Poems of Humblelovely

Three Stones on My Desk
Photo by Amy LV

Students - This week, notebooked about these three stones on my desk.  They have been living on my desk for some time, but this week I made them into a little stone pile.  Stacking them and unstacking them is a simple pleasure as I have always loved the feel and sound of stones quietly clicking against each other.

Notebook Snip

Photo by Amy LV

More and more, I find myself paying attention to good and simple objects and moments.  Life can be very busy, and paying attention to such objects and moments helps me to slow down.

Today's poem lists and describes something (three somethings, actually) in my life, and the title poses a question.  See, I most always write titles after I write poems.  If I wrote the title first, I might have just written Three Stones.  But while writing, I began to wonder which objects other people keep in their lives, and so selected the title What Do You Keep?

You might consider writing your title after you write a poem too.  You might consider a question title. You might consider writing about an object that brings you a sense of wholeness.  Or you might not.  You are full of your own ideas and strategies!  Please do share these with others...this is how we learn.

Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, you will find an inspiring post by Dr. Shari Daniels. Her post is filled with notebooking ideas, great photographs, and everything that makes me want to dive right into my own notebook.  And yes, there's a book giveaway too!  Please visit and comment if you are able.  I am grateful to Shari.

Thank you to Carol who is hosting today's Poetry Friday over at Carol's Corner, with a lovely spring poem - Daffodils by Ralph Fletcher. 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.

April - fondly known as National Poetry Month - begins Monday!  This means that my National Poetry Month Project begins Monday too, and you are invited to follow along each day as it unfolds.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Poems Can Make Statements

Disconnected

Photo by Louise M.

Students - We all have things in our lives that trouble us, that we see as worries or dangers.  For me, one of these things is the way that technology connects us...but sometimes seems to disconnect us even more.  Today's poem explains the way I feel sometimes.  Perhaps you have felt this way too.  Life is full of ups and downs and beauties and concerns.  

And we can write about any and all of them.

We can comment on the world through our poems.  And when we're lucky, the poems we write will meet others at the right time for them.  Most of the time, we will never even know when this happens.  But we still write.  I would love to read some statement poems by young writers, so if you're writing them, please feel free to share them with me through your teacher.

Writing can lift the world.

Speaking of goodness, over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, I am happy to welcome third grade teacher Dina Bolan and her third grade writers from Alexander Hamilton Elementary School in Glen Rock, New Jersey.  Take a peek at their nonfiction notebook entries, and leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a new notebook of your own!

Thank you to Librarian Jone McCullough for featuring my READ! READ! READ! with illustrator Ryan O'Rourke over at Check It Out today!  There's a giveaway for the book, thanks to Boyds Mills Press, so if you leave a comment by next Thursday...you may win a copy.

Catherine is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup by celebrating the wonderful new book CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR: POEMS OF RACE, MISTAKES, AND FRIENDSHIP by Irene Latham and Charles Waters over at Reading to the Core. Please visit! 

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Let an Object Inspire a Question

A Gift from K to Me

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Isn't that quilt square beautiful?  A friend just sent it to me...and she made a matching one for herself.  So even though we live far away from each other, we can look at our quilt squares and feel our friendship.  I love it.  In fact, I love it so much that it made me want to write a poem as a way of thanking my friend K.

Sometimes an object can give a person a big feeling.  This quilt square made me think about how much I love handmade gifts, both receiving and giving them.  It made made ask a question to all who read the poem - an invitation to remember any handmade gifts from our pasts.

You might want to try this.  Walk around your home or outside or look around inside your backpack or desk and choose an object.  Think about the questions it inspires.  List these questions, choose one, and write!

This poem almost grew up to be a Shakespearean - or English - sonnet.  But it stopped growing at line 12.  See, if this were a complete sonnet, there would be a rhyming couplet (two lines) at the end.  And as I wrote this, I chose to leave the question hanging rather than to wrap it up with a couplet including my reflection. Yes, the poem had a mind of its own!

