HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 15

  Happy National Poetry Month!

(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)

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

April 6 - 8am on a Sunday

April 7 - Her Real Name is Orla Lola Bruin

April 8 - My Neighborhood

April 9 - Mushroom Hunters

April 10 - From Coat to Cloak

April 11 - Speaking of Coats

April 12 - Forgiveness is a Gift

April 13 - Here

April 14 - Running Home

And now for today!

Students - Today's little verse can be read as a little verse...or you can sing it to the tune of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." The syllables are not a perfect match, but it works for me today. 

Even though this verse is short, I still fiddled around a lot with the words. In line 4, I had originally written brings instead of calls. In line 5, I had originally written adds her instead of mixes. And in line 7, I had originally written when cinnamon fills the air instead of when cinnamon rides the sky. Sometimes changing one or two words can really lift a poem.

If you want to write with a song meter, it helps to count the syllables in each line and write them down the page. For example, "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" goes like this:

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

7

6

4

6

4

6

8

6

Feel free to count the syllables in my verse today to find where they don't match. I can still sing it along, because so much of singing is the holding of notes. :)

Thank you for joining me on this fifteenth day of HELLO MY NAME IS... We are halfway through the month of Lou poems.

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

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 

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HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 3

  Happy National Poetry Month!

(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)

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

And now for today!

Students - I am very much enjoying pretending to be Little Red Riding Hood so far. It feels as if each day I learn a little new about the LRRH (Lou) inside of me. To choose the poem topic for each day, I try to find a hint in the poem from the day before. If I do, I allow that hint to lead me into the next poem. Yesterday Lou wrote "But yes it's true, I do love red." This made me think about all of the red things she might adore. And somehow, I got to the tune of "My Favorite Things," the famous song from the movie THE SOUND OF MUSIC. 

Go ahead, sing today's poem to the tune of...

Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens.

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.

....

If you don't wish to sing it, you can hear me do so above. 

Writing a poem to the tune of a song is one of my favorite writing things to do. The meter (and rhyme scheme if you wish) is offered by the song, and then you just sing along as you write to check if each line matches. Sometimes this requires a lot of crossing out and revision, as you can see below. 

Draft of "Red"

(Click to Enlarge)

Photo by Amy LV

I encourage you to try this. Choose a song, perhaps "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or "Happy Birthday" and go from there. (And don't be surprised if I, as Little Red, lean on a song more than once this month!)

Looking at this draft, you may have noticed that I dated my page March 20, 2025. Because I am on the road a lot this month, I began writing in March so that I am able to travel, teach, and still post even on the busiest days.

Thank you to the students, faculty, administration and Librarian Christopher Gray of St. John's School in Houston Texas. I just spent two days there, sharing poems and writing poetry with all of the students in grades K-5. Much gratitude to retired teacher Olga McLaren, whose vision and generosity left a gift of a visiting poet to the school each year. It was so good to see her and her husband again!

And thank YOU for joining me for Day 3 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

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

Sing Someone Else's Song

Our Blazing Hill

Photo by Amy LV

Some of you may remember my talented friend, musician and English professor Gart Westerhout from his music here last spring. Every once in a while, Gart turns one of my poems into a song, and he did so with this poem. Thank you to Gart who always finds the perfect voice for each of my poems.

Students - Our hill is exquisite this week! I have been drinking in the colors and bottling it up in my mind for the white and windy winter days ahead. Today's poem grew from me imagining a fox wishing to match its fur to autumn leaves...and this wish becoming true. Tossing and turning in bed last night, I got myself up and scribbled this poem in all of its messy glory. 

Scribbly Draft

Photo by Amy LV

Today I offer you a new writing idea. Write a song. It does not need to have a tune; it can be a poem in another's voice that feels songlike. You might choose an animal or a person or an object. Pretend to be this other and write in this other's voice. I did not intend to write a fox song, but the repetition of "I am Fox. I'm fire." made me think that this felt more song than poem. Try some repetition in your own song if that sounds interesting to you.

And go for it. Cross out like crazy. Let your poem lead you!

If you are looking for poems in others' voices, check out master poet Joyce Sidman's SONG OF THE WATER BOATMAN or my first book, FOREST HAS A SONG.

Matt is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup today at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme with a celebration of his latest book. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Wishing you song...and a friend like my orange Claude, who looks exactly like this now at 7:41 on this Friday morning.

