Let Your Poem Tell a Story

Boo

Drawing by Amy LV

 

Students - Happy Halloween! Today my little poem tells a story that arose as I wrote this morning. It is helpful to remember that often, our ideas come to us AS we write, not before we write. Many times I will think to myself, "I don't know what to write," but once I begin, ideas rise to meet me. So if you don't have an idea when you pick up your pen or pencil, worry not. Just dive in anyway.

Since today is Halloween, I have been thinking about ghosts and witches and jack o-lanterns and candy. I would like to thank the warm and wise students, teachers, and administrators of Alden Primary School and Alden Intermediate, both in Alden, NY for welcoming me into their writing worlds for so many days this month. You have inspired me in many ways, from your powerful writing to your joyful pumpkins to your generous sharing. Thank you for our time writing and talking writing together.

This week, I suggest that you try writing a story poem. Invent a character, and make something happen. Again, do not worry that you need a complete plan. Just begin...and see. Poems are short and perfect places to experiment with new ideas and techniques.

Jone is the host of today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Jone Rush MacCulloch with original spooky poems and ideas for writing spooky poems too. 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.

Who's Quirky? Everyone!

My New Umbrella

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I often wonder about where others' ideas come from, and then, when I am in a good writing groove, I remember. Ideas come from absolutely everywhere. Earlier this week, rereading my notebook from last May, I came across this little entry:

Notebook Entry - May 2024

Photo by Amy LV

Intrigued by such a curious invented person, I decided to write more about her:

Poem Draft #1 March 2025

Photo by Amy LV

Then, somehow, the rhythm of a famous, anonymous, old (around 1888) nonsense rhyme that goes like this, invaded my body:

Moses supposes his toeses are roses;

Moses supposes erroneously.

For nobody's toeses are roses are posies.

As Moses supposes his toeses to be.

Of course, with any old, anonymous verse, there are other, newer versions, and you can read about these at Wikipedia. What surprised me - and ALWAYS surprises me - is that this rhythm was rattling and rolling around in my brain unbeknownst to me...and its meter showed up in my own-this-week-lines. After doing a little sleuthing, I realize that this has happened before with "Moses Supposes His Toeses Are Roses" - see my poem Manny the Manatee.

As I drafted and redrafted at my computer, the main character of this poem changed from a she to a he...and I went with it!

Poem Draft #2 March 2025

Photo by Amy LV

Today I have two writing suggestions for you. 

The first suggestion is to read poems aloud regularly. Read to your family. Read to your cat. Read to an old sneaker. Read to your dog. Read to a cactus. Read to your stuffies. Read to the air. Read to yourself. If you read and write regularly, the rhythms that go through your body will come through in your own lines, even when you are not trying for it. Yes, I did revise and tweak and fine tune...but the rhythm was already inside of me.

The second suggestion is to think about quirks, both yours and those of others. The Cambridge Dictionary defines a quirk as "an unusual habit or part of someone's personality, or something that is strange and unexpected." You might think about your own quirks, the quirks of those you know, or the quirks of imaginary people. Then...write!

What are my quirks? Hmmm. One of my quirks is that I always buy a lot of baking supplies whenever we are expecting a snowstorm here in Holland, NY. Another of my quirks is that I sing a special song to our cat Winnie when I want her to come inside. What are your quirks? The quirks of others you know? The quirks of imaginary characters such as my own Umbrella Man? These may well make for excellent writing inspiration.

And...Happy Spring! Yesterday was the first day of spring where I live, and I so I tried out my new umbrella in the morning's sunshower. Isn't it all beautiful?

Spring Equinox Sunshower at The Poem Farm

Video by Amy LV

Thank you to Rose for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Imagine the Possibilities with a joyous, poetic celebration of spring. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Be quirky. Be quirky. Be quirky. That is all.

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.

Coaxing Poems 5: Tell Us a Story

 

Hello again, you sweet Poetry Friends! Welcome to the fifth of ten poetry visits 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(s) I read below the video. If you wish, you may watch the earlier videos linked below:

COAXING POEMS VISITS:

Visit 1: We Are Libraries

Visit 2: Eat the World

Visit 3: Make & Break a Pattern

Visit 4: Abacadabra!