I could not be more grateful and excited to share that my new READ! READ! READ! illustrated by Ryan O'Rourke, has made the 2017 Nerdies List for Poetry and Novels in Verse. It is a wonderful list and a wonderful honor. Thank you, Nerdy Book Club!

(Click to Enlarge)

Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, you can find a wonderful peek into Julie Patterson's notebooks. Leave a comment...and you just may win a book. Do so soon as there will be a new post up after January 1.

Heidi is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at my juicy little universe with a beautiful celebration of poems about trees...and a photo of some lovely handmade gifts too. Please visit! We meet weekly, and everyone is invited.

Happy glorious last Poetry Friday of 2017 to all of you!  I am very grateful for this community...for those of you I know personally and those of you whom I have not yet met.  See you in 2018!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Listening & Writing from Our Repeated Thoughts and Words

Cat Chat

by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem idea grew from a question that I often ask my cats, "Where did you come from?  Where did you live before you lived with me?  Where was your home before this was your home?"  We have four cats that appeared mysteriously at our home (and one that was given to us with our blessing), and I frequently think about their unknown pasts.  I especially think about Mini Monster, the cat I wonder most about.  What is his history?  I will never know, and so I invent it with sweet tuna-gifting grandma who sang...

Pay attention to stories you often tell or questions you often ask.  We each have recurring lines in our lives, repeated wonders and wishes and hopes and stories that we tell over and over again.  These refrains are rich writing territory, and I encourage you to listen to your own voice, to ask, "What do I hear myself say or feel myself think again and again?"

I may have written a poem about this same topic before.  Or not...I honestly do not remember.  But if I have, I am happy to explore the same material more than one time.  By doing so, I can follow my changing thinking.  And so can you.  Allow yourself to write about the same ideas in new ways - you will surprise yourself.

And if you always try to rhyme, play with free verse.  I'm working on that too.

If you missed my last week' post (on a Wednesday, not a Friday, and I did not link in on Friday), please do visit, enjoy, and leave a comment for the young writers.  It's a wonderful collection of blackout poems all made from the same poem by fourth grade students from Easthampton, Massachusetts and taught by Carol Weis and Jodi Alatalo.  I loved seeing how differently all of their poems turned out!

Over at Sharing Our Notebooks, I am so happy to host teacher Katie Liseo and her adventurous student notebookers with a very inspiring post and giveaway of Aimee Buckner's NOTEBOOK KNOW-HOW. And HERE you can find out who won the signed copy of Laura Shovan's fabulous verse novel, THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY.  Too, please remember that there is a whole treasure chest of summer notebooking ideas at Sharing Our Notebooks.  Find those at the tab atop the blog or just click HERE.

Today's Poetry Friday roundup is over at Check it Out, in the wise and generous hands of Jone.  Come on by, meet some poetry friends, and feel free to link right in if you wish.  Poetry Friday is for everyone!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Wallow in Wonder Day 26 - Not Anymore

Welcome to Day 26 of Wallow in Wonder!  For my 2016 National Poetry Month project, I will celebrate learning and writing from learning, writing poems from each daily Wonder at Wonderopolis.  As I did with my Dictionary Hike in 2012, I am looking to surprise myself with new inspiration daily.  This year, such inspiration will show up in my inbox each morning.  I will print it and carry each Wonderopolis Wonder around all day...and in the afternoon or evening, I will write and post the poem for the next day.  

I invite anyone who wishes to take this challenge too.  Just read today's wonder over at Wonderopolis, and write a poem inspired by it for tomorrow.  Share it tomorrow at your own site, and if you wish to link in my comments for others to find (or share your poem there), please feel free to do so tomorrow, the day after the Wonder is published at Wonderopolis.  If you would like to share any ways you have used Wallow in Wonder or your own site (safe for children only please), please feel free to do so in the comments.

