List Your Way

Our Home Nestled in Snow

Photo by Mark LV

Students - Where we live in Western New York can be very snowy, and this week has been especially snowy. So much that there was no school yesterday or today. Sometimes I know what to write about because it surrounds my every moment - and right now snow is absolutely everywhere. Out every window, out each door...we meet poofs of snow. There is almost two feet out there right now, and the snow is over three feet deep in the town where my husband Mark teaches.

Today's poem is a list poem and a celebration poem and a poem written in quatrains, or four-line stanzas. I simply began listing things I love about snowfall and snow days and snowy mornings and then tried to gently rhyme along the way. Below you can see that there was a lot of crossing out along the way, just as there always is. I love writing by hand because the act of crossing out is part of my process.

Drafting in the Snow

Photo by Amy LV

If you are not sure what to write today or this week or anytime, try beginning with a list. Maybe list things you like about something that many people do not like. (Many people do not like snow!) You need not use everything on your list, and you need not know where it will go when you begin. Your writing mind will lead when you trust it. List your way....

Linda is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Word Edgewise with a playful sharing of poem mashing together, such a fun idea! Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

This week I wish you interesting weather and interesting thoughts about that same weather.

xo,

Amy

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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.

Artists Can Work Together

Music by Composer Garrett Hoffman

From The Poem Farm Archives - September 19, 2010


Just the Poem

Students - Sometimes artists work together, even if they do not know each other.  One person can be inspired by another's work, even if the work is in a different genre, such as art to music or writing to art. Artists of all kinds like art of all kinds, and we learn from and kindle ideas for each other.

Today I would like to offer a joyful Congratulations! to my new friend-I-have-never-met-in-person, Garrett Hoffman.  In honor of him, I am not sharing anything new of my own today...but rather an old poem from the first year of The Poem Farm blog and Garrett's beautiful, haunting music.  And a brief story.

Last September, I received one of the most professional, polite notes I have ever received.  In this note, a young man from Pennsylvania - Garrett -  requested my permission to compose music to go with one of my poems.

Garrett Hoffman

It is a complete honor to be asked such a thing, so of course I said Yes! and Thank you!  to Garrett, a senior at Bethel Park High School. Garrett's composition has brought my poem to a different plane, and I am humbled and grateful to have my words associated with his work. 

And now, please enjoy learning about his process.  If you are a maker (of anything!), think about how his process may be like - or different from - your process.  Welcome, Garrett!

My name is Garrett Hoffman, and I’m an 18-year old composer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I’ve always loved writing music, and I especially love music for choirs, because I love singing and the sound of the human voice. I recently took Mrs. Amy VanDerwater’s Poem “Leaving” and wrote music along to it for a composing contest. And, it WON! I was very very excited.

The Poem Turned into Lyrics and Music

Mrs. VanDerwater asked me to tell you all how to turn a poem into a music.

What I typically do is write out very rough sketches of ideas on paper, and once the idea takes more form, I then go ahead and do all my writing on a computer. So, in the case of "Where Will I Go", I only ended up writing the first 7 measures out on paper before finishing it on a computer. 

Beginning a Composition

Photo by Garrett Hoffman

Every poem you will ever read will have a certain mood that goes along with it. Some poems are happy, some are sad, and some are a bit of both. Your job as a composer is to make sure the music sounds like the poem does, and are many different ways to do this.

There are two basic types of songs: those that are in major, and those that are in minor. A song in major usually sounds happy, while songs in minor usually sounds sad. Some songs will use a mix of both, and that’s what I did in my most recent song. “Leaving” is a poem that is very very sad, but it also has some small bits of happiness in it. So I used minor for the sad parts and major for the happy parts.

Choir songs are really cool because they have words, and you can do a lot with a lot with them. What choir composers will try to do is write the music so that it sounds like each specific word. This is called “word painting”. For example, if the lyrics talk about going up, then the music should go up as well. If the choir is singing a word like “air”, then the music should sound like air. There is no right or wrong way to do this--what you think air sounds like might be very different from what other people think it sounds like! This is part of what makes music so much fun: everyone has their own ideas!

Now that I’ve said all that I should mention that it’s difficult to explain exactly how to write a song. There’s this thing called “Music Theory,” which is the study of how music works and how it makes us feel certain ways. This is something that most people don’t understand very well until high school, but that doesn’t mean you can’t write something now. Most of Music Theory’s rules are things that you probably already know, even if you don’t know the name for it. So, go and write a song!

