The Poem Farm: Writing Ideas

Showing posts with label Writing Ideas. Show all posts

Friday, January 16, 2026

Ask a Photograph

Geo. R. Ludwig

Detroit and Broadway, Buffalo, NY

Photo from Amy LV's Collection

Students - Today's poem grew from meandering. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the verb meander this way - "to follow a winding or intricate course." The course I followed began with just writing in my notebook, letting one idea lead to the next. At some point, I remembered the old photograph you see above and went to find it. When I did, I remembered that it was taken in January, did the quick math (2026-1896), and realized that it was taken 130 years ago! This is old. I took a photo of the photo and zoomed in on my great grandfather's face.

George Richard Ludwig, 1896

Photo from Amy LV's Collection

Ah! If only I could bring him back to life. If only I could ask him some questions, learn about his dry goods store, now long-gone, learn about my grandfather George C., learn about this time in my family, in Buffalo, in America. But I cannot. Still, though, I can study the faces in the photo. And I can imagine. I can imagine what he might say to me. From this photo, in which he stands proudly in front of his growing shop, I believe he says to build. And while I will not build with bricks, I commit to build with words. For him.

This week, if you are uncertain where to begin with your writing, consider meandering. Just write and see where your pencil leads you. Or begin with a photo. Ask someone in the photo a question...in your mind or on paper. Listen to what this person tells you. See, the advice you receive from a photograph-person may also be advice from your deepest self.

Remember that your poem need not rhyme or follow a special pattern. Your poem wants to be you, a reflection of you, a photograph of what you feel and believe and think right now.

AI cannot know what you feel and believe and think. Feelings and beliefs and thoughts are slow and come from within. Meander. Take the long way.

Thank you to dear Tabatha of The Opposite of Indifference who set up such a delicious December poem swap. I was matched with darling Robyn-who-I-wish-I-could-see-every-day. She generously gifted me with magical earrings and an ornament based on one of my ghost poems as well as a poem that, well, I would be honored to hear as a ghost at my own funeral. You can read the poem and see what I sent to Robyn at her blog, Life on the Deckle Edge. Thank you, friends!

Jan is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at bookseedstudio with a song and some thoughts about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

And while it's a bit late, Happy New Year! I have been thinking about you and wishing you all of the goodnessess that can come in time. Each of you is strong and full of light, and I wish you discovery and hope in the days and months that lay before you.

xo,

Amy

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Sunday, April 13, 2025

HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 13

Happy National Poetry Month!

(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)

Hello, Poetry Friends! This month I am sharing poems written in the voice of Little Red Riding Hood, and I invite you to join me in writing in the voice of someone else too. You might choose a fairy tale character or a book character or a person from history or anyone else real or imagined. These are your poems, so you make the decisions. Each April day, I will share my poem and a little bit about writing poetry. Mostly, we’ll just be writing in short lines with good words and not worrying about rhyming. Meaning first. Our focus this month will be adopting the perspective of another…for 30 days. I invite you to join me in this project! To do so, simply:

1. Choose a character from fiction or history or somewhere else in the world of space and time, and commit to writing a daily poem in this person's voice for the 30 days of April 2025. You might even choose an animal.

2. Write a new poem for each day of April. Feel free to print and find inspiration from this idea sheet that I will be writing from all month long.

Teachers, if you wish to share any HELLO MY NAME IS... subjects or poems, please email them to me at the contact button above. I would love to read what your students write and learn from how they approach their own projects.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD'S POEMS SO FAR

April 5 - The Big Bad Wolf Had Been a Stray

April 6 - 8am on a Sunday

April 7 - Her Real Name is Orla Lola Bruin

April 8 - My Neighborhood

April 9 - Mushroom Hunters

April 10 - From Coat to Cloak

April 11 - Speaking of Coats

April 12 - Forgiveness is a Gift

And now for today!

Students - Today I was not sure what to write about, so I looked at my grid (above) and just chose something! Once I chose a topic, the first line appeared...and I just followed it down the page to see where it would lead. It was curious and surprising to find that Baby Bear (Ben means son) has joined the little writing club...and that Frank likes to write too. Since we are in fairy tale land, of course the animals can write and of course everyone can balance on a tree branch and write at the same time.

If you're ever not sure what to write, just choose something - anything! - and trust that once you get started, some words will appear. You need not love them. But each time we write, we strengthen our writing muscle, inviting more surprises to jump from the tip of our pens and pencils.

Thank you for joining me on this thirteenth day of HELLO MY NAME IS...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's Kidlitosphere poetry happenings. And if you are interested in learning about or writing from any of my previous 14 National Poetry Month projects, you can find them here. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

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Friday, October 25, 2024

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

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Friday, May 24, 2024

Allow Ideas to Find You

This week I have been fortunate to serve as Artist in Residence at Greenacres Elementary School in Scarsdale, NY. I had planned to write about crayon colors with the second grade students on Tuesday, and the evening before, I walked into my hotel only to find his broken crayon on the sidewalk in front of the door.

