Watch for Small Surprises

Cozy Smokey

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This week, my husband and I took a little trip to Murray Brothers, a nearby garden center, to purchase a pink-flowering rhododendron and a couple of periwinkle delphinium for our yard. When we approached the counter to pay, there was Smokey again, snoozing away, making our day that much cozier and happier. I asked if I could take his picture (he did not wake) and knew that I must write about this soft boy. Even though Mark and I have shopped at Murray Brothers many times, each time we smile at this kitty who dozes so dreamily on the counter, seemingly unaware of his many admirers.

Our days are peppered with small joys, and teaching our eyes to watch for them is very important. It is possible to walk through the same day with eyes for good or eyes for bad, and by looking for good, we not only feel better, but we can better help to bring more good into our world.

My suggestion this week is to look for those small joyous surprises that make you smile inside. Consider writing about one of them. In this way, you will grow that joy inside of you. You may even find ways to radiate it out to others. 

Here is another picture of that sweet Smokey.

Curled up Smokey the Cat

Photo by Amy LV

And yes, of course we donated a little to the Smokey Care Fund.

Everyone Takes Care of Smokey the Cat

Photo by Amy LV

Tabatha is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at The Opposite of Indifference with a wise and lovely poem by Laura Purdie Salas. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Thank you to the folks at Murray Brothers for brightening so many gardeners' days...and thank you to you for all of the ways that you bring happiness and kindness into the lives of others.

xo,

Amy

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HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 18

Happy National Poetry Month!

(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)

Hello, Poetry Friends! This month I am sharing poems written in the voice of Little Red Riding Hood, and I invite you to join me in writing in the voice of someone else too. You might choose a fairy tale character or a book character or a person from history or anyone else real or imagined. These are your poems, so you make the decisions. Each April day, I will share my poem and a little bit about writing poetry. Mostly, we’ll just be writing in short lines with good words and not worrying about rhyming. Meaning first. Our focus this month will be adopting the perspective of another…for 30 days. I invite you to join me in this project! To do so, simply:

1. Choose a character from fiction or history or somewhere else in the world of space and time, and commit to writing a daily poem in this person's voice for the 30 days of April 2025. You might even choose an animal.

2. Write a new poem for each day of April. Feel free to print and find inspiration from this idea sheet that I will be writing from all month long.

Teachers, if you wish to share any HELLO MY NAME IS... subjects or poems, please email them to me at the contact button above. I would love to read what your students write and learn from how they approach their own projects.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD'S POEMS SO FAR

April 1 - First Poem

April 2 - My Name

April 3 - Red

April 4 - Frank

April 5 - The Big Bad Wolf Had Been a Stray

April 6 - 8am on a Sunday

April 7 - Her Real Name is Orla Lola Bruin

April 8 - My Neighborhood

April 9 - Mushroom Hunters

April 10 - From Coat to Cloak

April 11 - Speaking of Coats

April 12 - Forgiveness is a Gift

April 13 - Here

April 14 - Running Home

April 15 - Nan's Apple Pie

April 16 - I Ask Nan How to Make Apple Pie

April 17 - untitled haiku

And now for today!

Students - Writing the poems of the last two days, I knew that today's poem would be about delivering pie to the fairy tale forest neighbors. And today, I just wrote by watching, watching Nan and Lou pack their baskets and go. I did not think as much as usual about every single word, didn' t try to rhyme, didn't fuss with meter. This poem just wanted to live today, just as it is. Perhaps I will return to it later, move the words around, strengthen a verb, change a syllable count...perhaps not. But for today, everyone gets pie.

Thank you for joining me on this eighteenth day of HELLO MY NAME IS...

Thank you also to Jone for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Jone Rush MacCulloch with an interview with Shirley Thacker. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's Kidlitosphere poetry happenings. And if you are interested in learning about or writing from any of my previous 14 National Poetry Month projects, you can find them here. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

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Fold Paper to Unfold Your Heart

Folded Hearts

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Yesterday I wrote this line in my notebook: I can fold a heart from paper. My plan was not ever to write a poem from this line, but the act of writing in my notebook offered me those words, and their rhythm spoke to me. These seven words were originally the first line of today's little verse, and while I did change it, you will note that the meter remains the same: DAdum DAdum DAdum DAdum. Reading poems aloud regularly helps me to feel the rhythms in my blood. If you like writing poetry, I suggest lots of reading poetry aloud alone in a room or to others. Your heart will come to feel as if it is beating to the meters of the poems you read.