Writing music is an art, just like writing a poem or painting a picture. So, your first piece of music won’t be a masterpiece--and that’s okay! What’s important is that you keep trying, because if you never stop trying, you’ll never stop getting better.

You can read more about Garrett's work with this piece at the Bethel Park School District website HERE or in THE ALMANAC HERE.  And if all goes as planned, it looks as if Garrett has sold this piece to a music publisher.  Good, good, good luck, Garrett, on this and on your April performance of Where Will I Go? at the Pennsylvania Music Educator’s Association all-state festival in April! I feel grateful to be connected to your gorgeous work and I know that you will be a magnificent teacher should you choose to follow that path.  Thank you for sharing your process and passion, for teaching us all here today.

Some of you may know that my lullaby picture book with illustrator Aaron DeWitt - DREAMING OF YOU - releases on Tuesday.  We are both very excited!  If you wish, you can learn more about that book HERE.

Renée is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at No Water River with a celebration of Poetry Friday Poet and Wholehearted Soul, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. Enjoy learning about her books and hearing a couple of her own wonderful poems too! Each week, we gather our posts together at one blog, so if you visit Renée this week...you will be introduced to many new poets and blogs and books.  

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

My Little Sketch - Writing About Art

Little Sketch

by Amy LV

Students - I do not draw often, but when I do...I am always happy that I did. Drawing, like writing, stills time, saves a moment.  When you go back to something you have drawn or written, you once again live that time, once again see that kitten, once again feel the boom of thunder inside of your heart. Many people say that writing allows a person to "live twice" and the same is true of making art.

Today's verse is simply a small poem about a thought that came into my mind when I looked at the sketch I drew last month on the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage.  Try sketching a leaf or a flower as you study it, really observing it from this angle and that.  Then, a week or more later, look at your drawing and write about what you see.  This way, you will live three times: once in the seeing, once in the drawing, once in the writing!

Making things helps us know who we are.  I wish you a summer of making many things: forts, paintings, jam, jokes, and new good friends.

Catherine is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup (she and Carol switched) over at Catherine Johnson.  Visit her cozy nook to catch up with this week's Poetry Friday offerings 'round the Kidlitosphere.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Thrift Store Goodbye - Poem #30 for April 2014 Poetry Project

This is not a new post for Poetry Friday, but it is an invitation to visit any of the April 2014 poetry project THRIFT STORE poems you missed.  I will be taking them down soon, but for now...they are all in the sidebar.

For this week's Poetry Friday roundup, visit Katya at Write. Sketch. Repeat.

Happy Poetry Friday!  xo, a.

LIVE!

Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!

Thrift Store Checkout

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I was not sure how to end today's series.  I still have photographs that need poems, and I've had such fun visiting many thrift stores with poetry in mind.  I feel the way my mother describes finishing a book, "It's like losing a friend."  But April 2014, National Poetry Month, is drawing to a close today. And so the series ends.

Whenever I do not know how to end a piece of writing, I go back to the beginning.  So today's final poem brought me back to April 1, Thrift Store where I found the line, "I push the heavy thrift store door." I began today's writing with just that line, and I followed it to the verse you find above. You may also notice another snip of repetition from that April 1 poem.  Can you find it?

Thrift Store Goodbye - Draft Page Spread #1 

Photo by Amy LV

In the draft above, you can see how many attempts I made at that one line.  I may go back and work on it even more, but I did want to point out to you how often writers find ourselves writing many many lines just to find the right few words.

While I sigh for this goodbye, I am smiling too!  For I am tickled to truly end this poetry project with a poem by my new friend and mentor, Olga McLaren. Earlier this month, I was fortunate enough to work with students at St. John's School in Houston, Texas as a visiting poet sponsored by the Olga McLaren Poetry Endowment.  When Olga retired from teaching at St. John's school, she left the school with a special gift: a visit from a poet each year.  She and her husband Theron hosted a delicious dinner, and I got to see their magical gardens too.  It was a complete honor and pleasure to be this year's visiting poet, and to meet Olga, someone I truly admire.