Broken Cerise Colored Crayon

Photo by Amy LV

Of course I picked it up. It was meant to be! I must write about this red color. My memory took me back to French class in high school where we learned that cerise means cherry in French.

Close-Up of Cerise

Photo by Amy LV

On Tuesday morning, I wrote. But I was sleepy, unsure that anything interesting would show up on the page. But something did. Someone did. A happy old lady showed up and greeted me line after line. She appeared out of nowhere, out of a broken crayon, and surprised me with her own poem.

Students - If you were to ask me what I love most about writing, it is this element of surprise. We may think we have no ideas, but when we sit and work...the ideas will appear. We may think we are too tired to write, but when we sit and work...writing wil show up. We may think that all of the good ideas have already been taken, but when we sit and work...again and again...our brains will give us gifts. Our brains will surprise us. Where did this old lady come from? I am not sure. Perhaps from here:

Someone's Broken Crayon + High School French Class + My Tree Planting Husband = A Poem

As we think about finding ideas in new ways, today I am so happy to welcome Adela, a thoughtful poet from Karen Caine's sixth grade ELA class at Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont, NY. As her poem creates an enchanted sense of place, you may wish to close your eyes and have someone read it aloud to you.

Adela was able to find the idea for her magical moment-in-the-forest-poem by writing outside. She allowed an idea find her by placing her body in a new location. This week, consider trying what she has done, and write in a new place. In this new place, new ideas will find their way to you. Much gratitude to Adela for her generosity in sharing her poem with us today.

Michelle Kogan is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Michelle Kogan along with a celebration of poems by poets with May birthdays...including herself. Happy birthday, Michelle! Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Thank you, Adela! Thank you, Greenacres! Thank you, Greenacres second grader who suggested a wonderful idea for a future poem! Thank you, Michelle! Friends, may you be found by ideas!

xo,

Amy

ps - Guess what I found on Thursday morning on the hotel sidewalk? Cerulean.

The Broken Cerulean Crayon Wants to be Next

Photo by Amy LV

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Friday, May 17, 2024

Finding Metaphors Along the Road

The Purple Lilac

Photo by Amy LV

Students - When I was younger, I liked flowers just fine. But now that I am older, I LOVE flowers. I have been planting hundreds and hundreds of bulbs and learning about different flowers, and with each new week of spring, I am thrilled with the new colorful friends who appear. This week is the week of lilac bushes. We have a whole line of them along the road in front of our house, and when people walk by, I offer them a bunch to take along the way.

Today's poem celebrates a bit of daily beauty. Writing poetry can help us notice things that we otherwise walk right by because the simple act of writing in a every day helps us to see more, notice more. I have been away from my own notebook due to the fact I have been helping someone who recently died. Now I am taking care of their house and belongings. Seeing this lilac and writing about it reminds me how much I have missed writing as I have been not-writing-busy over the past couple of weeks. Thank you, Lilac, for reminding me to return to daily noticings.

In this small poem of address (I write TO the lilac), I compare the branches of a lilac to human arms and its flowers to human hands. When we compare things to other things in poetry, we call this metaphor or simile, depending on whether we use the word "like" or "as." This poem uses metaphor, which is a bit stronger in a way. If I had said, "Your branches as long as arms" or "Your flowers wave like hands wave," I would still be comparing one thing to another, and those comparisons would be called similes. Since I do not use "like" or "as," this poem uses metaphor. You might want to try comparing something to something else in a poem or story you are writing. This is one way to give a reader a mind picture.

Linda is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Word Edgewise with her generous clunker exchange. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

I encourage you to write in your own notebook for 5-10 minutes a day, perhaps at the same time every day. You do not need to know what you will write about before you begin. Simply begin, and as the days go by, you will find that you notice more and more in this inspiring world.

Next week I look forward to a week-long writing residency at Greenacres School in Scarsdale, NY. I have not been there since before COVID, and it will be wonderful to see everyone again!

xo,

Amy

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Tuesday, April 30, 2024

ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW 30

Happy National Poetry Month!

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

Hello Poetry Friends! Welcome to ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW.

If you visited earlier this month, you may have noticed a change my National Poetry Month project title. For my National Poetry Month Project this year, I had originally planned to study crows and share a new crow poem each day of April with the number lines in each poem corresponding to the date. The plan was to write 1-line poem on April 1...and go all the way up to a 30-line poem on April 30. For a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems have lengthened to 15 lines...and now they have decreased from 15 back down to 1, today...the final day.

Thirty Crows, One Line

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Goodbye, Crow. I will miss you.