Claude, a Sleepy Muse

Photo by Amy LV

xo,

Amy

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If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 

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Lean on a Song & Welcome Guests

Sky After Poeming

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Can you believe that I took the above sky photograph just moments after writing this poem? Well, I did! This week has been so beautiful, so summery in Western New York.

Today's poem leans on the meter of the 1936 song "Dona Nobis Pacem" ("Grant Us Peace" in Latin). If you listen to the recording above, you will hear me read the poem and then sing it to the tune of the song. "Dona Nobis Pacem" lives in my mind this week as I have just joined a newly formed threshold choir (Raven's Call) here in Buffalo, NY, a small choir that will sing at the bedsides of seriously ill and dying people who wish for music. This is but one of the songs we are learning, and I am singing it to myself inside and outside.

I do like to think that this is a true equation: topic + structure + wordplay = poem. Sometimes I begin with a topic, sometimes a structure, sometimes some wordplay. Today, structure (the meter of "Dona Nobis Pacem") guided my way. This and my recent thoughts about how we speak to ourselves in our own minds. 

I've suggested this several times before, but here it is again. If you're not sure where to begin with a poem, choose a song you like and then write words that can fit in the lines perfectly (or well enough!) I like to count the syllables and then match syllables and stresses as perfectly as feels right.

HERE is a beautiful voice and piano recording of "Dona Nobis Pacem," a round that is often sung in three parts, here all sung by Julie Gaulke.

And NOW....is a happy honor to welcome Fourth Grade Teacher Cheryl Donnelly and her poets from Tioughnioga Riverside Academy in Whitney Point, NY who took on the April 24 HOURS Challenge. My goodness gracious! How this school takes poetry on. I was lucky enough to visit these writers in mid-May, and feel grateful to them and to Teacher Cheryl Donnelly and Intermediate Literacy Coordinator Dr. Kristie Miner for all of their joyful sharing.

Enjoy this joyful slideshow of poems, one poem from each poet, and know that each poet wrote many poems as part of their own 24 HOURS project, choosing a favorite for us here at The Poem Farm. Do take notice of the many different voices and poetic techniques these writers chose.

Click the three dots and ENTER FULL SCREEN to enlarge.

Thank you again to this poetic community from Tioughnioga Riverside Academy for joining us today.

Tricia is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at The Miss Rumphius Effect. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 

with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

Write to Someone & a Peek!

Singing Chickadee

by Ava

I will record this poem as soon as my voice returns!

Students - This week I was tickled to find the tweet from Kindergarten Teacher Christie Wyman along with a charming singing chickadee drawn by Ava. Seeing her art inspired me to make something too. I wrote a poem to go with this art, especially for one person, Ava.  Many times, a writer will write to one person, but a reader might not know this unless the writer tells.

I began writing this poem with the word If....  If is a magical word, really, as a writer can follow it with anything at all.  I chose to write about sharing songs with the world, just as Artist Ava shared a song drawing that brought joy to my day.

You may notice that this poem repeats just one rhyme...with the oo sound.  In my notebook, I made a list of words rhyming with you to help me choose words that would make sense in my poem.  This is a technique I often use.

Word List

Photo by Amy LV

Chickadees are dear to our family. Years ago, I purchased the Dylan Metrano's beautiful chickadee piece from our book EVERY DAY BIRDS.  Unbeknownst to me, my husband Mark was planning to purchase it at the same time!

Original Papercut Chickadee from our EVERY DAY BIRDS

by Dylan Metrano

Here is our Georgia a couple of years ago, holding a stunned chickadee who flew into our window.  She has done animal rehabilitation work for many years, and she knew that this little one just needed a bit of rest before returning to the air.

Georgia and Chickadee

Photo by Amy LV

Sometimes the smallest birds, the smallest words, the smallest of gestures can be big indeed.

One hundred thousand welcomes to the Newfane Library Poets!  Last year, Director of Children's Programming, Cassy Clarcq, shared these wonderful poems with me, and at long last I am grateful and excited to be sharing them here.  Please enjoy the joy and variety in this selection of poems from last year's Newfane Library Poetry Celebration!

Please Click to Enlarge

I feel very lucky to host teacher and writer Brett Vogelsinger over at Sharing Our Notebooks this month.  Please drop by my other online space to read his post about notebook poetry drafting...and to be entered into a cool notebook giveaway as well.

Catherine is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Reading to the Core with a celebration of International Women's Day! I will be celebrating this day by celebrating my wonderful mother's birthday this evening. Tonight we will share Chinese food, the carrot cake I just made from my great friend Sallye's recipe, and as always, this poem. 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.

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.