My April Poems Thus Far

April 1 - So Suddenly - a poem inspired by Wonder #1659 

April 2 - Thankful Journal - a poem inspired by Wonder #1660

April 3 - The Storm Chaser - a poem inspired by Wonder #779

April 4 - A Jar of Glitter - a poem inspired by Wonder #641

April 5 - To Make Compost - a poem inspired by Wonder #1661

April 6 - Deciding Now - a poem inspired by Wonder #1662

April 7 - Hummingbird's Secret - a poem inspired by Wonder #1663

April 8 - Limits - a poem inspired by Wonder #1664

April 9 - Sundogs - a poem inspired by Wonder #1665

April 10 - Perspective - a poem inspired by Wonder #128

April 11 - At the History Museum - a poem inspired by Wonder #115

April 12 - Seventy-Five Years Ago Today - a poem inspired by Wonder #1666

April 13 - Homer's Poem - a poem inspired by Wonder #1667

April 14 - The Right - a poem inspired by Wonder #1668

April 15 - 5:00 am - a poem inspired by Wonder #1669

April 16 - Writing - a poem inspired by Wonder #1670

April 17 - Sometimes - a poem inspired by Wonder #194

April 18 - Once - a poem inspired by Wonder #192

April 19 - Eat It - a poem inspired by Wonder #1671

April 20 - Chatty Green Tomato - a poem inspired by Wonder #1672

April 21 - This Argument We're Having - a poem inspired by Wonder #1673

April 22 - After a Week in Foster Care - a poem inspired by Wonder #1674

April 23 - Pay Attention - a (recycled) poem inspired by Wonder #1675

April 24 - Please Don't Ask - a poem inspired by Wonder #201

April 25 - Mama Kangaroo's Poem - a poem inspired by Wonder #447

And now for Day 26!

Wonder #1676 - from April 25, 2016

Unexpected Tears

by Amy LV

Students - Today's I offer you a free verse poem.  And it's also a bit of a before and after poem, something I talked about on Day 18 regarding Once.  This is one of my more serious pieces, and I wrote it because I am feeling sad about something right now, sad about something that happened to some people I care about very much.

Poems can help us make sense of hard times, and they can help us understand our own feelings, can help us reflect.  When I read yesterday's Wonder about weather forecasting, I went in many directions at first.  I could not stop thinking about how people can be tough on those who predict weather...and how this feels unfair.  After all, there are so many things that I cannot predict, even when those events, relationships, sicknesses have signs. Sometimes signs are inaccurate...and sometimes we miss signs.  Life is like this, like weather. Perhaps this is what makes it so precious and beautiful.

Each of us pauses to stop and think at times.  And these thoughts can become the seeds for poems.  It is very important to pause to think, poems or not.  Pause. Think. It will help you live better.

Yesterday, I happily introduced teacher Emily Callahan and her students from Kansas City here to The Poem Farm.  They are a magical bunch, and I will be featuring their post all week.  It also holds a giveaway to a commenter.  So please, to learn about Popcorn and Poetry...visit HERE.

I feel very lucky to host teacher and librarian Stefanie Cole and her students from Ontario, Canada at Sharing Our Notebooks this month. This is a fantastic post full of notebook inspiration, a video clip, and a great book giveaway from Stefanie. Please check it out, and leave a comment over there to be entered into the giveaway.

Happy Day 26 of National Poetry Month 2016!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Picture Frames - Poem #16 for April 2014 Poetry Project

LIVE!

Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!

Picture Frames

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I wrote today's poem on a late night flight from Atlanta, Georgia back home to Buffalo, NY.  It was a bit dark on the plane, and the gentleman next to me probably thought I was bonkers with all of my muttering (reading aloud to help me write next lines) and tapping (to hear the syllables), but I don't mind that.  I may be a little bonkers!

You can see that I scribbled my way through several pages to arrive at this little verse.  On this first spread, you can see that I first thought of writing the poem in the first person, or 'I' voice.

Picture Frames - Draft Page Spread #1

Photo by Amy LV

Below, on the second draft page spread, you see the bulk of the work.  I decided here that I actually wanted the poem to be a bit of a story about lonely frames that wait and finally find their new lives as art gallery frames for a child.

This may be difficult for you to read.  Guess what?  It's difficult for me to read too, but sometimes writing just goes quickly, and one needs to get it down. Neatness can come later.  

By this page spread, I had still not begun work on the ending.

