of advice: 

Go outside.

Take a walk around.  Sniff the air.  As my colleague Bill Michalek says, if you sit in one place for a while outdoors...something will happen.  An animal will pass by, or perhaps you will see movement in a tree branch overhead.  A chipmunk will pop out of a hole.  A bird will cock its head and grab a bit of twig.  Be still.

Go outside.  The world is waiting for you.

Speaking of waiting, a few people have asked what I have been doing since MyPoWriYe ended.  Lately I have been working on a couple of picture books...scratching away, revising, reading aloud to myself, and crossing every finger and toe on my body that one will find a home.  

For next week's Poetry Friday, we will be treated to the work of Braden Semlitsch, a first grade poet from Wales Primary School in the Iroquois Central School District along with his mother Terry Semlitsch and his classroom teacher, Peggy Long.

Heidi is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at My Juicy Little Universe.  Join the fun and see what's happening poetry-wise in the KidLitosphere!

(Please click on POST A COMMENT below to share a thought.)

Poem #350 (a Haiku) Welcomes Snowdrops

Our First Snowdrops

Photo by Amy LV

Today I offer my first haiku of 350 poems.  This week we have been simply tickled to see our first red-winged blackbirds, our first snowdrops, our first of everything spring!  Such a newness creeps into one's very marrow, and so this poem called out to me in the shower yesterday morning.

Students - if you are a maker of poems, a maker of stories, a maker of music, or a maker of art, be aware that you can make in your mind even as you do other things.  When you shower, walk to school, knit, ride your bike...you can think about what you are making and let those thoughts simmer in your mind like a fine rich soup.

For a wonderful radio show about haiku, listen to Tom Ashbrook's On Point - Haiku and You.  For an article about writing haiku, visit Teach Poetry K-12.

If you would like to hear a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a snowdrop, visit the Hans Christian Andersen Center, and read The Snowdrop.

Did you know that you can press flowers into pictures?  My husband's Aunt Pat has done this, hammering flowers onto fabric, making beautiful art.  The photo below is not near as lovely as the real thing, but can you believe that these flowers are all made by pounding petals with a hammer?

At Rhythm of the Home, you can read and follow a very clear tutorial about how to do this yourself.

 Pounded Flower Art by Aunt Pat Rybke

Photo by Amy LV

Dale Sondericker, my farmer-teacher inspiration for yesterday's poem, Manure Day, sent me a note last night - 

It will make you happy to know that the first time I heard it (the poem) was when I was in the tractor spreading a load of manure at 5:40 this morning.  My wife went on your blog and read it to me over the phone.

He's right.  That made me happy.

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Recycle with Birds - Poem #342

Nest Woven with Wool

Photo by Amy LV

Students - this poem came from sitting and thinking in a spot of sun.  I was listening to the spring-hopeful birds, looking out of our living room window, and I remembered the time my children and I saved their hair to leave out for the birds.  One word dipped into another, and my thoughts turned to how birds and animals are wise and resourceful in using their surroundings.  

This poem is about something I admire about birds.  What animal do you admire?  Why?  Is this something you might write about?

In the nest above, you can see a lot of sheep wool.  I've posted this photo before...I love it!  Because we have sheep, the birds around our home help themselves to wool on the ground, wool stuck to tree trunks, all colors of wool!  For more nest poems, see poem #240 and poem #275.

This spring, if you examine the nests around your home, you will see which building materials your own neighbor birds use.  If you're feeling project-y, you might even leave out strands of yarn or string or even your own hair!

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Do You Hear Mewing? Poem #340

Pussy Willows

by Amy LV

Yesterday it rained.  And it rained.  And it rained.  And I read a lot of spring poems.  While I'm not always a fan of reading poems in season, sometimes one can't help writing them.  For this verse, I decided to focus on listening to one sign of spring.  A quiet sign.

Students - it is interesting to apply your senses in ways that are not typical.  In this case, you know that pussy willows are not noisy at all.  But making them noisy in my poem felt playful.  Try this sometime - apply one of your senses to a situation where people do not usually expect that sense.  For example, "I could smell the anger in the air" mixes two things that do not usually go together, so the brain pauses for a moment and pays more attention. 

I do love bringing in a pussy willow branch this time of year and forcing those little kitties out to play.  Hmmm...maybe we'll take a hike and find one this afternoon.

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