Counting
by Amy LV
Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.
Students - Today's offering is a small poem that sprung from words I overheard a child say recently. "I love my real dad....I haven't seen him in a half-a-month and three months."
We all have longings: to see people, to go places, to find things, to be understood. Hellos and goodbyes are a big part of life, and sometimes it helps us inside to write about them. If you feel a longing, writing about it may help you understand it better or it might just feel good to put it into words. I do that often, and sometimes, like today, I even write about others' longings.
You'll notice that this poem is written in tercets - lines of three - except for the ending. Originally, I drafted the poem in all one stanza, but then I decided to break it up to offer more pauses and more silence for the reader. The middle four stanzas each end with a paratheses line because those lines feel like little hugs to me; they show how the child feels close to the father.
Why is that last line all by itself? It's the most important one.
This week I am excited to be hosting teacher and notebook keeper Amy Zimmer Merrill over at Sharing Our Notebooks. If you love notebooks and reading about them, you will enjoy her post very much! And maybe you'll be the one to win a mini collage journal made my Amy herself!.
Violet is hosting today's poetry buffet over at Violet Nesdoly/poems. Visiting her blog today will welcome you to the world of Poetry Friday poems and quotes, articles, and bits of inspiration, all across the kidlitosphere!
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