Let Your Heart Be Captured

Small White Pine

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today I encourage you to find something that captures your heart! This small white pine in our front yard captured my heart yesterday, and so I took its picture as it bravely stood in our first snow of the season.

What to do? First, find something to capture your heart. You can do this by going for a little walk anywhere - inside or outside. What matters is the that you look. Look for something to love. Tuck this loved idea into a pocket of your heart, and bring it to your writing place. Then, think about why one of this captured your heart, and write about it. Somehow, today, the idea of quietly sharing breath with a small tree rose to my heart's surface.

Did you notice that I repeat many words in today's poem: snow, silent, quiet, small... Repeated words can provide comfort to readers. I know they do so for me.

Anastasia is the host of this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Small Poems with a poem about a first snow coinciding with her first poem sale. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

I wish you joy...and many heart-capturings...this December!

xo,

Amy

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Imagine a Conversation

Sumacs

Photo by Amy LV

Sunset

Photo by Georgia VanDerwater

Students - Today's poem idea popped into my head sometime over the past few days, probably because the sumacs are so stunningly orange and red and because Halloween is on my mind. Somehow the idea of two orange nature friends dressing up as each other just made me smile.

It is playful to invent conversations between people, animals, or objects, and when we do this, we explore new and different writing territories. Consider taking a walk outside. Which two outside beings or objects might you imagine talking with each other? What might they say? Try making a little list and see where it brings you.

Remember, you do not always have to keep your mind on a leash. It is important to let your mind run in the field of ideas or at the idea park...with all of those other ideas.

Below is one of my first published poems, many years ago in LADYBUG magazine, and again several years later in BABYBUG. I will never stop feeling thankful for seeing the many different ways that talented illustrators bring my small words to life.

It was again a joy and an honor to visit Wyckoff, NJ this week, to work with wise and kind teachers and to think about writing together. Thank you, Wyckoff friends, for teaching me as always and for the good laughs. See you in January!

Carol is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at The Apples in My Orchard with a celebration of bats for this International Bat Week. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Tonight I hope to carve a pumpkin beside a bonfire. I wish cozy to you and yours...

xo,

Amy

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Weather and Form

This Morning at Home

Photo by Amy LV

Students - It is kicking off to be a snowy weekend here near Buffalo, NY where I call home! Last night we had about 8 inches of snow on the ground, and this morning we woke to another 12. It was a tricky morning to take the dogs for a walk.

Weather is always a giving writing topic, and today's dramatic weather (it's still falling) inspired me to write this poem. I began with the form of a triolet (learn about triolet poems HERE) and then changed the form to match what and how I wanted to write about this snow.

Remember: as a writer, you can take any form and:

1. Use the form as it is.

2. Change it as you wish.

3. Combine it with another form.

4. Begin writing in the form and then toss it out the window.

You are the the decision maker in your own writing, and the more we learn about forms and possibilities, the more choices we know about and can work with.

Jama is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup with an exquisite Thanksgiving buffet. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

I am thankful for you.

How Much Will Fall?

Photo by Amy LV

xo,

Amy

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Begin with "If"

A Sky Peek

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This week I spent a lot of time outside because it was very beautiful...and because I was planting hundreds of flower bulbs: in our yard, at a friend's apartment, at my mom's house, and at my father's grave. Digging around under trees, I found myself looking up through them, and so I took that photograph above.

Today's poem starts with the word "If." And while I wrote about something I actually did myself (look up through a tree), I could have written an "If" poem about an imaginary experience, or I could have written about something that might have happened differently such as, "If I never met Winnie..." You might try making a list in your notebook, each line beginning with the word "if." 

If...

If...

If...

See where your list brings you. You may be surprised. I surprised myself today by beginning with this one, small word. 

Also, notice the line breaks in today's poem. Some are longer, and some are shorter. By making shorter lines, I hope that a reader will slow down just a wee bit on the shorter lines, pausing for just a moment. Listen to my recording to see what I mean.

Saturday Update: Such fun! Teacher Mandy Robek and her second grade writers wrote a wonderful community "If" poem and each made illustrations to go with it. You can read it and see their pictures here at Mandy's blog, Enjoy and Embrace Learning.

