A Wooden Horse Finds Some Dolls

Welcome to Day 10 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...

Day Ten - Wooden Horse

Click the drawing to enlarge it.

Students - Today's wooden horse drawing is a little awkward...but I still like it.  I like it because I learned something from it.  I am learning how back legs look shorter than front legs when you draw something from the side. And I am learning that to imitate paint strokes, one must use the pen lightly.

This wooden horse once belonged to my Great Aunt Kay, a woman who loved to travel.  She would always come home from each trip with two dolls: one for my sister Heidi and one for me.  I remember playing with these beautiful dolls, putting their shoes on and off. playing with their small beaded necklaces.  We would compare our new dolls each time, and someone always got the prettier one.  But the doll I remember most was not fancy at all...she was rather plain, with a black vest that was easy to take off and easy to put back on again.  I remember lying by the heater in my bedroom just playing with that doll and her friends for hours.

Well, look at that.

I just found a whole new writing idea from this drawing.

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Pussy Willows Meow for Spring!

Welcome to Day 9 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...

Day Nine - Pussy Willows

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Students - Last night, my husband and I took a walk down our country road.  And there they were!  The pussy willows were out!  I was so happy that I almost did a pussy willow dance.  See, around here, pussy willows (along with daffodils, snowdrops, crocuses, and robins) are the harbingers of spring.  I picked some to bring inside.

Sitting down with my sketchbook, I decided to only draw one branch of these wee softies so that I could spend more time and space writing around the edges of my drawing.  I am trying to come up with many comparisons and descriptions for the things that I am drawing, as recommended by one of my new favorite books, The Private Eye, by Kerry Ruef.  I am excited to play more with my thoughts about this picture...to make a poem from some of these jottings.

Teachers - My Poetry Resource of the Day is Wonderopolis.  Check out some past poetry wonders, and take note that I will be leading this month's #Wonderchat on Twitter, next Monday April 15 at 8:00pm EST.  I welcome you to join us!

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Drawing the Everyday to See Something New

Welcome to Day 7 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...

Day Seven - My Glasses

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Students - Today I am back home again, and yesterday I decided to draw something very daily, a normal part of my life: a pair of glasses.  I was looking about my house, trying to choose a subject, and this old pair of glasses just looked up at me from a shelf.  You can see where I was trying to draw the shadow.  You can also read how I am making comparisons between what I draw and other thing in the world, as THE PRIVATE EYE asks us to do when drawing and thinking.  These little notes may give me poem ideas.  (I really like the idea of glasses being like pretzels!)

My friend Nancy March (if you missed the Poetry Peek with Nancy and her neighbor Olivia, please do check it out and leave a comment for this young poet) just shared a very inspiring sketching blog with me.  If you like peeking into others' sketchbooks, check out Sketchbook Wandering, a lovely place to spend the morning, afternoon, or evening!

Teachers - It's Week 2 of National Poetry Month, and if you are looking for more wonderful ways to share poems this month and all year round, this post at Teach with Picture Books will inspire you greatly.  It's a great one, chock full of books, links, and ideas.

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Poetry Friday Comes With Cupped Hands

Welcome to Day 5 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 first one.

I will add audio to this poem by weekend's end.

Students - If you look back at my April 4 sketch, you will find this note written in the margin -  - "a tiny bowl is like a handful - maybe 2 cupped hands..."

When I pored over my first few drawings of this month's project, this image of two cupped hands is what stuck to my heart.  There is something very intimate about cupped hands, and writing about them today made me think about many other movements we make with our hands: shaking hands, holding hands, holding pencils, throwing baseballs...the list could go on and on.  I may write more poems to go with this one.  You might too.

Today's poem mixes up the senses a little bit.  One cannot really taste a dream of old coyotes in real life.  But in a poem, you can do anything, and it is important to try anything. You might wish to try this in your own writing: jumble your senses.  Let a color have a sound, or describe the feel of your kitty's purr.  These are not the usual ways we use our senses, but experimenting with unusual and magical sensory connections can add a mysterious and almost hauntingly lovely quality to a line or two.

Please let me know if you try this. I would love to read what you write.

(When I awoke this morning, I remembered another one of my special-tasting-drink poems.  You can read Warm Drink from January!)

And here is the drawing of the day: my own foot in my own shoe.

Day Five - My New Old Shoe

Students - It was interesting to draw my shoe yesterday.  We were waiting for the train to arrive here  in DC, and the train was twelve minutes away.  When my daughter suggested that I try to do my whole sketch in that amount of time, I thought, "Why not?"  I recommend that you try this too.  Set a timer.  Maybe ten minutes, maybe five, maybe twelve or twenty.  Then see what grows in that amount of time.  Sometimes I think that a time limit helps us to push through any nervousness about jumping in.  (I did the notes after the twelve minutes were up.)

Robyn Hood Black is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Life on the Deckle Edge.  If you're new to Poetry Friday, this means that at Robyn's blog, you will find links to many different poem posts around the Kidlitosphere today. We welcome you to join us every Friday, all year long, as we celebrate, share, and write poetry together.

A Bowl to Hold

Photo by Amy LV

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Day 2 - Drawing Spices, Smelling Memories....

Welcome to Day 2 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...

Day Two - Spices

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Students - I enjoyed setting up this little still life of spices.  As I drew them, I thought about what they remind me of, and I also thought about spice memories.  Suddenly I found myself remembering Valerie Worth's poem, "sweets" from ALL THE SMALL POEMS AND FOURTEEN MORE.

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Leaf Planes & Writing Places

A New Place to Write

Photo by Amy LV

Today's Notebook Page

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Today, instead of sitting on my couch to write, or settling into our breakfast nook or into the big purple chair...I wrote out in the chilly sunshine at the table you see above.  Writing in a new place got me started in a new way...by sketching a leaf that fell onto my table.

I did not plan to write about the leaf or about the sketch, but later...sitting in my car...waiting...I sat and wrote.  I had already sketched, had already read Aaliyah's poem below, had already fallen in love with the colors of our hill on this very day in autumn.  It felt like a good free verse day, and so off I went. One thing led to another, leaves turned to paper airplanes...and here you go.

This is something I plan to do more in the next few weeks: write in different places than usual.  It makes sense that my brain will be open to new ideas in new locations, and I am excited to try this experiment.  You try it too.  Write in a different place.  See what you find.

I am very grateful to again welcome Mrs. Laurie Luft's poets from Spencerport, NY.  Last week, Trevor shared a poem suggesting a clever use for swimming goggles, and this week he is back with a beautiful love poem.  Aaliyah joins us with a joyful celebration of fall, singing to colors that I was just noticing today!  How lucky we are to have these second grade poets here with us on this Poetry Friday.


Drake

Drake my true treasure.
The one that always puts a smile on my face.
He the, the angel that always watches over me.

by Trevor



Fall

Leaves falling in the fall.
Blue jays singing through the fall leaves.
They’re calling me.
Turning colors in the fall.
There are people raking Leaves.

by Aaliyah


Thank you Trevor, Aaliyah, and Mrs. Luft, for spending time and space with us today.  And a big "Hello!" to everyone else in your class.  Where will you write today?

This week over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, Barry Lane shares his notebooks as well as a generous giveaway of two books and a CD.  The drawing will take place on Sunday. 

Marjorie is hosting today's Poetry Friday party over at Paper Tigers.  Visit here for wordgoodies!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

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