Choose Good Work, Write About It

Planting Snow Glories in November

Photo by Amy LV

Soon-To-Be-Tulips!

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem is about an action I recently took - planting - and my feelings about it. I have been thinking about the actions that make me most happy, actions including stacking firewood and planting flowers, baking, knitting, and printmaking. Such jobs have nothing to do with screens or noise, and I like it that way. This past month I planted around 600 bulbs in our yard, 400 of them glories-of-the-snow. Each winter I say I will do this...and I never have done so until now. It will be so exciting to see them peep up come spring! I still do have a couple cords of firewood to move to the front porch, but I will wait for a bit of a warmer day.

In this poem, I consider what spring bulbs remind me of (onions, promises) and too, I marvel at their ability to sleep underground and then bloom when spring returns. I wish for my humble poem to celebrate them and too, to celebrate this fulfilling labor. (You would have laughed to see me walk back into our home again and again last weekend, each time calling, "I just planted another 50!")

Grassy Front Yard Last Week

Photo by Amy LV

Snowy Front Yard This Week

Photo by Amy LV

This action of planting - and this poem - have me thinking about what new actions I will take, actions that will make me feel fulfilled and enriched. Drawing is one such action. So is brushing our dogs. I will do more of these things. And what about you? Which actions make you most joyful? Think away from video games and TV shows or movies...which actions bring you delight or make you feel proud of you? You might try writing about one of these actions as a poem - just begin the first line with an action of what your body is doing or with a description of the material you are working with.

Tanita is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at at [fiction, instead of lies] with a Carl Dennis poem about earthworms, a beautiful sonnet about gratitude, and information about the New Year's Poetry Challenge (starting December 15) through the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center. We invite everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness every week.

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

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

Time - Think about Two Perspectives

Sage in the 4-H Barn (2010?)

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I don't know where today's poem came from.  I was writing in my notebook, and I think that the holidays got me thinking about visiting relatives which made me think about how quickly children seem to grow up.  This made  me think that if children are getting older, I am getting older too...but I never really feel like this is true.

Then I got to thinking about when our own children first talked about babies they once know seeming so big or how our pets have gotten older without us even noticing where the time has gone.

In a way, this is a comparing and contrasting poem.  In the first stanza, we see what the grownups say and feel.  In the second, we get the narrator child's point of view.  It is interesting to explore an idea from a couple of different perspectives.  We learn about others and about ourselves too.  You might want to give this a try!

Below, enjoy a little kindness video of our cat Mini Monster giving grown-up Sage a little face bath last weekend.

Over at my other blog, 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!

Diane is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Random Noodling.  Please stop by if you'd like to visit many different blogs, all celebrating poetry.  We meet weekly, and everyone is invited!

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

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Free Verse & Making Up Our Own Holidays

Tractor One

Photo by Amy LV

Tractor Two

Photo by Amy LV

Tractor Three

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem is about yesterday here on the road of The Poem Farm. There were many tractors out and about, and they looked so happy and full of energy, just tilling up the land once more.  Here on our road, when the tractors are out, you can sometimes see people standing by the road watching.  I like to imagine what they are thinking about.

This is a free verse poem, though it does have one rhyme right at the very end.  This is something I do sometimes when writing free verse, just bring things together with a rhyme at the closing.  I enjoyed playing with the images here and also with the sounds of the words.

Today's poem is about a made-up holiday, the day when the tractors come out. As I type these words, I realize that this idea of making up holidays reminds me of a favorite book, Byrd Baylor's I'M IN CHARGE OF CELEBRATIONS.

Available at Your Local Bookshop

We each are in charge of our own celebrations, and if you wish, you might even think about a special day that feels like a holiday...but is not actually on the calendar.  Go ahead - write a poem about it.  If you're not sure how to begin, feel free to borrow my words -- "There is one day..."

Over at Sharing Our Notebooks, it is a joy to welcome teacher Katie Liseo and her adventurous student notebookers with a very inspiring post and giveaway of Aimee Buckher's NOTEBOOK KNOW-HOW.  Laura Shovan's fabulous post is also still up and the giveaway still open - visit behind the scenes of THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY HERE.

Margaret is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Reflections on the Teche.  Enjoy her persona poem and family story as she writes to the beat of her nephew Jack's drum!  Too, dive into all kinds of poetry offerings, today and every Poetry Friday.  All are always welcome!

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

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I Saw - Poems about Conversations & Colors

 

Teasels

Photo by Amy LV

 

Corn Stalks and Queen Anne's Lace

Photo by Amy LV

Students - The idea for this poem has been in my mind for a long time, for many years ago, my husband did tell me that he loved the color brown. From that day on, I saw brown differently.  Whereas before I never would have considered brown beautiful, now I too, love its many shades.  Often I think about brown, notice brown, am grateful for brown.  Friends (and husbands) who help you grow are gifts indeed.