Jone is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup with a joyful celebration of book launches. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

I hope that you will discover one new possibility this week...and that perhaps you, too, will be enchanted by a bewitching color.

xo,

Amy

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Compare, Compare, Compare!

My Teddy

Photo by Amy LV

Students - The teddy picture you see above is my real old teddy. He was given to me when I was a baby, and I still keep him on my dresser. His one leg is pinned, he is missing parts, and you can see so much love in his eyes.

Today's poem is a two stanza poem which compares one teddy to another teddy - a new teddy to an old teddy. I did not really get a new teddy recently, but looking at this old guy made me think about the difference between him and a brand new bear from the store. A song I learned in Girl Scouts keeps going through my head:

Make new friends

but keep the old.

One is silver

and the other gold.

We can compare two of anything: two kinds of macaroni and cheese, two pigeons on the sidewalk, two trees at the bus stop, two ways of feeling. An easy way to do this in a poem is to use two stanzas, the first one about one idea and the second about the other.

You likely noticed that my poem has a little rhyme -- and that I break it at the end. I did this on purpose. Adding "with me" at the end is a way of stressing how important this teddy is to the speaker, who wants readers to know, without question, that this favorite teddy is close by each night. 

Perhaps you could make some different lists in your notebook and then choose two of one type of thing to compare: two cats, two jackets, two books, two moods, two park playgrounds, two anythings.

Your lists might help you write a two-part, comparing poem. Or...maybe you will not write a two-part, comparing poem at all, and the lists will still help you. You know best what will help you as a writer, bu trying out lots of ideas is helpful to me.

Tabatha is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup at The Opposite of Indifference with an adorable poem by Margaret Widdemer...about pussy willows. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

Do remember that even if a writing idea does not make sense for you on one day, you might wish to tuck it away in your mind for the future. Maybe tomorrow you will observe or think of two fascinating things to compare.

See you next week!

xo,

Amy

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Try an Object-Inspired-Advice Poem

Spring Bulbs Peeking Up!
Photo by Amy LV

Students - I have this little basket pot of spring bulbs growing in my study window, and each hour they seem to peek up just a bit more. When the sun was shining so prettily on them the other day, I just had to take their picture. Later, I decided to write this small poem inspired by the bulbs. Remember this, you can always take or sketch pictures for someday-writing-inspiration. You need not always sit down and think of an idea on the spot. Like squirrels gathering acorns for winter, we can prepare ourselves for our writing times by filling our cheeks with thoughts, impressions, and wonderings.

Today's poem gives a little bit of advice and a hope for the reader. And it was inspired by the needs of a plant. This has me wondering what other things in and around me might hvae advice or hopes tucked inside of them. Maybe this old chair wants to tell people to be sure to make time to rest. And perhaps my warm socks and sturdy boots would advise me to stop and think about the places I have been. Or maybe they would tell me to keep going, keep seeking. It is possible they would wish me good journeys.

If you are looking for something to try this week, consider choosing an object or animal or natural living thing to inspire you. Look around you right now. Make a list of the most interesting or inspiring things that catch your eye at this moment (looking out of the window or into your mind's eye is allowed of course!) 

Now, sketch (or photograph if you wish) this thing. Listen to it and to yourself, "What advice or hope would this object or animal offer to me?" Make a list if you wish, thinking about these questions:

• What advice would this object give to me?
• What hope might this object have for people?
• If this could talk, what might it teach me?
• What does things object want me to know and understand?

Allow what you learn to find its way to the page and to your own object-inspired-advice-poem. You may choose to write this poem in your own voice as I did, or you may choose to write it in the voice of the object or animal itself. If I had done this, I might have written something like, I am a plant./I need these things...

Elisabeth is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Unexpected Intersections with a lovely acrostic that flows so naturally from line to line. If you are mostly familiar with acrostic poems that stop severely at the end of each line, do not miss her words about F-E-B-R-U-A-R-Y. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

We have a lot of snow where I live, but I will still tilt my face up to the sky for a bit today. I wish you sun rays on your face as well.

xo,

Amy

Afternoon Update: The bulbs are blooming! The bulbs are blooming! Just LOOK at these tiny irises.