And now I invite you to join me for Visit 5: Tell Us a Story!

Students - Today, as we think about about story poems - narrative poems - we simply think about all of the elements of story and mix them elegantly with all of the elements of poetry. Think of it this way:

Plot, Characters, & Setting + Line Breaks, Pattern, & Metaphor... = Story Poem

Story Poem Still Life

Photo by Amy LV

In this first free verse story poem, I invent a character related to a character we all know. I invent the problem and the setting for this character. The poem also has a problem, solution, beginning, middle, and end. 

You may notice the repeated words and the places where I chose to move to a new line. As (mostly) always, I drafted this poem by hand. In the revision, I experimented with my line breaks. The enter key is very helpful for poets who do some revision at the computer.

The below poem is about characters who usually do not talk at all - Rain and a flower. When we write story poems, we can include dialogue, just as we include dialogue in our prose (not poem) stories. Can you find the places where characters speak in this poem?

This poem and the next do include a bit of rhyme, rhyme that makes sense. I am not striving to rhyme with this series, but truth be told, sometimes...like a baby fox, rhyme sneaks in under the wire fence of my free verse intentions.

This next poem is in the I (first person) voice. A reader might assume that the speaker is actually me, but as writers, we can use the I voice as ourselves or we can write in the I voice pretending to be someone or something else. I have been thinking about the idea of a "word bouquet" for a couple of weeks now. Sometimes a thought needs to live in our notebook and mind for a while before finding its way into a poem or story.

What do you notice about the line breaks in this poem? What do the short lines do for a reader?

As you read and write story (narrative) poems, talk with each other about the following:

• Who are the characters?
• What is the setting?
• Is there a problem? If yes, what is it?
• How does the problem get solved?
• What happens at the beginning, middle end?
• Do the characters change?

Talk about these too:

• Does this story (narrative) poem feel like it could really happen?
• Is this a fiction story?
• Might this story be a blend of fiction and truth?
• Is this poem based in history?

And these:

• What do we notice about the line breaks?
• Does the poet repeat any lines? Why so?
• Do we find any interesting repetition?
• Are there metaphors? Are they fresh?
• What language dance moves do we admire in this poem?
• What makes this poem "poem-y?"

As you think and talk about these questions, you will discover ideas for your own poems. When writers read, we learn new writing ideas, especially when we try.

One reason I enjoy writing poems so much is because the words simply surprise me on the page. If I did not write poems, I would never have met Little Red Riding Hood's younger brother or heard a conversation between Rain and a flower or written the words "jam jar vase." An afternoon of writing offered me these gifts.

Poems cannot be wrong. Yes, if we read and write many poems, there will be poems we prefer...but poems are not wrong. Experiment! Play with your life and with your words. We each get one life and as many words as we wish - we can choose joy in our lives and in our words.

Mary Lee is hosting this week's Poetry Friday over at A(nother) Year of Reading with thoughts and a poem about secrets. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Happy story-collecting, my dears...

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.

Kind Strangers

Memory Sketch

by Amy LV

Students - This morning, I read through my notebook entries from the week and found this sketch and beginning of a poem I worked on earlier this week, both alone and in front of 150 fourth grade poets. I decided to continue that work as it is very true that this waving man (who I often see while teaching in Wyckoff, NJ) is still in my mind and heart.

Have you ever been surprised by the kindness of a stranger? Perhaps someone you did not know was kind to you. Or perhaps you witnessed a kindness to someone else? We can write these stories, and when we do, I believe that we make the world a little kinder by spreading the goodness of strangers.

You will notice that my poem does not rhyme. It includes a little bit of repetition, and it falls down the page as a poem but also tells a tiny story. As for the title, my original title was "Never Really Gone" but the feeling of wind in a heart came to me upon revision, and for now, I like that best. It brings up the sense of touch, and I, like you, am working to include more sensory description in my poems.

Pay attention to the people around you. Watch what they do. You may find inspiration in their actions and words.