Today's poem was inspired by a color and by a conversation.  On my drive to Syracuse, NY yesterday, looking at all of the roadside browns, pausing to take pictures,I was reminded of this old conversation about brown.  Finally, I've captured something that has been rolling around in my mind for years.

Did you notice that "I saw" is a very short line, two words on a line all alone?  That was a revision.  When I first wrote this verse, it did not have a title.  Rereading to find a title, I considered "Brown" and considered "Once" but I wanted the title to convey more meaning than that.  I wanted the title to show that I was changed, that at last, "I Saw."  Once I changed the title, the line needed to be changed as well, to reflect the importance of seeing and understanding.  Those two words deserved their own line, so I changed the line break from:

I saw one hundred wondrous browns

to

I saw

one hundred wondrous browns

When you begin to write today, you might think about questions and colors too.

What conversation has been rolling around in your mind?

What color is striking your eye these days?

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Goodbye, Irwin.

 

Irwin 2001 - 2012

Photo by a VanDerwater Child

Irwin's Milkhouse

Painting by Alix Martin

Irwin's House for Christmas
Photo by Amy LV

Irwin 2001 - 2012

Photo by a VanDerwater Child

Students - Our family lost a friend today. Irwin was our oldest pet, and a very gentle guy. Whenever children would visit our home, they would rush to Irwin's milkhouse and hop in with him. Then Irwin would get all kinds of cuddles and kisses. He loved celery, dandelions, and we like to think...us. Just this spring, he became friends with our cat Pickles who liked to visit him in the milkhouse too. Pickles is scared of most every animal, so her trust of Irwin is another testament to his sweet ways.

Today's poem is just me talking to Irwin. Poems are good like that - they kind of hold you when you need it. We held Irwin for a while last night, and today when we found him still in his hay, we were not surprised. Rest well, little furball.

Mary Lee is hosting today's Poetry Friday round up over at A Year of Reading. Stop on by her place to find out about today's poetry goodies.

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To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

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Cat's Recipe and Writer's Notebooks

 

Sarah Waits

Photo by Amy LV

Students - one of the great things about keeping a writer's notebook is that your writing just hangs out in there. You may not see value or meaning in one day's piece of writing, but it will be there, waiting for you. And then, a week, month, or year later...you may come back to it and find the value, find the meaning.

I wrote a version of this poem several months ago and let it just sit. And then on Sunday, our cat Sarah sat staring out of the front window as several fat Blue Jays zipped in for suet. "Snap!" went the picture. "Hmmm!" went the brain. I remembered this old poem, dusted it off, revised it a bit, and here you go!

I learned this song in Girl Scouts.  Do you know it?

Make new friends
but keep the old.
One is silver
and the other gold.

Here it is with a few little changes...for writing!

Write new thoughts
but keep the old.
One is silver
and the other gold.

Sometimes thinking and writing grows better with time and layers, the same way that trees grow ring-by-ring.  Try going back to some of your old writing, in notebooks or paper piles, and find something you'd like to visit again.  Set a time to just sit and reread what you've got.  Then, when the perfect day arrives, you will remember, "Oh!  I have an entry about that!"

You can peek inside some different notebooks (Naturalist! Artist! Novelist! Poet!) at my other blog home, Sharing Our Notebooks.

'Like' The Poem Farm Facebook Page for regular updates of all things poetry!

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Thanksgiving

Wednesday Sky

Photo by Amy LV

The other day, Georgia looked out the window and exclaimed, "The sky looks like cotton candy!" And it did. Each day is full of such marvels, and this week I vow to behold more wonders in my life. Big ones, small ones, all.

Today I am grateful for a new word learned this week - murmuration.  You may already have found out what this means, but if not, visit  Wired Science to see something astoundingly lovely in the sky.

I know a local teacher who has her students write regularly about something they are grateful for.  Wise indeed.

Students - look around. Be grateful. Write about it.

I'm thankful to have met so many new friends through the beauty of words.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Thank you today to Tabatha is hosting today's Poetry Friday over at The Opposite of Indifference. Stop on by!

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Poetry Friday - A Birthday Tree

Cherries Against Sky

Photo by Hope LV

Hope Picking Cherries

Photo by Amy LV

Earlier this week, we visited my friend Trish and her family for dinner.  Trish is a serious canner and food person, always making photo-worthy and tasty dishes and giving them to friends.  As we cut eggplants for grilled eggplant Parmesan, Trish raved about picking blueberries.  "Every time I pick blueberries or strawberries or raspberries or cherries or any fruit," she marveled, "I am always amazed.  This plant made FRUIT!"