Today's poem also grew from the fact that I do love folding paper. Our dining room windows are still covered with white folded snowflake-stars, and I am slowly interspersing hearts amongst them. Writing about hearts and folding heart-shaped valentines got me thinking about how many people I love who are now far away from me, either by location or by death.

Have you ever written a poem by making art first? Try folding a few hearts by following the directions below, either the written or YouTube instructions. As you fold heart after heart, as this folding comes easier and easier to you, pay attention to whose faces appear in your own heart, which memories rise for you. For me, today, I am thinking about friends who once lived near to me but now live in new places, friends I would love to invite for a cup of cocoa and a long walk, friends who I now only see sometimes.

You might choose to make a valentine or two with your folded hearts and/or your poem(s). Remember this: handmade gifts of art and writing are meaningful and cannot be purchased. Such gifts are important gifts indeed.

And if you do write about one person...strive to use specific examples and stories as you do so. I began by writing that I remembered the things you always do and games we played together but then realized how I could paint more realistic and more specific story-pictures with a snorty laugh and a dressed up kitty and summer games of hide-and-go-seek. 

Easy Instructions to Fold an Origami Red Paper Heart by cool2bkids.com

Origami Heart (Folding Instructions) by EzOrigami

Thank you to Jan for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Bookseedstudio. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

If you try making a different kind of art and allowing it to inspire you, I would love to hear about it!

xo,

Amy

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Celebrate Secondhand Objects

Everything Thrifted

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Every bit of clothing you see in the photo above was owned by someone (or someones) before me. The hat belonged to my former and now deceased English Professor Julia Walker, the silk scarf came from a thrift store about a year ago, and I just purchased the blue corduroy jacket with its velvet cuffs and collar earlier this week. Yay for old clothing owned once by others! My good friend Katie has a motto - "Secondhand first," a motto I believe is very wise. Not only do we save money when we buy used, we also preserve stories and protect the planet by conserving resources. So...if you have ever wondered about thrifting, please know that I am 100% Team Thrift, celebrating the preservation of stories and resources.

Today's poem is about one thrifted item, my "new" blue coat. When I saw it hanging on the rack this week, I knew it would be mine next. And I do so love imagining the memories and stories and songs that used jackets and scarves and shirts and skirt hold from their former owner (owners?)

Do you own an article of clothing or a toy or another object that was once owned by someone else? What is this object? What memories do you believe it still might hold? You may wish to pretend that this object is talking to you, sharing memories of its past. Do these memories make you laugh? Cry? Write about what you imagine, what you wonder, what you think, what you believe.

It is environmentally sound and poetic to buy used. Be like my friend Katie. Remember her words, "Secondhand first." You help the planet...and you can imagine some good stories too.

If you're interested, here is my messy, crossed-out draft for today's poem. Celebrate the discovery of the just-right word! It takes time, dear friends, time. 

Glorious Messy Draft

Click to Enlarge

Photo by Amy LV

Thank you to Tricia for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at The Miss Rumphius Effect with a celebration of typewriters (and inspiration for me to pull out my old orange typewriter!) Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

xo,

Amy

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List Your Way

Our Home Nestled in Snow

Photo by Mark LV

Students - Where we live in Western New York can be very snowy, and this week has been especially snowy. So much that there was no school yesterday or today. Sometimes I know what to write about because it surrounds my every moment - and right now snow is absolutely everywhere. Out every window, out each door...we meet poofs of snow. There is almost two feet out there right now, and the snow is over three feet deep in the town where my husband Mark teaches.

Today's poem is a list poem and a celebration poem and a poem written in quatrains, or four-line stanzas. I simply began listing things I love about snowfall and snow days and snowy mornings and then tried to gently rhyme along the way. Below you can see that there was a lot of crossing out along the way, just as there always is. I love writing by hand because the act of crossing out is part of my process.