Speaking of inspiration, what a wonderful week! I feel grateful and have a few thank yous for generous people:

Thank you to the grade K-4 students and teachers of Brook Park Elementary School in Berea, Ohio for warmly welcoming me this Monday and Tuesday. I loved our assembly day and our writing workshop day, and I am still thinking about your fine poems and beautiful smiles.

Thank you to the grade 4-6 students and teachers of Tioughnioga Riverside Academy in Whitney Point, NY for such a joyful day yesterday. Your thoughtful introductions and beautiful words and artistic displays truly wowed me.

And lastly, thank you to the Binghamton Area Reading Council. It was delightful to speak to your group again last evening, and to be in my own hometown with such wise, kind educators.

I look forward to featuring some of the poets and artists I met this week in future posts.

Now I am off to Wyckoff, NJ again for my final two days working with students and teachers for this school year. I hope to see the waving man again, and then I will drive home again to write and plan some travels for next school year.

Janice is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Salt City Verse with a celebration of weather through poems. 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.

Copy Quotes. Find Them. Write.

Candlelight

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem grew from a quote, this quote by writer Phillip Pullman:

"After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are what we most need in the world."

I read the quote and then imagined a real person living it, surviving a difficult time of darkness by the light of a remembered story. Stories and poems help me get through difficult times too, and even though they are not physically solid like rocks and candles are, they are solid to our spirits.

I had copied Pullman's quote into my notebook back in October, and then, when I wasn't sure what to write a poem about, I just read through my notebook looking for memories, words, ideas. His quote jumped right out at me.

This is only one of the many values I find in keeping a notebook, having a place to return to when you want to write but do not know where to start. Consider copying quotes into your own notebook, or looking for quotes in books for inspiration when you're not sure where to start. A quote can be like a candle too, illuminating the path as we start a new writing journey.

You may have noticed that today's poem (like last week's!) has a circular structure, beginning and ending with many of the same words. Try this with one of your drafts. Circles can bring a pleasing sense of form to words.

Michelle is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at More Art for All with a cozy poem and artwork as well as bits from an interesting article she read. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

Light to you, my friends.

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish. 

If you are under 13 years old, please only comment with a parent

or as part of a group with your teacher.

7 - Poems Can Rhyme

Welcome to my 2020 National Poetry Month Project
See My Last 10 Poetry Projects HERE

Each day of April 2020, I will share three things:

• A dice roll of three word dice
• A video explaining one poetic technique titled POEMS CAN... You can also find these at Sharing Our Notebooks as part of my ongoing Keeping a Notebook project
• A poem inspired by one or more of the dice words and the technique

Here are All of This Month's Poems:

10 Years of National Poetry Month History at The Poem Farm

April 1 - Poems Can Go Down the Page

April 2 - Poems Can Play With Space
April 3 - Poems Can Tell a Story
April 4 - Poems Can Compare Two Things

April 5 - Poems Can Borrow a Pattern from the World
April 6 - Poems Can Define a Word

And now, for today's words! 

Day 7 Words

Photo by Amy LV

Thank you to Heinemann for giving away a copy of my book POEMS ARE TEACHERS: HOW STUDYING POETRY STRENGTHENS WRITING IN ALL GENRES each week of April. I will draw names from the previous week each Thursday evening at 11:59pm, and I will announce a winner each Friday. Please leave a way to contact you in your comment as if I cannot contact you easily, I will choose a different name.

If you would like to learn more about other National Poetry Month projects happening throughout the Kidlitosphere, Jama has rounded up many NPM happenings over at Jama's Alphabet Soup.  Happy National Poetry Month 2020.

xo,
Amy

Little Mouse Dreams of Tea

Photo by Amy LV

Please share a comment below if you wish.day 

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

3 - Poems Can Tell a Story

Congratulations to Jennifer Olson! You have won this past week's copy of POEMS ARE TEACHERS. Would you please send your home address to me at amy at amylv dot com? Heinemann is not mailing to schools at this time.

