Can You Find the Drey?
Photo by Amy LV
Students - Today's poem started with the photo you see above. I was walking to a local bakery to write, and I looked up to see squirrel nests in wintry trees. I got to wondering, "Does a squirrel nest have a special name?" Lo and behold - it does. A squirrel nest is indeed called a drey.
Settled into the bakery, before I wrote, I read this book by Myra Cohn Livingston and many poets, I AM WRITING A POEM ABOUT... This got me thinking even more about words.
Comfy at the Bakery
Photo by Amy LV
I have also been thinking about words because our daughter has been using her Word of the Day in a sentence each day. We have to guess when she uses it, and then she teaches us what it means!
One more reason my mind is full of words is that I adore this new book, THE LOST WORDS by Robert McFarlane and Jackie Morris.
Porcupette has one of my favorite words ever since I learned it from Joyce Sidman's beautiful book DARK EMPEROR AND OTHER POEMS OF THE NIGHT.
Orion is, at this moment, my favorite constellation.
As I was writing in a bakery, of course the word baguette popped into my mind.
The world changes, becomes a bit richer, each time I learn a new word. New words offer new ways of thinking. This is why those of you who know two or more languages are very fortunate. You have more words with which to understand the world.
If you're not sure what to write about this week, think about words: new words, old words, favorite words, words you wonder about, words that open worlds to you. A word, you see, is a window.
Over at my other online home, Sharing Our Notebooks, you can find a very cool peek into Julie Patterson's notebooks. Leave a comment...and you just may win a book!
Mary Lee Hahn is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Year of Reading. This weekly gathering is a celebration of poems, and poem books and all things poetry, and everyone is always welcome...we welcome you to stop by on any Friday at all.
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