A person cannot spend much time with Trish without wanting to pick fruit oneself.  And fortunately, Hope's birthday cherry tree is simply dripping with cherries this week.  Yesterday, the two of us got out there and filled two buckets.  We picked and picked, almost unable to believe how many cherries her tree had produced.  Later yesterday evening, Henry went out to see the dent we'd made.  "It doesn't look like anyone picked anything," he noted.

So far we have 12 jars of sour cherry jam and one fresh cherry crisp.  Today the children will fill more buckets.  More buckets!  More jam!  More crisps indeed!

Last week, Mary Lee's Poetry Friday post was titled "Seeing Instead of Just Looking."  Her photo and the poems she shared, coupled with Trish's joy in fresh fruit has me thinking about small daily and seasonal rituals.  

Students - what things do you do each day?  Each season?  This poem is about observing a tree each year and that moment of surprise when one realizes the tree is growing up.  This week I plan to write a series of poems about rituals, things that we do over and over again that give our lives meaning and goodness.

Speaking of rituals, I went through pages of cross outs before I finally arrived at the simple ending of today's poem.  Revision takes a lot of patience, just like pitting cherries or anything worthwhile.  Similar to pitting cherries, revision sometimes leaves me wondering, "Did I get everything?  Should I check one more time?  Will someone break a tooth on this?"

I love this Richard Jones poem about cherries - "Cherries in the Snow."  And Judy Collins sings a beautiful rendition of the traditional nativity ballad, "The Cherry Tree Carol" here.

If you don't know the book CHERRY PIES AND LULLABIES by Lynn Reiser, don't miss it.  It's not a poem, but it is very poetic and generational picture book.

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Today's poetry bounty is served by Mary Lee herself over at A Year of Reading.  May your whole week be full of fresh fruits, vegetables, and words in every color and shape!

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Yucky Leftovers? You Need Poem #357

Our Fridge Right Now

Photo by Amy LV

Students - the scene in this poem has never ever happened to our family before.  I got the idea from reading a book about people with mystery leftovers in their fridge.  Hee hee!  Just kidding. This has definitely happened to us before.  We have found old riddle-leftovers and wondered what they once were.  Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but it is the truth.

Mark your calendars.  To eliminate "Fridgeophobia," November 20 has been designated as "Whirlpool Clean Out Your Fridge Day."  Read some refrigerator cleaning tips here.  The Rubbermaid website advises, "...it's best to just toss anything that you can't identify."  So if you don't know what it is, don't eat it.  Good life advice for all of us.

Sometimes we can find writing topics in those things we are not so proud of, things we're not very good at, things like losing track of little plastic food containers living in the refrigerator.  What bugs you about you?  What makes you say, "Yuck!"  Writing ideas grow in the compost of our lives.

You might have noticed that there is a bit of back and forth movement in this poem.  That's because I wanted it to feel like someone was rummaging around in the fridge.

As for the refrigerator photo above, I actually do know what is in all of those containers.  We have done a lot of cooking this week!

Honesty in writing is important.  Remember that.

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Hooray! It's Manure Day! Poem #349

Early Spring Field

Photo by Amy LV

This poem is dedicated to Dale Sondericker, a second grade teacher at Marilla Primary in the Iroquois Central School District.

Writing in a workshop yesterday, looking for an idea, I found myself glancing around the cafeteria.  I saw Dale writing, and my mind followed this train of thought - 

Dale is a great teacher.  Dale is also a dairy farmer.  That must be a lot of work.  We live near some dairy farmers, and they are working all of the time.  One thing our neighbors do is bring the manure trucks by to spray the fields next to our home.  I just saw one of those trucks the other day.  Seeing that truck  made me think about how our little world would smell differently that day.  Hmmm...maybe could write a poem about manure. 

While looking at Dale does not usually or immediately make me think of manure, today the leap from idea to idea, thought to thought, brought me there.

Students - follow your own thoughts today, and try writing after your writing, reflecting on how you arrived at your idea.  It isn't true that authors and writers always know what they will write before they write it.  Sometimes we all need to simply follow the leap!

As writers and creative humans, we must be ready for such leaps, willing to accept whatever presents itself as a possible poem idea.  Who knows what new crops will grow in our fertile minds?

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Recycle with Birds - Poem #342

Nest Woven with Wool

Photo by Amy LV

Students - this poem came from sitting and thinking in a spot of sun.  I was listening to the spring-hopeful birds, looking out of our living room window, and I remembered the time my children and I saved their hair to leave out for the birds.  One word dipped into another, and my thoughts turned to how birds and animals are wise and resourceful in using their surroundings.  

This poem is about something I admire about birds.  What animal do you admire?  Why?  Is this something you might write about?