Picture Frames - Draft Page Spread #2

Photo by Amy LV

Draft page spread #3 is where you see the work on the endings.  I also wrote a few endings in my head, endings that never made it to the page.

Picture Frames - Draft Page Spread #3

Photo by Amy LV

And below, in draft page spread #4,  is the last ending work.  After trying many possibilities, I finally decided to end this poem by posing a question to the reader, as one of my favorite poems, "Alley Violinist" by Robert Lax, does.  The end of this poem remains open for conversation.  "What will you find to give a fresh start?

What will YOU find?

Picture Frames - Draft Page Spread #4 

Photo by Amy LV

Please don't miss seventeen-year-old Alex McCarron's great notebooks post over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks.  It's truly inspiring!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Ways to Live on a Poetry Friday

Welcome to Day 12 of Drawing Into Poems, my daily drawing/seeing/writing study into poetry.  You can read more about this month-long project here on my April 1 post.  Feel free to read the books with me and pull out your own sketchbook and jewelry box full of metaphor too...

As a part of this project, you may remember that along with the daily drawings, I will be posting at-least-weekly poems inspired somehow by that week's drawings.  Here is my second one.

I will post audio to this poem later this evening or weekend.

Students - The first line of this poem sprouted from my April 10 drawing, the one of my Great Aunt Kay's wooden horse.  I began by thinking about the possibility in a block of wood, how a person can see it, or a person can miss it.  Then this made me think about all of the times in life that we can choose how to see something, how to react to it: in a negative way or a positive way.  So then I decided to keep following this idea all of the way through the poem, twisting the end in almost a challenge to the reader, a life question toponder.

Today's poem partly grew from the fact that I am trying to see more possibility in life as I find myself deep into this month's drawing project.  It was also likely inspired by a conversation I had with a fourth grader at Delevan Elementary on Monday.  We were talking about the American Revolution, looking at the Declaration of Independence, and one girl waited until class was over to ask, "But why ARE there no women's names here?" I explained that throughout our history, different groups of people have been oppressed and have struggled and worked and fought back for what they believe is right.  I explained that one day, maybe even soon, she too will be called on to do make a choice about justice.  We all are.

Structure wise, you will notice that this poem is a list, it uses a lot of repetition, and it is a series of questions and a series of comparisons/contrasts.

And here is the drawing of the day...something electronic.

Day 12 - Our CD Player

Click the drawing to enlarge it.

Students - I did not choose the most beautiful thing to draw today, but I did choose something interesting.  My explorations into seeing continue to focus on following the line of an object, trying to represent more than just one flat face.  I very much enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane of all of the different music players I've known in my life.  It is amazing how I can feel like a seven-year-old, but I have seen a lot of changes.  I must not really be seven after all!

Last week I sent a copy of FOREST HAS A SONG to my friend Ann Marie Corgill's second grade students at Cherokee Bend Elementary in Birmingham, Alabama.  This week I received a wonderful gift.  As a thank you note, they sent me this beautiful poem.

This is one of the best presents I've ever received.  Many hugs and thank yous to the Corgill Kids for your poem.  Everything about it makes me happy.

Today over at This Kid Reviews Books, Erik reviews FOREST HAS A SONG and has generously chosen it as his recommendation for Perfect Picture Book Friday over at Susanna Leonard Hill's blog.  I am especially grateful for his wise words about getting outside together as families.  Too, you won't want to miss Erik's spot-on haiku, one perfect image that matches exactly the rain we've been having in Western New York.  And teachers, if you teach your students to write book reviews, eleven-year-old Erik will be a fantastic mentor author for you to visit again and again.

Mia Wenjen has selected FOREST HAS A SONG as her Picture Book of the Day over at Pragmatic Mom, a wonderfully rich site for teachers and parents.  It is an honor to see our book there.

Ashleigh at Obsessive Mommy, also shares FOREST HAS A SONG today, asking me ten questions about the book.  These were fun questions to answer, and I am tickled to have an opportunity to be visiting her site today.

At Sally's Bookshelf, Sue Heavenrich shares her scientific perspective on FOREST HAS A SONG, and I join her for some neat dives into the book.  Teachers - you will want to bookmark or pin this site too, particularly for STEM resources and books.

