Coaxing Poems 2: Eat the World

 

Hello, Poetry Friends, and welcome to the second of ten little poetry visits starting off the New Year at The Poem Farm. In each of these short videos, I will share a small something about poetry, and you will always be able to find the poem I read below the video. You may find the first visit (January 5, 2024) linked below and you may wish to watch that one first:

Coaxing Poems Visit 1: We Are Libraries

If you wish, enjoy a few seconds of the wood fire that heats our home! Each autumn when I stack pile after pile of firewood, I think about the trees who once offered shade, homes for creatures, and various nuts and seeds. In these trees' second lives, they keep our family snug and warm. (Our kitties especially like warming up on the floor nearby.)

Students - It is fascinating to look around wherever we are, to think about what we see and smell, hear and feel. And we are able to see, smell, hear, and feel more when we are not constantly looking at phones, tablets, and video games. One writing tip is to be sure to eat the real world, friends....not just the digital world. The real world will offer you many ways to learn and be. We are changed by our surroundings, and through making poems and other art bits, we bring new meaning to these surroundings.

From today's visit I hope you will remember that a poem can live in the empty space between you and any image or object. You create something new in that space. It may be a poem, or it may be another piece of writing or music or art. What you make is a bit what you observe...and a lot what you bring to it.

Remember, too, that a poem need not rhyme. It can fall down the page in lines broken up as we choose. A poem might include a bit of repetition (orange hands) and personification (waving leaves like a human's waving hands.)

So, what will you eat from the world before writing this week? You might

• Look around the space you are in now
• Go someplace and look around that space
• Select a book and write from any picture or words you read in it
• Write from an object you are wearing or in your bag
• Find inspiration in a piece of art
• Watch people to unlock ideas
• Find new ways to pay attention

Educator Friends: I would love to hear if you are writing along with me during this series. Please comment below, email me at the contact button above, or tag me on social media if you wish to share.

Tracey is hosting this week's Poetry Friday over at Tangles and Tails with such an interesting timeline about the history of Monopoly tokens ending with a delightful poem for Thimble. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

xo,

Amy

ps - Claude asked me to show you this photo of him all toasty by his favorite fire....

Cozy Claude

Photo by Hope LV

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First Catch - A Poem for Two Voices

Sarah the Manx

Photo by ?? LV

(Click to Enlarge)

Students - This is a poem for two voices.  You can see it is written in two columns, and one side is for one reader (the human) and one is for another reader (the kitten).  To read the poem, readers take turns reading their lines in order of how they fall down the page.  When two lines sit side-by-side, both readers read at the same time.  You can hear my son Henry and I read it together above.

We have five cats here at The Poem Farm now, and lately Sarah has been bringing back little dead voles to the back door.  When she catches one, she meows loudly so that we will come to the glass door to praise her.  Early last week, she brought a vole back, and I took it away from her.  The next time she came with one, she ran away with it as soon as I opened the door.  It is confusing to be a cat parent sometimes.

I had the good fortune to visit two schools last week as a visiting author: H.B. Milnes school in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, and Vernfield Elementary in Telford, Pennsylvania.  They were wonderful visits for me, and at Vernfield, I wrote a bit with the third graders.  One thing we talked about was two possible ways to write a poem:

to something (poem of address)
or
as something (mask poem).

I wrote on a chart in front of them, pretending to be my kitty, proud to have caught a bird.  Then, in my notebook, I wrote from my own perspective, how I feel when Sarah catches a small animal.  I want to be proud...but...I am sad for the wee bird or vole or mouse too.

Below, you can see the chart paper on which I started the mask side of the poem.

Here is my notebook-play of speaking to the kitten.

And then above you can see the mash up.  It was interesting to write a two voice poem in this way.

After visiting H.B. Milnes school, and later, Vernfield Elementary in Telford, PA, I had the good fortune to attend part of the 2015 KSRA Conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  As part of the Thursday Poetry Evening, poet Sara Holbrook invited me to co-read a poem for two voices from her book  WHAM! IT'S A POETRY JAM.  This, I believe, is what made me choose to write today's poem as a poem for two voices, what helped me decide to mix together the two short demonstration drafts from Vernfield - the good feeling of reading with a friend.

WHAM! IT'S A POETRY JAM is a wonderful book, and if you like performing poetry - or if you've never tried to perform poetry - you will want to check it out. Sara is a fantastic writer, and I loved reading from this great book right with the author herself!

Published by Boyds Mills Press 

Learn More Here

In notebook-news, if you have not yet commented on author Jeff Anderson's post at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, please do.  You may win a copy of his first middle grade novel, ZACK DELACRUZ: ME AND MY BIG MOUTH.  Jeff is author of many of my favorite professional books for teaching writing, and I highly recommend you check out his project journal post.

Last week' Poetry Friday roundup, in case you missed it (as I did) was is at Jama's Alphabet Soup.  There you will find Penny Klostermann's beautiful poetic buttons wrapped up in teddy bears, in chocolates, and in all manner of happiness.

Please leave a comment below if you wish.