I Doodle Poodles - Reading Changes Writing

 

Sylvie in the Grass

Photo from the Collins/Fleischer Family

Poodle Doodles

by Georgia & Amy LV

Sylvie at the Lake

Photo from the Collins/Fleischer Family

Stoodlers - I mean Students - sometimes it is just fun to play with words, to feel them in your mouth like food, roll them around with your tongue, let them bounce your teeth. Moments before drafting this poem, I was reading my newest old book, AN ALMANAC OF WORDS AT PLAY (1975) by Willard R. Espy, found on Saturday at Buffalo, NY's Rust Belt Books. Month-by-month Espy's book takes a reader through many many wordtumbles, and just reading made me feel playful!

Available through Amazon

Remember this - we are changed by what we read. After I wrote the ending of "I Doodle Poodles," I heard an echo of the ending of one of my favorite poems, "The Pickety Fence" by master poet David McCord.

pickety
pickety
pickety
pick.

Who do you want to be like?  Hang around people who will help you be more like you wish to be.  Who do you want to write like?  Read their books!

"Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul." -- Joyce Carol Oates

Do you think you know the difference between Doodles and Poodles? Find out here!

And if you are over 16 and interested in becoming a Book Giver (a wonderful chance to hand out free books on April 23), this is the last day to apply. Visit World Book Night for more information. I am excited to be a part of this celebration of reading!

Sylvie at Home

Photo from Photo from the Collins/Fleischer Family

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Technological Error - Channeling Amelia Bedelia

Computer Virus

by Amy LV

Students - I am going to call today's poem a Channeling-Amelia-Bedelia-Poem! When I was a little girl, I loved the way Amelia Bedelia took words at face value, mixing up all sorts of household tasks. She did not understand idioms, and her mistakes helped me understand the complexity of language at a young age and in an entertaining way. Amelia may have been my first window into wordplay, and I was charmed by her good-hearted mistakes.

For today's poem, I took a phrase that we hear all of the time and made my little speaker take it literally, treating the computer as one would treat a sick child. And while "computer virus" isn't exactly an idiom, I used the idea from Peggy's "Amelia Bedelia" books and wrote a confusing-meaning poem. You might wish to try this little exercise. Here's a fun list of idioms from Tammy Worcester that you might wish to start with.

You can read about Peggy Parish, the author of the Amelia Bedelia books, here.

World Book Night is coming up on April 23, 2012 the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth and death. I've signed up to be a Book Giver, and I hope I'll be chosen to hand out copies of THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot. Check it out - you may wish to sign up too!

If you like poetry-related crafts, check out The Poem Farm facebook page. I've been finding some neat ones.

And at Sharing Our Notebooks, author J. Anderson Coats is sharing her notebook!

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