Blooming Bulbs

Photo by Amy LV

Spring Close Up

Photo by Amy LV

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Go Ahead...Give a Direction

 

Winnie in the Chair Fort

Photo by Amy LV

Tuck in the Chair Fort

Photo by Amy LV

Students - You may be thinking, "Didn't Amy just write a poem about animal forts?" And yes. In November, I shared this poem about just that. See, people often do, think about, and write about the same idea over and over again. And here, on New Year's Eve at a strange time in history, making pet forts is a point of happiness in our little home. The one you see above is a simple scarf and chair fort. Today, I think I will make Winnie and Tuck yet another fort out of boxes. And for me, one of blankets and books.

We are standing on a threshold between 2021 and 2022. If you stand where one meets another room, that meeting place is called a threshold, and you can have one foot in each space. Today is kind of like that, with one foot in the old year and one in the new. As one old year meets and touches one new year, I will be making a box fort for cats. Simple. Joy.

What advice do you have for someone at this important time? You might consider beginning or titling a poem with the words, "Go Ahead" and then give a small or big direction to your readers, suggesting something to do or try or think about on this threshold between years. You might write a "Go Ahead" poem about another time of life. It is all up to you, as you are the writer.

Direction-giving poems give our readers something to consider. They can open up tiny and wide possibilities for ways to live. Writing helps me figure out how to live, and I hope it may do this for you too.

Thank you to author Jan Godown Annino. The other day I'd shared a photo of Winnie in this chairscarf fort, and Jan asked me about making a fort for a toy cat. That question stuck with me and led to today's "best stuffed bear" line!

Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Carol's Corner. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

As you cross over to 2022 from 2021, I wish you and your families and loved ones a season of safety and simple joys. Writing can be here for us when times are light and for when times are dark. Poetry is like a little flashlight. Let yours shine.

xo,

Amy

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Making New from Old

Tree from Aunt Tom's & Aunt Kay's Jewelry

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I have had my great aunts' old jewelry for a long time. When I was in high school, I used to wear some of it, and it has been around my life for decades. This fall, I saw some Christmas trees made from old costume jewelry, and I bought a wooden cone to make one. Yesterday I finally sat down and did it. I sat at the kitchen table for a few hours, just me, my Leatherman (like a Swiss Army knife) and my glue gun. Yes, I had lots of things to do, but taking this time to sit and make was a true gift.

My Great Aunt Tom (real name Edythe) was my mother's mother's sister, and my Great Aunt Kay (really Katharine, and I have her name as my middle name) was my father's mother's sister. As my parents were both only children and three of my grandparents had died before I was two years old, these were the family outside of our small family-of-four that I remember. Gluing their bracelets and earrings and necklace bits to this tree shape brought me a sense of togetherness from ages ago, and even though Aunt Kay died in 1983 and Aunt Tom died in 1998, I could still smell their perfumes.

This making was bittersweet; I felt both happy and sad at the same time. But more happy!

Anyway, I am very pleased with this heavy, sparkly little tree, and I will love pulling it out each year. I made a new thing from old things, and it brought me joy. Have you ever made something new from something old? If so, you might use that making as a start for a writing idea. If not, you might want to try it out. Just take some time, find something old that you are allowed to work with, and see what you can make. Then...write! I would love to hear about your findings and your makings. 

Here is a picture of the costume jewelry tree before I got too far. You can see the green jewelry box on the left that belonged to my Great Aunt Tom, and you can see the suitcase on the right which held much of my Great Aunt Kay's jewelry. As I worked, I thought about them, two such different and fascinating women, branches from my family tree.

Making the Tree

Photo by Amy LV

It is truly winter, and I would like to say thank you to Tabatha Yeatts, Mary Lee Hahn, and Laura Shovan for setting up a Winter Poetry Swap for all of us interested Poetry Friday folks. I was fortunate to be paired with Buffy Silverman, a poet I truly admire and host of today's Poetry Friday roundup. 

I treasure the poem and bouquet that Buffy shared with me, right on Solstice Eve, a time of year I cherish. If you close your eyes and ask someone to read her words to you, you will hear oaks and see reds and grays and browns, hear geese and feel that slate-blue sky and white-winter snow. I already ate the delicious toffee that she sent...and I cannot wait to use the creamy goat's milk soap. Thank you, Buffy, for this most lovely invitation into winter.

