Write What Makes You Odd

 

The Fern

 Drawing by Amy LV 

 

Students - I am still living in a place with sidewalks, caring for my mother's dog Cinnamon and walking her every morning. This week's poem is true! Cin and I walked on garbage day, and this fern called to me from the curb! Cinnamon got a shorter walk that morning as managing both of them was a bit much. I cannot share a photo of it with you because my mom's handyman came to do some repairs, and he was happy to take the fern when I offered it to him. The next day, he texted me to say that his wife said thank you and that the once-garbage-fern is now living on their porch. 

 

Finding interesting things at the side of the road is one thing that makes me odd. This week I also sat on a comfy rocking chair that someone was throwing away, and considered adding it to my chair collection, but I did not....and a couple days later someone else had taken it, and I was happy for them. Many people share this oddness of liking to find treasures in others' trash, and celebrating our oddness is a beautiful thing. What makes you odd? Write about it! I mean, who wants to be boring?

 

In terms of poetry, you'll notice the short jumpy line breaks and repetition, personification, and some rhyme too. Sometimes I like writing a long title that sets the setting for a poem and did so here. 

Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at The Apples in My Orchard today. Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community. 

I'm wishing you treasure in unlikely places this week, my friends...

xo,

a.

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Repeat and Repeat Again

 

Red Carpet

 Photo by Amy LV 

 

Students -  It is still beautiful here in Western New York, and for the next few weeks I am living somewhere with sidewalks. I am caring for my mom's dog for a bit, so I need to walk her, and oh, the colorful, wet leaves on the sidewalks have stolen my heart. 

 

There are two things I would like for you to notice in today's poem. The first is something you have likely already noticed: repeated words. Repetition is one way to thread a poem together. When poets repeat sounds or words or lines on purpose, these echo again and again in a reader's ear. Repetition can help a reader know what matters most, and it can also just make a poem fun to hold in your mouth. The repetition in this poem is not particularly meaningful...it's just fun. And it was fun for me to write as well.

 

Also please notice that one short line. This line (And I walk.) shows a turn in the poem.  Everything before this line describes the red leaves on the ground, but everything after it celebrates their magic. The short line standing all by itself causes a reader to leave space, to pause before and after those three words. After a person reads this line, they are more likely to read the final lines more slowly. Did you? Try reading it aloud with the pause and the slowdown at the end.

 

So go ahead if you wish. Try one of these tips in one of your own poems this week:

 

1. Repeat words. You are welcome to do what I did - make many of your last words of a line the first of your next.

2. Play with your line breaks. Make an important one short. Maybe let it stand alone. 

 

Below you can see Cinnamon taking her jaunty walk on the yellow sidewalk carpet.

 

 

Cinnamon in the Fall

Photo by Amy LV 

Joyce is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Joyce Uglow Author with a sixku - another new-to-me form. Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community. 

The magic is right in front of us. We just have to look. 

xo,

a.

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Think About Change

Students - When my husband Mark and I walk down our road, we often see and hear and stop to notice signs of change in the seasons. This cottonwood above was shivery-glittery against that blue sky the other day, and so pretty that I stopped to watch it dance, stopped to take a little video clip for you to see. I almost wrote a small verse using the words shiver/glitter/quiver/deliver/winter/hint/whisper...and I still may someday, but for some reason, today's poem wanted to be all about those jazz hands. Or shall I say jazz leaves?

 

I like jazz hands and jazz leaves, and I am happy thinking about a cottonwood tree jazz dancing its way into winter. Change is always all around us, and this week you might want to pay close attention to changes. What changes are you noticing in the weather, in living and nonliving things around you, in your skills, in your thinking? Consider making a list of changes and choose one or two to bring together in a piece of writing. With a change, you will have a before, an after, and a middle to play with, and you can focus however you wish.

Tracey is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Tangles and Tails with a poetic celebration of metaphor and simile...with photographs to waltz along with it. Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community. 

Goodbye! (I, too, am doing jazz hands over here!)

xo,

a.

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Delight in the Small

Rock in Hand

Photo by Amy LV 

 

Students -  I took my mom to an appointment this week, and her doctor said something very wise, something I will hope to remember for the rest of my life. It was actually something she remembered someone else saying to her. She said, As my father-in-law used to say, all we can do each day is make memories. Memories are all we really have. This wisdom is helping me commit to getting more daily-back to my writing, as writing helps me know which small memories I wish to keep in my life-pocket.

Today's little poem is a true one, meaning it happened in real life. I love collecting rocks, all kinds, and I love the sound rocks make along pavement too. I've written about it before, and I'll write about it again. One thing I didn't include in this poem, though, is my wondering if other people in the TOPS parking lot were wondering, Why is that lady picking up a boring old gray rock? Well, I picked it up anyway and now it reminds me how even the smallest and humblest, even the most least fancy things in our lives can offer us windows of joy, pockets of delight.

This week I encourage you to pay attention to what makes you a tiny bit curious or a small bit excited about something you see or something that happens to you. You might even keep a list in your notebook of these tiny-but-meaningful bits. I plan to do this all week long and welcome you to join me. And if you wish, write a poem about one of them. It need not rhyme (notice that mine doesn't), and perhaps you, too, will repeat some words throughout your piece.

