Welcome to Day 3 of Wallow in Wonder! For my 2016 National Poetry Month project, I will celebrate learning and writing from learning, writing poems from each daily Wonder at Wonderopolis. As I did with my Dictionary Hike in 2012, I am looking to surprise myself with new inspiration daily. This year, such inspiration will show up in my inbox each morning. I will print it and carry each Wonderopolis Wonder around all day...and in the afternoon or evening, I will write and post the poem for the next day.
I invite anyone who wishes to take this challenge too. Just read today's wonder over at Wonderopolis, and write a poem inspired by it for tomorrow. Share it tomorrow at your own site, and if you wish to link in my comments for others to find (or share your poem there), please feel free to do so tomorrow, the day after the Wonder is published at Wonderopolis.
My April Poems Thus Far
April 1 - So Suddenly - a poem inspired by Wonder #1659
April 2 - Thankful Journal - a poem inspired by Wonder #1660
And now for Day 3!
Off to Chase a Storm
by Amy LV
Students - I have been so excited about the Wonders at Wonderopolis so far this month. When I read yesterday's wonder, "Why do some people chase storms?" my imagination got rolling. Today's poem is a story poem, a story of one storm chaser heading out for adventure, heading out to learn.
I think that mostly I just followed this poem, listened to the poem that wanted to be written. I began it late last night, knowing that I would not finish and hoping that my brain would continue to crunch away overnight. The first few lines presented themselves --
When the storm chaser catches
a hint of a whiff
of some possibly dangerous weather
And then I just kept following the story. You can see how messy some of that following looks below. You can also see the lists of rhyming words I made on the right hand side, to help me find rhymes that made sense.
Some of The Storm Chaser Draft
Photo by Amy LV
One thing some people might not realize is that writing a poem can be a very active experience: scribbling out, listing, consulting rhyming dictionaries, reading the poem aloud again and again to help the next line write itself, tapping on the desk. Active.
In today's poem, I do not say whether the storm chaser is a male or a female. The reason for this is that the storm chaser could be either one, and I wish for the reader to decide...not me.
Sometimes when I write a poem, I have a favorite part. In this poem, my favorite part is when the storm chaser kisses the dog and the cat. In fact, I liked this part so very much that I chose to end the poem with those furry friends too. Somehow, to me, this makes the storm chaser feel like a real person with pets to love.
You can read another storm poem if you visit Wonder Lead Ambassador, literacy advocate, teacher, and writer Paul Hankins at his Wonder Ground blog where he, too, is writing daily poems from Wonderopolis wonders. He and I are in this together daily and some other writers are joining in on the fun sometimes too. All are welcome to wonder through poems...
Happy Day 3 of National Poetry Month 2016!
Please share a comment below if you wish.
Waking up to white, fluffy flakes today made this poem fit right in! Now as to how to chase this storm out of New York so that spring can reappear...
ReplyDeleteAmy,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about all of the work and thinking you've put into your poem. I also like how you are sharing them on sound cloud. Here is the link to the poem I wrote about storm chasers.
http://theamyrudder.blogspot.com/2016/04/storm-chasers-work-saving-lives.html
I also shared a few details about how I worked through the writing process. Thanks for your continued inspiration! Now I have to work on sketching my drawings...always something to work at right?
This is so fun! I love that twist ending--the storm chaser really doesn't care what other *people* say, but he/she is worried about causing the cat and dog stress. Such a comforting rhythm here, too!
ReplyDelete