Make a Promise

Trees are Giving

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Have you ever read a book that revisits your mind and heart from time to time? Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree is such a book for me. Today I imagined a favorite tree, began thinking about how giving and quiet and strong all trees are. I thought about how grateful I am for trees, and then I remembered the human character in Silverstein's book and the destruction he caused within the few short pages of a book. Somehow, my poem's narrator remembered this book too and chose to make a promise to one special tree.

Today I have a few possible writing ideas you might choose to take on:

1. Write about a favorite tree. You might pretend that you ARE the tree or you might write TO the tree or perhaps you will write ABOUT the tree from a distance.

2. Make a list of books that have stuck with you. Choose one and write about why it sticks with you. You may want to refer to it in a poem or story that you write.

3. Make a promise to a person or a group of people or an animal or a plant or yourself. You might wish to write this promise as a poem or maybe you will want to draw your promise. We become the promises we make.

Cathy is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Merely Day by Day with an original poem for this week. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

I wish you loving and strong promises - made for and by you.

xo,

Amy

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Poem #355...But Not Really

This poem does not count for #355.  It does not count because it is too like the poem "Anteater" by Shel Silverstein.  However, I wrote the whole post after I realized that I had ripped the poem off somehow through my own childhood memories of Shel's poem.  How I loved his books through the 1970s and 1980s.

Students - this happens sometimes.  There are times when you write something and then afterward realize that your work is too much like someone else's work.  Then, it's time to get back to writing and dig around for something else.

I have left the poem and post below just for your entertainment of my sigh-of-a-writing-evening!

Students - where did this poem come from?  Who knows!  Sometimes I think that verses come from the lint that collects in my brain all day long.  At day's end, I sweep up my head and whatever ends up in the dustpan is the poem.  

For this one, I simply got jotting in my notebook, and this line appeared -

What would you do if an anteater swallowed your aunt? 

One thing led to another, and this silly homophone poem was born.  The last few lines took me a while because I could not decide whether to use the word "shame" or "blame."  The original ending read, "I am not a good speller/so I'm not to blame."  There were two reasons I changed it.  The first reason was that I did not want a contraction in the poem.  The other reason was that this chosen ending just sounded funnier to me.

Homophones are tricky!  To refresh your memory of what they are, homophones are pronounced the same way, but they are spelled differently.  For a great list of English language homophones and homonyms, as well as definitions for each, check out Tracy's site Taupecat.

To see a map of where people say 'aunt' to rhyme with 'ant' compared to where people say 'ahnt,' check out Quora.

Hmmm...I'm wondering if this poem has anything to do with the fact we have an ant problem in the kitchen right now.  Just thought of that.  Bet it does!  Maybe I need this guy to come for a visit.

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