Welcome to my 2020 National Poetry Month Project
See My Last 10 Poetry Projects HERE

Each day of April 2020, I will share three things:

• A dice roll of three word dice
• A video explaining one poetic technique titled POEMS CAN... You can also find these at Sharing Our Notebooks as part of my ongoing Keeping a Notebook project
• A poem inspired by one or more of the dice words and the technique

Here are All of This Month's Poems:

10 Years of National Poetry Month History at The Poem Farm

April 1 - Poems Can Go Down the Page

April 2 - Poems Can Play With Space

And now, for today's words! 

Day 3 Words

Photo by Amy LV

Thank you to Heinemann for giving away a copy of my book POEMS ARE TEACHERS: HOW STUDYING POETRY STRENGTHENS WRITING IN ALL GENRES each week of April. I will draw names from the previous week each Thursday evening at 11:59pm, and I will announce a winner each Friday. Please leave a way to contact you in your comment as if I cannot contact you easily, I will choose a different name.

If you would like to learn more about other National Poetry Month projects happening throughout the Kidlitosphere, Jama has rounded up many NPM happenings over at Jama's Alphabet Soup.  Happy National Poetry Month 2020 to all!

Heidi is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at My Juicy Little Universe with a beautiful response to the poets.org #ShelterInPoems project. As for Poetry Friday, we invite everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness each week of the year. Next week it will be here at The Poem Farm.

xo,
Amy

Wee Poetry Month Muse

Photo by Amy LV

Please share a comment below if you wish.day 

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Revisiting an Old Poem with New Art

From April 30, 2015 SING THAT POEM

by Cathy Stephens Pratt

Students - Today's poem is from April 30, 2015...the last day of my SING THAT POEM project for National Poetry Month 2015. Each poem that month matched a song tune, and this one matches the tune of Greensleeves.  I chose to send this poem to artist Cathy Stephens Pratt during SPARK 41. She had sent me a whimsical image of her painting depicting a house, path, flowers, and mushrooms, and I shared the poem I wrote from it HERE.

Cathy made such an enchanting painting to go with this poemsong about Joanna.  I asked her to tell me a bit about her process.  Here is what she said:

Being an illustrator, what I do is take an idea or a story and turn it into a painting. I distill ideas into marks on paper. Sometimes I abstract the images to enhance or simplify ideas, and sometimes what I paint is simply a representation of the words. Amy’s written piece was so utterly charming I only wanted to support her words with simple images. I didn’t want to embellish because I felt like her words were perfectly lovely and told a story, a very vivid story, all by themselves. 

I am grateful to have been paired with Cathy. SPARK always opens my world. And lucky me!  Cathy generously offered to send me her painting, and I am excited to hang it up here at home.  I wish I could find the real Joanna, the real girl who read to birds back in 2013. If I could, I would send the painting to her.  

Do visit Cathy's website, and step into a world of color and joy!

The tag line for SPARK is "art from writing: writing from art." I think that I will go make some drawings and art today.  Our writing selves do feed our art making selves and our art making selves do feed our writing selves. 

In other news:

Linda Kulp of Write Time is the winner of last week's giveaway of I AM SOMEONE ELSE, poems collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by Chris Hsu.  Linda - please let me know your snail mail address, and I will send this book your way.

At Sharing Our Notebooks, my other online home, I am thrilled to welcome Art Educator Matthew Grundler. Please visit his post about visual journals...and be inspired! (There is a giveaway there too.)

Jone is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Deowriter with a magical poetry prompt fortune teller gift from Tabatha and some poems they wrote from it.  Delightful! Don't miss  Please know that we gather each Friday, sharing poems and poemlove, and all are always welcome.

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.

Velcro Stories Want to Become Poems

One Adored Dog

Photo by a Loved One

Students - This poem is based on a true story.  I only know a little bit of the story, but I filled in the rest, inventing details that felt real and possible to me. Sometimes we see or hear or learn a story and it never ever leaves us. When I heard about this story, I could not let it go.  Or maybe...it could not let me go.

Stories that stick to us like velcro in our hearts are ones that want to be written.  A writer can write any story as a poem, and even if you've written a story out in long form before, you can try rewriting it as a poem.  Story poems are called narrative poems, and as is true with all poems, they need not rhyme at all.