Buffy is indeed hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Buffy Silverman, and as we were Winter Poetry Swap partners...she is sharing my poem to her along with her wonderful poem, "A Tree's Secrets," simply perfect for this moment. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

Happy last week of 2021! I will see you next Friday, my friends...on the last day of this year.

xo,

Amy

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Listening & A Poetry Peek

Woolly Bear on Wood

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I have been stacking a lot of wood for winter these days, and as I've done so, I have found three soft woolly bears tucked in the load of wood that was dumped in our yard. They are adorable, I simply love them, and I have written about them a few times here.

If you are looking for something to write this week, consider looking at and for creatures. Listen to the creature you choose. If it doesn't say anything, pretend! What might it say. What would you do?

I did tuck every one of those three woolly bears into my gorgeous, freshly-stacked pile. We're all ready for the big Western New York snows now.

You can learn more about woolly bear caterpillars here in The Westborough News "Nature Notes" column written by Annie Reid.

Today is such a special day here! It is the first Poetry Peek in a long time, and I could not feel more excited and grateful to welcome these fourth grade poets -  and their teachers Ms. Lewis and Ms. Miner - from Tioughnioga Riverside Academy in Whitney Point, NY.  These students are regular celebrators of Poetry Friday and are like old friends here at The Poem Farm. Ms. Miner and I have known each other for a long time, and we were reconnected by student poet Maykayla who shared her beautifu list poem "Blue" with me back in November. 

In the slideshow below, you will have the opportunity to read twenty poems, each with a note from the poet about where they found inspiration. I have not spoken with these poets about their process, but reading their words, it is easy to see that they have studied line breaks, careful word selection, repetition, comparisons (similes and metaphors) and solid endings. What do you notice when reading? What will ou learn from them?

As I read each poem and looked carefully at each joyful, thoughtful illustration, I felt as if I got to take twenty small vacations, right from my desk, kittens by my side.

Thank you, poets from Whitney Point! Thank you, Makayla! Today we celebrate you!

And reader friends, please enjoy these poems, a poetry anthology on your screen...

To enlarge the presentation, simply click the three dots at the bottom of it, and select ENTER FULL SCREEN.

Jone is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Jone Rush MacCulloch with a double golden shovel poem, a gift poem, and a call for folks to join the Winter Poem Swap. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

I wish you a warm and woolly week ahead!

xo,

Amy

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Bring Personification to Nature

 

Students - You may have heard the word personification before. And you may have noticed that it holds the word person inside of it. Well, personification is the giving of human qualities to things that are not human, including animals, plants, and inanimate objects.

Today I was excited to see the new snow on the ground. I knew that I would go outside to admire the dustings of powdered sugar everywhere. But before I walked into the yard in my slippers and nightgown, I read a few poems, including one by Laura Purdie Salas. In "Ode to Bare Branches," the speaker says that they want to be like a tree, to "open my arms/drop everything/and just stand there."

Perhaps her words drew me to the little oak you see in the photo above, clinging tight to its orange in this world of white. And listening to Oak's brittle leaves tinkling like windchimes, I imagined that she just doesn't feel ready to let her leaves go yet. And that is ok. We each know the right time, OUR right time.

Now, does a tree think like a person does? I don't think so. But I gave the tree the quality of human thinking, and this is personification.

Try it. Go outside or if you cannot do so now, look out of a window or gaze at some nature photographs. Choose a natural object and ask yourself, "If this were a person, what might it think/do/wonder/believe/fear/wish? Let your poem start there.

As for the title, did you notice that the last line leads you to the title?

"then we always know/The Right Time."

There are many ways to title a piece. When you write your next piece, try out a few titles. You do not need to choose the first title that comes to your mind.

And of course this letting go is not only about leaves and oaks and melting snowflakes. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and as our family has lost two beloved grandfathers within the past many months, we deeply felt their loss at our table, just as we do each day. We are letting parts of them go, and yet we hold onto, will always hold onto so much.

I wish you the knowing.

Snowy Slipper Toes

Photo by Amy LV

Ruth is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town with a Gratiku (gratitude haiku), a thoughtful ode to "Ode to Autumn in Haiti, 2021 and a bit of thinking about odes. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

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Linger on a Lived Moment

 

Winnie in Her New Fort

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Winnie is one funny cat! Yesterday I watched her leap into this big heater box, pleased as punch. She loves boxes, as do many cats, and today I thought I would just tell the story of her an her newest favorite box.