Drafting in the Snow

Photo by Amy LV

If you are not sure what to write today or this week or anytime, try beginning with a list. Maybe list things you like about something that many people do not like. (Many people do not like snow!) You need not use everything on your list, and you need not know where it will go when you begin. Your writing mind will lead when you trust it. List your way....

Linda is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Word Edgewise with a playful sharing of poem mashing together, such a fun idea! Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

This week I wish you interesting weather and interesting thoughts about that same weather.

xo,

Amy

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Write in Third Person

November 20, 2024 Before

Photo by Amy LV

November 20, 2024 After

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Sometimes when we read, we assume that the author of a story or poem is writing about themselves, even if they have not said that this is true. The truth is, oftentimes, authors write in the first person 'I' voice when a piece is not about themselves. Rather, they PRETEND that they are someone else and IMAGINE a whole new world that they have never experienced. They write in the 'I' voice even though they never physically experienced what they are writing. For example, I could write a piece about my memories as a cloud (I looked down at tiny trucks and trains) even though I am not actually a cloud.

Similarly, authors can write in the third person 'she/he/they/it' voice even if a piece IS about their own life. Authors can take a step back and imagine themselves at a bit of a distance, watching an experience they truly had, shaping it for a character perhaps just like themselves, perhaps somewhat different. Sometimes characters are really the author, sometimes not the author at all, and sometimes a mix of the author and imagination.

Today's poem is true, it is about something that happened to me two days ago, and it is also in the third person 'he/she/they/it' voice. I wrote it this way because I wanted it to feel a little bit more like a story and as I wrote, I did imagine the character much like me but much older and grayer somehow.

You might wish to try this. Remember something that happened to you, and write about it in the third person 'he/she/they/it' voice. This will help you take a step back. You may choose to keep your memory as it really happened, or who knows? Perhaps you will change it a little. Perhaps you will change it a lot. Perhaps you will end up writing about a completely different thing than you started with. You are the author...so you make all of those important decisions.

Playing with point of view can give our poems and our stories new flavors and can bring new ideas into our minds.

Ruth is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken Town with some thoughtful words and an original poem around the phrase My world, your world, our world. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Remember...difficult things will always happen in life, even when we work hard. It is good to take that time to sigh, but we can always start again. I wish you new beginnings.

xo,

Amy

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What Have I Been Given?

Posing with a Pin Oak

Photo by Amy LV

On the Ground

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Two evenings ago, at my knitting group, Gretchen brought out a few jackets and other things that she wished to give away. Katie brought a couple of tablecloths to rehome, Tanya brought pumpkin bread, and Emily brought a baby sweater pattern and pumpkin pie. Once again it felt so good and warm to share with friends. Such sharing is a regular occurance with this group of friends, offering each other items we no longer use but which still have lots of life left, passing baked goods and tea across the table. I was grateful to come home wearing this cozy autumn jacket, and yes...it is the jacket in the photo above, a great match to the pin oak trees in our yard.

Today's poem came to me as I wrote in my notebook yesterday, reflecting on this simple and happy moment with friends. I hadn't planned to write a poem about it, but I was notebooking along, knew I had a poem to write for today, and this one showed up. I am again reminded of the importance of regular writing, of writing not because I am inspired but because it is delightful to see which words and stories and wonderings appear on the page when I set myself to work.

Remember this - you don't a great idea to get started. Just get started.

And if you want to try what I tried, remember something you have been given and write about that. Perhaps it was a gift, or a hand-me-down, a piece of advice, or a bit of food. When we pay attention to what we have been given, we feed our sense of gratitude. You may even wish to make a list of things you have been given in your own notebook. Actually...I think I will do that too.

Ahead of me will be a bit of mending on this cuff. I have a couple of old flowery suitcases full of fabric and will choose a perfect patch. Perhaps I will write about it. Perhaps not!

A Small Hole on One Cuff

Photo by Amy LV

In unhelpful cat assistant news, I bring you Winnie (otherwise known as Winnie Woo or Winnie Walenda). She was happy to join me yesterday in my outdoor writing session...