Olga is a big thrift store shopper too, and you can read how both of us hear the objects speaking to us when we walk thrift store aisles and hold different objects.  I love the phrase "eye-shop" and the way Olga describes these items as "new friends."  I was sad to leave my new friend in Olga, and I'm a bit sad about ending this series too.  It has been a joy and a reminder of how much beauty and use we can find in the things that others leave behind.  Thank you, Olga, for bringing me to St. John's, and thank you for your poem.

Thrift Shops

by Olga McLaren

The winners of last Saturday's book giveaway are:

FOREST HAS A SONG - Carol

THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR SCIENCE - Cathy

Please send me your snail  mail addresses to my e-mail address at amy at amylv dot com, and those books will be on their way to you next week.

Thank you to everyone who has joined me for a bit of this month's thrift store journey.  I did not know what it would be when I began, and I certainly learned a lot along the way.  From videotaping my own writing to playing with LiveWriter to sharing daily drafts and process, this was a very instructive month for me, and I look forward to looking back and thinking about what I have learned and what to do next with these poems.

I will not be posting this Friday, May 2.  Please feel free to browse through and read the thrift store poems you may have missed.  I will leave them in the sidebar for a few days after the month ends!

Now, just spend a bit of time in the gardens of Olga and her husband Theron. Amazing!

Fence in the Gardens of Olga and Theron McLaren

Photo by Amy LV

Birdhouses in the Gardens of Olga and Theron McLaren

Photo by Amy LV

Birds in the Gardens of Olga and Theron McLaren

Photo by Amy LV

Little Free Library - Built for Olga by Theron

Photo by Amy LV

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Wooden Blocks - Poem #29 for April 2014 & Poetry Peek

LIVE!

Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!

Blocks

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today is a thrift store free verse day. I have been writing free verse poems on the days that are multiples of five this month: #5 - Clock, #10 - Dancing Shoes, #15 - Two Couches, and #20 - Record, and #25 - Duck and Doll.  Today, the 29th, is not a multiple of 5, but tomorrow is.  Because tomorrow's poem is the last day of the month and thus, the last day of this series, I want to rhyme it.  So I traded yesterday's free verse day with today.  See, when you invent a project...you can change the rules whenever you wish!

Today's poem does not rhyme, but it does repeat.  Did you see how the first and last stanzas are the same?  This is a circular poem, with the ending going back to the beginning.  It's also a mask poem, with the blocks doing the talking! Which other poems from THRIFT STORE LIVE have been mask poems?

One way to learn about writing poems is to pay attention to techniques you find in the poems you read.  Just yesterday on Twitter, I saw Deb Frazier's first grade students reading like writers, noticing some of the techniques I used in "Snowman Slippers."

Today I was thinking about Margaret Wise Brown's THE IMPORTANT BOOK. This may be why I began the poem, "The truth about blocks is..."  If you remember, she begins each page of this book with the line, "The important thing about a spoon (or something else) is..."

Blocks - Draft Page Spread #1

Photo by Amy LV

Tomorrow will be the last day of THRIFT STORE LIVE, my April 2014 poetry project, and shortly thereafter I will be taking these poems down so that I can reread, revise, add, subtract, and try to pull them into a collection for hopeful submission.

And now, it's time for a...

The Write Stuff

Pflugerville Independent School District

by Kimberly 

Today I am so pleased to welcome Kimberly Roark, Elementary Language Arts and Social Studies Coordinator of the Pflugerville Independent School District in Pflugerville, Texas, as she generously shares about the district's annual WRITE STUFF anthology and writing event!

In Pflugerville ISD, student expression is celebrated through the annual WRITE STUFF event. Students at every grade (K-12) have the opportunity to submit pieces of writing, either poetry or prose, to be published in a district anthology.  Student artwork related to the year’s theme is also included on the anthology covers and as inserts.  All participating students are invited to attend a special Saturday event, where they receive a copy of the anthology.  

At the Write Stuff event, elementary students listen to local children’s authors and illustrators share their own experiences with writing.   These younger students also have an opportunity to read their pieces to each other. Secondary students participate in a longer workshop session with a local young adult author.  This year’s visiting authors/illustrators are Chris Barton, Mark Mitchell, and Jennifer Ziegler.

