Look Out of a Window

Morning Flight

Drawing by Amy LV

Students - There are times when I am not in the mood to write, but still I sit down and do it. Every time this happens (and it is often as it is difficult to begin writing), I am so glad that I did. I love surprising myself with new words that come from mysterious places. So my first piece of advice today is to do the thing that future you wishes you had done....even if you are not in the mood!

When I sat at my desk this morning, I looked out the window wondering, "What should I write?" Between several trees in the distance, I saw a few birds swooping around and imagined being one of them. Then, my pen began to move.

If you are nosy like me, perhaps you'll enjoy seeing my draft. Yes, I do write by hand as I love the fluidity of my hand moving across the page, making messy letters and scribbles and sometimes racing faster than I expect. I am a fast typist, but writing with ink on paper is my true poetry home.

Draft of "You Ask Why I'm Singing"

(Click to Enlarge)

by Amy LV

Not sure what to write? Look out your window. Any window will do. I wish you flight!

Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at The Apples in My Orchard. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

I look forward to meeting the students of Coleman School in Glen Rock, New Jersey next week!

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.

What Have I Been Given?

Posing with a Pin Oak

Photo by Amy LV

On the Ground

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Two evenings ago, at my knitting group, Gretchen brought out a few jackets and other things that she wished to give away. Katie brought a couple of tablecloths to rehome, Tanya brought pumpkin bread, and Emily brought a baby sweater pattern and pumpkin pie. Once again it felt so good and warm to share with friends. Such sharing is a regular occurance with this group of friends, offering each other items we no longer use but which still have lots of life left, passing baked goods and tea across the table. I was grateful to come home wearing this cozy autumn jacket, and yes...it is the jacket in the photo above, a great match to the pin oak trees in our yard.

Today's poem came to me as I wrote in my notebook yesterday, reflecting on this simple and happy moment with friends. I hadn't planned to write a poem about it, but I was notebooking along, knew I had a poem to write for today, and this one showed up. I am again reminded of the importance of regular writing, of writing not because I am inspired but because it is delightful to see which words and stories and wonderings appear on the page when I set myself to work.

Remember this - you don't a great idea to get started. Just get started.

And if you want to try what I tried, remember something you have been given and write about that. Perhaps it was a gift, or a hand-me-down, a piece of advice, or a bit of food. When we pay attention to what we have been given, we feed our sense of gratitude. You may even wish to make a list of things you have been given in your own notebook. Actually...I think I will do that too.

Ahead of me will be a bit of mending on this cuff. I have a couple of old flowery suitcases full of fabric and will choose a perfect patch. Perhaps I will write about it. Perhaps not!

A Small Hole on One Cuff

Photo by Amy LV

In unhelpful cat assistant news, I bring you Winnie (otherwise known as Winnie Woo or Winnie Walenda). She was happy to join me yesterday in my outdoor writing session...

Winnie the Writer

Photo by Amy LV

Carol is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Beyond Literacy Link with the theme of "Autumn's Abundant Gifts." Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

May you be given delights and may you give delights to others this week.

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.

ONE LINE CROW - Day 2

 Happy National Poetry Month!

(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.)

 

This month I am studying crows, sharing a new crow poem each day of April. The number of lines in each poem will correspond to the date, with a 1-line poem on April 1...and a 30-line poem on April 30. If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for 30 days. It might be a subject that you already know a lot about or perhaps you'll explore something new.

I invite you to join me in this project! 

To do so, simply:

1. Choose a subject that you would like to stick with for 30 days. You might choose something you know lots about...or like me, you might choose something you will read and learn about throughout April.

3. Write a new poem for each day of April 2024, corresponding the number of lines in your poem to the date. For example, the poem for April 1 will have 1 line. The poem for April 14 will have 14 lines. The poem for April 30 will have 30 lines. OR....invent your own idea! And if you start later in April, just play around however you wish.

4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE LINE... subjects or poems, please email them to me or tag me @amylvpoemfarm. I would love to see what your students write and to know that we are growing these lines...and our understandings of different subjects...together.

Below you may read the first poem in this project:

April 1 - High in a Pine

And now for today!

Two Crows, Two Lines

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This small two line poem does no more than describe what a baby crow looks like when it is born. I did some research, and used the words that I found in scientific descriptions of hatchling (just hatched) crows. 

