The Poem Farm: Winter

Showing posts with label Winter. Show all posts

Sunday, April 26, 2026

listen - day 26

As I strive to become a better listener and to connect more with my sense of hearing, National Poetry Month 2026 finds me writing daily, handwritten, index card poems inspired by sounds and listening.. I have begun a new notebook to collect the sounds I notice throughout the month, and I will reflect on them in short poems. My ears - and my heart - are open wide.

I invite you to join me in this project, on any of my projects from the past 16 years, or on a project of your very own. To do so, simply write a poem each day of April in any way you wish. Share or don't share, as you wish. Your poems are your poems. Your projects are your projects. And if you wish learn a bit more about writing poetry, I welcome you to the short lessons in the tab above: COAXING POEMS VIDEOS - 2024.

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

Here is poem 26 -

Students - Something I have noticed this month is that our home is a pretty quiet home. We live on a country road with almost no traffic, our children are grown, we do not keep TV or radio on in the background, we do not play video games, and our cats, while not totally quiet, are not boisterous. So as the month has gone on, I have needed to push myself to think of sounds. This one is a seasonal sound, one we only hear during certain (though many) months of the year. Plows are loud, and I loved that lie-a-bed time of wondering if snowy days would become official snow days, for me, for Mark, for our children. For folks who live in cold climates, snow days are sweet surprises!

One way to gather ideas for writing (sound ideas or other ideas) is to fold a piece of paper into four quadrants, or take four separate sheets of paper, and label each with one of the seasons: spring, summer, winter, fall. Then, under each heading, list some sounds or memories or images that come to you related to that season. Our lists will all be different, depending on the weather where each of us lives.

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects happening online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

I wish you a fun-to-think-about question today!

xo,

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Friday, April 24, 2026

listen - day 24

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

Here is poem 24 -

Students - In truth, a fire in the fireplace may not rustle the last words of trees for those trees become ash which returns to the soil which becomes plants which feed animals which make new noises. But. For this poem, the actual tree-wood is sharing its last words as a fire in our home.

I adore a good wood fire, and thank goodness for that as we heat much of our home with wood, and so this means stacking wood, carrying wood, and loading wood into the wood stove. Fortunately, we do not need to cut the trees down and up, as we barter firewood for use of tapping some of our maples for syrup.

Today's poem feels a little bit sad and a little bit grateful to me. Are there any sounds in your life that have a feeling attached to them? Our kitties' purrs make me feel loved, and a loved one's sniffle makes me feel a bit worried.

Irene is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Live Your Poem with so much goodness, from new book joy (welcome, Some Starry Night!) to a new ArtSpeak: WOMEN poem. Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects happening online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Now I am thinking about what the last words of trees might be. What are you thinking about?

xo,

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Sunday, April 12, 2026

listen - day 12

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

April 1 - listening, listening

April 2 - clicking kitty

April 3 - spring morning

April 4 - tea

April 5 - team

April 6 - from far away

April 7 - on a day of April snows

April 8 - breakfast

April 9 - beep beep beep

April 10 - now

April 11 - but why?

Here is poem 12 -

Students - Here in Western New York, our spring fluctuates between very warm days and very cold days. I do my best to find the good in all of it, and one of my favorite winter moments from childhood when heat blew from a register under the kitchen sink to now when we split our heat between a wood stove and heater in our living room (the heat floates upstairs through holes in the ceilings) is warming my feet by the heat.

Writing this poem, I most enjoyed making the heater hum and breathe...just as people hum and breathe. In poetry-land, we call this personification, the giving of human qualities to non-human things.

You might wish to try playing around with personification. Choose an object or an animal, and make a list of some of the actions it does using non-human language. Then try to change some of those words, stretching them to make them actions that people do. If you like one or more of your personification bits, write a poem around it. Practice this personification imagining in your life, and soon it will creep into your writing (see what I did there?) without you even noticing.

Example:

Vacuum cleans...........Vacuum dances............Vacuum gobbles

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects happening online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Here's to finding cozy moments in ever season and to seeking the humanity in all people, animals, and objects too.

xo,

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Tuesday, April 7, 2026

listen - day 7

National Poetry Month 2026 Poems

April 1 - listening, listening

April 2 - clicking kitty

April 3 - spring morning

April 4 - tea

April 5 - team

April 6 - from far away

Here is poem 7 -

Students - Yesterday, as I was out picking daffodils before today's snow...I heard the train whistle that I wrote about yesterday. I don't hear it too often, and so this felt like a little gift. Writing another outside sounds poem today has me thinking how different this month of listen poems would be if they all were written in winter or all about foods or all about animals. I may need to do this exercise regularly!

You have probably noticed the many s sounds in today's few lines. They found their way in, and I welcomed each one. You may have also noticed how the poem ends with shorter lines, almost like a funnel. Ending in this way directs a reader to slow down toward the end, to weight the ending, if you will. You may wish to try this sometime. Break up your last line and read it differently, with a wee pause at the end of each line. If you like how it sounds, keep it. If not, switch it up and keep playing!

To learn about many of the wonderful National Poetry Month projects happening online this April, visit the generous Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

May whatever today's weather brings to you be sweet.

xo,

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Friday, November 22, 2024

Write in Third Person

November 20, 2024 Before

Photo by Amy LV

November 20, 2024 After

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Sometimes when we read, we assume that the author of a story or poem is writing about themselves, even if they have not said that this is true. The truth is, oftentimes, authors write in the first person 'I' voice when a piece is not about themselves. Rather, they PRETEND that they are someone else and IMAGINE a whole new world that they have never experienced. They write in the 'I' voice even though they never physically experienced what they are writing. For example, I could write a piece about my memories as a cloud (I looked down at tiny trucks and trains) even though I am not actually a cloud.

Similarly, authors can write in the third person 'she/he/they/it' voice even if a piece IS about their own life. Authors can take a step back and imagine themselves at a bit of a distance, watching an experience they truly had, shaping it for a character perhaps just like themselves, perhaps somewhat different. Sometimes characters are really the author, sometimes not the author at all, and sometimes a mix of the author and imagination.

Today's poem is true, it is about something that happened to me two days ago, and it is also in the third person 'he/she/they/it' voice. I wrote it this way because I wanted it to feel a little bit more like a story and as I wrote, I did imagine the character much like me but much older and grayer somehow.

You might wish to try this. Remember something that happened to you, and write about it in the third person 'he/she/they/it' voice. This will help you take a step back. You may choose to keep your memory as it really happened, or who knows? Perhaps you will change it a little. Perhaps you will change it a lot. Perhaps you will end up writing about a completely different thing than you started with. You are the author...so you make all of those important decisions.

Playing with point of view can give our poems and our stories new flavors and can bring new ideas into our minds.

Ruth is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken Town with some thoughtful words and an original poem around the phrase My world, your world, our world. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Remember...difficult things will always happen in life, even when we work hard. It is good to take that time to sigh, but we can always start again. I wish you new beginnings.

xo,

Amy

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