The Write Stuff has been a Pflugerville tradition for over ten years.  Originally, one anthology was sufficient to hold all of the entries for the entire district.  As more students participated, a second and then a third anthology were needed. This year we published a secondary anthology with 229 entries, an intermediate elementary edition with 177 entries, and a primary version with 118 entries.

This year, we included all submissions which follow the guidelines and are age-appropriate for the audience of the anthology.  In past years, if the book became too large, we would limit submissions to one per student.  Fortunately, this has not happened since splitting the K-5 book into two anthologies.

With the increased emphasis on poetry in the district curriculum over the last few years, the number of students submitting poems continues to rise.  The current anthologies contain a total of 216 poems by students of all ages.

An Early Edition with All Grade Levels

in the Same Anthology

2014 Anthologies Representing Primary,

Intermediate, and Secondary Writers

Students are expected to take their pieces through all stages of writing. Though they receive guidance from teachers, the submissions represent the students’ best efforts with drafting, revision, and editing.  Here are a few poems from this year's WRITE STUFF in Pflugerville.

Dear Guiding Sun

Dear Guiding Sun,

You watch

over me

and my sister.

You are the best

because

you guide me

through dark times.

Love,

Arizona

Arizona Galvin, Grade 1

Mrs. Turner, RLES

My Tree

I have a tree in my backyard.

It’s big and tall.

Its beautiful trunk, sways in the wind.

Its branches, with their big leaves, reach for the sky.

Its awesome green leaves, stretch out for the ground.

Its alive brown trunk is as thick as me!

Every critter lives in my tree.

I have a tree in my backyard.

Rudolf Bendixen, Grade 3

Mrs. Ancira, MES

Snow

The snow danced down slowly

The snow sat on the roof

It whistled a lovely tune

Mother Nature cried clear crystals that fell from the roof line

And ran away when the sun came out

Diamond Crayton, Grade 5

Mrs. Aleman, WES

The Farmer

There’s gone my last penny.

Sigh. I hope I will earn even more and

Might even earn forgiveness from my

Kids.  At least I have myself to enjoy

the days I live for.

The day I die some might

Say I didn’t have a nice life.

All I did was, but, at least, I was respected.

I hope, someday, a time of work will pay off for me

And I’ll live like a king . . . .

But that’ll be the day

I wish life was more than this for me.

Andrew Hoang

Mr. Carr, WES

Here are a few tips for putting together such an anthology:

• Start advertising the anthology early.
• Have clear formatting expectations for submissions.
• Work with your copy center or wherever you will get the books bound to develop a reasonable timeline.

Here are a few tips for hosting such a poetry event:

• Ask local companies to donate copies of one of more books by the visiting authors to school libraries to help promote the event.
• We have one label for each anthology to help keep track of which students have picked up books.  
• Have plenty of volunteers.
• Debrief immediately after the event to determine what went well and what changes need to be made next year.

Much gratitude to Kimberly and these young poets for sharing this wonderful book, event, and lushly image-rich poems with us today.

Remember, you can still leave comments on Saturday's "Violin" to be entered into the last book giveaway of April 2014.  I will draw names this evening for those books, to be announced in tomorrow's post, the last post of this year's National Poetry Month series!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Duck and Doll - Poem #25 for April 2014 Poetry Project

LIVE!

Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!

Duck and Doll

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I have been thinking about this photo for a while, wondering if it would speak a poem this month.  Yesterday, even though this was not my first choice of photo to write about, it is the photo that chose itself for today.  We must listen to the ideas that wish to be written.

Today's poem is may feel a little sad.  And this may be because this week had some sad parts in it.  Our family is fine, but a friend lost a very important loved one, and our concern for others often finds its way into our words.  Life throws surprises sometimes, even for ducks and dolls.  But it is always love that matters.  Even if Duck and Doll go to different homes, they will always have loved.

Today, day 20, is a free verse day, just as #5 - Clock, #10 - Dancing Shoes, #15 - Two Couches, and #20 - Record were free verse days.  Today's poem, however, does rhyme the ending.  I just could not help that.

If you wish, you may take a peek at my writing and scribbles below.

Duck and Doll - Draft Page Spread #1

Photo by Amy LV

Yesterday I had the good fortune to visit Susan Kellner's joyful first grade class at Harold O. Brumsted Elementary in Holland, NY for Poem in Your Pocket Day, and today I celebrate it all over again (yay!) with the primary students at Northwood Elementary in Hilton, NY.  I think I may need to make a pocket coat, something I just learned about from a new favorite mentor, Olga McLaren.