If you are interested in a giveaway FOREST HAS A SONG, visit The Children's Book Review and/or Obsessive Mommy.  Both are great blogs where you can read more about FOREST and enter to win a copy!

Today is Poetry Friday, and Diane Mayr is hosting the festivities over at Random Noodling. Visit her place to find your way to this week's poetry goodies around the Kidlitosphere!

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!

Look Up - Nature Wonderings

Out My Window on 90E in NY
(Look closely or click-enlarge to see the geese!)

Photo by Amy LV

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

Students - Did you ever just look up at the sky and wonder about what you see? I marvel at migrating birds.  They are so strong, so capable, traveling many many miles, knowing just where to go.  Yesterday, as I drove two hours home from a school, many Vs of geese flew over my car.  I just kept thinking about them and their journey, wondering if they ever wished to spell words in sky.

This poem is written directly to a reader, asking direct questions and giving a little bit of advice at the end.  The idea came from a fleeting thought, now made into a small poem with a bit of time.  It's my way of honoring some Thruway beauty I was offered less than 24 hours ago.

If geese are not passing over your head today, there are other wonders to see. And here are some geese for you too...

This week you can also find me over at Jone MacCulloch's Check it Out blog with an interview on Wednesday and a poem from The Poem Farm stash today.  Thank you so much, Jone, for having me over to play!

To learn more about why geese fly in a V, visit the Library of Congress Everyday Mysteries page.

Jama Rattigan is hosting this week's Poetry Friday party, so head on over to Jama's Alphabet Soup.  As is always the case at Jama's place, you'll be fed in body and spirit.

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!

Crawling - Poems about Siblings

Greetings! Although I am on the schedule to host today's Poetry Friday, I have traded with Betsy Hubbard over at Teaching Young Writers. So...if you are looking for today's round up, please head over to Betsy's place. I will host here at The Poem Farm on November 30, so if you keep the calendar in your sidebar, you may wish to make this change.  Thank you, Betsy, for trading with me!

Smallish Foot

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - I am a big sister. And I have a wonderful little sister who isn't so little anymore.  We're great friends, and I feel extremely grateful to have her in my life. I am also a mom of three fun and funny children, and all of these family relationships make me think about the magical and the worrying aspects of being a sibling.  Today's poem is a bit of a worry, perhaps one that came from watching our two older daughters watch as our son learned to crawl and get into things.

Are you an older sibling, a younger sibling, both, or an only child?  No matter which you are, there's a lot of poem food in there.  Pay attention to your relationships with your siblings.  Think about what it is like to be an only child. What do you love?  What is difficult?  These may be good ideas for poems.

When I write from my life, I am careful to be sure that my words do good and do not hurt anyone.  You may wish to think about this too, whenever you write about people you know.  Our words hold power.

I am very happy to welcome illustrator Nina Crittenden to my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks today.  Stop by and see the types of notebooks she uses and how she continues to create.  (You will also have a chance to be entered into Nina's generous drawing of a book and pocket notebook.)

Remember - it's Poetry Friday today, and we're celebrating over with Betsy at Teaching Young Writers.  Have a beautiful poetry weekend! 

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!

Do They Know? One Sentence Poems

VanDerCamp in the Adirondacks

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Today's poem is a concrete poem.  It is in the shape of a short, fat pine tree.  It did not, however, start out as a concrete poem.  For today's post, I rummaged around in my digital files for a poem to share.  (I looked the same way I do when rummaging around the refrigerator for something to eat!)  The poem I found was this one -

Dew

When pines shake out their hair to dry
I wonder if they realize
What a pretty sound it makes
when water falls on tents and lakes.

- ALV

When I retyped the poem, I made two changes.  One change was a line break/shape change.  I started shifting lines around and decided...."Hmmm, maybe this would look cute as a tree!"  I liked it.

Then I reconsidered the title.  I always like imagining trees and rocks and natural things as having thoughts of their own, so I added to the personification of this poem by making the title a question, about trees and their self-knowledge.

