HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 6

    Happy National Poetry Month!

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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

And now for today!

Students - Today's poem is simply a description poem of now, of something Lou is doing in the moment. It is written in the present tense, as if she is describing the scene around her, its colors and smells and sounds. In a way, it is a small moment poem and a list poem, and I like imagining this peaceful scene of LRRH surrounded by some of her favorite things.

If you are writing in the voice of another this month, or writing in your own voice, consider trying this. Write in the now. Where are you? What do you see, hear, smell, feel, taste in the air? Make a list and turn the list into a poem. Turn it into a different poem. Which do you prefer? If you like, combine them!

Notice - today's poem does not rhyme or follow a special meter/beat, but it does end with a short line. This is one way to bring a poem to a close. The short line feels like a punctuation mark indicating - This poem is over now.

Yesterday was such a fun Family Day at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Several authors read to children, and the museum staff and volunteers made crafts with the children. For my book, WITH MY HANDS, POEMS ABOUT MAKING THINGS, children had the opportunity to make sock puppets or fingerprint pictures! Thank you to everyone at the Burchfield Penney for putting together such a wonderful day for families and authors too.

Sock Puppet Materials
Photo by Amy LV

Fingerprint Picture Materials

Photo by Amy LV

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

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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Linger on a Lived Moment

 

Winnie in Her New Fort

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Winnie is one funny cat! Yesterday I watched her leap into this big heater box, pleased as punch. She loves boxes, as do many cats, and today I thought I would just tell the story of her an her newest favorite box.

You will notice that there is little punctuation in this poem - no end punctuation until the end. This gives the poem a bit of a breathless feeling, and I am not exactly sure why, but I wanted the poem to feel just rambly with the repeated word and and such little punctuation.

Today's poem simply tells something that truly happened in my life. I just lingered on it, seeing it from Winnie's (huge sunflower) eyes and letting the words fall all over themselves.

What is one small experience you might linger on? Something small you might tell in a poem? Will you tell it from your eyes or from the eyes of another? Will you repeat lines as you linger, repeat lines as I did?

We have many grand decisions to make as writers. Let's enjoy them all, be thankful for the moments and the ability to write and photograph and draw them. Here at November's end, I am, as always, thankful for you and for this community. And at this very moment, I am also thankful for Winnie's best friend Tuck who is lying and purring here on my desk!

My Writing Pal Tuck

Photo by Amy LV

Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Beyond Literacy Link with a gorgeous gallery full of autumn poetry and images . Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

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.