Winnie the Writer

Photo by Amy LV

Carol is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Beyond Literacy Link with the theme of "Autumn's Abundant Gifts." Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

May you be given delights and may you give delights to others this week.

xo,

Amy

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Papa: Writing from Struggle

Blurry

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Occasionally when people get older, they develop serious memory and reasoning problems. You may have heard of Alzheimers Disease, a severe condition affecting memory and reasoning. Today's poem is about how even when an older person may develop dementia (an overarching term which includes Alzheimers), this person is still the same person. If you love someone who has developed such problems, one thing to do is to remember what they once loved and knew and talked about. Talk about these things. You can ask questions about times from long ago, and your loved one may even remember the faraway past better than yesterday. If your loved one does not remember, do not worry. Just show your love.

My poem today is written in three quatrains with the even lines repeating. It is a simple structure, and I hope to share a simple message: We can still love those we love, even when they change, even when they struggle. This is when people need our love most.

Watch for struggle in your days. You might choose to write about it. We all struggle in different ways at different times, and finding words for such moments and years can help us...and others too.

Sally is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at SALLYMURPHY.COM.AU with a book announcement, a poem, and information about her offering for #authorsforfireys. We invite everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness each week of the year.

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Playing with Form and Story

Waves
Stamp by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem came from the strangeness of the connections of life. Yes, I like shipwrecks. Yes, I am fascinated by cemeteries. And yes, I consulted this book edited by Ron Padgett book today, searching for a form to try.

I opened up to the ballad page, and suddenly I was writing. Is this exactly a ballad? I am not sure. But I followed the trail. For there is, young writer, always a trail. Keep seeking. Keep seeking. Listen to everything. Jot things down. Our minds are full of hills and valleys, and if we hike them regularly, there are always new surprises.

From THE HANDBOOK OF POETIC FORMS

Edited by Ron Padgett

I was thrilled this afternoon to receive the folded and gathered pages of our forthcoming book, WRITE! WRITE! WRITE!, a friend to READ! READ! READ! Once again, Ryan O'Rourke's illustrations glow from the page. I am so grateful to him, to my brilliant editor Rebecca Davis, and to the whole amazing team at Boyds Mills and Kane. It will be tricky to wait until March 17, but it will be fun to have a book released next St. Patrick's Day!

Book Friends

Photo by Amy LV

Irene is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at at Live Your Poem with some exquisitely wise words for all of us. We welcome everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness every week.

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Family Photographs, Family Stories

Great Grandmother Anna Elsa Feder Conolly

Photo by ?

Students - Each one of us carries a history full of names and dates and songs and stories. We may not know much about these people or even know their names, but still they are here, floating over our shoulders, coursing through our veins.  And we can write about them.  I am on a family history quest these days, learning what I can about the family that came before me.

Above, you see a photograph of Anna Elsa. She was my mother's mother's mother, and we never met as she died seven years before I was born. But I love that strong look in her eye.  How I wish I could chat with her over a cup of mint tea.  

I have written about family objects and photographs before, most recently in November, about my Great Aunt Tom (Anna Elsa's daughter and my grandma's sister).  This is a recurring topic for me. 

If you have interest in your own family history, ask a family member older than you to tell you a story or two.  I just asked my parents to each keep a little notebook of stories as they remember them. Such stories are precious stones. 

Note that today's poem is written in quatrains.  Each stanza has four lines with lines 2 and 4 rhyming.  If you wish to rhyme a poem, always be sure to do the Does This Make Sense Test.  All you have to do is read your poem, line-by-line, asking yourself, "Does this make sense?"  If you force your rhyme, it may not.  You'll know.  And if you don't want to admit it, be brave and ask an honest friend to run your poem through the Does This Make Sense Test for you! 

Life is brief and beautiful. This week the poetry community sadly bids farewell to Paul Janeczko.  Recipient of the 2019 NCTE Excellence in Poetry for Children Award, Paul was a brilliant poet, anthologist, and teacher of teachers. I am grateful for the body of work he has left behind as it will continue to teach me and so many others in the years to come.  His new book, THE PROPER WAY TO MEET A HEDGEHOG AND OTHER HOW-TO POEMS, illustrated by Richard Jones, will be released on March 12.  May he rest in peace, knowing he has left a bright legacy of words.

Robyn is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Life on the Deckle Edge with a wee trip to Scotland and bit of bird goodness. Please know that the Poetry Friday community shares poems and poemlove each week, and everyone is invited to visit, comment, and post.  And if you have a blog, we welcome you to link right in with us.

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