This is just a one sentence poem, a shortie.  Could I add more?  Yes.  But for this one, I just want to say one thing, make one small observation and stay right inside of that observation.

Save.  Save.  Save.  That's some of my best advice for writers. Recycling bits of thought and poem allows you to see who you used to be and bump that up against who you now are.  It was a joy for me to find this scrap, to remember trees from my past and to still wonder if they know their own loveliness.

Last week, I shared my collaboration with Diane Mayr in Spark 18 here and here.  This week, over at Diane's blog, Random Noodling, you can see behind the scenes of how she created one of her great layered pieces.  I think it is fascinating to read these process posts, and I feel very grateful to have been paired with Poetry Friday regular Diane on this round!

This week it is a treat to have author Kate Messner visiting Sharing Our Notebooks.  If you are notebook keeper, you will want to visit here to peek inside her notebooks.  If you are a teacher and your class keeps notebooks, this site is growing to be quite full and useful!

Laura Purdie Salas is hosting today's Poetry Friday at Writing the World for Kids!  Head on over to her place for the round up and enjoy the poem-festivities!

About next week...right now I am on the schedule to host.  But I have traded with Betsy Hubbard.  So if you  keep the calendar in your sidebar, please note that change. Poetry Friday on October 12 at Teaching Young Writers with Betsy Hubbard, and I will host here at The Poem Farm on November 30.

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!

What Will You Be? Imagining Careers

Rainbow Sprinkles

Photo by Amy LV

Holiday Sprinkles

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Last Friday, I went shopping at one of my favorite shops - Lantz's in Warsaw, NY.  This is a little shop with a lot of food, all in bulk.  I came home with bags of wasabi peas, honey roasted soy nuts, lemon drops, graham cracker pretzels, and lots more.  But once again, as always, I was struck by the rows and rows of beautiful sprinkles in every color!  The two pictures above only show some of the sprinkles at Lanz's, all that would fit my screen.

When I took those photographs, I did not know what I would use them for.  I was simply struck by their beauty and wonderfulness.  The picture waited inside my camera in the same way that a favorite line waits in my notebook.

This is a question poem as you can see right in the title.  And it's a question that children are asked often, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  Well, I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher.  But there are times that I imagine training dogs or designing doll clothes or testing ping pong balls. Jobs are fascinating, how many and how varied they are.  And it's great fun to invent jobs as I did (a bit) today!  What will YOU be?

This week over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, Barry Lane shares his notebooks and offers a generous giveaway of two of his books about writing and a CD.  A winner will be drawn on Sunday, September 30...the beginning of Banned Books Week!

A Favorite Shop

Photo by Amy LV

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!

Two Flowers - Compare & Contrast

Rose and Dandelion
by Amy LV

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

Students - Today's poem grew from some scratchings in my notebook. A few months ago, I wrote many of the flower-spoken words you read above, but as I reread them and thought about Monday's post about Thistle and about the YA novel I am currently reading - UGLIES by Scott Westerveld - I realized that I am thinking a lot about freedom vs. captivity lately.  I'm not sure why that is, but when you are writing regularly, you can see patterns in your mind and heart.  That's why I keep a notebook - to know what I think!

When I scribbled the beginnings of this poem in my notebook, I only had the lines from the flowers, but as I continued to work on it, I decided it would be fun to "bookend" it with some thinking and a question, the stanzas in italics. One of my favorite poems is Alley Violinist by Robert Lax, and I especially like how it leaves the reader with a question.

In addition to having different voices, this poem uses a technique we call "personification" which means that the writer gives an object or animal human characteristics.  In this case, I let the flowers think and talk. (It's funny, though, because I think that they actually DO talk and it's not a poetic technique at all!) This poem is also a compare/contrast poem, juxtaposing the lives of two flowers.  

So...here are a few things to think about today:  keep your notebook and save those thought-treasures, consider writing something that compares two different things, listen to objects and animals talking (or pretend you can), and remember that you can end your writing with a question.