Or...perhaps you will be inspired to write about a no-longer-secret secret! 

Jama is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Jama's Alphabet Soup with cinnamon rolls and goodness. Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community. 

Thank you for visiting today. Writing a blog is a little like having a party, and I am so glad you are here.

xo,

a.

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Thank a Chore

Starting to Stack

Photo by Amy LV   

 

Students - Most years, I write a poem about firewood because I love trees, love wintertime fires, and love stacking logs and bits of wood. You can see 2024's firewood poem in the sidebar now or search it in the search box: "All of this Firewood." 

 

Today's poem thanks a chore, and I challenge you to consider trying this. Thank a chore! It is easy to find ourselves complaining about or dreading chores, but usually, once our bodies get going, it can be possible to find a light in the work, to see how it matters, to make it as good as we can. This is true of anything: our attitude is largely a choice.

 

Did you notice the word soonhere in today's verse? You're right, it isn't a real word. Originally I had written coming days of snow, but then I decided to be more playful. So if you wish, go ahead - smush some words.

 

And the ending meter, all stretched out here? I realize that this breaks the meter I had set up. I might have written soonhere days of snow to keep the meter straight, but instead I stretched out the line breaks and words too - in the soonhere/days/and nights/of endless/twinkling/snow. When we write, we play. Words are swings and slides and bikes and jumpropes....play on!

Margaret is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Reflections on the Teche with a couple of beautiful original poems inspired by an interesting challenge that I plan to try. Each Poetry 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 the good fun of imagining that a tree or flower or animal or object is thinking or feeling or talking...or all three! Have a playful party in your brain!

xo,

a.

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Personify Something

Gratitude and Her Sunflowers

Photo by Amy LV 

 

Students - In the picture atop this post, you can see my little yellow and blue writing shed. I have named her Gratitude after a line in the poem 'The Place I Want to Get Back To' by Mary Oliver. Usually though, I just call her The Shed. At this time of year, one must push the sunflowers aside to get to Gratitude's door, and I imagine this is why I wrote about sunflowers today. Walking out there to get something yesterday evening, I just stopped and marveled at how VERY TALL these sunflowers are, how MUCH TALLER they are than all other flowers around these parts. So I took their picture....and just got to writing.

At first, I thought I might try drafting at the keyboard. But then, I heard my notebook sigh. So a handwritten poem it was...and both notebook and I were much happier for it. I had no idea of what to write but knew it would begin with the TALLNESS of the sunflowers. I wrote the first line and then just followed wordy breadcrumb to wordy breadcrumb...and there we were. 

It feels playful to imagine human qualities in non-humans....sunflowers are not aunts or uncles, they do not whisper prayers or have toes. But when we write, sunflowers can have toes. Sunflowers can whisper prayers. Sunflowers can be like aunts and uncles. You may consider trying this. Look at an object or plant, or even an animal. Imagine what it might say, think, feel. Jot some of these ideas down, and if one feels particularly interesting to you, write more from it. After all, no one in this whole world thinks about things just the way you do.

When we give non-humans human qualities in our writing, we call this personification.

I did have a writing helper as I worked on today's poem.We have a new little round table, given to us by a friend who no longer wanted it, and I revised outside and Winnie joined me. She was looking out at a garden, but I waved my hands to make her look at me so that you could see her too.

Winnie and the Sunflower Draft

Photo by Amy LV 

Tricia is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at The Miss Rumphius Effect with a delightful poem inspired by the phrase, "It's all my fault" and written from a dog's point of view. Each Poetry 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 the good fun of imagining that a tree or flower or animal or object is thinking or feeling or talking...or all three! Have a playful party in your brain!

xo,

a.

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If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 

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Give a Suggestion to Your Readers

 

A New Friend

Drawing by Amy LV 

 

Students - I have been away for two months, and it is so good to be here again. If you are starting back to school, welcome back! I wish you a year of new friends and new ideas. Writing is a way to make both.

Last night I woke up when it was still dark and imagined making friends with a word - right away, I knew the word was Cinnamon. Was it because I love this word? Was it because my mom's dog's name is Cinnamon? I will never know for sure. But no matter how this word and idea popped into my mind, I am grateful they did.

Today's poem gives a suggestion to the reader - invite a word to be your friend. It is a bit of advice and a bit of whimsy. And it is also a bit of an idea of how to start a poem. If you're looking to write something new, you might consider giving your readers a smidge of advice. This may be true, practical, real life advice...or it may be playful, imaginary, wee-bit-silly advice. Or it may be a mix of both. You are the writer, so you will decide.

One more writing thought. Please know that I never use AI in any way in my writing. I do not use it to find ideas, to draft, to revise. I do not use AI in my writing at all. The reason for this is that I write for the journey and to grow my thinking and mind more than for any end product. We humans can find all kinds of things - tables, chairs, poems, songs, art ideas, stories, and on and on - inside of our very own human minds. 

If you decide to invite a word to become your friend and write a poem about it, I would very much like to read it. 

Linda is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at TeacherDance with a wise poem of remembrance for this day in history. Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community. 

May you wrap yourself in good, warm, simple words...

xo,

a. 

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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