I enjoyed playing with this new meter and as usual tap, tap, tapped as I wrote. Tapping syllables on a table or on my cheek helps me feel the rhythm of a poem in my body.

Visit my notebooks blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, to find out who won the Decomposition Notebook. And stay tuned, as there will be a new notebooks post coming this weekend.

Thank you to Rebecca who is hosting today's Poetry Friday over at Sloth Reads, a post celebrating a day I never knew existed with a poem I never knew existed - double fun! 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.

Stories About People We Meet

Three Keys
Photo by Amy LV

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

Students - Today's poem idea came from a lucky meeting I had just this week, a meeting with a young boy at East View Elementary in Olean, NY who really does collect keys and brought his collection to school for show and tell earlier this year.  Since I also like keys, we had a little talk about them...and next time we meet, we'll each bring our keys to share.  (I will give him one of mine!)  With permission of his mom, here is a picture of Reagan with his key collection:

The Real Key Collector

Photo by Amy Martin

Each day, every one of us has the chance to chat with people, to learn about their interests and hobbies and loves.  Sometimes one of these chats will flip a switch inside of our writing selves, will cause us to say, "This is so interesting!  I want to write about it!"  But first, we must listen.  Try that this week: listen to people you normally may not have listened to.  Ask questions.  And later, jot what you remember.  Any one of your observations or fascinations may grow into a piece of writing.

Now, please know that this poem is not completely factual.  The only part I know is factual is that there lives a boy with a key collection.  I do not know what his key box is made of, or if his collection includes a diary key or two skate keys.  These parts I made up.  But the boy with the key collection...that's true.  I know him!  Writers can do this -- mix a bit of true and a bit of fiction to make a new story.

If you are ever  unsure of how to begin a poem or a story of your own, try starting with these words -- There once lived a...  As some of you know, I do this often.  You can always erase or cross out or delete this line later if you wish, but it is a good and clear doorway in.

Please visit my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, to find out the winner of the moon journal! 

Laura is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at her generous blog today, celebrating Jona Colson's new book SAID THROUGH GLASS.  Please know that every Poetry Friday, we gather together to share books, and poetry ideas all at one blog.  Everyone is always welcome to visit, comment, and post.  We invite you!

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.

Imagine Yourself in a Story

Deer Sheds Found at The Poem Farm

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This story poem grew from a conversation I was fortunate enough to have last week with a few young hunters at Elba Elementary School in Elba, NY.  We were talking about the deer sheds I'd brought along, and they were kind enough to share some hunting stories with me.

I am not a hunter, and I have no interest in learning to hunt.  Yet hearing these young men speak with passion and reverence for nature and this skill filled me with curiosity and wonder.  Though I will likely never hunt or shoot a deer myself, in this poem I imagine the moment of transition between life and death.

In today's poem, I have pretended to play a part in a story I will likely never live.  And in so doing, I have been remade.  I see hunting in a new way, through the eyes of my young teachers and through my own imagination.  Since I write this from imagined and talked experience, though, I am not sure if there are details that are off or missing or untrue.  So, young hunter friends in Elba....if you read this, would you please tell me if there is something clearly wrong here?  Something that feels totally untrue?  If so, please send me an e-mail through your librarian, Mrs. Perrault.  And if you would like to share any of your own hunting poems or words around hunting, please let me know as I would love to include some of words here.  Thank you for that talk we had...I have been thinking about it all week.

This week I was fortunate enough to visit two wonderful elementary schools in Paramus, NJ, and I would like to extend so much gratitude to everyone at Parkway Elementary and Stony Lane Elementary for such a joyous two days of celebrating poetry and notebooking.  I loved writing with you and am now thinking about stories and ideas we shared together too.

At Sharing Our Notebooks, I am so happy to welcome third grade teacher Dina Bolan and her writers from Alexander Hamilton Elementary School in Glen Rock, New Jersey.  Please read their nonfiction notebook entries, and leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a lovely new notebook.  I will draw a name next week!

Donna is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Mainely Write with a bouquet of beautiful poetry postcards. Each week, we gather our posts together at one blog, so if you visit Donna this week...you will be introduced to many new poets and blogs and books.  Please join 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.