This week over at Sharing Our Notebooks, I welcome author Peter Salomon and congratulate him on his forthcoming book, HENRY FRANKS. Please stop by and read about his first notebooks, and enter yourself in the giveaway of his new book - coming out this week!

If you are interested in entering to win a copy of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY (in which I am happy to have 5 poems!), please stop by Friday's post and leave a comment there.  Thistle will draw a winning name on Thursday night, and I will announce the winner on Poetry Friday!

This week also marks a change in The Poem Farm schedule - I am now back and posting poems and poem greetings each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please come back and visit for lessons, poem ideas, book recommendations, and classroom Poetry Peeks.  If you are a classroom teacher or homeschooling parent, I invite you to share your students' poetry or your poem teaching ideas here.  If you are interested, please send me an e-mail to amy at amylv dot com, and I will get right back to you.

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Dilemma - Writing from "What If?"

 

Hmmmmm?

by Amy LV

Students - More and more, I believe that writing without a plan is a good practice.  Sometimes people sit down and think, "I cannot write because I do not already have a writing idea."  But if you sit and just start writing any old gibberish, an idea will come and sit on your shoulder!  

The other day I sat and just wrote the words What if? in the margin of my big black notebook, and today's poem showed up.  

Try it sometime.  Sit down to write when you have no idea what you will write about.  Just start.  Let the idea sit on your shoulder!  (Don't think it will not come.  Such thoughts scare ideas away!)

If you're not sure what to write, start with What if?

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Poems Come from Wonders & Questions

Topaz, Rainbow, & Moonstone

Photo by Amy LV

Rainbow Nursing Moonstone & Topaz

Photo by Amy LV

Yesterday we had a surprise at our house.  Actually, we had two surprises.  Our Icelandic ewe, Rainbow, gave birth to twins!  We decided to name this year's lambs after gemstones, and so this ram (lighter colored badgerface) is named Topaz, and this ewe (black) is named Moonstone.

Thank you to my kind and patient colleagues at Elma Primary yesterday.  They were so sweet as I was quite excited to share the news of these new babies, born midday and announced with a call from Mark.

If you think that Icelandic Sheep are beautiful, check out Perri's honest and lovely family farm blog, Mud on the Tracks.  She also keeps a fun and thoughtful writing blog at  Lesser Apricots.

After a year of daily poems and strategy ideas, I continue to revisit one strategy/technique for each day of April.  Today's thought is: can come from your wondering place.  

Wonder and Question Poems

Students - our brains are always going.  Even when we sleep, our brains crunch through the day and all of the things that we have seen, done, learned, and thought.  In between all of those thoughts lie many questions, and these are fantabulous fertilizer for writing.

Some wonderings we have are serious.  Some are funny.  But they all say something about how our minds work, and they all begin little poem paths should we choose to take them.  Listen to the questions that come to you, the wonderings that niggle at you.  Let them set your thinking - and your writing - on fire!

from June 2010

from February 2011

Here are a couple of more poems full of question and wondering. 

Tulips

Questions

What little things do you wonder?  What big things do you wonder?  What do you want to ask a person or the world?  Reading and writing poems can help you find your voice.

This Month's Poetry Revisits and Lessons So Far

April 1 - Poems about Poems

April 2 - Imagery

April 3 - Poems about Animals We Know
April 4 - Line Breaks and White Space
April 5 - Poems from Everyday Life
April 6 - Free Verse
April 7 - Poems from Wonders & Questions

Teachers and Students - I welcome your poems inspired by any of these posts or any other poems you are reading and learning about in class.  With your permission, I would be honored to share some of your work here at The Poem Farm throughout this month and into May.

Next Thursday is Poem in Your Pocket Day.  Have you decided what poem to keep in your pocket?  Teachers and Administrators - have you planned something for this day?  If not, check out last year's Poetry Peek into Country Parkway Elementary on Poem in Your Pocket Day.

Tomorrow, I look forward to welcoming Intermediate Literacy Coordinator Kristie Miner and teacher Ken Hand along with their fourth grade class from Tioughnioga Academy in the Whitney Point Central School District in Whitney Point, NY. They will be sharing their classroom publishing center!

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