In the nest above, you can see a lot of sheep wool.  I've posted this photo before...I love it!  Because we have sheep, the birds around our home help themselves to wool on the ground, wool stuck to tree trunks, all colors of wool!  For more nest poems, see poem #240 and poem #275.

This spring, if you examine the nests around your home, you will see which building materials your own neighbor birds use.  If you're feeling project-y, you might even leave out strands of yarn or string or even your own hair!

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Poem #337 says, "The car wash is hungry!"

Slimin' the Grime from our Vibe

Photo by Georgia LV

Draft of "Car Wash"

by Amy LV

Two days ago it was sunny!  It looked like spring around here, and our car looked like a mudball.  It was time for the annual trip to the car wash, something we all enjoy and giggle through. My favorite part is those octopus arms that wipe down the whole car.  You can see them in the photo above.

Students - this is a mask poem.  I put on my car wash mask and wrote pretending that I was a car wash!  There's nothing like pretending to be someone or something else.  Just ask, "What would a ......  say?  What would a ...... think?"  And write!

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Cinderella's Leftovers Appear in Poem #336

Pumpkin Field

Photo by Amy LV

Students - this week's poem comes from Tricia's weekly Poetry Stretch at The Miss Rumphius Effect.  Tricia has challenged us to write about fairy tale items, and somehow I knew immediately that I would choose Cinderella's pumpkin-turned-coach-turned-pumpkin.

It was new and different to think and scribble about magical items instead of modern daily objects.  Honestly, it's just plain fun to write about glorious old make believe stories.  Mixing a fairy tale with a rhyme was messy and exciting.

Teachers - this poem's connection to"The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" came from Toby Speed's great poem-for-grownups, "Morning Report" over at The Writer's Armchair.  And dancing with a prince?  That surely must have spun from the fact that the novel-in-my-hands of late is Phillipa Gregory's THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL.

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Slosh Your Way Through Slush - #334

 Slushy Boots!

Photo by Amy LV

 Rainy Boots!

Photo by Amy LV 

Students - yesterday I went for a walk with our dog Cali, just the two of us.  I had my boots, she had her paws, and we both had a lovely time tromping through the water and slush.  I got to wondering how I went for so many years without a proper pair of boots, and it was such fun to just slosh through it all.  Beginning tomorrow, this will be the way of March: snow, slush, rain, snow, slush, rain.  Beneath it all: tulips!

As I slurped down our road, I played with words, muttering "wet smash of slush" to myself over and over again.  Life feeds writing, and writing feeds life.

Joan Bransfield Graham's SPLISH SPLASH is filled to the brim with playful concrete poems about water.

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SPARK Day - Nancy Claeys & Poem #332

Direction

Photo by Nancy Claeys of A Rural Journal

This past week I had the privilege to work with Nancy Claeys, writer, photographer, and blogger at A Rural Journal.  We were paired up through Amy Souza's  SPARK, trading writing and photographs ten days ago as inspiration.  For ten days we each moodled, me with my little pen and Nancy with her big camera, creating works in response to each other's creations.

This powerful eagle weather vane photo I received from Nancy on February 16 could have taken any one of the four cardinal directions as I imagined looking to it for meaning and answers.  Reading through Nancy's blog gave me insight into her life on a farm and as an admirer of old barns and country landscapes.  

I looked up the history of weather vanes at Weathervanes Plus, surprised to learn that "The popularity of weathervanes exploded when a papal edict from the 9th century A.D. helped bring the weathervane to the skies of most of Europe.  Rome declared that every church in Christendom must be adorned by a cockerel, a symbol to remind Christians of Peter's betrayal of Christ: 'I tell thee Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.'" (Luke 22: 34)

As I wrote and thought and read Nancy's words, roosters and birds from all weather vanes - past and present - whispered through the sky.  Hence, this.

Ten days ago, I sent Nancy an old poem, a sad poem.  I wondered how she would interpret it with an image.  

Here is her hauntingly beautiful response which made me suck my breath right in.

Button

Photo by Nancy Claeys of A Rural Journal

This opportunity to work with an artist one has never met, to share pictures and words, is a true joy.  Thank you to Nancy for her partnership in this round, and much gratitude to Amy Souza for making this space and time for us all.  

My first experience with SPARK was SPARK 10, exchanging work with artist Amy Souza (photograph & painting) as well as Amanda Brainerd (digital illustration).  Keep your eyes out for SPARK 12, which I promise to announce here.  Just like Poetry Friday, all are welcome to play!

Students and Teachers - consider setting up such a project in your school.  This type of collaboration can work long distance as well as close by.  It would be perfect for homeschoolers, and again, I offer to help set up such an opportunity for any children who might wish to try this.  If you try this as or with children, please let me know as I would love to feature your work and process here.

Are you still wondering how weather vanes work?  If so, check out this diagram at scoutingpages.org.

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