Pebbles & Books
Photo by Amy LV
This is poem #8 in my series of poems about books and reading and words.
Students - sometimes I begin writing one thing, and then suddenly realize, "This is not working. At all." At this point, a writer has a choice. One can keep going and hope that the poem or story gets better OR one can abandon and begin something new. Both work at different times, but last night was a night for me to leave a poem behind. Perhaps one day I'll come back to that poem...but this poem had a greater desire to be born now.
Students - sometimes I begin writing one thing, and then suddenly realize, "This is not working. At all." At this point, a writer has a choice. One can keep going and hope that the poem or story gets better OR one can abandon and begin something new. Both work at different times, but last night was a night for me to leave a poem behind. Perhaps one day I'll come back to that poem...but this poem had a greater desire to be born now.
That's one of the beautiful things about a notebook - you can keep your leftovers there. Maybe someday I'll make something from those few written ingredients, those lists of wordplay. Then again, maybe not. But often little notebook-nuggets surprise us by turning up years later...
Today is not only Poetry Friday. It is also National Grammar Day! Happy NGD to you! On this day, I recommend the Kilgallons' sentence composing books. One to start with for grades three and up is STORY GRAMMAR FOR THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
Today is not only Poetry Friday. It is also National Grammar Day! Happy NGD to you! On this day, I recommend the Kilgallons' sentence composing books. One to start with for grades three and up is STORY GRAMMAR FOR THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
Ben is hosting his first ever Poetry Friday over at The Small Nouns. Visit there for this week's roundup as well as Ben's "Women's History Month Countdown."
(Please click on POST A COMMENT below to share a thought.)
Hi Amy! It's so true that keeping your old poems that didn't quite work is a good idea. You never know when you will be inspired to create something new with a fragment of one of them.
ReplyDeleteI have told my kids that there are lots of ways to be rich (or poor). For instance, some people are rich in common sense, or persistence.
Good morning, Amy--
ReplyDeleteAnother one of your simple, pointed, TRUE poems. As for leftovers, I'm mulling the idea of writing notebook as deep freezer where unfinished ideas stay fresh indefinitely. There are times I'd like to ban erasers from my classroom just so we don't lose what didn't work the first time.
Thanks for adding to the richness of my Friday!
Morning, Amy! Love this poem. Everyone has treasures that make them rich -- you just need to know where to find them. :)
ReplyDeleteso true about the leftovers and the notebooks. i once lost a notebook on a family vacation and was in a funk for months because i kept wanting to go back and look things up... and they were gone!
ReplyDeletethe poem is swell as well.
I love this poem especially the last line. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteHow true!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun it would be if we had a day where everyone posted something from their notebooks and told a little bit about how they use their notebooks...or if they don't use notebooks at all! I love hearing these stories and notebook reflections. Thank you for stopping by this week! A.
ReplyDeleteThe ending of the poem totally surprised me! I love when poems do that.
ReplyDeleteTruth spoken here (from many) about writers' notebooks!
Mary Lee, So good to see you...as always! I'm glad to have surprised you. Honestly, it surprised me too. I was happy to find that "rolling sea" and "library" rhyme! A.
ReplyDeleteLove!
ReplyDelete