Showing posts with label Wonderopolis Poems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wonderopolis Poems. Show all posts

Monday, April 4, 2016

Wallow in Wonder Day #4 - What Makes Glitter Sparkle?


Welcome to Day 4 of Wallow in Wonder!  For my 2016 National Poetry Month project, I will celebrate learning and writing from learning, writing poems from each daily Wonder at Wonderopolis.  As I did with my Dictionary Hike in 2012, I am looking to surprise myself with new inspiration daily.  This year, such inspiration will show up in my inbox each morning.  I will print it and carry each Wonderopolis Wonder around all day...and in the afternoon or evening, I will write and post the poem for the next day.  

I invite anyone who wishes to take this challenge too.  Just read today's wonder over at Wonderopolis, and write a poem inspired by it for tomorrow.  Share it tomorrow at your own site, and if you wish to link in my comments for others to find (or share your poem there), please feel free to do so tomorrow, the day after the Wonder is published at Wonderopolis.

My April Poems Thus Far

April 1 - So Suddenly - a poem inspired by Wonder #1659 
April 2 - Thankful Journal - a poem inspired by Wonder #1660
April 3 - The Storm Chaser - a poem inspired by Wonder #779

And now for Day 4!


Glitter Always Helps
by Amy LV




Students - I am a glitter fan!  So it was neat to read yesterday's Wonderopolis post, to find out more about glitter and how it is made.  Honestly, I have never thought about a whole factory devoted to glitter.  The world is a weird and cool place, that's for sure.

For today's poem, I visited a few places in my mind before settling here.  

First I thought about writing about how some people are glitter-lovers and some people are glitter-haters,  It might have been fun to write a sort of compare and contrast poem about these two types of people.

Then I considered writing about how glitter stays behind for a long time after you sprinkle it.  I imagined writing a poem about remembering someone who'd moved away after finding glitter he or she had left behind. After all, sometimes when I open a glittery card, I have glitter on my hands or face (from touching my face with my hands) for quite a while.  

I even went back in time, remembering one particular Christmas ornament we hung on our tree throughout my childhood - a light pink paper bell with a pipe cleaner loop, all squirted with glue and golden glitter.  I made that ornament when I was in kindergarten or first grade, in 1976, and I felt tender toward it every year when I hung it on the tree, thinking, "I made this!"

In the end, I decided to write this poem about a jar of secret healing glitter.  Today's poem was going to be all free verse, no rhyme at all.  But at the end, I could not resist.  Perhaps this month's poems will go back and forth between a few rhyming poems, then a few free verse poems.  We'll see.

Do you notice anything unusual about some of the words in this poem?

What do you observe about the last line?

Remember - If you ever find a writing technique you like in someone else's poem...consider that an invitation to try it yourself!  

I have written another poem about glitter, back in 2010, and it will appear in my forthcoming collection with Clarion (date TBA) titled WITH MY HANDS: POEMS ABOUT MAKING THINGS.

You can read poem inspired by glitter if you visit Wonder Lead Ambassador, literacy advocate, teacher, and writer Paul Hankins at his Wonder Ground blog where he, too, is writing daily poems from Wonderopolis wonders.  He and I are in this together daily and some other writers are joining in on the fun sometimes too. All are welcome to wonder through poems with us, and you may even find some links to other glitter poems in the comments below...

Happy Day 4 of National Poetry Month 2016!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Wallow in Wonder Day #3 - The Storm Chaser


Welcome to Day 3 of Wallow in Wonder!  For my 2016 National Poetry Month project, I will celebrate learning and writing from learning, writing poems from each daily Wonder at Wonderopolis.  As I did with my Dictionary Hike in 2012, I am looking to surprise myself with new inspiration daily.  This year, such inspiration will show up in my inbox each morning.  I will print it and carry each Wonderopolis Wonder around all day...and in the afternoon or evening, I will write and post the poem for the next day.  

I invite anyone who wishes to take this challenge too.  Just read today's wonder over at Wonderopolis, and write a poem inspired by it for tomorrow.  Share it tomorrow at your own site, and if you wish to link in my comments for others to find (or share your poem there), please feel free to do so tomorrow, the day after the Wonder is published at Wonderopolis.

My April Poems Thus Far

April 1 - So Suddenly - a poem inspired by Wonder #1659 
April 2 - Thankful Journal - a poem inspired by Wonder #1660

And now for Day 3!


Off to Chase a Storm
by Amy LV




Students - I have been so excited about the Wonders at Wonderopolis so far this month.  When I read yesterday's wonder, "Why do some people chase storms?" my imagination got rolling.  Today's poem is a story poem, a story of one storm chaser heading out for adventure, heading out to learn.

I think that mostly I just followed this poem, listened to the poem that wanted to be written. I began it late last night, knowing that I would not finish and hoping that my brain would continue to crunch away overnight.  The first few lines presented themselves --

When the storm chaser catches
a hint of a whiff
of some possibly dangerous weather

And then I just kept following the story.  You can see how messy some of that following looks below.  You can also see the lists of rhyming words I made on the right hand side, to help me find rhymes that made sense.

Some of The Storm Chaser Draft
Photo by Amy LV

One thing some people might not realize is that writing a poem can be a very active experience: scribbling out, listing, consulting rhyming dictionaries, reading the poem aloud again and again to help the next line write itself, tapping on the desk.  Active.

In today's poem, I do not say whether the storm chaser is a male or a female.  The reason for this is that the storm chaser could be either one, and I wish for the reader to decide...not me.

Sometimes when I write a poem, I have a favorite part.  In this poem, my favorite part is when the storm chaser kisses the dog and the cat.  In fact, I liked this part so very much that I chose to end the poem with those furry friends too.  Somehow, to me, this makes the storm chaser feel like a real person with pets to love.

You can read another storm poem if you visit Wonder Lead Ambassador, literacy advocate, teacher, and writer Paul Hankins at his Wonder Ground blog where he, too, is writing daily poems from Wonderopolis wonders.  He and I are in this together daily and some other writers are joining in on the fun sometimes too. All are welcome to wonder through poems...

Happy Day 3 of National Poetry Month 2016!

Please share a comment below if you wish.