You might notice:

1. I created a big new word by joining the words feather-and-power-less with hyphens

2. Again, the title adds more to the poem which helps when writing such a brief poem. (I love the pretend idea of a new little crow having a baby picture taken.)

3. This poem is a couplet. You may read the definition of a couplet below:.

From the Cambridge Dictionary

Perhaps you will wish to try one of the writing moves that I tried here today. Or perhaps you will rely on some of your own favorite dance steps. Your poem is your poem.

Thank you for joining me for ONE LINE CROW...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's happenings. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

ps - If you are interested in learning about any of my previous 13 National Poetry Month projects, you may do so here.

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.

ONE LINE CROW - Day 1

Happy National Poetry Month!

(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.

 

This month I am studying crows, sharing a new crow poem each day of April. The number of lines in each poem will correspond to the date, with a 1-line poem on April 1...and a 30-line poem on April 30. If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for 30 days. It might be a subject that you already know a lot about or perhaps you'll explore something new.

I invite you to join me in this project! 

To do so, simply:

1. Choose a subject that you would like to stick with for 30 days. You might choose something you know lots about...or like me, you might choose something you will read and learn about throughout April.

3. Write a new poem for each day of April 2024, corresponding the number of lines in your poem to the date. For example, the poem for April 1 will have 1 line. The poem for April 14 will have 14 lines. The poem for April 30 will have 30 lines. OR....invent your own idea! And if you start later in April, just play around however you wish.

4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE LINE... subjects or poems, please email them to me or tag me @amylvpoemfarm. I would love to see what your students write and to know that we are growing these lines...and our understandings of different subjects...together.

One Line Crow

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem, only one line long, relies on two techniques:

1. The title adds more information to the scene.

2. I used a lot of alliteration, speficically assonance - the repetition of vowel sounds - to hold it together.

The facts I found to help me were: crows nest in pines (and lots of other places), crows lay clutches of 3-9 eggs, crows' eggs are spotted. They are also blue-green in color, but I did not include this fact in the poem.

I am keeping a new notebook for this project, and from time to time, I will share some notes or a draft with you. You can see that on the left of each page, I am recording crow facts from books, websites, and videos. On the right, I am writing the drafts of poem lines. Today I was a tiny bit surprised to learn that a one line poem was more difficult for me to write than a many-lined poem. 

April 1 Drafting

Photo by Amy LV

Thank you for joining me on this first day of ONE LINE CROW...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's happenings. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

ps - If you are interested in learning about any of my previous 13 National Poetry Month projects, you may do so here.

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.

Building Nests, Making Metaphors

An Artist
by Amy LV

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

I received a lovely note from Musician and English Professor Gart Westerhout who "has a regular habit of doing what might be called a cold singing of poems, in other words singing the poem before even having read it." Below you can enjoy Gart, who runs a community theater ((osugimusicaltheatre.com) in Japan, singing "Robin." 

Students - Robins won't be back to Holland, NY for a while, but that doesn't keep me from thinking about them.  Around our house, trees are getting browner and browner before the world will (soon) turn white.  We'll all stay hunkered down for a many months, feeding the fire with wood and ourselves with chili and crusty bread.  And then...many months from now...we will once again see that little red chest of a hopping robin, pulling spring up from the south in her beak.

Today's poem is not about something I can see outside right now, but it is about something I can see in my heart's eye.  One of the great gifts of poetry is that through the lines of a poem, we can relive our best moments and resee our favorite people and times.  The robin may not be in our yard...but I can still keep her close.  Can you think of something that is not happening right now, maybe something from a long time ago, something you would like to hold onto?  Close your eyes and try.  You can hold that thought, that place, that person...with a poem.

You may have noticed that today's poem compares a robin to an artist.  Making a comparison in a poem like this is called a metaphor, and if you read and listen carefully, you will find metaphors everywhere.  Life and writing is made more interesting when we can learn to see things as other things, when we can tie different experiences together in magical and unexpected ways.

Did you notice the repeating line in this poem?  It just appears twice, but it's there.  

For any of you wondering about the title of "Robin," this is a case where the title gives a reader a wee bit of information than the poem.  The poem does not actually name the type of bird at all, though careful readers would probably guess from one particular clue.  Which one?

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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