The winners of last Saturday's book giveaway are:

FOREST HAS A SONG - Margaret

THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR SCIENCE - Carol

Please visit The Opposite of Indifference, the always fascinating blog of Tabatha Yeatts to find today's Poetry Friday roundup.  You will also be treated to "The Directory of Imaginary Poems" and information about Tabatha's summer poem swap.  All are always welcome!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Picnic Basket - Poem #24 for April 2014 Poetry Project

LIVE!

Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!

Picnic Basket

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem is a mask poem, written in the voice of an object or person.  Each day of this month, I have decided whether to write TO an object, ABOUT an object or AS an object speaking.  It is fun to mix it up, and in writing a collection of poems, it is important to mix it up too: stances, rhymes and meters, topics.

Below in today's draft (I wrote this poem this morning, not the day before as I have done the rest of this month) you can see how I began by first looking back at the poemobjects from all month, tallying the types of objects I've already written about.  As the month winds down, it feels important to create a balance of objects: toys, housewares, clothing, and more.

You can see that I went back and forth a few times about the word "gazing" in line 7. This is because "gazes" appears in another poem this month.  I find myself realizing over and over that I do have favorite words, but in a collection I don't want to overuse any words, even favorites.  For now, I'm keeping "gazing" because it is really the word most used when discussing stars.

You may have noticed that in the move to today's typed version, the last few lines are spaced out like steps.  This was not something I thought about when writing longhand, but somehow in typing new ideas for line breaks often appear.  

I suggest trying this out for yourself.  Do lots of revision on one of your poems in longhand, reading it aloud to yourself, crossing out unnecessary words, trying out new lines.  Get it just how you like it.  Work hard; be ruthless.  Then, type the poem.  As you type, consider other possibilities for line breaks.  You may surprise yourself.  (If you are an older student and do not type well, I highly recommend learning to type quickly and mindlessly.  This allows you to think about your WRITING and not your TYPING.)

Picnic Basket - Draft Page Spread #1 

Photo by Amy LV

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day!  Which poem do you have in your pocket?  I am carrying Notice by Steve Kowit (in honor of a friend's husband who died this week) for my grownup friends ,and for my child friends I am carrying Shell by Myra Cohn Livingston.

(This morning, to my science teacher husband, I gave many copies of Wendell Berry's The Peace of Wild Things and to our children I gave There is a Land by Leland B. Jacobs!)

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Puzzles - Poem #23 and 2014 Progressive Poem

LIVE!

Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!

Puzzles and Games

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today was time for another toys poem...and puzzles it is!  I do not have a longhand draft to share with you because right before cooking dinner, I sat down at the computer to "just type a first line"  and I stayed drafting at the computer, playing with listing as many imaginary puzzle pictures as I could dream up.

Today's poem is simply a list poem, each new line (sometimes every other line) offering a new possible puzzle picture.  In my earlier typed draft, the lines included "can" as in "I can snuggle piles of kittens..." but as always, I reread to weed out unnecessary words, and the "can" in each line evaporated with the magical computer backspace.

I was curious about what I'd write today, because one of my favorite (alliteration-filled) poems I've written is actually titled "Two Puzzling" - a poem about two different people putting together the same jigsaw puzzle in different places. This poem appears in Lee Bennett Hopkins's fantastic anthology, INCREDIBLE INVENTIONS.

Shop Indie Bound

And now, what many of you have come here for today...the...

Today is a special day at The Poem Farm.  It is my turn to host Irene Latham's wonderful annual Progressive Poem, a potluck tradition in which everyone who signs up is given a day to add a line to our group poem.  Today I offer our poem so far, up to line 23, which is my line for today, in bold.

Of course I have been following the Progressive Poem, blog to blog, all month, wondering each day, "Where will we be on April 23?  What will happen? What will I be given in the few lines before my day?  I loved the sapphire eggs, the beasts and birds, their refusal, and the push to go...

And so we are off!

