Students - It's a healthy stretch to write a poem for someone else from time to time. In life, we all have days and experiences when we must write about things we might not normally choose or know a lot about. In order for me to write this poem, I needed to do a bit of research.
A note about revision. I wrote this poem early in the day yesterday and revisited it several times throughout the day. Doing this helped me to put some words "back on the shelf" and to "put some new ones in the cart." For example, line 3 originally read, "on the heels of the ghosts." Changing 'the' to 'old' allowed me more word variety and also another echo of the long 'o' sound in that first stanza. As writers, we must reread our own writing with a listening ear, never certain that "this is good enough."
At The Official Site of the Iditarod, you can find out anything you'd like to know about the history, mushers, trail, and current race standings. What I loved learning was about how The Iditarod Trail is actually the real trail that sled dogs ran long ago to move supplies in and out.
Here is an article about some recent news from this year's race.
I am grateful to the Mrs. Driscoll and her third graders for this stretch. Let someone stretch your writing today!
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Thank You, Amy. What a sense of living history. We also feel the rhythm of heartbeats and running feet within your poem. Learning about this race this year has been an exciting adventure for us. The first team is on the last leg...more to follow, tomorrow!
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