Thank you for joining me for ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW this month. I will keep these poems up for a bit...and then they are likely to disappear as I am considering submitting them as a book with embedded facts.

Please come back on Friday for a special treat. I will not be sharing a new poem of mine but am thrilled to share a collection of inspiring new poems written by the thoughtful fourth graders of Mrs. Borella's class at Seely Place School in the Edgemont School District, Scarsdale, NY.

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.

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If you are under 13 years old, please only comment

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Monday, April 29, 2024

ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW 29

Happy National Poetry Month!

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

Hello Poetry Friends! If you visited earlier this month, you may have noticed a change my National Poetry Month project title. For my National Poetry Month Project this year, I had originally planned to study crows and share a new crow poem each day of April with the number lines in each poem corresponding to the date. The plan was to write 1-line poem on April 1...and go all the way up to a 30-line poem on April 30. For a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems have lengthened to 15 lines...and now they decrease from 15 back down to 1. Hence the new name: ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW.

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 all of this month's poems:

April 1 - High in a Pine

April 2 - First Baby Picture

April 3 - Nestling Crow Appreciates

April 4 - Thirty Days Old

April 5 - Young Crow with his Sparkling Blue Eyes

April 6 - Free

April 7 - To Persevere

April 8 - Watch Closely

April 9 - September Sight

April 10 - Black

April 11 - Winter Roost

April 12 - All Food is Good

April 13 - Know Crow

April 14 - A Helper Now

April 15 - Family Tree

April 16 - The Choice

April 17 - Build, Wait, Hope

April 18 - Mobbing

April 19 - Don't Doubt It

April 20 - Crow Parents

April 21 - A Wire is Warm

April 22 - Is Crow Frightened?

April 23 - Over and Over and Over

April 24 - Bathtime

April 25 - Crow's Bank Account

April 26 - But Sometimes

April 27 - After Another Molt

April 28 - Every day every spring

And now for today!

Twenty-Nine Crows, Two Lines

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Well, Crow has been part my life throughout April, and this project will round itself out tomorrow. Today's poem celebrates all of the new lives brought into the world because of one male crow, born a handful of years (29 poems) ago.

Just a couplet.

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 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.

Sunday, April 28, 2024

ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW 28

Happy National Poetry Month!

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

To do so, simply:

Below you may read all of this month's poems:

April 1 - High in a Pine

April 2 - First Baby Picture

April 3 - Nestling Crow Appreciates

April 4 - Thirty Days Old

April 5 - Young Crow with his Sparkling Blue Eyes

April 6 - Free

April 7 - To Persevere

April 8 - Watch Closely

April 9 - September Sight

April 10 - Black

April 11 - Winter Roost

April 12 - All Food is Good

April 13 - Know Crow

April 14 - A Helper Now

April 15 - Family Tree

April 16 - The Choice

April 17 - Build, Wait, Hope

April 18 - Mobbing

April 19 - Don't Doubt It

April 20 - Crow Parents

April 21 - A Wire is Warm

April 22 - Is Crow Frightened?

April 23 - Over and Over and Over

April 24 - Bathtime

April 25 - Crow's Bank Account

April 26 - But Sometimes

April 27 - After Another Molt

And now for today!

Twenty-Eight Crows, Three Lines

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Crows do recognize people, and sometimes, if a person gives gifts to a crow, a crow gives a gift back. Throughout this month's project, I find myself wanting to befriend a crow or two that lives nearby.

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.

Saturday, April 27, 2024

ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW 27

Happy National Poetry Month!

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

To do so, simply:

Below you may read all of this month's poems:

April 1 - High in a Pine

April 2 - First Baby Picture

April 3 - Nestling Crow Appreciates

April 4 - Thirty Days Old

April 5 - Young Crow with his Sparkling Blue Eyes

April 6 - Free

April 7 - To Persevere

April 8 - Watch Closely

April 9 - September Sight

April 10 - Black

April 11 - Winter Roost

April 12 - All Food is Good

April 13 - Know Crow

April 14 - A Helper Now

April 15 - Family Tree

April 16 - The Choice

April 17 - Build, Wait, Hope

April 18 - Mobbing

April 19 - Don't Doubt It

April 20 - Crow Parents

April 21 - A Wire is Warm

April 22 - Is Crow Frightened?

April 23 - Over and Over and Over

April 24 - Bathtime

April 25 - Crow's Bank Account

April 26 - But Sometimes

And now for today!

Twenty-Seven Crows, Four Lines

Photo by Amy LV

Students - And time goes on, and Crow molts each summer getting new feathers and still looking young. I found myself wondering if birds age obviously and learned that people cannot usually know if a bird is aging.

Today's little poem is simply one quatrain, one four line poem that tips its hat to many years of Crow's life.

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

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.