2014 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem

Sitting on a rock, airing out my feelings to the universe
Acting like a peacock, only making matters that much worse;
Should I trumpet like an elephant emoting to the moon,
Or just ignore the warnings written in the rune?
Those stars can’t seal my future; it’s not inscribed in stone.
The possibilities are endless! Who could have known?
Gathering courage, spiral like an eagle after prey
Then gird my wings for whirlwind gales in realms far, far away.
But, hold it! Let’s get practical! What’s needed before I go?
Time to be tactical— I’ll ask my friends what I should stow.
And in one breath, a honeyed word whispered low— dreams —
Whose voice? I turned to see. I was shocked. Irene’s
“Each voyage starts with tattered maps; your dreams dance on this page.
Determine these dreams—then breathe them! Engage your inner sage.”
The merry hen said, “Take my sapphire eggs to charm your host.”
I tuck them close – still warm – then take my first step toward the coast
This journey will not make me rich, and yet I long to be
like luminescent jellyfish, awash in mystery.
I turn and whisper, “Won’t you come?” to all the beasts and birds,
and listen while they scamper, their answers winging words:
“Take these steps alone to start; each journey is an art.
You are your own best company. Now it's time to depart!"
I blow a kiss.  I hike for days, blue eggs pressed to my chest

Tomorrow Linda carries us through line 23 of the Progressive Poem over at her most warm and welcoming blog, TeacherDance!

If you would like to follow the 2014 Progressive Poem back and forward in time, you can do so, starting with April 1, here:

1 Charles at Poetry Time
2 Joy at Joy Acey
3 Donna at Mainely Write
4 Anastasia at Poet! Poet!
5 Carrie at Story Patch
6 Sheila at Sheila Renfro
7 Pat at Writer on a Horse
8 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme
9 Diane at Random Noodling
10 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
11 Linda at Write Time
12 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
13 Janet at Live Your Poem
14 Deborah at Show--Not Tell
15 Tamera at The Writer's Whimsy
16 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
17 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
18 Irene at Live Your Poem
19 Julie at The Drift Record
20 Buffy at Buffy Silverman
21 Renee at No Water River
22 Laura at Author Amok
23 Amy at The Poem Farm
24 Linda at TeacherDance
25 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty
26 Lisa at Lisa Schroeder Books
27 Kate at Live Your Poem
28 Caroline at Caroline Starr Rose
29 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
30 Tara at A Teaching Life

There is only one week left of this joyous and introspective collective poem. Keep following to see where we end up on April 30.

Today you can also find me over at Nerdy Chicks Rule, chatting a bit with author Kami Kinard (THE BOY PROJECT and about-to-launch THE BOY PROBLEM) about poetry.

Tomorrow is Poem in Your Pocket Day!  Which poem will you put in YOUR pocket?

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Hat - Poem #21 for April 2014 Poetry Project

LIVE!

Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!

Hat

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I want to hug the hat atop this post.  It is one of my favorite photos of the whole month so far, likely because it makes me think about my husband's grandfather, a man I adored.  Grandpa VanDerwater wore a small blue summer hat (which Mark now sometimes wears), and so I have a soft spot for small blue mens' hats.

I considered the idea of this poem for a while.  For a time (in my head only and earlier yesterday), this poem was going to be about the wise hat of the thrift store, to whom other objects go for advice.  But upon further consideration, I didn't want the wise object to be a man's hat - why wouldn't it be a woman's hat? - so I got back to the drawing board.

That's when Joe appeared.

Why?  Well, I think he came from one of my old favorite David McCord (I adore David McCord) poems, "Joe" - a poem about a squirrel that frequently visits a bird feeder.  And of course I know a couple of special Joes with whom we spent Easter.  And Joe is just such a friendly and solid name. The hat FELT like a Joe hat.

Today's poem is written in quatrains, or four line, rhymed stanzas.  Usually, I rhyme only the second and fourth lines of quatrains (sometimes the first and third too, but often not), so this was especially fun and challenging.

You can see below where I listed rhyming words to help me find four decent ones per each of the four stanzas.  If I was not able to find four rhymes that made sense (tip, because...), then I simply chose another word and rewrote.

Hat - Draft Page Spread #1 

Photo by Amy LV

Once again, my final revisions last night came after recording.  It seemed all good to me, but when I recorded, the second stanza was simply off.  Time to rewrite again.

Writers like rewriting.  Rewriting is fun and fascinating.  Oh, and infuriating. And wonderful. 

Please share a comment below if you wish.