You will notice that there is little punctuation in this poem - no end punctuation until the end. This gives the poem a bit of a breathless feeling, and I am not exactly sure why, but I wanted the poem to feel just rambly with the repeated word and and such little punctuation.

Today's poem simply tells something that truly happened in my life. I just lingered on it, seeing it from Winnie's (huge sunflower) eyes and letting the words fall all over themselves.

What is one small experience you might linger on? Something small you might tell in a poem? Will you tell it from your eyes or from the eyes of another? Will you repeat lines as you linger, repeat lines as I did?

We have many grand decisions to make as writers. Let's enjoy them all, be thankful for the moments and the ability to write and photograph and draw them. Here at November's end, I am, as always, thankful for you and for this community. And at this very moment, I am also thankful for Winnie's best friend Tuck who is lying and purring here on my desk!

My Writing Pal Tuck

Photo by Amy LV

Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Beyond Literacy Link with a gorgeous gallery full of autumn poetry and images . Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

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Make & Write

 

Thrift Store Threads

Photo by Amy LV

A Bit of (Dropcloth Sampler) Stitching

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Lately I have been working on my stitching, and this is a very enriching and betwitching thing to do. Simple strands of wool or cotton or silk become pictures! Stitching can be a very inexpensive hobby, and I did purchase the wools you see here at a thrift store. You can see someone's handwriting on the cards, and I love imagining what this person was making, likely many years before now. I feel connected to this other stitcher from another time...and this, of course, is another idea for another poem.

For today's poem, I started with the words treasure and stitches and using RhymeZone, looked at all of their rhymes and chose the ones I thought would stitch together sensibly. I built the poem from there, word by word, in the same way that bricks build upon each other to make a house.

If you are wondering why the lines move across the page in that funny way, it is because this is how stitching feels, moving your hand and the work across the fabric.

Making things makes us who we are. Close your eyes and think of things you have made in your own life. Perhaps you made something on your own. Maybe you made something together with someone else. Any one of these making stories deserves to be written down if you wish to write it. Try starting by writing a list of things you have made at any time in your life. Choose one idea from your list and just go.

Or...do not start by closing your eyes. Go make something! Then, later, come back and write.

Yesterday, I had the chance to virtually visit the students at Roaring Brook School in Chappaqua, NY, and we talked about this very thing - making. I stitched last night, and now I cannot stop thinking about that part of our chat. Thank you, Roaring Brook Librarian Christine Eidem, PTA parents, teachers, and students, for such a lovely time together. It was fun to meet you from my camper, and you all asked such wise questions.

And a big hello to the writers in Ms. Lewis's and Ms. Miner's Poetry Friday group! I have learned that you visit each week, and so of course this morning I found myself wondering what you will write today. Thank you for stopping by each Friday.

Mary Lee is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at A(Nother) Year of Reading with a poem (inspired by the idea of percentages or percent) that takes us readers along for a beautiful drive through the country. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

I wish everyone a joyful week full of making, discovering, and feeling whole.

xo,

Amy

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This Way...and This Way Too

 

Milkweed Wishes Letting Go

Photo by Amy LV

Students - My family's life has experienced many different kinds of goodbyes lately, and today I am thinking about those. I am thinking about how the same word - goodbye - can feel so many different ways: peaceful, surprising, heartbreaking, confusing, calm... A goodbye can be this way...and this way too.

We have two kittens (they're really cats now, but I still call them "the kittens"), and even though they are both kittens, each one of them is different. Same word (kittens), verrrrry different behaviors. A kitten can be this way...and this way too.

The same word can hold different meanings and emotions, different pictures in our heads and different songs in our hearts.

This week, pay attention to a word you find yourself using a lot. Does it make you feel different ways at different times? What word can you hold to the light and imagine this way...and this way too?

Here is another idea to try: make a list of some different goodbyes you have had in your life. Choose one of these to write about. What do you learn about yourself when you this? 

Jama is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup with a gorgeous celebration of October and a poem by Jeffrey Bean. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

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